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In Liberia, UN envoy asks presidential candidates to keep campaign peaceful

2 September 2005 – The chief of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia has said it will react robustly to any attempt to disrupt the electoral process before or after polling day in October and expects the results of the elections to be respected.

In a meeting with the presidential candidates, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) Alan Doss asked them to assist the UN in ensuring that the campaign remained peaceful and to make sure that their supporters fully respect the National Elections Commission (NEC) Candidates’ Code of Conduct, which has been signed by all political parties.

Any challenge to the results had to be dealt with according to the law. The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was monitoring the political situation closely and had put in place the necessary contingency plans to contain any security incidents, he said.

The SRSG noted the colossal tasks ahead for the winners of the presidential and legislative races and stressed the importance of a continued dialogue between the UN and the elected government of Liberia on such critical issues as security, governance and economic reform, the justice system and the protection of human rights.

On another front, UNMIL has helped the Liberian Government’s Forestry Development Authority to evacuate about 500 illegal settlers who were illicitly hunting “bush meat” and mining gold in West Africa’s richest environmental preserve and the country’s only declared national park, Sapo, in the south-east.

The illegal hunters and miners were guided to reception areas at park entry points in communities around the Park, provided with food and basic medical treatment, and transported to Zwedru, Greenville, or Monrovia. Troops from UNMIL's Ethiopian military contingent helped with the transportation of 184 of the illegal settlers and then were deployed in the communities on the perimeters of Sapo National Park to prevent poachers from re-entering.

Despite major rains in Liberia, by 26 August the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had helped 38,375 refugees to go back home, while the number of internally displaced people re-settled had reached 207,580.

UNHCR also has issued 650 micro-finance loans so far out of the 800 targeted. The loans have ranged from $75 to $500, it said.