POLITICS-LIBERIA: A New Gov’t to Be Installed This Week

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Abdullah Dukuly

MONROVIA, Oct 13 2003 (IPS) - The United Nations Mission in Liberia embarked on a major drive last week to take the arms off the streets of the capital, Monrovia, ahead of the inauguration of a power-sharing government this week.

The 72-hour stop and search exercise – designed to make the city a weapons-free zone – subjected vehicles and motorists at military checkpoints to vigorous checks for guns and weaponry before being allowed passage to their destinations.

But witnesses said the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) recovered "just few grenades, pistols and other war-like materials from some vehicles and luggage of people, including women" in a city widely believed to be infested with arms and ammunition.

And this has triggered cautious reactions from residents. "We are disappointed that the arms search did not yield the desired result. We expected that more and more arms and weaponries that were used in Monrovia’s three-week fighting in June and July, but have not been reported, would have been recovered during the search operations," said housewife Josephine Bryant of Sinkor Old Road, Monrovia’s south.

"The fighters still have the guns hidden around the city," Samuel Wesley, a hawker told IPS. "Monrovia has endured the worst fighting in the country’s 14-year war, especially the most recent ones in June and July. So it is foolhardy for anyone to conclude that the mortals and other heavy weapons that were used during the clashes have been surrendered," he said.

For university student Frederick Johnson, "No one should be deceived into believing that the city is arms free simply because the combatants are no longer brandishing their weapons in the streets. They are apparently keeping them in anticipation that the UN will pay them enormous amounts during the disarmament period," he said.

While UNMIL’s spokesperson, Margaret Novicki, maintained that the peacekeepers made some progress in the recovery of arms, she assured Liberians that their country would be arms-free. She disclosed that UNMIL would soon acquire some sophisticated devices that can detect weapons and war-like materials.

Representatives of the country’s three warring factions met with UN military commanders Monday and agreed to "demilitarise Monrovia within 72 hours" ahead of the seating of the interim government Oct.14.

Businessman-turned politician Gyude Brant will take over the mantle of state from exiled president Charles Taylor’s successor and run the country for two years until elections in 2006.

The rebel leaders and heads of the pro-government militia are members of the power-sharing government. As they are expected to attend the inaugural ceremonies, tension remains high with UN troops intensifying their arms search in the face of persistent reports of armed robbery and looting in parts of the city.

The tension comes less than two weeks after a fatal shooting erupted when the main rebel leader Sekou Damate Conneh’s forces clashed with government militia as he tried to visit Monrovia from his Tubmanburg stronghold in western Liberia for a reconciliation meeting with caretaker president Moses Blah.

Observers said it should have been Conneh’s first visit to Monrovia after his Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) launched a rebellion against Taylor in 1999.

The Kenyan-born force commander of UNMIL, Daniel Opande, said after a meeting with representatives of the armed factions that his "troops will ensure that we do what we came here to do". The UN force has a strong mandate to monitor and implement the ceasefire between the rebels and government and investigate cease-fire violations.

UN took over the command of peacekeeping operations in Liberia Oct. 1 to end a 14-year civil war that has torn the country apart, destabilised the region and caused instability in neighboring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire.

A vanguard force of 3,500 West African soldiers arrived in August to pave the way for the exit of Taylor – who faced military and international pressures – and prepare the ground for a UN force.

With Bangladeshi troops arriving from Sierra Leone where they had been a part of the UN force that is keeping peace in that country, peacekeeping sources say the force in Liberia now numbers about 6,000 troops.

UN officials told IPS there are plans to quickly bolster the force to 15,000 troops and hundreds of military observers and police officers and to deploy throughout the country.