Global Policy Forum

By Edith M. Lederer

Liberia smuggled more than 200 tons of military equipment into the country in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a U.N. report that calls for an arms embargo to be expanded.

The report, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, details "a sophisticated trail of double documentation" designed to show that the weapons and ammunition were shipped to Nigeria — not to Liberia which has been under an embargo.

The U.N. experts compiling the report said they had evidence that six cargo planes landed at Roberts International Airport in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, between June and August with more than 200 tons of ammunition, rifles, pistols, hand grenades, missile launchers, machine guns, mines, and spare parts.

Forged documents showed that the cargo, listed as drilling and technical equipment, was being sent to the Nigerian Defense Ministry, the report said.

In reality, more than 200 tons of mostly older equipment from Yugoslav Army stocks, supplied by a Belgrade-based company, was shipped to the Liberian government in violation of the U.N. arms embargo, the report said. The August shipment included a new rotor engine and blades for a Liberian military helicopter which was quickly repaired. Almost immediately it began resupplying front line bases in the north, where government forces are fighting rebels, the report said.

The northern-based rebel movement, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD, has been fighting to oust President Charles Taylor, a former warlord who won presidential elections in 1997 — seven years after he launched a civil war that devastated the West African nation. Taylor's government has accused neighboring Guinea of supporting the rebels. Guinea denies the accusations.

Liberia's U.N. Mission did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the report.

The U.N. Security Council approved a new arms embargo, a travel ban on senior Liberian officials and a diamond embargo in May 2001 after determining that Taylor's government had given military and financial support that let rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone wage their decade-long war against the government there.

In May 2002, the council renewed the sanctions in response to what it said was Taylor's ongoing gun- and diamond-running with the region's rebel movements.

The new report recommended that the arms embargo on Liberia continue and be extended to all armed rebel groups in the region, including the LURD. The U.N. report said investigators believe the travel ban continues to be violated, while Liberian diamonds continue to be smuggled to neighboring countries, they said.

The panel compiling the report consisted of Senegalese aviation expert Atabou Bodian, Belgian arms and transport expert Johan Peleman, Indian investigative expert Harjit Sandu who is with Interpol, and British diamonds expert Alex Vines.

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