UN envoy lauds debt relief deals reached at Liberia meeting

The United Nations envoy to Liberia today said “real progress” had been made this week in dealing with the impoverished country’s almost $4 billion debt, but acknowledged that major challenges remain in rebuilding, particularly in the security sector and in creating jobs, following 14 years of brutal civil war.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Alan Doss, attended the 13-15 February Liberia Partners Forum, which was held at the World Bank in Washington, alongside Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, and other senior UN and international officials.

“There were three principle outcomes of the meeting,” Mr. Doss told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York. “One, I think the Government’s poverty reduction strategy…was very well received by all of the partners…Second there was real progress on the whole of issue of debt relief and debt reduction, which for Liberia is a huge problem. This is a country where it has a $3.7 billion debt,” he added.

“The United States took the lead in announcing that it was in the process of forgiving all of Liberia’s debt, which is $391 million to the United States alone. Germany, the UK and several other countries also announced that they would be on the same track. There was also progress in reaching agreement to deal with multilateral debt – principally the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the World Bank and the African Development Bank.”

Despite these positive developments, Mr. Doss, who also heads the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), said the meeting addressed “a number of areas of continuing concern” as the country moves to rebuild, particularly regarding security, improving the rule of law and increasing employment.

Peace and security are a “core concern” for the mission, he said, adding that security sector reform should be intensified if possible as part of the eventual drawdown strategy for UNMIL itself.

In addition, he said more progress is needed in the area of rule of law and extension of justice.

Voicing concern about employment in Liberia, where ex-combatants and ex-security personnel need to jobs, he said, “Work has been started in that but the need to accelerate that particularly in infrastructure, labour-intensive public works.”

Mr. Doss said the meeting also addressed the regional situation, specifically the fact that Liberia is in what he described as a “troubled neighbourhood.”

With the situation in Côte d’Ivoire uncertain and that in Guinea deteriorating, he said participants “discussed the measures, putting in place – political as well as preventive security measures – to try to make sure that Liberia is not engulfed in any problems that may happen, particularly now in Guinea.”

Representatives from the private sector, including leading figures from the US business world, also held discussions with Liberian officials. Mr. Doss said interest was expressed in stimulating private sector investment in the country, and stressed this was key to its future.

In a separate development, United Nations refugee agency Goodwill Ambassador and Greek singer George Dalaras, currently on a five-day mission to West Africa, is today in Liberia wrapping up his trip after visits earlier in the week to meet Liberian refugees in some of the camps in southern Sierra Leone.

“The world stood by and let refugees suffer,” Mr. Dalaras said. “Whatever we can do is probably less than what you need and deserve,” he told festive crowds that had gathered to meet the singer who is making his first visit to refugee camps since becoming a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ambassador last October.

Sierra Leone hosts an estimated 27,360 refugees, including 21,700 Liberian refugees living in eight camps across the country. As UNHCR’s newest Goodwill Ambassador, Mr. Dalaras joins the ranks of Barbara Hendricks, Adel Imam, Angelina Jolie, Giorgio Armani and Julien Clerc.