S/2005/391
I. Introduction
1. By its resolution 1561 (2004) of 17 September 2004, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) until 19 September 2005 and requested me to continue to report periodically on progress in the implementation of its mandate. The present report covers developments since my report of 17 March 2005 (S/2005/177).
II. Major political developments
2. During the reporting period, progress in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement continued to be mixed.
3. Encouraging progress was made in the resettlement of internally displaced persons, repatriation of refugees, repatriation of Liberian ex-combatants and former Armed Forces of Liberia personnel from Sierra Leone, extension of State authority throughout the country, and training and restructuring of the Liberian National Police.
4. Preparations for the elections remained on track. The voter registration process, which took place from 25 April to 21 May, was successful. Following the commencement of the voter registration process, political parties increased their activities, including by holding primaries to elect presidential candidates. Fifty individuals have so far announced their intention to run for the presidency. The total number of registered political parties is now 24, and another 12 political groups are in various stages of registration. The political parties have continued to discuss among themselves possible alliances and coalitions in the build-up to the elections; the Liberian People's Party and the United People's Party formally agreed to an alliance on 27 April.
5. No incidents of violence were reported during the holding of the primaries or canvassing for members by political parties. The disputes within the former Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) faction also appear to have subsided. One group of the faction, led by Sekou Conneh, is registering as a political party. The other group, the LURD-Freedom Alliance, led by Kabineh Ja'neh, currently Minister of Justice and Attorney General, has not yet made its intentions clear.
6. While these developments are encouraging, the process of peace consolidation faced a number of problems. In this regard, the programmes for the reintegration of ex-combatants and the restructuring of the Armed Forces of Liberia continued to be plagued by a lack of adequate funding.
7. The poor performance of the National Transitional Government of Liberia in the key area of economic governance also became the focus of attention of some of Liberia's international partners. The International Contact Group on Liberia, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Commission, the Implementation Monitoring Committee and UNMIL explored initiatives to enhance economic governance and transparency in the Government's management of public funds. In addition, the International Contact Group on the Mano River Basin, during its meeting in Stockholm on 21 April, called on the National Transitional Government of Liberia to take prompt and effective action on reported cases of corruption.
8. Furthermore, ECOWAS, with the agreement of the Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia, Charles Gyude Bryant, decided to dispatch a team of investigators to look into allegations of corruption within the National Transitional Government. During its investigations, the ECOWAS team encountered resistance from some Government Ministers and other officials. They also met with resistance from the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which filed a petition for a writ of prohibition from the Supreme Court to restrain public officers from cooperating with the investigation, claiming that it violated Liberia's sovereignty. The writ was refused by the Supreme Court on 14 April. Chairman Bryant also urged Government officials to cooperate with the ECOWAS team.
9. On 11 May, representatives of the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, ECOWAS and the United States Government met in Copenhagen to explore how best to address the issue of improving economic governance by the National Transitional Government of Liberia. They reviewed the reports of the European Commission-financed audits of the Central Bank of Liberia and five State-owned enterprises, and noted that the technical and policy advice on economic governance-related issues given to the National Transitional Government over the past 18 months had not achieved the desired results, due to a lack of willingness on the part of the Government to institute reforms. They concluded that financial malfeasance and a lack of transparency and accountability were undermining the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. They therefore agreed to develop an economic governance action plan, to be presented to the Government for implementation and submitted to the Security Council for its consideration.
10. Furthermore, tensions stemming from the suspension on 14 March of the Speaker, his Deputy and the Chairpersons of the Ways and Means Committee and the Rules and Orders Committee for administrative and financial malpractice have continued in the National Transitional Legislative Assembly. A petition filed by the suspended officials is still pending before the Supreme Court. The National Transitional Legislative Assembly has maintained that the judiciary has no jurisdiction over its internal processes and has continued to function under the leadership of a newly elected Acting Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
11. Concerns about the lack of progress in improving the quality of life of the general population are increasing, particularly given the recent rise in the prices of essential commodities, including rice, fuel and cement. Although the National Transitional Government of Liberia has adopted regulations to control prices, these have not been enforced, mainly because of corruption.
12. Concerns about former President Charles Taylor's continued interference in the political process in Liberia have increased. Media reports, citing the Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, indicated that Mr. Taylor may have travelled to Burkina Faso earlier this year to meet with one of the Liberian presidential candidates. These reports have been strongly denied by the Nigerian authorities. During the second meeting of the National Transitional Government of Liberia-United Nations-ECOWAS Coordination Mechanism, held in Abuja on 26 May, ECOWAS called on those who had accused Mr. Taylor of violating the conditions of his asylum in Nigeria to provide evidence thereof. Meanwhile, Mr. Taylor's political party is currently divided over allegations that during the recent party primaries he made telephone calls to influence the voting, leading to the withdrawal of one candidate from the primaries.
III. Monitoring the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
13. The Implementation Monitoring Committee and the International Contact Group on Liberia continued to meet regularly. The latter held weekly meetings, chaired by Chairman Bryant, to review the progress made in the peace process and to address emerging issues in a coordinated manner.
14. At the second meeting of the National Transitional Government of Liberia-United Nations-ECOWAS Coordination Mechanism referred to in paragraph 12, the progress and remaining challenges in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement were examined. The meeting welcomed the decision taken by international partners to develop the economic governance action plan and the proposal to submit it for the consideration of the Security Council. It also emphasized that security-sector reform should include the rehabilitation of the judicial, penal and immigration sectors and called for the adoption of clear, well-defined and transparent criteria to guide individuals' inclusion in or exclusion from the sanctions list.
IV. Deployment of the United Nations Mission in Liberia
15. As at 1 June, UNMIL troop strength stood at 14,836 (see annex). The Mission has now completed its deployment to all 15 counties. During the reporting period, new deployments were aimed at ensuring effective security for the electoral process. In that regard, an Ethiopian company was deployed to Barclayville in Grand Kru County, while two Pakistani companies were deployed to Bopolu in Gbarpolu County and to Foya in Lofa County.
16. As at 1 June, UNMIL civilian police strength stood at 1,064, of an authorized ceiling of 1,115, including 480 officers in four formed police units and 18 corrections officers. In addition to deployments in Monrovia, UNMIL civilian police continued to maintain a presence at the Roberts International Airport, the Spriggs Payne Airport, the Freeport of Monrovia and 24 other locations throughout the country.
17. In my last report (S/2005/177), I recommended that the Council authorize the deployment of a fifth formed police unit, composed of 120 officers, for an interim period of six months commencing in August, to enhance the Mission's capability to respond to security emergencies during the electoral period. The deployment is most important to provide UNMIL with the requisite capacity for maintaining security during the electoral period. Therefore, I would once again recommend that the Council authorize this urgently needed deployment.
18. With regard to civilian personnel, of an authorized total of 635, UNMIL currently has 494 international staff, 30 per cent of whom are women. The Mission also has 441 United Nations Volunteers, 179 of whom are working on the elections, as well as 727 national staff.
V. Security situation
19. During the reporting period, the overall security situation remained fragile, with a general climate of uneasy calm. The most serious threat to stability came from ex-combatants awaiting reintegration opportunities. Many of these ex-combatants held violent demonstrations to demand reintegration benefits and opportunities. They also threatened to disrupt the elections and to attack UNMIL personnel. Continued delays in providing these idle ex-combatants with reintegration opportunities leave them open to exploitation by manipulative political elements, particularly during the electoral period.
20. Organized groups of ex-combatants with links to influential members of the former armed factions are also illegally occupying the Guthrie rubber plantation, located on the border of Bomi and Grand Cape Mount Counties. In addition, organized groupings in Nimba County have held violent protests, demanding that the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration pay fees to schools that they had been attending but that had not been authorized by the National Commission to enrol ex-combatants.
21. Some Liberians have expressed concern that there may still be weapon caches in some parts of the country, including Monrovia and the Guthrie rubber plantation. However, the information received by UNMIL so far has not led to any significant discoveries of such caches. The Mission continues to conduct cordon-and-search operations on the basis of information received.
22. Another threat to Liberia's fragile stability is the "coalition of unwilling political forces", which includes individuals who are barred by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement from contesting the 11 October national elections, those on the Security Council travel-ban and assets-freeze lists and those who are benefiting economically from Liberia's instability and lack of Government authority. Such individuals are not interested in the consolidation of peace and democracy in the country.
23. Ethnic clashes also continued to pose a threat to security. On 3 April, a clash occurred between members of the Gio and Krahn ethnic groups at Youpie Podogle, Nimba County. The dispute dates back to January, when the Gios from New Youpie prevented the Krahn from Old Youpie from collecting the remains of nine Krahns killed during the civil war. On 21 May, violent clashes over disputed property also took place in Lofa County between members of the Lorma and Mandingo ethnic groups. Also, during the voter registration process, there were allegations that some registrars were denying individuals of Mandingo origin the right to register to vote, on the grounds that they were foreigners. However, an assessment conducted by UNMIL determined that there was no evidence that a particular ethnic group was being targeted by the registrars and that the attempts by foreigners to register were minimal.
24. UNMIL troops continued to provide umbrella security throughout the country and to work on creating a safe and stable environment for the electoral process. They also conducted border patrols and cordon-and-search operations.
25. On 23 April, UNMIL took over security responsibilities at Monrovia's Freeport to enable it to meet international ship and port facility standards. Unauthorized individuals were removed, and new identification passes were issued to authorize 2,500 workers to have access to the Freeport. Efforts to enhance security and operations at the Freeport are continuing, and to that end the Liberian Seaport Police are currently participating in the training programme at the National Police Academy.
VI. Disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration
26. Since the formal closure of the disarmament and demobilization process in November 2004, UNMIL has received 286 weapons, which were either voluntarily surrendered or discovered, as well as some 31,000 assorted pieces of ammunition and some 300 pieces of unexploded ordnance, which are being destroyed.
27. UNMIL and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are continuing to collaborate on a five-year national community arms collection and development programme. Some $12 million is needed for the programme, of which $700,000 has been secured for pilot projects in Lofa and Grand Gedeh Counties. On 18 May, the National Commission on Small Arms was established to oversee the programme.
28. On 15 April, the first referral and counselling office for demobilized ex-combatants was opened in Monrovia. Similar offices will soon be operational in Harper, Zwedru, Buchanan, Gbarnga and Voinjama. Meanwhile, 3,901 demobilized ex-combatants have successfully completed their vocational training. As at 1 June, 29,165 ex-combatants, including 1,420 children, were participating in reintegration projects funded by the UNDP Trust Fund, the European Commission and the United States Agency for International Development. Steps are being taken to redirect the focus of reintegration projects from vocational training to agriculture and small-scale income-generating activities.
29. However, funds are urgently needed to provide reintegration opportunities for the remaining ex-combatants, who continue to be a potential source of instability, as noted in paragraph 19. A $3.4 million contribution from Sweden has reduced the shortfall to $36.2 million, and the United States of America and the European Commission have pledged $15 million and €11 million respectively, which would further reduce the gap. It is hoped that these funds will be made available shortly. 30. The repatriation of 612 foreign ex-combatants identified during the disarmament and demobilization process is under way. The International Committee of the Red Cross recently assisted 34 individuals from this group, who were children formerly associated with fighting forces, in their return to their countries of origin. These included 5 returns to Côte d'Ivoire, 16 to Guinea and 13 to Sierra Leone. The remaining foreign ex-combatants are still awaiting repatriation. Meanwhile, the repatriation of a group of 389 Liberian ex-combatants and Armed Forces of Liberia personnel interned in Sierra Leone during the conflict was completed with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 18 May.
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