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UN Seeks to Transform Liberia from

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By Abdullah Dukuly*

Inter Press Service
October 6, 2003

Determined to transform Liberia from a failed state in turmoil to a nation at peace, a top UN envoy has unveiled plans to stave off a crisis that has destablised the sub-region. Jacques Paul Klein, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's special representative for Liberia, believes peace in Liberia is the key to stability in all of West Africa. The war in Liberia has created cross-border flow of small arms and light weapons in the sub-region and instability in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire.


Klein has consulted with a broad spectrum of West African leaders to get their input on what needs to be done. "In my meeting with the Presidents of Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Cote d'Ivoire, they all stressed the importance of trying to contain the belligerents within Liberia to stabilise the region," he told journalists. Klein has sought a top chapter 7 UN mandate for 15,000 troops, 200 military observers and 1,100 international police - the biggest UN peacekeeping operation in the world - to demobilise an estimated 40,000 combatants and deal with the country's huge humanitarian and political crises. He returned to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, from a fund and logistics lobbying trip to Brussels on Oct.1, to take charge of the peacekeeping mission from an estimated force of 3,500 West African soldiers that he re-hatted as the first members of the UN force.

The West African soldiers were dispatched to Monrovia last July to stabilise the city, pave the way for the exit of Charles Taylor - the man seen as the architect of chaos in the sub-region - and give chance for the UN to mobilise for a peacekeeping force. Taylor, now in exile in Nigeria's southeastern town of Calabar, is the first African leader indicted on war crime charges and crimes against humanity. All of the 15,000-strong UN peacekeepers and their support staff will not arrive in the country until after three months. When they get on the ground, the Kenyan-born commander of the force, Lt-Gen. Daniel Opande, told IPS, "We will deploy them progressively to restore peace and security around the country". Other troops' contributing countries include China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, Ethiopia, South Africa and Namibia. They will be deployed in a country that has been divided into four quadrants with one brigade backed up by an engineering battalion and a hospital in each quadrant, Klein explained.

With such a huge force supported by helicopter gunboats, the envoy warned marauding combatants against challenging the force. "We will use whatever is necessary to implement the mandate of the Security Council," he said. Klein told marauding rebels that time was running out for them. He promised them prosecution for violating the peace accord signed between the government and rebels, saying he conferred with prosecutors in New York on the need to expand the mandate of the special court in Sierra Leone to allow the transfer of war crime suspects from Liberia. "This is because, he said, it "is costly to establish our own war crimes court here now".

Liberia's protracted war, with the instability in the region, has prompted many to wonder the country's place in the community of nations. Klein said there was a general consensus in the Security Council that Liberia is a "failed state where 85 percent of the country's population (of 3.5 million people) is unemployed, 70 percent of the belligerents are children, the treasury has been looted by criminals and now we have to rebuild Liberia". He said the United Nations would be looking for a "working partnership with the Liberian Interim Government, and not a trusteeship that implies that the people are not capable of doing it". With a budget of 280 million U.S. dollars, Klein said, "We have put together a good proposal to rebuild the (destroyed) country". The July-Aug. fighting in Monrovia caused widespread destruction of the social infrastructure. He said the UN will consider the reconstruction of "all sectors of Liberia - the telephone grid, electricity, the harbour, health and education".

Analysts say the task ahead is huge. Many Liberians believe the international community faces a multitude of challenges and so they want the outside world to take strong measures in disarming and demobilising the rebels. "That will create a safe and secured environment for the return of refugees and address law and order issues," said human rights campaigner Thompson Adebayo. Tens of thousands of fighters in Liberia - many of them mercenaries from neighbouring states - know no other life but to kill, rape and loot.

Klein said after security is established throughout the country, the next major efforts would be to deal with the enormous humanitarian crisis. Aid workers say more that 60,000 people seeking shelter at various displaced camps in Monrovia and elsewhere are living in appalling conditions. They fled their homes after rebels struck, and are afraid to return because their homes are under the control of the rebels. "We have not received our rations for several weeks. Because of insecurity, we cannot go back to our villages now," said 73-year-old Barbara Lormia. Barbara looks after 17 children and dependents at the main football stadium in the city. "The disarmament that is supposed to bring about free movement of people remains illusive. What is there to show that we will not be molested or even killed when we return to our villages," quibbled a displaced school teacher.

Klein believes the key challenge is to "demobilise all of the belligerents - many without education, traumatised and coerced into fighting - to find them meaningful employment and reintegration into the society". On the role of the 1,100 international police officers, he said, they would "recruit, train and rebuild a Liberian police force that understands its role in a democratic society - to protect the citizens". He said the UN force would then take on the reconstruction of a small force of the Liberian army - reflecting all ethnic groups and structures in the country - rebuild it and make it professional.

*Abdullah Dukuly has just been discharged from hospital after sustaining a leg injury from the particles of a rocket that landed near his house in the western suburbs of the capital, Monrovia, on July 21. His computer was among several personal belongings that were looted during the July-Aug. fighting in Monrovia.


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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.