Security Council agrees to maintain sanctions against Liberia4 December – The United Nations Security Council agreed today to keep, "for the time being," two-year-old sanctions imposed on Liberia to stem arms trafficking during its civil war, but raised the prospect of holding talks soon on how they could eventually be lifted.
In a press statement, Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, this month's President of the Council, said the Council had decided to continue the sanctions after consultations on the issue in New York - despite the signing of a ceasefire in the West African country in June.
The sanctions, introduced in 2001 as a long-running civil war raged in Liberia, are aimed at blocking imports of arms to Liberia, diamond exports, and the travel of senior members of the government.
Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, chairman of the Council's Liberian sanctions committee, briefed the Council about the committee's discussions following a recent report by the panel of experts on Liberia.
Mr. Tafrov said "there was general agreement" in the Council that the sanctions should stay "to support the peace process in Liberia and to further consolidate peace and stability in the sub-region."
But he added that given "recent positive developments," the Council agreed there was a need to "redefine the legal basis for the sanctions and to evolve appropriate criteria for their eventual lifting."
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