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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
LIBERIA: Liberia needs 900 international police officers, UN envoy says
MONROVIA, 6 September 2003 (IRIN) - The United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative to Liberia, Jacques Klein, has said that 900 international police officers are needed to help train and rebuild the Liberian police force.
Klein told a news conference on Friday in the capital, Monrovia, that the recommendation followed findings by a UN assessment team sent to Liberia last month.
The assessment team is to determine the composition of a proposed UN mission to the war-torn country later this year.
"Our assessment calls for 900 international policemen, some armed, some not. The goal will be to recruit, train, equip and try to build a Liberian police force that understands its role in a democratic society to protect the citizen,” Klein said.
“I would like to find international funds to pay that new police force, so that they do not live off the citizens and can do their job with dignity," he added.
He said Liberia also wants the United States, its traditional friend, to help in rebuilding the army. International media have reported that the US government is considering asking Congress for up to US $200 million to aid war-ravaged Liberia,
The tough-talking UN envoy said he will be seeking a mandate for a UN multinational force of 15,000 peacekeepers in Liberia to carry out effective demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of armed fighters.
"I don't know what the Security Council will give us. I am asking for 15,000 troops. I would like to bring in enough troops quickly to be able to do disarmament, demobilization - the demilitarization that needs to be done,” Klein said.
“The process [of setting up a UN mission in Liberia] will take about four months",” he added.
Klein expressed fear that renewed clashes in central Liberia would continue if there were not enough peacekeepers deployed in Liberia, saying: "The present strength of ECOMIL [the West African peacekeeping force] is adequate to stabilize the security situation".
The UN envoy warned Liberian fighters to desist from renewed fighting in central Liberia and described recent skirmishes as "criminal activities" against civilians.
On Wednesday, over 50,000 internally displaced people fled from camps around Totota, a town in central Liberia, 109 km north of Monrovia. They walked towards Salala, 19 km southwards.
They reported skirmishes between government fighters and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) in Ziensu village, 12 km north of Totota
"The civilian population is being exploited and terrified by thugs who frighten them and then loot and steal", Klein said.
"I would remind them [fighters] that they are violating the accord their elders signed, they are violating international humanitarian law, and they will be held accountable," he warned.
A government commander in central Liberia told IRIN on Friday that LURD rebels attacked government's position at the village of Kolela about 20 km west of Totota.
"The clashes started at about 2.00 pm. One of our commanders, T-Boy, has returned for reinforcements," Adam Sirleaf, the government's field artillery commander in Salala, told IRIN.
"There are bodies on the road from between Ziensu and Kolela. People have been killed, especially women and children," Sirleaf added.
LURD deputy Secretary General for Civil Affairs, Alhaji Sekou Fofana, however denied their forces were involved in renewed fighting.
He told IRIN in Monrovia, "There is no cause for LURD to keep fighting. Our mission has succeeded. We had wanted Charles Taylor removed from the presidency and out of the country and now Taylor has resigned and left the country".
The LURD spokesman further said: "Our forces have not advanced beyond Gbatala town and we have been there long before the signing of the peace agreement in Ghana on 18 August".
Gbatala, in central Liberia, is a former military base of ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor now in exiled in Nigeria, is 120 km north of Monrovia.
The fleeing people however told IRIN in Totota on 25 August that LURD forces had overran government troops in Gbatala on the weekend of 23-24 August.
The Ghana Peace Agreement calls for the cessation of hostilities and a transitional government headed by businessman Gyude Bryant which will be installed on 14 October to replace the current interim government, headed by Moses Blah, who replaced Taylor.
The agreement was signed by the government, the two rebel groups - LURD and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), and political parties and civil society group
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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