UN Security Council extends sanctions on Liberia for 12 more months

Deciding that Liberia has not fully complied with United Nations demands to halt its support for the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone and other armed groups in the region, the Security Council today extended sanctions on Liberia for a further 12 months.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council decided that measures it had imposed on the West African nation last spring - including an arms embargo, a travel ban for officials and a prohibition on the import of Liberia's rough diamonds - would be continued until compliance had been achieved.

The Council's decision also reiterated a call upon the Government to establish an effective Certificate of Origin regime for Liberian rough diamonds that was transparent and internationally verifiable. The Council also called on the Government to establish transparent and internationally verifiable audit regimes to ensure that revenue derived by the Government from the Liberia Shipping Registry and the Liberian timber industry is used for legitimate social, humanitarian and development purposes.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan was asked to establish within three months a Panel of Experts to conduct a follow-up assessment mission to Liberia and neighbouring States in order to investigate and report on compliance by Liberia’s Government with the resolution’s demands. The report would also cover the resolution’s potential economic, humanitarian and social impact on Liberia’s population as well as any violations of the measures.

The Council also asked all States, in particular arms exporting countries, to exercise the highest degree of responsibility in small arms and light weapons transactions to prevent illegal diversion and re-export, so as to stem the leakage of legal weapons to illegal markets in the region.