POLITICS-LIBERIA: Facing Threat Of Sanctions

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Feb 20 2001 (IPS) - Liberia’s embattled President Charles Taylor is certainly not a happy man.

He is battling to stave off armed attacks by dissidents in the north of the country, and domestic pressure from civil society. To add to his woes, Liberia also is facing threat of sanctions from the United Nations.

Last week, the UN Security Council deferred by two months the imposition of sanctions on the Liberian government for its alleged backing of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. The Taylor administration has been accused of gun-running and providing conduit for the smuggling of so-called “blood diamonds” by the RUF.

A special UN panel, which was investigating the alleged links between Taylor and the RUF, recently reported that the Liberian President and members of his government were direct beneficiaries of the trade in conflict diamonds, a reason for their continued support of the rebels who have been fighting the Freetown government for a decade.

However, the Taylor administration has repeatedly denied these charges, challenging its detractors to provide incontrovertible evidence to back their claims. Taylor himself said: “Let them come forward with the proof that indeed we (Liberian government) are dealing in RUF so-called blood diamonds. Our involvement in Sierra Leone was purely for peace.”

But observers believe Taylor is a key to the operations of the RUF and over the years, proof has been shown by the capture of Liberian mercenaries who confessed to being paid by Taylor and the seizure of weapons and uniforms belonging to the Liberian army.

As pressure mounted, Taylor recently took the bold step of expelling all RUF functionaries from Liberia and closing their liason office in Monrovia the capital. He also ordered the grounding of Liberian air services “for normalisation of records and activities” because some Liberian-registered aircrafts were accused of flying into RUF-held regions to smuggle in weapons and diamonds out.

The proposed UN sanctions against Liberia include an embargo on diamond and rubber export and a ban on travel by government officials and members of their families. Even religious groups and civil society in that country called for sanctions to be imposed on the Taylor regime.

Britain and the United States were instrumental in calling for sanctions on Liberia which they accused of fueling the wars in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea. But they didn’t get it through because they were not supported by other council members.

Political analysts believe the Taylor administration did so much lobbying, both within the West African sub-region and in Europe ending in the delaying of the proposed sanctions. Liberian government officials were sent all around the globe to argue the case against sanctions which they claimed would hurt the ordinary Liberians most.

“Our people have been impoverished by years of war”, said Foreign Minister Monie Captan. “Any sanctions now will only strangulate poor and ordinary Liberians.”

In neighbouring Sierra Leone, reactions have been sharp. The spokesperson of the Civil Society Movement Charles Mambu, told IPS Monday: “We are disappointed at the Security Council decision to delay sanctions on Taylor’s rogue government by two months. This will only give him (Taylor) time to strengthen his discreet ties with the RUF.”

Mambu added that the UN decision should be reviewed as a matter of urgency. The government in Freetown has not made any official statement on the issue, but an aide to President Tejan Kabbah said that he was not opposed to the two-month delay since, in his words, “this will allow Mr Taylor to turn a new leaf and totally disengage from the RUF.”

Many in Freetown blame the government of Sierra Leone for not being roburst in its campaign for sanctions against Liberia. Infact, the Kabbah administration has never thoroughly articulated its stance on Liberia’s alleged support for Sierra Leone’s rebels in order to win sympathy from the international community.

Remarked an analyst: “They want the international community, especially Britain, to do that for them.”

The UN sanctions aside, Taylor himself has a big task ahead. Liberian dissidents have been slugging it out with his forces for control of the northern Lofa county on the border with Guinea.

His repressive style of rule and harassment of the opposition has also come under the spotlight and, as a somewhat conciliatory gesture, Taylor announced that exiled opposition people may now return home “to join the political and reconciliation process.” But many welcome this invitation with cautious optimism.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an opposition leader said in Abidjan, the capital of Cote d’Ivoire: “I don’t think the climate is conducive enough to return. Let him (Taylor) remove the stupid charges of treason levelled against us and stop harassing people.”

Taylor came to power in 1997 after waging a seven-year bloody campaign to oust then President Samuel Doe. His rebellion plunged the country into chaos, leaving more than 150,000 dead and the country badly destroyed.

Since then, his reign has been characterised by terror, with real as well as perceived opponents targetted for elimination. There have been several cases of disappearances of opponents of the government.

Although elections are to be held in 2003, many of the key opposition leaders have gone into exile.

Taylor’s ties with the RUF dates back to 1991 when a little- known former Corporal in the Sierra Leone army Foday Sankoh, launched his rebellion from Liberia with the backing of fighters of Taylor’s defunct National Patriotic Front (NPFL).

At the centre of that alliance is an illegal trade in diamonds which could be found mostly in RUF-controlled territory. It is still not clear what next step the maverick Liberian leader will take to diffuse the whole threat of sanctions. Even his detractors agree Taylor is smart at doing just that.