Military

DATE=2/4/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=LIBERIA CONFERENCE SCENESETTER(L-O)

NUMBER=2-312734

BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN

DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///EDITORS: This is an alternative to David Gollust's piece slugged U-S-Liberia Donors #2-312721///

INTRO: The United Nations is hosting an international conference this week to appeal for funds to rebuild Liberia after years of civil war. From U-N headquarters, Peter Heinlein reports Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell are among those leading the appeal.

TEXT: The two day conference is being sponsored by the United States, the World Bank, and the U-N Development Fund. Its goal is to raise as much as 500 million dollars to pay for reconstruction projects in Liberia over the next two years.

Among those attending will be Gyude Bryant, who was chosen Liberia's interim leader last year after former president Charles Taylor was forced into exile.

Conference organizers say after 15 years of civil war, and with an estimated 21 thousand children who were involved in the fighting, Liberia is the key to breaking the cycle of child soldiers in Africa.

On the eve of the conference, U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters the international community has an obligation to help Liberia, even if it is only for reasons of self-interest.

///ANNAN ACT///

It is one thing to go in and deploy peacekeepers and say we're giving them a hand, and we're going to disarm all these soldiers including child soldiers, but if you do not disarm and re-integrate them into society, if you do not give them prospects for making a decent living, if you do not help recovery and reconstruction, you're not really going to be able to succeed.

///END ACT///

The U-N Security Council authorized a 15 thousand strong peacekeeping force last year for the resource-rich but poverty-stricken west African nation. When up to full-strength, the force would be the largest of its kind in the world.

But the peacekeeping effort has been plagued by problems, some of them due to lack of manpower. Secretary-General Annan warned that a failure by the international community in Liberia could have far-reaching consequences.

///2nd ANNAN ACT///

We must all have learned by now the consequences of failed states, and what could happen when a state can be used as a haven by terrorist elements who organize, train and come to haunt the rest of us.

///END ACT///

Mr. Annan said he also hopes to establish a peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast, in addition to a force in Liberia and Sierra Leone, to address what he called a regional instability problem.

Joining the Secretary-General in the Liberia appeal is a host of dignitaries and celebrities. Among them will be Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as the U-N Children's Fund Goodwill ambassador and Liberian international soccer star George Weah. (Signed)

NEB/NYC/PFH/RH