Security Council concerned exiled Taylor trying to influence events in Liberia

Members of the United Nations Security Council today said that attempts by former President Charles Taylor to interfere with events in Liberia could threaten the peace agreements in that country.

Speaking after a Council meeting on Liberia and Burundi, Ambassador John Negroponte of the United States, Council President for October, said the 15-member body had agreed to a press statement in which they "expressed concern that former President Charles Taylor is still attempting to influence events in Liberia and noted that any interference from Mr. Taylor could threaten the carefully constructed peace agreement in Liberia."

The Council had heard a report from UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi on Liberia, where the UN has recently taken command of a force of about 5,000 troops. President Taylor left the country in August.

Ambassador Negroponte told reporters, "one of the concerns that was expressed, and also corroborated by Assistant Secretary-General Annabi, is the fact that he is in communication with some of his supporters in Liberia, even though that is not continent with the terms of his exile, and we think that his activities need to be curbed so that he does not remain in political contact with his former supporters.

"So we think it is very important that he observe the terms of his having left Liberia, and that he respect the commitment that he undertook not to pursue political activities from outside the country. But we have reason to believe that he is not respecting those conditions at the moment."

Also in New York, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today that on Tuesday an inter-agency mission visited the central areas of Totota and Kakata and found increases in internally displaced persons, fleeing from continued fighting in the interior.