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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SIERRA LEONE: Liberian, Ivorian conflicts threaten regional peace

ABIDJAN, 8 January 2003 (IRIN) - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday that ongoingtensions in Liberia and the emergence of a new conflict in Cote d'Ivoirecontinued to pose threats to peace and security in the subregion.

In his sixteenth report to the UN Security Council on the UN Mission inSierra Leone (UNAMSIL), Annan said the Ivorian conflict - with the reported involvement of former armed elements from both Liberia and Sierra Leone - had complicated the nature of conflict in Sierra Leone's neighbourhood.

"This worrisome development gives added urgency to the need for acomprehensive regional approach," he said, adding that he was "greatlyencouraged" by the Council's proposal to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the situation in Liberia and to send an assessment mission to the region in early 2003.

Annan's report provides an update on the gradual reduction of UNAMSIL's troops, the deployment of 170 civilian police, progress made towards achieving key security benchmarks set out in his fifteenth report, and overall efforts to consolidate peace in Sierra Leone.

He said UNAMSIL's strength was to be reduced from 17,500 to 13,000 by 31 May 2003 under the first two phases of a troop-reduction plan approved by Security Council Resolution 1436 (2002).

The first phase was completed on 8 November 2002 with the withdrawal of600 Bangladeshi and Nigerian troops, as well as reconnaissance helicopters that were considered no longer essential, Annan said.

He noted that difficulties could arise during the withdrawal period, butnothing that UN peacekeepers could not handle. He also said the downsizing would be a complex task requiring "meticulous management of the risks involved in transferring security responsibilities to thegovernment of Sierra Leone".

It would also need coordination between UNAMSIL's military, political and logistical components, government agencies and development partners, whose work would be vital in consolidating peace in the country.

[The full report is available at http://www.daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/1514928.html]

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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