Liberia: UN presents new list of people banned from international travel
The United Nations Security Council, acknowledging political changes in Liberia following the departure of President Charles Taylor, has presented a new list of nearly 50 of his associates who should be confined to their own countries - fewer than half of the number previously restricted.
The United Nations Security Council, acknowledging political changes in Liberia following the departure of President Charles Taylor, has presented a new list of nearly 50 of his associates who should be confined to their own countries - fewer than half of the number previously restricted.
The 47 people include those senior members of the former Taylor Government and their spouses as well as members of Liberia's former armed forces who retain links to Mr. Taylor, or who are supporting armed rebel groups, a Council sanctions committee said.
The 16 March update is governed by resolution 1521, and supersedes the list of 115 people named on a revised list of June 2003 that fulfilled an earlier Council measure, resolution 1343 passed in 2001. The number of Taylors named dropped to five from nine.
The Council has called on all UN Member States to "take the necessary measures to prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of all such individuals, as designated by the Committee, who constitute a threat to the peace process in Liberia, or who are engaged in activities aimed at undermining peace and stability in Liberia and the sub-region."
Asked about Liberians listed who might have United States passports, as some members of the Liberian elite did, an official in the Security Council Subsidiary Organs Branch noted that the resolutions said "nothing in this paragraph shall oblige a State to refuse entry into its territory to its own nationals."
If the passport holder tried to move from the passport-granting country to another country, however, he or she should be stopped, he said.
Among those named on the new list is an individual identified as Leonid Minin, who was said to have nine or 10 aliases, three birth dates and to carry passports from Bolivia, Germany, Greece, Israel and Russia.
Mr. Taylor, currently living in Nigeria, is under indictment by a Special Court set up through an agreement between the UN and Sierra Leone to try those who bear "the greatest responsibility" for atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. He faces 17 counts of crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.
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