Annan calls for urgent aid to Liberia’s security agenda; sanctions are not lifted

With United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling on the international community to give Liberia urgent assistance with security sector reform, an expert panel has spotlighted “continuing reports of organized recruitment of ex-combatants in Liberia to fight in Côte d’Ivoire.”

Both reports – one from Mr. Annan and the other from the five-member Panel of Experts on Liberia – have been submitted to the UN Security Council.

In his ninth report on the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), Mr. Annan urges Liberia’s international partners, which have been helping to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 14 years of civil strife, to complete that agenda and tackle daunting challenges in the wake of the elections which took place in September and November.

“In this regard, I am particularly concerned about the uncompleted tasks of security-sector reform and the reintegration of numerous ex-combatants. I, therefore, strongly appeal to Member States that are in a position to do so to extend urgent assistance to these vital programmes,” he says.

In the calm but fragile atmosphere, the main sources of potentially serious security challenges have included former Armed Forces of Liberia personnel who were dissatisfied with their demobilization and retirement benefits, ex-combatants awaiting community reintegration opportunities, disgruntled supporters of the candidate who failed to win the November run-off elections and members of ex-President Charles Taylor’s former armed militia called the Anti-Terrorist Unit, Mr. Annan notes.

“Security problems in western Côte d’Ivoire also remained a potential threat to the efforts to consolidate stability in Liberia,” he says.

In his report next March he will recommend adjustments to UNMIL’s deployment, including specific benchmarks, he says. These benchmarks will take into account the findings of a multidisciplinary assessment mission which will visit Liberia next month and the outcome of consultations with the newly elected Government, Liberia’s international partners and other stakeholders.

They will also include the new responsibilities assigned to UNMIL, including guarding the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the detention of Mr. Taylor, if he returns to Liberia, and possible cross-border support for the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), Mr. Annan says.

On the question of recruiting mercenaries, the Panel of Experts says although there are only three points where vehicles can go between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, the length of the border, at 716 kilometres, makes monitoring difficult.

The requirements for lifting the embargo on Liberian rough diamonds and timber have not been met, while sales of iron ore have not been accounted for and scrap metal is being sold at a fraction of its international price, it said.

A 25-year agreement with Mittal Steel, reached in a procedure that was not transparent, contained provisions that could be costly to Liberians. “These provisions suggest that Liberians cannot rely on their Government and the international community to protect their interests, but that transparent negotiations are necessary.”

On financial governance, “the financial administration of the National Transitional Government of Liberia continues to be weak with an archaic internal control system and a virtually non-existent external oversight system. No effort has been made to prepare or audit the accounts of the Republic of Liberia,” it says.

The budget for 2005/06 reduces significantly the allocations to important social sectors such as health, education, public works, rural development and agriculture, while in 2004/05 “large amounts of funds” were transferred from such Ministries as Health, Education and Public Works to the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Budget Bureau, the General Service Agency and others.