Military

5 February 2004 – A donors' conference seeking almost $500 million for the next two years to help Liberia rebuild from its devastating 14-year-long civil war opened today at United Nations Headquarters in New York with speakers calling for generous pledges to help the nation - and the West African region - get on the track to stability and recovery.

The meeting was a "critical milestone" in the country's journey from crisis to recovery, offering a chance "to help achieve a real and lasting peace dividend" for Liberians, Mark Malloch Brown, chair of the UN Development Group (UNDG), which organized the two-day International Conference on the Reconstruction of Liberia, said in his opening address.

He recalled the signing in August of the peace accord that brought an end to 14 years of conflict and led to the international effort to help Liberians recover from the ruinous effects of war. The conference, he added, was a "crucial opportunity to help stabilize [the West Africa] region that has inevitably been affected by spill-over."

"But it is a fragile peace and urgent action is now needed to help ensure that the gains that have been made towards Liberia's recovery are not reversed," said Mr. Malloch Brown, who is also Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Christian Herbert, Liberia's Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, said domestic resources were woefully inadequate to meet the needs of post-conflict reconstruction. External assistance is required to ensure improved security; the success of the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and resettlement programme; good governance; democratic development and the rule of law; and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.

Mr. Herbert said the priorities contained in the rebuilding plan reflected the basic needs of the Liberian people. While the situation in the capital, Monrovia, and its environs could be considered to have improved, most of the country's rural areas were inaccessible, and international support was critical to distributing humanitarian assistance there.

On the humanitarian front, Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, noted that while great strides had been made since last summer, many Liberians had still not seen the benefits of the peace agreement. Urgent assistance was needed now so that people could return to their homes knowing that basic services were available. Stressing that many Liberians still live under conditions of war, she said there should be no false sense that everything was normal. Humanitarian action, she added, was essential to consolidate peace.

A team comprising representatives from the UN, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Liberian transitional government has been working for the past two months to prepare a report for the Conference assessing the country's needs.

According to that report, an estimated $488 million in assistance will be required for priorities ranging from demobilizing combatants - some as young as 12 - and helping them return home, get schooling and find jobs, to organizing elections in 2005, rebuilding roads, restoring electricity, reopening schools and health clinics, and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. That figure is in addition to about $180 million requested for Liberia in November by the UN as part of its consolidated appeal for all of its humanitarian activities worldwide.

Today's session was devoted to technical discussions, while the second day will hear contribution pledges. Participants on the second day will include UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Secretary of State Colin Powell of the United States, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin of France, Chairman Gyude Bryant of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein.