UN sanctions on Liberia to stay

[dArKeR]

Struggling Liberia has insisted it is ready for sanctions on its diamond and timber industries to be lifted, but a wary United Nations, mindful of security concerns, has again advised that they remain in place.

Liberian leader Gyude Bryant appeared before the UN Security Council last week asking that sanctions be lifted to boost the West African state's war-battered economy and curb unemployment that has crested beyond 80%.

"Sanctions have had a great impact on the economy of this country. Liberia is losing about R40-million every year under the sanctions," said Minister of Mines Jonathan Mason, describing job losses upwards of 35 000 people in the diamond sector.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=67728

[gottaB]

1. This makes no sense to me

It seems like the UN is more interested in the sanctity of its sanctions than in genuinely promoting peace in the region. I can just imagine the thinking, if we lift sanctions and then the Bryant government collapses, it will be a royal pita to put the sanctions back in place. I do suspect it's that petty, because they offered no clear rationale for their decision. "To ensure that the peace process is irreversible"? With 80% unemployment? And an assurance by Bryant to pursue full certification by the Kimberly Process?

Here are two stories from the Analyst.

UN Renew Sanctions - Security Council Says Liberia Still Fragile

Diamond Pits, Machines in Nimba, Lofa; "Blood Diamonds" Still Trading?

What's going on here?

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Two Stories from IRIN:

Bryant pleads for end to timber and diamond ban

UN maintains diamond and timber sanctions

So that's why they insist the sanctions aren't punitive, because the Secretary General's Special Representive to Liberia, Jacques Klein, had said that they were, and supported Bryant's call for them to be lifted.

Klein, who heads a 15,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Liberia, said the government in Monrovia was in critical need of reliable resources of revenue to overcome its present dependence on foreign aid.

Liberia's long-term security and stability depended on the establishment of an economy that created steady employment for young adult males with the support of a credible, democratic and accountable government, Klein said.

"The sanctions were put in place in order to penalize the previous government for egregious wrongdoings," Klein said. "With the old government now gone, it is up to the new government to demonstrate transparency and accountability. If the new government could do this, then I agree that the sanctions should go so as not to deprive Liberia of the tools it needs to rebuild its economy.”