Nigeria to Deploy Peacekeeping Force in Liberia

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 10, 2003

Nigeria to Deploy Peacekeeping Force in Liberia

Nigeria's senate on Wednesday approved the request of President Olusegun Obasanjo to deploy Nigerian troops for peacekeeping operations in Liberia.

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Nigeria's senate on Wednesday approved the request of President Olusegun Obasanjo to deploy Nigerian troops for peacekeeping operations in Liberia.

Adopting a motion sponsored by Senate Leader Dalhatu Tafida, the senate approved the deployment of two battalions of Nigerian troops as part of an international peacekeeping force in Liberia.

According to the senate, the approval was in accordance to section 5(4)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution.

Sponsoring the motion, Tafida said that Liberia had been engulfed in civil war for 14 years and that Nigeria had been actively involved in the search for peace in the west African country.

He said that as part of the effort to return peace in the country, the international community had agreed that an international peacekeeping force be deployed to the country and that Nigerian should contribute two battalions to that force.

He also said that President Charles Tailor had pledged to relinquish power and vacate Liberia upon the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

The senate's committees on foreign affairs and defense was mandated to work out the cost implication and find out whether Nigeria is getting foreign assistance or not.

The renewed fighting broke out in late June between the Liberian government troops and rebels had left some 700 people dead and over 1,000 others injured, making it the worst phase in the four-year bloody civil war in the country.

The Liberian civil war, which lasted about 14 years and claimedat least 200,000 lives, flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by the main rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy in northern Liberia.

Civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world and the latest unrest since 1998 hasforced some 300,000 Liberians to flee to neighboring countries andclaimed thousands more lives.

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