POLITICS:
Drained Liberia Receives Drops of Aid
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 (IPS) - After nearly 14 years of civil strife that claimed the lives of over half a million people, a war-battered Liberia is looking for a new road map to political and economic recovery, and money to pave those ''roads''.
''We don't have anything. Nothing. E-mail doesn't work, fax doesn't work, telephones don't work. And we operate our offices with cell phones,'' Liberian Foreign Minister Thomas Nimely told reporters Friday.
An official government delegation, led by the chairman of Liberia's National Transitional Government, Gyude Bryant, is visiting Washington and New York appealing for funds to rebuild a country in shambles.
''We also don't have electricity, we don't have water; and the sewage is spilling into the streets. So we have a lot of problems, but we don't have the financial resources,'' said Nimely, a member of the visiting delegation.
A two-day U.N. conference of donors that ended Friday took in pledges worth more than 500 million dollars to meet Liberia's reconstruction needs in 2004-2005.
The bulk of the funds are coming from the United States and the 15-member European Union (EU), which have pledged about 200 million dollars each.
A joint assessment by the United Nations and the World Bank has projected Liberia's resource needs will cost about 488 million dollars over the next two years.
''The call for international donors to raise nearly 500 million dollars for the reconstruction of Liberia is a positive move in the right direction,'' Reverend Gabriel Odima, president of the Africa Centre for Peace and Democracy, told IPS.
''But 500 million dollars is not enough compared to the money the international community is spending on Iraq and Afghanistan,'' he said.
An international donor conference for Iraq last October raised about 33 billion dollars in grants and loans. Additionally, the United States alone has earmarked a staggering 87 billon dollars to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.
U.K.-based Oxfam, which has several large-scale humanitarian projects in Liberia, has complained about the lack of resources to meet the country's emergency needs.
''The United Nations appealed for 177 million dollars last November for immediate humanitarian assistance (food aid, emergency water and sanitation and medical care). But so far, they've only received around 20 million dollars,'' Helen Palmer of Oxfam told IPS.
''Liberia has been a neglected emergency for too long - with disastrous results,'' she added. ''The humanitarian need in Liberia is very great, with the country's infrastructure shattered and hundreds and thousands of people still displaced by years of war.''
Palmer said many displaced Liberians are unwilling or unable to go home. ''Some are too scared to go back to their home areas while former combatants are still at large with their guns. Many have nothing to go home with or to,'' she added.
The United Nations is appealing to member states for more troops for its 9,000-soldier peacekeeping force in Liberia, which is 6,000 troops short of its target of 15,000.
Last month Secretary-General Kofi Annan complained about the ''slow response'', particularly from western nations reluctant to provide troops.
Asked Friday how there could be meaningful disarmament in Liberia when the United Nations is unable to field a full complement of troops, Annan told reporters:
''First of all, you have to understand that the United Nations has no troops. We borrow troops from governments and we can move only as fast as governments want to move.''
The U.N. chief said he expects the force to be fully deployed by the end of February. ''I don't think it is too bad given the pace of usual deployment,'' he added.
Addressing the donor conference, Annan echoed the complaint that money for the country is slow to come. ''I must remind you that recent humanitarian appeals for Liberia remain largely unfunded'', he said.
Long-term reconstruction and short-term humanitarian assistance might be distinct in concept and in the way they are funded, added Annan.
''But ultimately, they are closely linked. It will be hard, if not impossible, for Liberians to start rebuilding their country while large numbers of war victims still lack the most basic necessities of life,'' he said.
Liberia's reconstruction is also a regional issue, Annan warned. ''If the demobilisation process is not effective, this could have destabilising effects on (three neighbouring countries) Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Sierra Leone".
Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), told delegates Liberia's current revenues are insufficient to provide essential equipment or permit the rehabilitation of basic services like water and electricity.
''Lack of resources has also impeded efforts in critical areas, such as the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants. The greatest threat today to renewed conflict is young men with guns who have not been quickly disarmed and given alternative economic livelihoods,'' he added.
According to Oxfam, the process of disarming and demobilising an estimated 40,000 fighters has barely begun. ''Past experiences in Liberia in 1997 and Sierra Leone in 1998-1999 demonstrate the danger of donors failing to follow through with their promises to help reintegrate the ex-combatants,'' Palmer said.
''When coupons promising education and training turned out to be meaningless, anger and resentment were fuelled, contributing to re-mobilisation of fighters'', she added.
Odima said many people in western capitals argue that billions of dollars have been wasted on Africa for years without tangible results.
''The other side of the argument is that the West has done little in terms of foreign aid to Africa. There is no right or wrong answer on this argument. My perception is that the West has given money for the wrong purpose, without adequate mechanisms to monitor the flow of foreign aid to Africa,'' he added.
Odima said international donor conferences are also needed for countries like Somalia, Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
He quoted former U.S. senator and presidential aspirant George McGovern as saying, ''the people we assist today will become our customers tomorrow''.
''I will add to that by saying that improving the standard of living in the developing countries today may become the basic tool in eradicating terrorism and creating stable governments in the 21st century,'' Odima said.
(*ATT EDS: Updates amount of pledges in paragraph 5.) (END/2004)
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