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Refugee Influx and Upcoming Elections in Liberia Need International Attention

The refugee influx from Côte d'Ivoire and upcoming elections in Liberia need continued international attention as highlighted today by Ellen Margrethe Løj, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

Ellen Margrethe Løj told the Security Council that the political and security environment in the West African nation has become more complex in recent months.

"Not only is the election calendar coming clearly into view, but the situation along Liberia's border with Côte d'Ivoire requires close monitoring for potential security fallouts. Liberia is much stronger today than it was eight years ago when UNMIL arrived on the ground. Nevertheless, we should not take these eight years of unbroken peace for granted."- Ms. Løj

UNMIL has been on the ground since 2003 to help support a ceasefire agreement that ended a decade-long war that killed nearly 150,000 people, mostly civilians, and sent 850,000 others fleeing to neighbouring countries.

The mission has been providing assistance and logistical support for the 11 October polls, including the airlifting and transporting of voter registration materials.

Ms. Løj reported that voter registration concluded on 12 February with no major security incidents, adding that it was encouraging that some 1.8 million registration forms had been retrieved. This represents 89 per cent of the estimated total number of eligible voters, an almost 30 per cent increase over the 2005 elections.

She cautioned, however, that there are likely to be significant challenges in the coming months in preparing for the referendum to be held on 23 August on amendments to the election-related provisions of the Constitution, as well as the October elections, as these are one-day events and Liberia's rainy season will be at its peak when the referendum is held in August.

The Special Representative also stressed the need for strong support from the international community as Liberia deals with the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the post-election crisis and accompanying violence in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire.

Ms. Løj added that the situation also poses security concerns since monitoring the porous 700-kilometre-long border, especially given the poor state of Liberia's infrastructure, is a "massive" challenge.

Liberia is one of five countries - along with Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone - currently on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission that was set up in 2005 to help countries emerging from conflict make an irreversible transition from war to sustainable peace.

Ms. Løj noted that Liberia's inclusion on the Commission's agenda is a major opportunity for the country to solidify progress already made in security and rule of law sectors, as well as to go further and in new directions to address national reconciliation.

Ambassador Zeid Raad Zeid Al Hussein of Jordan, Chair of the Commission's country-specific configuration for Liberia, stressed in his briefing the need to sort out the numerous land disputes in the country to consolidate national reconciliation.

His visits to the country had also underscored the fragility of the judiciary, he said, calling for measures to strengthen the functioning of the existing courts before judicial services were extended beyond the capital, Monrovia.

Source: United Nations