POLITICS: UN Troops Start Liberia Mission

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Oct 1 2003 (IPS) - The UN Mission in Liberia officially began Wednesday as most of the 200 American troops deployed in the West African country had pulled out.

Around 3,500 West African peacekeeping soldiers, who were deployed there recently, will make the first contingent of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). They will be joined by 12,000 other UN peacekeepers, whose deployment was approved by the United Nations on Sep. 19.

The man who will command the forces had been named by the UN secretary-general Kofi Annan on Tuesday. He is Gen. Daniel Ishmael Opande of Kenya, the current force commander of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). His new job, as the UNMIL commander in Liberia, began Wednesday.

"We want to ensure the peacekeepers are deployed in time for the disarmament and demobilisation of combatants," said Jacques Klein, special representative for the UN Secretary General. Klein lamented the destruction of the country and the need for post-war reconstruction. "Things have to move fast so that we reduce the suffering of the people," he said.

At least half a million Liberians – out of a population of 2.7 million – are described as displaced, according to aid agencies.

Liberia has been embroiled in a civil war for four years, with rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) fighting to overthrow the government.

Last month President Charles Taylor ceded power to his deputy Moses Blah, who will himself hand over power this month.

Fighting has subsided in the capital Monrovia and most of the countryside, with a ceasefire currently in place.

The rebels have also allowed in humanitarian workers in their controlled areas to deliver badly needed relief items to desperate civilians.

Last week the authorities in neighbouring Sierra Leone reported that a high-powered delegation of officials from LURD had been granted permission to transit Sierra Leone into areas they control on the other side of the border. "I cannot say for sure if their mission is to start discussing issues of demobilisation of their combatants," says Internal Affairs minister George Banda Thomas. "We will help in whatever way to bring peace to our sister republic."

Tens of thousands of Liberians are scattered in neighbouring countries as refugees and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has started registering them for eventual repatriation.

"I am prepared to return to Liberia now that a ceasefire is in place," says Alice Toe, a 32-year-old businesswoman, currently residing in Freetown. "With Charles Taylor Gone and the guns falling silent, I think it is time to go home."

UN sources in Freetown say a contingent of Bangladeshi troops will leave Sierra Leone this month for Liberia to take up peacekeeping duties. The exact number is not clear but it seems the Sierra Leonean UN Mission will provide a huge chunk of peacekeepers in Liberia.

In the meantime, Liberians are waiting to see when the disarmament of the 30,000 combatants, including child soldiers, will commence. The government of President Blah has said this would be a priority once the UN takes over fully.

UNMIL has been mandated to monitor the cease-fire agreement between rebel groups and government forces and create a conducive atmosphere for free and fair elections by Oct. 2005.