UN appeals on Liberia's behalf
2004-01-16 14:05
New York - The United Nations is looking for between $400m and $500m in aid for Liberia at an international donors conference next month to rebuild the war-ravaged west African country.
Officials said the request would be put to nations at the February 5-6 meeting in New York, stressing that the hopes for bringing stability to the war-battered nation had never looked better.
"The overall political and security situation in Liberia is daily growing more stable and I believe it is now irreversible," said Jacques Klein, the senior UN envoy to Liberia.
"The prospects of success are greater today than any time in Liberia's recent past," he told reporters.
The country is trying to rebuild from nearly 14 years of continuous war that were brought to an end when former president Charles Taylor bowed to international pressure in August and fled to exile in Nigeria.
Rubber, diamonds and timber
Liberia is rich in resources including rubber, diamonds and timber, but Taylor's reign left the nation severely underdeveloped, impoverished and torn by conflict.
Julia Taft, an official with the UN Development Programme, said that the $400m sum - to cover the next two years - was in addition to $170m in humanitarian assistance that had already been requested.
"The United States is already indicating a large level of commitment to Liberia with about $200," she said. "The US contribution will be much appreciated but it's not going to cover the whole cost."
She said the request reflected not what aid officials thought donor countries might provide, but instead what the nation needs and "how much we can absorb reasonably in an appropriate fashion."