GENEVA, June 28: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Saturday for the urgent dispatch of a multinational force to Liberia to halt fighting between government and rebel forces that has killed hundreds.
Mr Annan’s appeal came in a letter to the UN Security Council and was clearly aimed at stepping up pressure on the United States, which has close links to the west African country, to act to help end the chaos there.
The UN chief, on a visit to Geneva, said the council should meet immediately to agree on intervention “to prevent a major humanitarian tragedy and to stabilize the situation in the country.”
So far, the Bush administration has not decided on sending any force, although the issue is under discussion. Britain’s UN ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, last week publicly urged the United States to lead a multinational force.
“There are at least talks of further intervention, whether that’s necessary or appropriate. I don’t know at this point,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Friday.
Other UN sources said Washington was seeking evacuation of 50 American and European citizens from Liberia and had asked the UN operation in neighboring Sierra Leone whether it could send helicopters. The United Nations, however, said it would first have to check whether Russia would accompany any evacuation with helicopter gunships, also based in Sierra Leone, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Liberia’s government said it was talking to foreign countries, including the United States, on deploying a force to stop the fighting.
Annan’s call and Liberia’s announcement came amid an on-off cease-fire between government and rebels who control most of the country and are seeking to overthrow President Charles Taylor.
A sudden offensive earlier this week brought the rebels close to capturing the capital Monrovia and left hundreds dead before Taylor’s forces beat off the attempt.
In what diplomats said was a reference to the United States, Annan said the force should be “under the lead of a (UN) member state.”
Annan’s letter, first released by the United Nations in Geneva where he is to attend a meeting next week of the world body’s Economic and Social Council, was sent to current Security Council President Sergei Lavrov of Russia.
HIGHLY TRAINED FORCE: : “I would ... like to request that the Security Council take urgent action to authorize the deployment to Liberia of a highly trained and well-equipped multinational force, under the lead of a member state,” Annan wrote.
The force was vital “to prevent a major humanitarian tragedy and to stabilize the situation in that country,” he said.
“Our collective interest and our common humanity demand urgent and decisive action from the Security Council. We cannot be oblivious to the warning signs of an imminent possible catastrophe.”
Earlier this week, US President George W. Bush called on Taylor, wanted by an international court for war crimes in Sierra Leone, to step down, but did not offer to help him go.
Diplomats said there was growing frustration among senior UN officials over the US “hands-off” stance in a country founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago.
Greenstock pointed out that France was leading a multinational force in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is engaged in a peacekeeping effort in Ivory Coast, while Britain still has troops in Sierra Leone.
Annan said the consequences of letting the situation in Liberia spiral out of control “are too terrible to contemplate, not only for Liberia but also for the countries of the sub-region” — especially Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.—Reuters
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