• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

 

21 August 2003

Transition Progressing Well in Liberia, Say Powell and Annan

ECOWAS force effective in advancing peace process

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan August 21 expressed satisfaction with the efforts to advance the peace process in Liberia.

Speaking to journalists after talks at U.N. headquarters on the August 19 bombing of U.N. field headquarters in Baghdad and the situations in the Middle East and Liberia, Powell said that the United States is "pleased at the progress made in Liberia so far."

"We see this morning the head of the transitional government has been named, and [are] pleased the United States was able to play a role in ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States peacekeeping mission)," the secretary of state said.

"I'd like to congratulate the secretary general ... as well as the ECOWAS leadership for their efforts [in] getting Mr. [Charles] Taylor out of Monrovia and peacekeepers in," he said.

Annan said "we are making progress on both the political and military fronts, and we hope that in the not-too-distant future we will be making even greater strides."

The United Nations announced August 21 that the 11-member U.N. assessment team sent by the secretary general had arrived in Liberia.

The team will help Annan and his special representative in Liberia, Jacques Klein, draw up recommendations for the U.N. Security Council on the size, structure, and mandate of the U.N. force, which will support a transitional government and help implement a comprehensive peace agreement. The U.N. mission is expected to replace the ECOWAS force in October.

Officials from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and representatives of other U.N. agencies have traveled outside the capital of Monrovia to get a clearer picture of the number of displaced persons and the humanitarian needs in those areas of Liberia, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

For example, in the town of Tubmanburg, 50 kilometers north of Monrovia, "UNHCR says the displaced have been surviving mainly on cassava leaves and palm cabbage, and are in desperate need of food, health care, and sanitation," Eckhard said.

Meanwhile, the World Food Program continued distribution to some 9,000 displaced persons, bringing the total number of people reached with food aid this week to 45,000, he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=August&x=20030821161752atia0.8355219&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html