Liberia: Annan to close old UN office in preparation for new mission
In light of the impending establishment of a new United Nations mission in Liberia, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has
decided to close an office that was set up in the war-torn West African country six years ago but whose efforts to bring
peace, reconciliation and respect for human rights were hamstrung by renewed fighting.
The UN Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL), established on 1 November 1997, "facilitated the promotion of
national reconciliation and good governance and helped mobilize international support for the implementation of
reconstruction and development programmes," Mr. Annan said in a letter to the Security Council released today.
"However, as the Security Council is aware, the peace-building efforts of UNOL were seriously hindered by the inability
of the government and opposition party leaders to resolve differences over key issues of governance. Meanwhile the
promotion of national reconciliation was undermined by systematic abuses of human rights, the exclusion and harassment
of political opponents and the absence of security sector reform," he added.
Mr. Annan said UNOL's major functions would be transferred to the new mission that is set to be established shortly
following the Council's authorization in August of a West African-led multinational force for Liberia with a follow-on
UN stabilization force. He said the security situation in the country had improved since the deployment of the
multinational force.
In his latest report on Liberia, Mr. Annan asked the Council earlier this week to authorize the deployment of a
multidimensional peacekeeping operation, to be called the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), with a mandate to support the
transitional government set up under a recent peace agreement between the factions, provide security, assist the return
of refugees and help in demobilization and civil reform, among other things, leading to free and fair elections by
October 2005.
Presenting the report, Mr. Annan's Special Representative for Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein asked the Council for 15,000
peacekeepers and 900 police to bring the war-shattered country back from "hellish limbo" and end the "cycle of
brutality, violence, corruption and instability."