Liberia
Most of Liberia now under rebel control

afrol News, 28 April - In a new report about the situation in Liberia, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan describes the hopeless situation of the country and its civilians, but urges parties to find a solution. The report reveals that at least 60 percent of the country in now under the control of different rebel groups.

Mr Annan's report especially draws its sources from another report by a recent mission to Liberia by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The ECOWAS mission had concluded that "about 60 percent of the territory of Liberia was under rebel control."

Due to this and the ongoing civil war, "the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons was deteriorating and the humanitarian agencies had no access to most of them." Other UN sources claim that by now, humanitarian agencies cannot access 70 percent of the country.

According to the ECOWAS report, there is now "no safe haven for internally displaced persons" because they were "constantly attacked and abducted by rebel groups and government security agents and sent to the front lines."

The political situation was "fragile", especially because of threats to opponents of the government and the abuse of human rights by government agents and rebel groups. "All social services are in a state of disrepair," the report holds, and the working population had not been paid for months, in some cases for over one year.

Mr Annan also observes that the security situation in Liberia had "deteriorated so badly that it has become extremely difficult to reach internally displaced persons." He urged the UN Security Council to "not to lose sight of the need for an early solution to the conflict in Liberia, whose deleterious effect is fast spreading throughout an already troubled subregion."

He recommended that an international force be deployed to maintain peace and security, particularly in light of impending presidential and legislative elections. The UN Secretary-General said he was encouraged by the Liberian government's "commitment to a direct dialogue with LURD" (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy), the country's principal rebel group. He also asked LURD to "renounce violence and give peace a chance."

The major part of Mr Annan's report is dedicated to the UN sanctions regime against Liberia, which is still in vigour. The UN sanctions include a diamond export ban, an arms import ban and travel restrictions for senior government officials and their relatives. To have the sanctions lifted, the Monrovia government needs to document it no longer supports Sierra Leone's RUF ex-rebels or other rebels attacking neighbour countries and doesn't import and/or export conflict gems.

The UN report refers to Liberian government intents of documenting its comply with UN Security Council resolutions. Monrovia makes a good case of the irrelevance of the sanctions, the RUF now being a recognised political party in Sierra Leone. It only admits breaking the sanctions in regard of arms imports, justifying this by the current rebel attacks against the government.

The UN only quotes unnamed sources claiming to have observed some diffuse breaches of the sanctions and the UN demands. "Unofficial sources claimed," the report says, "that the government of Liberia had links with some armed groups operating on the border with Guinea and occasionally made incursions into Guinean territory."

On the other hand, the UN sanctions in Liberia were being "blamed for everything" negative, according to the ECOWAS report, and were "used as a pretext for the government not meeting its responsibilities to the people." The sanctions further "did not appear to affect" government members and their relatives, and there were still reports of large-scale weapons and ammunition imports to Liberia, in breach of the sanctions.

The report by Mr Annan was issued to the UN Security Council ahead of a meeting it was scheduled to hold on Liberia on Monday. It draws on various sources; including a recent mission ECOWAS, observations of the UN Office in Liberia and insights from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). Mr Annan is expected to report on the situation in Liberia every six months.