The Inquirer
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted June 22, 2004

A 14-member United Nations Security Council Mission, headed by Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, is scheduled to arrive in Liberia on 24 June for a two-day visit. The Mission, which is on a fact-finding visit to West Africa from 20 June to 29 June, will also visit Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria.

The Security Council’s mission to Liberia is aimed at supporting the National Transitional Government in its efforts to rebuild the country and establish conditions for free and fair elections next year.
Addressing a press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York, Amb. Jones Parry said, “in Liberia, helping the Transitional Government to meet the criteria for lifting the sanctions imposed by the Security Council would be a major subject of discussion”.

The Mission will also review progress made by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in establishing security and implementing its mandate, particularly disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration.

During its visit, the mission will meet with National Transitional Government Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant, UNMIL leadership and heads of UN agencies, the International Contact Group, members of the Cabinet, the National Elections Commission, political parties, NGOs and civil society organizations.

Regionally, Amb. Jones Parry reiterated, the mission will focus on raising awareness of all United Nations activities on the ground - not just peacekeeping - and the benefits accrued thereby. It would also stress the need for coherent policy-making across the region, to ensure that the removal of a problem in one country did not translate into its arrival in another. “The threat such narrow policy-making posed had been amply demonstrated under Charles Taylor, who had acted as a contagion on Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire”, he said.

However, there was no question of meeting with former Liberia President Charles Taylor while in Nigeria, Mr. Parry said, adding that the Security Council’s view on the need to bring Mr. Taylor to justice was fairly clear”.

The Mission will include Amb. Mourad Benmehidi (Algeria), Amb. Ishmael Abraao Gasper Martins (Angola), Amb. Joel W. Adechi (Benin), Irene Vida Gala (Brazil), Ignacio Llanos (Chile), Jiang Jiang (China), Amb. Jean-Marc de La Sabliere (Frnace), Stefan Delfs (Germany), Sohail Mahmood (Pakistan), Patrick A. Chusoto (Philippines), Marius Ioan Dragolea (Romania), Ana Jimenez (Spain) and Amb. Sichan Siv (United States).