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UN to keep Liberia sanctions in place for now
United Nations, Dec 05: Security Council members agreed that UN economic sanctions on Liberia should remain in place until the strife-torn West African nation becomes more stable, council diplomats said.
United Nations, Dec 05: Security Council members agreed that UN economic sanctions on Liberia should remain in place until the strife-torn West African nation becomes more stable, council diplomats said.
But the sanctions yesterday will have to be reworked because their current legal basis has been undermined by former President Charles Taylor's decision to flee Liberia to go into exile in Nigeria, the diplomats said.
The 15-nation council two and a half years ago imposed an arms embargo, a ban on diamond exports and a travel ban on Taylor and his top associates after accusing his government of fueling civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone through an illicit guns-for-diamonds trade.
Last May, the council renewed those sanctions and added a ban on timber exports. Since then, however, relative peace has prevailed in Sierra Leone and Taylor's departure cleared the way for a new transitional government and a peace deal with rebels who for years had sought Taylor's overthrow.
Envoys agreed to take the necessary steps shortly, Bulgarian ambassador Stefan Tafrov, the council president for December, told reporters yesterday.
Word that the UN sanctions would remain in place for now came as Interpol issued an arrest notice for Taylor, acting at the request of the UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone.
The court has accused Taylor, long seen as the mastermind behind years of intertwined conflicts in West Africa, of backing Sierra Leone rebels notorious for hacking off civilians' limbs, mass rape and recruiting child soldiers. Nigeria said yesterday it would not extradite Taylor to Sierra Leone. But president Olusegun Obasanjo has said he would turn Taylor over to the Liberian government if that was the wish of the Liberian people.
Bureau Report
The 15-nation council two and a half years ago imposed an arms embargo, a ban on diamond exports and a travel ban on Taylor and his top associates after accusing his government of fueling civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone through an illicit guns-for-diamonds trade.
Last May, the council renewed those sanctions and added a ban on timber exports. Since then, however, relative peace has prevailed in Sierra Leone and Taylor's departure cleared the way for a new transitional government and a peace deal with rebels who for years had sought Taylor's overthrow.
Envoys agreed to take the necessary steps shortly, Bulgarian ambassador Stefan Tafrov, the council president for December, told reporters yesterday.
Word that the UN sanctions would remain in place for now came as Interpol issued an arrest notice for Taylor, acting at the request of the UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone.
The court has accused Taylor, long seen as the mastermind behind years of intertwined conflicts in West Africa, of backing Sierra Leone rebels notorious for hacking off civilians' limbs, mass rape and recruiting child soldiers. Nigeria said yesterday it would not extradite Taylor to Sierra Leone. But president Olusegun Obasanjo has said he would turn Taylor over to the Liberian government if that was the wish of the Liberian people.
Bureau Report