Britain Suggests U.S. Stabilize Liberia
By EDIE LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
June 25, 2003, 6:36 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS -- Britain said the United States was the "natural
candidate" to intervene and enforce a cease-fire in Liberia as bloody
fighting resumed between Liberian government troops and rebels driving
to take the capital.
Just as Britain helped end Sierra Leone's civil war and France helped
stabilize the situation in Ivory Coast, Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy
Greenstock said a lead nation willing to act to "make a political
settlement more likely and a cease-fire more likely to stick" would be
welcomed internationally.
"I think that outside help of that kind at the present juncture, or
ready to move when there is an agreement to stop fighting, an agreement
that would need to be policed and observed -- that would look very
constructive," he said.
"The United States ... is the nation that everybody would think would be
the natural candidate for such an operation," he said. "I understand
that there is some discussion going on in Washington of the pros and
cons of taking such action."
Greenstock's comments came as fighting between Liberian government
troops and rebels in Monrovia shattered a week-old truce struck last
week in peace talks in Ghana aimed at ending a three-year insurgency.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that
discussions were under way in Washington about the overall situation in
Liberia.
"One of the things we're concerned about now is that the June 17
cease-fire has all but broken down," the official said. "We've been
calling on, and we still call on all the combatants to stop fighting
immediately."
"One of the things we've said that we were prepared to do under the
cease-fire agreement was to participate in a joint verification team,
but the problem is we cannot do so if the cease-fire is not respected,
and adequate security protections are not put into place," the U.S.
official said.
A Security Council mission to West Africa, meanwhile was to leave
Wednesday night on a 10-day trip that includes a stop in Monrovia, but
Greenstock said security concerns might prevent the members from
stopping there.
He also said he had asked all 15 council members to get instructions
from their governments on whether -- if the opportunity arises -- they
should go to Monrovia to meet Liberian leader Charles Taylor, a
U.N.-indicted war-crimes suspect accused of roiling West Africa's
conflicts for 14 years.
"There will be, I think, a clear view among members of the mission that
the court is there to be respected, and the decisions of the court are
there to be respected," he said.
He said the council wants to deliver a message to Taylor "that it's time
for a change."
If the U.N. mission is unable to stop in Monrovia, it will head to
Accra, Ghana, and try to meet key players in the Liberian fighting
there.
The U.N. mission's first stop is in Guinea-Bissau, where the Security
Council is urging the government to organize and conduct free and
transparent legislative elections. Delegates also will visit Nigeria,
Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
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