Diamonds not Liberia's friend

2005-06-22 09:52

New York - The United Nations (UN) security council on Tuesday extended for six months an international embargo against Liberian diamonds and criticised the country's transitional government for not freezing the assets of former presidential strongman Charles Taylor.

The council unanimously passed resolution 1607, which links illegal diamond mining to unrest in the long-troubled African country, and urges UN forces and the Liberian government to seize control of diamond-producing areas.

"It's a message to the Liberians, which I hope is full of hope. It tells them what can be possible," said British ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry, whose country's mission drafted the resolution.

"But it tells them also what they've been doing in terms of the way the diamond trade and industry's being run isn't satisfactory. We're looking for progress in terms of managing all of Liberia's resources," he said.

Liberia's three million citizens suffered through 14 years of civil war that ceased when former president Taylor, accused of war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone, was granted exile in Nigeria in 2003. The international community imposed sanctions on Liberian diamonds and timber at the same time.

Concerns over Taylor's assets

The resolution expressed "concern" that the government had failed to freeze Taylor's assets, which the Council suspects he and his allies could use to destabilize the tenuous peace in Liberia.

The resolution noted Taylor and his partners are trying to undermine peace in the entire West African region. However, it did not call on Nigeria, which gave Taylor asylum in hopes of ending the Liberian conflict, to extradite him.

Jones Parry said this resolution was not "the proper vehicle" to demand Taylor's extradition.

But he added, "The sooner we make sufficient progress in Liberia, have a democratically elected government, the more likely it is that Taylor will end up where he belongs, which is in the special court in Freetown. So it's not a question of whether, its only a question of when."

Earlier this month UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Liberia was making progress, but was not stable enough to allow the withdrawal of the UN mission there.

The resolution also called on UN missions in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast to increase cooperation with staff in Liberia, to tackle cross border arms trafficking and mercenary recruitment.

- AFP