UN Chief Pleased with Adoption of Resolution on Liberia

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UN Chief Pleased with Adoption of Resolution on Liberia

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that he was pleased that the Security Council acted quickly to adopt a resolution on authorizing a multinational force in Liberia.

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UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that he was pleased that the Security Council acted quickly to adopt a resolution on authorizing a multinational force in Liberia.

"I hope this implies a new political will, a will that, I think, has been absent among the international community. But now this resolution is passed, I hope we will move ahead with urgent and determined action to help the Liberian people," the UN chief said.

The UN Security Council Friday voted to authorize a multinational force to help end civil war in Liberia and maintain security after President Charles Taylor steps down. France, Germany and Mexico abstained.

The United States pushed for the late Friday vote to formally establish an emergency force as West African leaders prepared to send the first contingent of Nigerian peacekeeping troops to Liberia on Monday.

The resolution authorizes the multinational force to remain in Liberia for two months and it will be replaced by a UN peacekeeping force, no later than Oct. 1.

France, Germany and Mexico said they support deployment of the force but abstained because a provision in the resolution is not in conformity with the international law and their national laws. Germany and Mexico had asked for a paragraph-by-paragraph vote, but without success.

Asked about his reaction to the provision relating to the International Criminal Court, Annan said he believes that the attempts to protect international UN peacekeepers from prosecutionof the kind that is intended in the resolution is "really not necessary."

"Quite frankly, my sentiments are with those who abstained fromthe resolution," he added.

The United Nations, African countries, and others have been pressing Washington to lead the force to help end a conflict between troops loyal to Taylor and rebels trying to oust him, but the draft resolution makes no mention of US troops.

Asked if he is still hoping that US troops will actually end upon the ground in Liberia, Annan said that is a decision up to US President George W. Bush.

However, he noted that situation in Liberia is desperate, and he expected all the forces in the area to help pacify the situation, get humanitarian assistance to the Liberian people.

US Ambassador John Negroponte has said the Bush administration wants the force being assembled by the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, to take the lead, with the UnitedStates providing support.

When asked about French and German concerns as he headed into the Security Council late Friday, Negroponte said: "We really understand the problems of Liberia."

The resolution adopted Friday authorizes the Sierra Leone mission to provide logistical support to the ECOWAS force for 30 days.

UN officials said they expect the Nigerian battalion now in Sierra Leone as part of the UN force to be the first to arrive in Liberia. The United States will transport the second Nigerian battalion, which should put about 1,500 troops in the country, a US official said.

The resolution was approved under Chapter VII of the UN Charterwhich authorizes the use of military force if necessary to carry out its mandate.

The Security Council said it determined that "the situation in Liberia constitutes a threat to international peace and security, to stability in the West Africa sub-region, and to the peace process for Liberia."

The resolution formally creates a multinational force to support a June 17 cease-fire agreement which has been repeatedly broken, and to help establish and maintain security after Taylor departs and "a successor authority" is installed.

It authorizes the force to help "secure the environment" so that desperately needed humanitarian aid can be delivered and to prepare for the initial stages of disarming and demobilizing combatants.

Liberia was founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves and retains close cultural ties to the United States. It has been engulfed in intermittent conflict since Taylor launched acivil war in 1989.

A rebel siege began in June but disputes over funding the emergency mission slowed deployment of the West African force.

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