More Muscular Diplomacy® from the UN
The United Nations Security Council will pass a resolution on Oct. 1 to give legal backing for an international stabilization force in war-torn Liberia, Ghana News Agency reported Wednesday. - The UN peacekeeping force will take over from the Nigerian-led vanguard force to enforce the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in Accra, capital of Ghana, on Aug. 19.
Aug 19th - Oct 1st; wouldn’t wanna rush things
- Ghana’s Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who led a five-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) team to brief the Security Council on the outcome of the peace agreement, was quoted as saying on Tuesday that the resolution would give the peace initiative the needed momentum. "We should be careful not to allow the peace process in Liberiato slack," he told a press conference in Accra.
- The meeting also focused on restructuring of the Liberian army. The foreign minister said ECOWAS lost a unique opportunity in 1997 to disarm combatants and that this time round care is being taken not to repeat that mistake.
- He said the United States committed itself to the provision of logistics to facilitate the peacekeeping efforts in Liberia. Logistics had been the bane of the peace mission adding, Nana Akufo-Addo said, adding that "the same problem is affecting the deployment of Ghanaian troops." However, he said, the problems were being resolved to enable the Ghanaian troops to be deployed as soon as possible.
- Nana Akufo-Addo said there were no discussions about former president Charles Taylor and his indictment. Besides the Reconciliation Commission provided in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ECOWAS negotiators have no intention of setting up a war crime tribunal to try those who committed atrocities during the prolonged conflict in Liberia. "The issue of a war crime tribunal is not in the agreement and we do not intend to do anything else apart from what the Comprehensive Peace Agreement provides," the foreign minister said.
"Because too many of the neighboring countries would be exposed to punishment... if we started punishing war crimes in Africa, the trials would never stop" |