15 September 2004
Liberia Has "Come a Long Way" in One Year, U.N. Envoy Says
Klein says international aid essential for continued progress
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The U.N. Mission in Liberia has continued to make progress in stabilizing the country, but many challenges, especially economic and political, lie ahead for the West African nation in the coming years, U.N. special envoy Jacques Klein said September 15.
After a private meeting with the Security Council, Klein said that "we have come a long way in the past year. That's very obvious to everyone." He cited progress in demobilization and demilitarization of former combatants, in health, and in other areas vital to the Liberian people, but added "we have a great deal of work to do yet. We shouldn't delude ourselves."
"The Liberian people have resolved to build a better future for themselves," said Klein, who heads the U.N. Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). "What we will need, candidly, is the international assistance to build that future for them. Liberia is enormously rich in natural resources, but what we will need is good governance, international investment, and the support of the international community to ensure that whatever we put in place has sustainability over time."
UNMIL, which was established by the Security Council a year ago to support the ceasefire and peace process that ended a 15-year civil war, has more than 15,000 military and police personnel deployed throughout the country. In a written report to the council, Secretary General Kofi Annan said that UNMIL has demobilized some 70,000 ex-combatants and called for further generous pledges to help prepare the country for elections next year, support good governance, and rebuild the country's economy.
Klein said that "we have universal support. Everyone understands how difficult this mission is when you have a country that has had 24 years of chaos and disturbance and internal war." But he said that the country is competing for aid and investment with other nations in turmoil around the world and, unfortunately, "when you have no major problems, there is no interest in what you're doing."
Nevertheless, he said, "Liberia is the key to West Africa. We must have a Liberia that has long-term stability, that is reintegrated into the family of nations, and that gets the economic support from around the world to rebuild civil society."
The U.N. official estimated that Liberia will need $100 million in investments over the next few years to rebuild the basic infrastructures so that the country can function.
Klein also said that the failure of former President Charles Taylor, who is in exile in Nigeria, to appear before the Special Court for Sierra Leone to face a 17-count indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity in that country has had "a very real impact" on the situation in Liberia.
While Taylor is no longer in daily phone contact with allies inside Liberia, messages still go back and forth, Klein said. "He still is a cloud that hangs over much of what we do.
"At some point you have to come to closure on this issue for the sake of the people of Liberia who have gone through so much," he said.
"There is a hard core in Liberia who are totally opposed to everything we are doing" because they have no future there unless Taylor returns, Klein said. On the other hand a large group are saying that they would be willing to make that commitment to Liberia and to assist the international community if they knew Taylor was actually before the court, Klein added, but until that happens they are not going to "stick [their] neck(s) out."
The UNMIL chief said he hopes that many of the 450,000 Liberians now living in the United States and Canada will return to their native country now that stability, good governance, and rule of law are returning to the country.
"The key things are foreign investment, the return of the educated elite that has left over the last years, and [the] need [for] the people of Liberia to take a hand in their own future," Klein said.
(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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