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UN Reviews Liberia's Fate Today!

The Analyst (Monrovia)
ANALYSIS
December 21, 2004
Posted to the web December 21, 2004

- Reviews Sanctions, UNMIL
-Will Sanctions Be Lifted?
-Panel Skeptical; NTGL Remains Optimistic
Almost two weeks ago, the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia submitted its findings
vis-�-vis the transitional government's compliance with the sanction regime
it inherited from the Taylor administration.
The Panel was established pursuant to resolution 1549 (2004) concerning Liberia
and had been working since August this year probing the management of the
nation's timber and mineral industries for evidence of compliance or non-
compliance. The Panel said it found enough evidence to indict the NTGL and
justify a call for continuous stay of sanctions until a new civilian government
takes office in January 2006.
But already in Monrovia, the government is not taking the findings kindly,
calling them "international politics." Somewhere between the Panel's claims and
the government's denials lies the truth and observers have no doubt that the
Security Council will not fail to find it, provided of course, it keeps its
head above the muddied waters. As The Analyst's Staff Writer reports, the UN
Security Council commences review of the Panel's report and the performance of
UNMIL this morning.
The UN Security Council commences the review of the report submitted to it by
the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia by 10:00 a.m. today and possibly continues
tomorrow with briefing from chairmen of the Sanction Committee and Working
Groups.
According to the Council's Programme of Meetings and Agenda, today's session
which will be held in the Consultation Room at the UN Headquarters in New York,
will cover consultations that will zero in on the review of Liberia's sanctions
and the performance of UNMIL.
Incidentally, this is the Panel's last report on Liberia, which is expected to
be formally disposed of at a briefing in Bougainville. What follows following
the dissolution of the Panel is not know. The Panel comprises a timber expert,
Arthur Blundell (Canada); a civil aviation expert, Atabou Bodian (Senegal); an
expert with Interpol investigative and arms experience, Damien Callamand
(France); a diamond expert, Caspar Fithen (United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland); and an expert on humanitarian and socio-economic aspects,
Tommy Garnett (Sierra Leone). Mr. Bodian was designated as the Chairman of the
Panel. Assistance on financial matters was provided by a consultant, Rajiva
Sinha.
It was established in August 2004 to assess compliance with sanctions imposed
on arms, diamonds, timber, and the travel of individuals, as designated by the
Committee, who are deemed a threat to lasting peace in the region; sources of
financing, such as from natural resources, for the illicit trade of arms; steps
by the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) to establish an
effective Certificate of Origin regime for diamonds consistent with the
Kimberley Process; steps by the NTGL to establish control over timber producing
areas and to ensure that government revenues are not used to fuel conflict but
for legitimate purposes for the benefit of Liberians; observations and
recommendations, including, inter alia, how to minimize any humanitarian and
socio-economic impact of the above sanctions; and, assess compliance with the
freezing of all financial assets and economic resources owned or controlled by
Charles Taylor and his associates, as designated by resolution 1532 (2004).
It was clear from the beginning of the sanction and the UN's probe that the
current sanctions on Liberia would be lifted only if the transitional
government cooperated with the international community in ensuring that all or
most of what the Council demanded in its mandate were met or seen to be met.
But in its reports submitted to the Security Council December 8, 2003, the
transitional government's performance in all spheres leaves much to desired,
despite claims by some officials of NTGL that conditions for the lifting of
sanctions have been met.
Says the Panel's report: "The processes of social and economic recovery in
Liberia continue to make very slow progress, given the fragile political and
security situations in the country, that remain wanting in many respects. The
optimistic anticipations of a post-civil war era in Liberia are yet to
materialize." According to the report, despite encouraging economic projections
by various institutions, including the IMF in early 2004, the vast majority of
Liberians remain poverty stricken as the country still faces monumental
development challenges.
These challenges, it says are related to "weak and disunited institutions of
governance, human rights and the rule of law; destroyed capital and social
infrastructure; national and sub-regional insecurity; increasing prevalence of
HIV/AIDS; slow pace of economic and social reforms; unfavorable environment for
private sector development; resettlement of IDPs, returnees and refugees; and
United Nations sanctions on diamond and timber exports." It notes further that
more than a year since the NTGL assumed power, most Liberians have seen little
improvement in their quality of life.
"Liberia still has no public electric, water, and sewage utilities, even in the
capital, Monrovia, where more than one million increasingly frustrated people
live. Unemployment is estimated at 85% and corruption remains widespread. Under
these conditions, the riots in Monrovia of October 29th, which left 16 dead,
are likely to recur," it said.
The report however notes that bleak as the situation might seem, the outlined
challenges are not insurmountable.
It says, "However, the main obstacle that Liberians, and to a large extent the
international community, have to contend with for the foreseeable future, is
the apparent lack of commitment on the part of certain key players in
transitional governance institutions to address the above challenges in a
comprehensive way." It said corruption continues to haunt the Bryant
administration even while the government claims its hands are clean and are
only be soiled by detractors and pseudo politicians who only want to see the
NTGL fail.
The government has not said why such wishes appear to be commonplace
notwithstanding its efforts to see the nation move from economic backwardness
to prosperity.
How much of this claim of unnecessary persecution is true cannot be gauged, but
the Panel seems not to be impressed, giving credence to published information
and surveys by the news media and civil society advocacy groups that suggest
that the NTGL's capacity for good governance is being critically undermined by
factional politics and that several of its key players are opportunistic
individuals focused on consolidating their power base and/or accumulating as
much wealth as possible before the proposed October 2005 general elections and
return to full democratic governance.
"Thus, the NTGL is perceived by many Liberian citizens as incapable of
providing even the most basic of social services and relies almost entirely on
the international community, particularly the UN agencies and their partners to
cater for public health, education, food security and infrastructural
rehabilitation. The prevailing low level of public confidence in the NTGL and
NTLA, so amply demonstrated in recent months, seems to confirm the growing
perceptions in Liberia and some members of the international community, that
the country's biggest problem at present is not economic sanctions, but rather
the predominance of non-reform minded individuals within NTGL, causing the
acute shortage of political will to proactively and vigorously pursue the
reforms needed, to enable the establishment of transparent systems, which can
ensure that the lifting of economic sanctions and resumption of timber and
diamond exports will lead to the greater good of all Liberians," the Panel
notes.
Quoting available statistics, the Panel claims that the UN agencies and their
international NGO partners collectively employed 4912 national staff Twenty
five out of forty two listed International NGOs employed 3822 national staff
with a 2004 program value of $76.5 million.
On the health front, the Panel said all the hospitals and about 90% of the
clinics that are public facilities owned by the Government of Liberia are
currently maintained by NGOs, missionary groups and other humanitarian
agencies, complemented by a small number of privately run clinics and health
centers.
It claims: "During discussions and interviews with a cross section of Liberian
citizens and members of the international community, it emerged that the loss
of employment opportunities for the estimated 5000-8000 Liberians, due to the
sanctions on timber remains a serious issue in the timber producing areas. At
the same time, most people emphasized that sanctions on timber must not be
lifted before the installation of a democratically elected government. The
commonly expresses rationale for this view, is that the NTGL remains obviously
factionalized and is yet to demonstrate its commitment and political will to
lead the country out of its present difficult circumstances. Therefore, if
sanctions are lifted now, especially on timber and diamonds, revenue generated
will be mismanaged and used for the benefit of a few well placed individuals
and groups, as was done in the past." Many, including officials of the present
government, had thought that the sanctions would have been lifted with the
departure of Taylor considered the "boogie man," but it did not, prompting the
belief amongst NTGL officials that the sanctions have been politicized.
Addressing himself to the sanction issue with regards to the mining industry,
Land, Mines, and Energy Minister Jonathan Mason told a local forum that had the
sanctions not been part of international politics, the sanctions on diamond and
other gems would have since been lifted because the NTGL has satisfied
conditions laid down by the Kimberley process, for the lifting of the
sanctions.
In Minister Mason's view, according to a recent publication, corruption that is
said to be at the bottom of the violation of UN's sanction on mining is the
imagination of detractors of NTGL that is yet to be proven.
He claimed that the lifting of the sanctions would provide job opportunities
for more than 30,000 Liberians who are currently without jobs.
But has the NTGL met the Kimberley requirements?
The Panel explains: "Because of the present problems of funding, there has been
little progress by the Government of Liberia towards meeting Security Council
requirements since the Panel's interim report was presented to the United
Nations Sanctions Committee in September. Nevertheless, there have been some
key developments: In late October, the Panel accompanied a Liberian delegation
to the Kimberley Process Annual Plenary meeting in Ottawa, Canada.
"The Liberian delegation was well received and arrangements were made for the
visit of a Kimberley Process review mission to Liberia in late November 2004,
although this has subsequently been postponed until 17 January 2005. It was
agreed that the review mission would visit Liberia's principal mining areas,
and evaluate the Government of Liberia's capacity for the implementation of the
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. This would include assessments of
technical capability, as well as the durability and efficacy of internal and
external control mechanisms.
"The United States has expressed an interest in providing some of the funding
required by the Government of Liberia for the acquisition of equipment and the
establishment of those bureaucratic structures necessary for full Kimberley
compliancy. However, the Government of Liberia has yet to produce an accurate
costing of its needs for achieving full Kimberley compliancy. While it has
produced lists of equipment and outlines of necessary infrastructural
development, it appears to be experiencing difficulty in achieving an actual,
accurate financial costing of its outstanding requirements.
The Government of Liberia is close to reaching an agreement with an
international consultancy company that would conduct independent valuations of
diamonds for export duty purposes." "Notwithstanding this, isn't it justified
that the current sanctions be removed to make way for massive employment of
hapless Liberians now that Taylor is gone?" is the question many are asking.
The UN thinks the answer is not simply no, or yes as much is involved with
protecting Liberia than painting an individual black.
It said in its mandate to the Panel: "Former president Charles Taylor went into
exile in Nigeria in August 2003, and was replaced in October 2003 by the
National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), which was and remains
composed of the three previously warring factions (LURD, MODEL, and the former
Government of Liberia). The Security Council remained concerned that the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that established the NTGL was not
universally implemented and the linkage between natural resources and the
proliferation of arms may be a major source exacerbating conflict in West
Africa. Therefore, the Council renewed, under a revised legal basis, the
sanctions on arms, diamonds, timber, and the travel of key individuals
(resolution 1521(2003)) and, further, required all States to seize relevant
assets of Taylor and his associates, as designated by the Committee (resolution
1532(2004))." The Panel then recommended, amongst other things that the
international community sustains its financial assistance for the provision of
urgently needed social services, including the rehabilitation and maintenance
of hundreds of health and educational facilities that were destroyed during the
conflict, most especially in the former logging concession areas.
In view of the assistance, it said "The Panel recommends that the current
embargo on the export of Liberian diamonds remains in force until Liberia is in
a position to make a successful application for participation in the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme.
The Panel recommends that the international community takes immediate steps to
provide the necessary funding and technical assistance to enable the Government
of Liberia to meet the requirements of the United Nations Security Council and
the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Without such assistance, illegal
production will increase and Liberian diamonds will undermine not only the
efforts of neighbouring states to adhere to the requirements of the Kimberley
Process, but also the credibility of the global diamond industry.
The Panel recommends that UNMIL be given the authority to assist the Government
of Liberia in asserting its control over its diamond producing regions until
such time as Liberia is ready to participate in the Kimberley Process and
United Nations sanctions are lifted. In particular, UNMIL could effectively map
mining activity in the interior and deploy personnel to inspect licenses and
concession agreements.
Placing pressure on illegal diggers would go some way towards controlling
illegal smuggling. There is precedence for this: UNAMSIL gave similar
assistance to the Government of Sierra Leone as part of its successful attempts
to legitimize and assert its control over the diamond industry of that
country." Whether the Council's deliberation this morning will take the Panel's
recommendations hook, line, and sinker for the stay of sanctions until a
civilian government is ushered in, or not, remains largely a question for
speculation with the option weighing heavily on the stay of sanctions.
But what is clear, according to analysts, is that Liberia is at a critical
crossroads and that it is only the cooperation of the international community
in managing the nation's economy that will provide the lead way out of the
woods graft and denials.

   

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