POLITICS-LIBERIA: Delicate Process of Disarmament Gets Underway

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Abdullah Dukuly

MONROVIA, Dec 3 2003 (IPS) - Liberia’s tortuous road to peace entered a crucial stage this week, when the United Nations launched a 15 million dollar programme to disarm over 40,000 combatants and reintegrate them into civilian life.

UN peacekeepers began arriving in the country during October, to help end one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars. The conflict, which lasted for most of the past 14 years, has left over 200,000 of Liberia’s 3.5 million people dead and displaced thousands more. The fighting has also spilled over into neighbouring states, destabilising the region.

At a ceremony held west of the capital, Monrovia, on Monday, senior government officials, faction leaders, UN personnel, diplomats and the public cheered the symbolic burning of some 300 weapons surrendered by forces of the exiled former President, Charles Taylor.

Jacques Paul Klein, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special envoy to Liberia, noted that “This is the beginning of the time for peace in Liberia.”

Military units from Russia, China, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Peru, Jordan, the Philippines and other nations will make up the 15,000-strong peace-keeping force – currently the largest in the world – that will oversee disarmament.

In addition, 200 military observers and a thousand international police are being deployed. The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) is operating under a “Chapter seven” mandate from the UN, which allows the use of force to ensure peace.

The combatants include troops who fought under Taylor, as well as rebels from Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

The first phase of the disarmament program will begin at three cantonment sites in Monrovia, and in southeastern and western Liberia.

Leaders from each of the three factions are expected to present 1,000 fighters at these sites for disarmament on Dec. 7. Weapons surrendered by the fighters will be destroyed.

After the demobilisation exercise, former combatants will be given stipends for their resettlement in various communities. The UN will also provide them with vocational training and temporary employment to ease their return to civilian life.

In addition, child soldiers are to return to school. Jacob Nimely, one of these fighters, expressed delight at the disarmament programme. “I just want to go to school now and forget about this fighting business,” he told IPS.

Transitional head of state Gyude Bryant is eager to see the exercise started. “We are demonstrating today our commitment to disarm the fighters and destroy all the weapons that have caused untold problems for us over the years,” he said.

LURD’s acting Chairman, Chea Doe, echoed these words, saying the programme marked a “new beginning” for Liberia. However, he gave an indication of the tensions still present when he demanded that all the posts in the transitional government which were allocated to rebel factions under the peace accord, “should be given to their rightful owners”.

Last week, the faction leaders demanded dozens of positions in the new authority in return for allowing their fighters to disarm. This triggered a public outcry, with a cross section of civil society organisations condemning the leaders for prolonging the suffering of civilians.

MODEL leader Thomas Nimely Yaya says fighters “are ready to disarm, but they need the packages promised them by the international community”.

But, civil society representative Conmany Wesseh said it was the responsibility of warring factions to lay down their weapons, rather than make demands for packages. Disarmament would create a secure climate for thousands of displaced people to return to villages that had been pillaged by the rebels, he said.

Charles Taylor went into exile four months ago, after rebels reached the outskirts of Monrovia. The former leader was himself a rebel at one point: he started a campaign to overthrow the Liberian government in 1989, and eventually won elections in 1997.

However, a new round of fighting broke out two years later. While Liberia has traditionally been ruled by the descendants of freed American slaves, including Taylor, indigenous groups like the Krahn and Mandingo are also demanding their share of power.

Mandingos control LURD, while MODEL is dominated by Krahns.