Bangladeshi troops shift from UN mission in Sierra Leone to Liberia

The first 80 of some 800 United Nations peacekeepers to be shifted from Sierra Leone to Liberia have crossed over the border, a UN spokesman said in New York today.

The movement of the Bangladeshi troops - at the end of their one-year tour with the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) - is part of the Security Council's decision to establish a mission for war-shattered Liberia consisting of up to 15,000 military personnel and up to 1,115 civilian police officers. Some 3,500 West African soldiers have already been put under command of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). The newly augmented force is mandated to monitor an agreement signed between rebel groups and the government last August.

The spokesman, Fred Eckhard, also said the UN Force Commander for Liberia, Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande, yesterday held a meeting with the leader of the Liberians United for Democracy (LURD), Sekou Damate Conneh who, Mr. Eckhard said, reiterated that the LURD is committed to the ceasefire accord.

Mr. Conneh also said he instructed his commanders to comply with an agreement reached on Monday to make the area around the capital Monrovia weapons-free within 72 hours, Mr. Eckhard added.

In Monrovia, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Liberia, Jacques Klein, asked traditional chiefs from Liberia's 15 counties for assistance in keeping the peace.

"I will need your help - before us is the most difficult challenge of our collective lives," Mr. Klein said. "I hope you will assist me in this mission to restore peace and stability of this land. It cannot be done without you. You are Liberia. You are its traditional leaders. You are its living tradition, a tradition older than the State itself."

In New York, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had resumed food distribution to several camps. The assistance had been suspended 1 October due to clashes between LURD and government militias.

While OCHA and several interagency groups have been continuing aid, and scouting new areas, other, non-essential aid activities in some areas have been put on hold for fear of new clashes, a spokesperson for the Office said.