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UN Sanctions Against Liberia Unfair: President Taylor
Liberian President Charles Taylor Saturday said the United Nations (U.N.) proposed sanctions on his country are unfair and unreasonable, according to reports reaching here from Togo's capital Lome.
The U.N.'s accusations that Liberia failed to cut ties with rebels in Sierra Leone is not true, Taylor was quoted as saying after holding talks with his Togolese counterpart Gnassingbe Eyadema, adding that the sanctions against his country are "unjust and illegitimate".
"We are just emerging from a war that has caused a lot of damage to our country and the sanctions will increase the suffering of our people," Taylor added.
Taylor, who has been accused by the U.N. of fomenting the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone in the interest of "blood diamonds", early Saturday arrived in Lome for help from Eyadema, the current chairman of the Organization for African Unity (OAU).
Meanwhile, thousands of Liberians including Taylor's wife, Saturday paraded through the streets of the capital of Monrovia to protest the proposed sanctions, urging international mediation to end conflict between Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Earlier on Friday, the U.N. Security Council held a close-door meeting and discussed the latest U.N. report on Liberia. At the end of the meeting, President of the Security Council James Cunningham announced that the U.N. additional sanctions on Liberia should take into force on May 7, saying that Liberia has not done enough to avoid being sanctioned by the U.N.
The additional sanctions will ban Liberia's diamond exports and restrict foreign travel by its senior officials, aimed at punishing Liberia and Taylor in particular. The U.N. has already imposed an arms embargo on the west African country.
In March this year, the Security Council stayed the imposition of sanctions on Liberia following a plea from Economic Community of West African States, which gave Liberia 60 days to address concerns of the council. The deadline is to expire on May 7.
The Security Council accused Liberia of being involved in gun- running and diamond smuggling with rebels of the RUF in Sierra Leone. However, Liberia categorically denied the allegations.
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