05 February 2004
Effort Under Way to Raise $488 Million for Liberia
Natsios: International community must help solidify peace
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The international community must help Liberia seize the opportunity to change the course of its history from conflict and suffering to peace and prosperity, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said February 5, urging international donors to contribute close to $488 million over the next two years to help Liberia rebuild from the ashes of its disastrous 14-year civil war.
"Not only do the people of Liberia deserve this, but the people of the region should benefit from this change. Liberia is the key to the future stability of West Africa," said USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios.
To sustain the long and arduous transition to peace and recovery, "the international community must take full advantage of the historic opportunity we now have to aggressively assist the Liberians in achieving their objectives," Natsios said.
"So for the well-being of Liberians -- and West-Africans as a whole -- the international community should make the difference it is capable of making by providing funding, support, and leadership to help the Liberians be successful -- successful in meeting the ardent desire of the people of Liberia for genuine lasting peace, national unity, reconciliation, as well as economic growth," he said.
Liberia already is a country rich in national and human resources, Natsios said. If the international community does its part, he said, it will provide "a new and critical resource -- hope."
The United States, the United Nations, and the World Bank are co-hosting a two-day International Reconstruction Conference on Liberia February 5 and 6. On the first day officials of the World Bank, the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) and other agencies presented the detailed "joint needs assessment plan" that outlined programs ranging from demobilizing combatants and helping them return home, providing schooling, and finding jobs to rebuilding roads, restoring electricity, reopening health centers, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, and organizing elections in 2005.
The second day of the conference will be a pledging session at the ministerial level, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia C. Gyude Bryant.
The monetary requirement for the two-year period is estimated at $487.7 million, divided between $243 million for 2004 and $244.7 million for 2005. An additional $179.1 million was requested for emergency humanitarian aid in a November 2003 appeal.
Natsios said that the key to Liberia's transition to peace and recovery is a successful disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, and reintegration (DDRR) of combatants, some of whom are as young as 12 years old. If the DDRR fails, he said, "Liberia will remain an unstable, insecure state where people's lives will be constantly at risk and development hindered."
The USAID administrator also said that humanitarian relief and development should be simultaneous to the extent possible, and there must be effective capacity-building to ensure the sustainability of development.
Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP administrator and chairman of the U.N. Development Group, said that the meeting was a critical milestone for the country.
"It is a crucial opportunity to help stabilize a region that has inevitably been affected by spillover. 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," Malloch Brown said.
The $487.7 million does not reflect the totality of the needs likely to exist in the country today, the UNDP administrator said. Rather, it reflects what can realistically be achieved within the next two years given the limitations of security and time constraints in drawing up the assessment.
Malloch Brown also emphasized the importance of the DDRR. "The greatest threat today to renewed conflict," he said, "is young men with guns who have not been quickly disarmed and given alternative economic livelihoods."
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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