UNMIL FOCUS · ple. “You are the ones to uphold the law; you are the ones expected to enforce the law; therefore, you yourself must obey the law so that when you stand to tell some-body

Vol. 5, No. 01UNMIL FOCUS

September - November 2008

Together as One

Rice, More Rice?

Elite Police Unit Takes Shape

MARTTI A

HTISA

ARI - E

xclu

sive I

nter

view

Message from the Special Representativeof the Secretary-General

Ellen Margrethe LøjSpecial Representative of the Secretary-General andCoordinator of United Nations Operations in Liberia

2 UNMIL FOCUS September - November 2008

Ibriefed the UN Security Council inSeptember on the Secretary-General’s 17th progress report onLiberia, highlighting the achieve-ments and challenges in delivering

the peace dividend to Liberians, whilepreserving the gains made so far. I alsoseized the opportunity to visitWashington D.C. to meet with some USAdministration Officials and members ofCongress.

In late September, the Council unani-mously adopted a resolution to extend themandate of UNMIL for another year. Itendorsed the Secretary-General’s recom-mendation to reduce by 1,460 UNMILmilitary personnel, including troops, offi-cers, observers, and engineering andadministrative units. At the same time, italso approved the proposal to increasethe number of police personnel from 605to 845 to provide strategic advice andexpertise in specialised fields, to react to

urgent security incidents, and to giveoperational support to the LiberiaNational Police.

The government of Liberia has takencommendable steps since the end of thecivil war in spurring economic growthand improving public financial adminis-tration and better management of thecountry’s natural resources. TheGovernment of Liberia and the UNCountry Team are working together toensure the successful implementation ofthe Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS),the blueprint for the country’s currentdevelopment agenda.

Some progress has also been made instrengthening and rebuilding nationalsecurity institutions. Efforts aimed atturning the Liberia National Police into afully independent and operational institu-tion are continuing and capacity-buildinginitiatives are being implemented to tack-le systemic logistical and managementchallenges facing the security sector.However, a lot still remains to be done.

Inadequate infrastructure, outdatedlegal frameworks, shortage of qualifiedpersonnel and other limitations in thecountry’s judicial and correctional sys-tems need urgent attention. Such limita-tions are often reflected in widespreadpublic frustration, resulting in extra-judi-cial measures and mob violence. Further,gender-based violence, especially rape,continues to be disturbingly high and isoften perpetrated on very young girls.

In her address to the GeneralAssembly in September, President EllenJohnson Sirleaf highlighted the criticalrole of UN peacekeepers and the interna-tional community in revitalizing theeconomy, rebuilding infrastructure andconsolidating peace and security in

Liberia. She urged Member States to con-tinue to support UNMIL until peace isproperly consolidated in Liberia to pre-vent a relapse into conflict as has hap-pened elsewhere in the world.

As Liberia emerges, slowly butsteadily, as an inspirational story of howa shattered nation can put its troubledpast behind and embrace a promisingfuture, the international community mustcontinue to assist the nation’s develop-ment efforts as peace without develop-ment is unsustainable. Moreover, eco-nomic and infrastructural development iscrucial for reducing the high level ofunemployment, especially among theyouth, who are most vulnerable and sus-ceptible to detracting factions.

UNMIL remains committed to fulfill-ing our mandate to maintain peace andstability in Liberia at this critical stage inthe country’s peace building process. Wewill continue to support and boost theGovernment’s rebuilding efforts, whileenhancing the capacity of Liberians totake ownership of their nation’s develop-ment.

During my recent visit to New Yorkand Washington my message to theCouncil members and my interlocutors inWashington was that Liberia has come along way in the past five years since theend of the conflict. There is, however, alot more to be done in order to consoli-date on the gains that have been achievedthus far. It is therefore not yet the time todeclare victory and leave Liberia, ratherit is time to redouble our collectiveefforts (Government of Liberia, UN andmembers of the international community)to ensure that the peace process becomestruly irreversible.

IN THIS ISSUE

Despite plenty of rainfall and abun-dant fertile land, Liberia heavily relieson imported rice, its staple food. Asthe sharply rising food prices beginto bite ordinary Liberians, the Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO)is assisting Liberian farmers toincrease productivity of their ricefarms.

As the UNHCR embarks on localintegration in the West Africanregion, Sierra Leonean refugees inLiberia have begun to live togetherwith their local hosts. The pilot proj-ect in Low Cost village, on the out-skirts of Monrovia, is becoming amodel for local integration ofrefugees.

An elite special police unit is being trained to deal with violentcrimes as part of strengthening the Liberia National Police (LNP).The Emergency Response Unit officers will also deal with riotcontrol, engage in anti-crime patrol and provide assistance inmajor disaster situations.

September - November 2008 UNMIL FOCUS 3

Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of UnitedNations Operations in LiberiaEllen Margrethe Løj

Deputy Special Representative of theSecretary-General for Recovery and GovernanceJordan Ryan

Deputy Special Representative of theSecretary-General for Rule of LawHenrietta Mensa-BBonsu

Chief of Public InformationGeorge Somerwill

Editor and Head of PublicationsMathew Elavanalthoduka

Staff WritersSulaiman MomoduCarly Learson J. Wesley Washington

Design and GraphicsPaddy Defoxy Ilos, IIThomas Blidi

PhotosChristopher Herwig

Published by the Public InformationOffice, United Nations Mission inLiberia

Rice, More Rice? Together as One

EElliittee PPoolliiccee UUnniitt TTaakkeess SShhaappee44

2244 1166

[email protected]

Printed by Buck Press Ltd., Accra, Ghana

04 Elite Police Unit Takes Shape

06 On a Night patrol

18 Armed Forces Activate First Battalion

10 Weeding Out Marijuana

12 Interview: Martti Ahtisaari

14 More Liberians Return

16 Together As One

18 A New Chance

20 Interview: Henrietta Mensa-BBonsu

24 Rice, More Rice?

26 From Guthrie To Sinoe

28 Battling for Survival

30 It’s not about us...

34 Training Accountable Leadership

37 Legislative Internship Set to Begin

38 Liberians Speak


By J. Wesley Washington

Amidst persisting concernsover armed robberies inMonrovia and its environs,an elite special police unitis being trained to deal with

violent crimes in Liberia. Recently, thefirst group of 139 officers of theEmergency Response Unit (ERU) of theLiberia National Police (LNP) graduatedafter completing eight months of intensiveclassroom and physical training at theNational Police Training Academy.

At the graduation ceremony, PresidentEllen Johnson Sirleaf reiterated her gov-ernment’s determination to build a profes-sional security agency that will respecthuman rights while enforcing the law. Shesaid those charged with enforcing the lawmust first obey the law themselves in orderto win the trust and confidence of the peo-ple. “You are the ones to uphold the law;you are the ones expected to enforce thelaw; therefore, you yourself must obey thelaw so that when you stand to tell some-body that they had violated the law, youcan say because I know the law and I’m

able to respect the law. I expect you as acitizen to do the same,” she reminded thenew graduates.

The ERU officers are trained to dealwith crimes which may require the use offirearms -- specifically the arrest of armedcriminals, violent crimes in progress,hostage situations and armed terroristactivities. They will also deal with riotcontrol, engage in anti-crime patrol incrime prone areas and provide assistancein major disaster situations. By June 2009,the ERU is expected to reach its target of500 trained personnel.

Elite Police Unit Takes


Deputy Special Representative JordanRyan noted with optimism that every offi-cer of the ERU would be ready, willingand able to provide security in a fair, pro-fessional, and just manner. “We urge youto respect the rule of law and upholdhuman rights,” he reiterated, adding, “Youhave trained long and hard, you have per-severed and your commitment to serve andprotect the Liberian people has beendemonstrated during the last months ofyour training.”

Ryan pledged that the UN will workwith the donor community to encourage

more support to the ERU and the LNP,noting that the UN understands the impor-tance of training and equipment, but theyare not the only ingredients for a success-ful future. “The successful future of theERU depends on the success of the entireLNP which will bring a brighter future byimproving security.”

The United States Chargé d'Affaires,a.i., Brooks Robinson, on behalf of hergovernment, noted that the US is assistingin the process because security for allLiberians is essential for the country toend the cycle of violence, injustice andpoverty, and move forward on the path ofdevelopment. “Without peace and securi-ty, there cannot be development,” shenoted.

The US Government has committedmore than US$7 million to the ERU proj-ect. It has provided specialized trainers,protective and tactical equipment, firearmsand is now constructing the new ERU

headquarters complete with a commandcentre and communications capabilitiesnear the James Spriggs Payne Airportwhich will be completed by July 2009.Robinson affirmed that the US will contin-ue its strong support to rebuild Liberia’ssecurity sector. During this fiscal year, theUS will spend over US$56 million in sup-port of the country’s security agencies.

Also providing support is theGovernment of the Republic of Irelandwhich has so far provided 30 vehicles tothe ERU and funding for police trainingrelated building projects.

Justice Minister Cllr. Philip A.Z.Banks vowed to spare no effort in ensuringthat Liberians and foreign residents alikeare secure in the country. “We are comingafter you,” Banks warned criminals. Hereminded the ERU personnel that as thefirst line to the justice system and the rule

of law, their conduct must follow standardoperating procedures (SOPs) so thatLiberians will not only feel safe and securebut also respect and appreciate them.

UNPOL Commissioner HenrikStiernblad said he was very pleased withthe progress being made by ERU person-nel. He underlined that they are expectedto live up to the highest professional stan-dards, especially when it comes to use offorce. “Very strict SOPs have been devel-oped and agreed between the JusticeMinistry, LNP and the UN, and the unitwill be held accountable for all its actionsas they will be carefully monitored by anUNPOL ERU Advisory Unit,” he said.

“Their weapons will be controlled,every weapon will be accounted for;checked in and out daily and will only beavailable when they are on duty. Allweapons will be kept in our control untilsuch time when we are ready to deploy themen basically only in emergency situa-

tions,” says Thomas Sears, in charge of thetraining of the ERU.

At its full strength of 500 trained per-sonnel, the ERU is to have its resourcesand capabilities available throughoutLiberia by dividing the unit into three tac-tical operations groups - one in Monroviaand two strategically placed in the leewardcounties. The exact location and timing ofthe deployment are yet to be decided bythe Government of Liberia.

Training of ERU personnel began on 2January 2008. Those selected are activeLNP officers. Each candidate underwent avetting process that included another back-ground investigation by the UNPOL staff,medical and psychological screening,physical agility test and an interviewprocess.

Newly graduated ERU personnel demonstrate their skills

s Shape

TThhee UUSS GGoovveerrnnmmeenntt hhaass ccoommmmiitttteedd mmoorree tthhaann UUSS$$77 mmiilllliioonnttoo tthhee EERRUU pprroojjeecctt.. IItt hhaass pprroovviiddeedd ssppeecciiaalliizzeedd ttrraaiinneerrss,, pprroo-tteeccttiivvee aanndd ttaaccttiiccaall eeqquuiippmmeenntt,, ffiirreeaarrmmss aanndd iiss nnooww ccoonn-ssttrruuccttiinngg tthhee nneeww EERRUU hheeaaddqquuaarrtteerrss ccoommpplleettee wwiitthh aa ccoomm-mmaanndd cceennttrree aanndd ccoommmmuunniiccaattiioonnss ccaappaabbiilliittiieess nneeaarr tthheeJJaammeess SSpprriiggggss PPaayynnee AAiirrppoorrtt wwhhiicchh wwiillll bbee ccoommpplleetteedd bbyy JJuullyy22000099..

itants are sick or have wounds and infec-tions which the UNPOL officers treat.

Some of the men resist, but most com-ply without question. Williams says it isabout perceptions. “Everything speaks,”he says. “We are being polite. We don’tneed to shout. We don’t need to scream.”He points to the weapons that are clearlyvisible on the outside of the brand newuniforms the men wear. “This speaks foritself.”

At 6 a.m. the officers from differentteams assemble at the Liberian NationalPolice Headquarters to debrief with theUN Police and return their weapons.Without electricity they rely on flashlightsand the rising sun. An UNPOL Officerfrom Nepal watches as each officerremoves the ammunition from his gun. Allweapons and ammunition are safelyreturned. The Commander of the ERU,Sebastian Farr, watches on. He admitsthere is a long way to go but thinks hisofficers are doing well. “The public reallywants to see us out there,” he says. “Andso far these men are doing a fine job.”


By Carly Learson

Terrified by a spate of armedrobberies hitting the capital,Monrovia, the Liberian publichas been eagerly waiting forEmergency Response Unit

(ERU) to start patrolling the streets.Tonight they are stopping and searchingvehicles heading to the suburbs aroundPaynesville and Red Light on the outskirtsof Monrovia, where several armed rob-beries have taken place. They are accom-panied by American UNPOL officersDave Busch and Larry Mihalovich whohave decades of experience working in theUSA, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

Before they begin their night patrol,the ERU officers line up to be taken one byone into a secure room where the weaponsare stored. Each officer is handed a pistol,while each team of five officers is alsogiven two long-range rifles. Once theyhave their weapons they are taken to a sep-arate room to collect their ammunition. By10 p.m. the officers are ready to depart ina convoy of ERU-branded vehicles donat-ed by the Irish Government.

A check point is set up on each side ofthe road, with blue flashing lights alertingdrivers. The UNPOL officers advise onhow to alert the cars approaching thecheckpoint so they can be searched.

The drivers and passengers obey theinstructions without any resistance. ERUOperations Commander Amos Williams isnot surprised. “Of course people are happyto obey. They understand that we aretrained, they understand that we carryweapons,” he says. The officers thorough-ly search each car, paying particular atten-tion to places where potential armed rob-bers could hide their typical weapon ofchoice, a cutlass. “In the past they wouldnot stop,” Williams says.

When traffic dies down the teams setout to look for armed robbers. One patroldrives to a section of land between thebeach and Monrovia city centre, notoriousas a meeting point for drug dealers andusers. Amongst burnt-out buildings andpiled-up garbage dozens of men, manyseemingly under the influence of drugs,are sleeping. The team searches the areafor weapons and drugs and questions themen living in the area. Some of the inhab-

On a Night Patrol

March - May 2008 UNMIL FOCUS 7



The restructured Armed Forcesof Liberia (AFL) has activat-ed the 1st Battalion of its 23rdInfantry Brigade. The fifthand final Initial Entry

Training Class of 496 soldiers also hasgraduated, thus bringing the total strengthof the Armed Forces to 2,133 officers,slightly above the initial target of 2,000.Of the total, 66 are female, 78 are collegegraduates and 19 are ex-AFL soldiers whowere retrained and reinstated to activeduty.

During the 14-year civil war, Liberia’sarmed forces had become factionalized,turning from protectors to predators. The2003 Accra Comprehensive PeaceAgreement that led to the end of the civilwar endorsed the restructuring of the

army. With the assistance of the UNMission in Liberia (UNMIL) and otherpartners, the AFL was soon demobilizedand deactivated. In 2006, the restructuringcommenced as the US Government con-tracted DynCorp and the PacificArchitectural Engineering (PAE) to trainand equip the new army.

Speaking at the activation ceremony atthe Barclay Training Centre (BTC) twoyears on, President Ellen Johnson Sirleafsaid the activation of the 1st Battalionmarks an historic change which representsthe hopes and aspirations of the Liberianpeople. However, she cautioned the AFLto be lawful in order for them to win backthe confidence of the public. “Lawfulorder is the foundation for military profes-sionalism. You are citizen’s soldiers. Youmust strive to maintain the confidencereposed in you by the Liberian people in

all your dealing and wherever duty maycall,” she reminded the soldiers.

President Sirleaf commended the sol-diers and officers for the successes madeso far and their patriotism to serve, andpromised the government’s continued sup-port to do their job properly. She said thenewly restructured army was expected tohelp contribute to the nation’s reconstruc-tion by engaging in civil works, outreach,clinical services and other community-based activities in addition to its core man-date to protect the country’s national sov-ereignty and respond to natural disasters.

“I expect that by the end of 2011,depending on our revenue capacity, thestrength of the AFL would have risen tomore than the current 2,000 so that wehave enough of a force of professionallytrained military personnel,” PresidentSirleaf said. It is expected that the

Armed Forces Activ


Engineering Company of the AFL will bedeveloped and expanded to a fullEngineering Battalion to assist in Liberia’sreconstruction effort. Already plans areafoot to reactivate the National CoastGuard to protect the country’s maritimeshores.

The Guest of Honour, who is also theCommander of the US-Africa Command(US-AFRICOM), General William E.Ward, cautioned that the technical and tac-tical training they’ve received is only halfof what makes them good soldiers. Theobservance of selfless-service, respect,duty, courage, integrity and loyalty isessential to the success of their unit, mili-tary and country, he added.

“Selflessness requires you to put thewelfare of your nation, its army and yoursubordinates before your own. Respect foryourself, your counterparts and your lead-

ership is necessary. A sense of duty is anecessary quality of a soldier. An armyruns on integrity. Integrity means standingup for what is right and setting the exam-ple for others around you to follow,” saidGen. Ward.

For his part, Defence MinisterBrownie J. Samukai stressed that therestructured army is geographically, tribal-ly, and religiously balanced. “We are verypleased that all of the counties are repre-sented in the AFL. There is no single coun-ty or group that dominates any segment ofthis present composition.” Samukaipraised the enormous efforts made by theUS Government since the start of theAFL’s restructuring process as well asother international partners. He cited theimmense contributions made by ECOW-AS Member States, notably, Ghana,Nigeria, Benin, and Sierra Leone, which

seconded mentors to assist in the trainingof the soldiers.

AFL’s Command-Officer-in-Charge,Maj.-Gen. Suraj Alao Abdurrahmanexpressed his delight over the progressmade so far; but acknowledged that moreneeds to be done. “There’s still a lot ofwork to be done but I can assure you thatthis new AFL will not fail because of thecompetency, motivation and professional-ism of the soldiers,” he said, adding thatthey are the finest Liberia has to offer andthey will do well in their upcoming mis-sions.

The activation of the 1st Battalion ofthe restructured AFL is a boost to strength-ening Liberia’s security sector reform, akey benchmark linked to the phased draw-down plan of the UN Mission in Liberia.The activated battalion comprises of fivecompanies.

vate First BattalionPresident Ellen Johnson Sirleaf inspects the first battalion of the new Army


By Sulaiman Momodu

Liberia’s marijuana traffickersare almost as ingenious as anyin the trade. Stuffed in plasticcontainers sprinkled withpalm oil, or in bags layered

with charcoals, they ply cannabis sativa,known also by other names such as weed,grass, Indian hemp, and more. Instead ofplanting food crops in a country thatdepends heavily on importation of its sta-ple food, rice, some parts of Liberia’s fer-tile land are used for cultivating marijua-na, obviously for better financial returns.

Marijuana has a more sinister historyin the country. During its 14-year civil warknown for heinous atrocities, many com-batants, especially child soldiers and juve-niles, are believed to have been riding highon drugs such as marijuana deliberatelysupplied by their superiors. Emergingfrom the devastating civil conflict and fac-ing multiple challenges, effectively break-ing the drug chain is an up-hill task, espe-cially for the ill-equipped Liberia NationalPolice (LNP) and Drug EnforcementAgency (DEA). In May this year, howev-er, the United Nations Mission in Liberia(UNMIL) launched a marijuana project incooperation with the LNP and DEA duringwhich thousands of marijuana plants andtons of dried marijuana were seized and

destroyed in six operations in Nimba andBong counties.

“A lot of marijuana has been preventedfrom reaching the market and the users,”says UN Police Commissioner HenrikStiernblad, apparently pleased with thesuccess of the operation. He adds that440,000 plants and 920 kilos of dried mar-ijuana, worth several thousands of dollars,were seized during the project. During‘stop and search’ of vehicles, lots of mari-juana was discovered being transported toMonrovia, some of which were packed inbags used for rice. Six single-barrel shot-guns were also found during the operationand sent to court. Once seized, the drug isusually publicly burnt by the courts. Theaim of the project was to map the extent ofthe problem of marijuana being cultivated,identify smuggling routes, and to train thelocal police to plan and coordinate opera-tions, and to show how to treat people towillingly come forward with information.

During the country’s civil war, smok-ing of “grass” became a way of life, espe-cially among combatants. Although theguns have fallen silent, many former fight-ers are either reluctant or unable to quit thehabit which has far-reaching health andsocial implications. Security personnel saythere is a link between unemployment,drug use and crime. Many of thoseinvolved in violent crimes are known to be

habitual drug users.The marijuana problem is particularly

acute in Bong and Nimba counties whereit is grown as cash crop. Although impres-sive gains have been made to curb the drugtrade, mammoth challenges remain. “Asyou can see, there is nothing in this build-ing: no doors, no windows, no chairs, nodesks, we have no vehicles, no motor-bikes, nothing,” says Officer-in-ChargeCol. Alphonso G. Rancy, presiding overthe derelict DEA office in Gbarnga, theBong County capital. DEA personnel saytheir efforts have, however, minimised thepractice of people selling and smokingmarijuana with impunity on the streets ofGbarnga - once a former rebel stronghold.“Now in our storage we have 5,380.4 kg ofmarijuana. If we have logistics, we will domore,” says Col. Rancy, pointing to thebags of confiscated marijuana.

Weeding Out Marijuana

March - May 2008 UNMIL FOCUS 11

LNP and UNPOL personnel in search of marijuana cultivations

A major problem facing Liberia is lackof drug laws. “We are using the PublicHealth Law, so when we arrest and sendpeople to court, they sign a 2,000 – 3,000Liberian Dollar bail bond, get out, relo-cate, and continue trafficking,” saysRancy, disclosing that several times theyhad gone to court to report people releasedon bail who attack their building and peltthem with stones. “We are ready to fightagainst drugs but we also are not protect-ed. We have nothing to fight back whenattacked.” He reveals that they are advo-cating for drug trafficking crimes to benon-bailable.

DEA Officer-in-Charge in GrandBassa County, Lt. Ericson M. Vaye, sayswithout vehicles or motorbikes, some-times they walk several miles or pay theirown way when duty calls. CountySuperintendent Julia Cassell notes thatthey are bordered by the sea coast andLiberia does not have any coast guards.“Drugs and other criminal activities hap-pen by the sea. There is need for the secu-rity to be beefed up and provided withlogistics,” she says. Both the DEA and theLNP are under the Ministry of Justice,which itself faces many challenges.

If left unchecked, the consumption ofdrugs has the potential to ruin the future ofmany Liberian youths whose contributionis vital to the recovery of the post-warnation. DEA officials are appealing foranyone’s help to save Liberia’s future gen-eration from becoming drug addicts. Themarijuana project, which lasted about sixmonths, ended in October and is beingevaluated. In the meantime, UN peace-keepers continue to support the localpolice in law enforcement activities,including clamping down on drug traffick-ing and marijuana cultivation.

Marijuana concealed in bags of cassava


What is the purpose of your visit toLiberia?

We have been discussing with theLiberian government for sometime on howwe could cooperate in establishing a birthregistry programme in the country becauseat the moment, as far as I have seen thestatistics, less than six per cent of thebirths are registered. When we get thatestablished, hopefully it will expand inyears to come to the whole population. Fordevelopment emphasis, it is of vital impor-tance that government has statistics of theregistry of birth. My visit is meant to startthe preparatory work.

As this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winnervisiting a country which is emergingfrom a brutal 14-year civil war, whatare your impressions?

It is long since I have been in Liberia.I have tried to follow the developmentsand I must say that I am impressed, first ofall, by how people know what needs to bedone, which is very important. When acountry goes through a civil crisis period,many institutions are down... there isrecognition that at the moment you have tosomehow use stop gap measures that willattract those Liberians who have been liv-ing abroad to come back and also othernationalities to come and help in the mean-while.

One of the reasons for your visit is tolaunch your pilot project, Governmentout of the Box. How will your projectimpact on the lives of ordinaryLiberians?

Indirectly. It is easier to see how gov-ernment plans and direct services. I hope it

I hope Liberians willmaintain the peace…

TThhee 22000088 NNoobbeell PPeeaaccee PPrriizzee wwiinnnneerr aanndd ffoorrmmeerr FFiinnnniisshh PPrreessiiddeenntt,, MMaarrttttii AAhhttiissaaaarrii,, wwaass iinnLLiibbeerriiaa oonn aa ttwwoo-ddaayy vviissiitt iinn llaattee NNoovveemmbbeerr.. SSttaaffff WWrriitteerr SSuullaaiimmaann MMoommoodduu aanndd UUNNMMIILLRRaaddiioo’’ss IIssaaaacc YYeeaahh mmeett wwiitthh tthhee NNoobbeell llaauurreeaattee ttoo ddiissccuussss hhiiss vviissiitt aanndd LLiibbeerriiaa’’ss cchhaalllleennggeessaass tthhee ccoouunnttrryy ccoonnssoolliiddaatteess ppeeaaccee aafftteerr tthhee lloonngg cciivviill wwaarr.. EExxcceerrppttss::

IN CONVERSATION: MARTTI AHTISAARI


will ease out planning so that services canbe rendered. The good beginning is thatcensus was carried out earlier this year.Hopefully through this exercise, the devel-opmental inputs can be directed also to theright places.

There have been instances of the UNwithdrawing peacekeepers precipitous-ly from conflict-ridden countries andafter a few years, we see the conflictsreturning. How long do you thinkpeacekeepers should remain in Liberia?

It is very difficult to put an artificialdeadline. I think it is important that weshould learn from the past, not onlyLiberia but other countries too. It is muchbetter from everybody’s point of view thatthe international community stays as longas the government feels comfortable thatnow is the time that we can take over someof the functions that the international com-munity has been helping with. I am alwayson the side of caution on this. I wouldrather see that the international communi-ty stays a little bit longer than short. Theproblem is that there are other demands inother countries -- African continent andelsewhere -- but I would rather that theinternational community stays a bit longer.

As Liberia emerges from war, and asthe UN mission gradually draws down,what would you say to Liberians is themost important thing they need to do to

sustain the peace?From my long experience -- I have

now worked for over 30 years. I started inthe UN in 1977 -- I have worked with fiveUN Secretaries-General -- and I alwayssay Ban Ki-moon is my last one because Iam 71. I think the important thing is thecooperation between government and theinternational community starts producingresults, people seeing the benefits ofpeace. Secondly, I think in any nation gonethrough war and military crisis, what youreally need is reconciliation -- I know thatit is taking place -- the people discussamong themselves. The outsiders don’thave to come in. They can only facilitatethe process but the work is done by locals.It is important for everyone to sit down,even those who have been in differentcamps during difficult times, and start dis-cussing in all honesty: “How do we avoidthis kind of situation so it cannot berepeated?” I have seen that it works, forexample in Mozambique. So it requiresreconciliation and that also takes time. Wehave seen it in South Africa. In some coun-tries it has taken two years to find even theteam that is acceptable to every group inthe society. I have been following the plan-ning in Northern Ireland. These are notonly African issues and problems. I thinkit has to be done in every country wherethere has been conflict or gone throughsimilar experience.

The Crisis Management Initiative wasformed immediately after you left officeas President of Finland in 2000. Wasthere any specific reason for coming upwith this initiative?

Retired Presidents in my country getan office. I thought that it would have beenmuch better that I try to bring young col-leagues to work with me. I also havelearned from my experience at the UN thatthere is a lot that we can do to make theUN operations more effective. We startedworking with the peacekeepers, civil-ians…and CMI was asked to mediate inIndonesia and that was the first peaceagreement that I have been associatedwith. It did not take half a year and wehave peace. The peace agreement is onlythe beginning. Then there is reconciliation,development activities start, and it is along, long process.

Do you have any special message forLiberians as they rebuild their country?

I sincerely hope that Liberians willmaintain the peace and work together withthe President. Sometimes a country can bevery lucky to get a President who has allthe qualifications and background and isvery determined to improve the living con-ditions of all Liberians. So I hope thecountry can move together. Unity now. Iwish everybody good luck.

Thank you so much for your time.


By Sulaiman Momodu

As the Boeing 757 aircrafttakes off on a regularUNMIL flight from theKotoka InternationalAirport in the Ghanaian

capital, Accra, panic-stricken children onboard break into screaming, amusing adultpassengers. The Liberian refugee children,most of them born in exile, knew no otherplace as home but Ghana. Now, however,they were leaving their friends and schoolbehind, as they returned to Liberia, theplace their parents called their home. “I amhappy to be going back. There is no placelike home,” says Sarah, a mother of six.

Sitting rather pensively as the planecruised towards her home country, Etta,another mother of six, says she left Liberianine years ago. “I don’t have anything as Ireturn, but I tell God thank you for sparingmy life and my children,” says the singlemother, with three of her children born inrefuge sitting by her. Sarah and Etta areamong thousands of refugees returninghome in the ongoing repatriation of the so-called “residual caseload.”

The process started in April this yearafter demonstrations in Accra by theLiberian refugees demanding resettlementto a third country in Europe or America, orUS$1,000 per person to return home.

Tripartite meetings among the UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) and the Governments of Ghanaand Liberia reached an agreement on repa-triating the refugees to Liberia. The regu-lar flights operated by the United NationsMission in Liberia (UNMIL) transport therefugees free of charge but the UN refugeeagency pays for the expenses when theflight is chartered.

As the plane lands after a two-hourflight at Liberia’s main RobertsInternational Airport, they suddenly findthemselves transformed from refugees toreturnees. And as they step on Liberiansoil, some of them, especially the children,are not impressed. They immediately drawparallels between Ghana and Liberia. “Isthis the airport?” one queries.

On arrival, the returnees are welcomedback home by Liberian government offi-cials, UNHCR and partners. They are thentransported to the transit centre where theyspend the night before heading toMonrovia and other destinations to startlife anew.

Organized voluntary repatriation ofLiberian refugees that lasted four yearsended in June 2007. Most of the logisticalsupport used for the repatriation exercisesuch as trucks has since been diverted toother countries facing emergencies.Deputy Executive Director of the LiberianRefugee Repatriation and Resettlement

Commission (LRRRC) John SaahNyumah says throughout that repatriationprocess, the biggest operational challengewas Ghana with “only a very discouragingfigure of about 5,000 refugees returninghome out of a registered caseload of35,000.”

There are also an estimated 15,000unregistered Liberian aliens in Ghana, butNyumah says this group will be lookedinto at the end of the return process. Forthe ongoing exercise though, as ofOctober, more than 8,700 persons hadreturned from the West Africa sub-region,including 8,176 persons from Ghana, 237from Nigeria, 170 persons from Guinea,and 102 from Sierra Leone. Return hasalso been facilitated from Côte d'Ivoire,The Gambia and Senegal. UNHCR FieldOfficer Henok Ochalla says so far theprocess is going smoothly, adding thatthey work in close collaboration with theUN mission’s Humanitarian CoordinationSection, Office of the Director of MissionSupport and Movement Control (MOV-CON).

Although the current return processwas schedule to end in October lastingabout six months, following another tri-partite meeting to review the process, ithas been extended to March 2009. “At theend of March 2009, there will be anotherreview,” says Nyumah. During the largescale repatriation, refugees were given

More Liberians


food rations but for the residual caseload,the food component is absent. “We used totake refugees to their communities of ori-gin or choice. Now we give US$100 peradult and $50 for children below 18 yearsto facilitate their return from Monrovia,”explains the deputy LRRRC boss. Thegrant is given in the country of asylum andis the last thing that refugees receivebefore boarding the plane. Some of therefugees return home with skills acquiredin exile and have been making meaningfulcontributions to the rebuilding process ofLiberia. “I feel great that God has kept meup to this time to return to my country,”says James, who was schooling in Ghana.“We now have peace, but no one can buildthat peace, but us the Liberians.”

In September, a road convoy throughCôte d'Ivoire, lasting about a week, waspiloted. Unlike the flight which acceptsonly 50 kg of luggage, the road convoyenables refugees to return with 80kg lug-gage per person. In addition to air andland, return by sea is also being lookedinto. Some of the challenges of repatria-tion include jump-starting the reintegra-tion programme. “For the return to be sus-tained, donors should assist with the rein-tegration programme. People need to haveskills to earn a decent living. This is asecurity concern,” stresses Nyumah.According to UNHCR, since October2004, more than 120,000 refugees have

voluntarily returned home but severalthousands are still in exile.

Return


By Sulaiman Momodu

Low Cost village, once asleepy community on the out-skirts of the Liberian capital,Monrovia, is graduallybecoming a model for local

integration of Sierra Leonean refugeeswho fled their country’s civil war andsought asylum in Liberia. Although warsin the sister countries ended more than fiveyears ago with UN peacekeeping missionscontributing to the restoration of peace andthereby facilitating the voluntary return ofrefugees, thousands of Liberian and SierraLeonean refugees still remain in asylumcountries.

As the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)embarks on local integration in the WestAfrica region, Sierra Leonean refugeesand their Liberian hosts, who had both

experienced long years

of brutal conflict, have begun to livetogether as one community. Thirty-twonew blue and white painted houses arecurrently being occupied by the SierraLeoneans and their Liberian hosts as 50others are being constructed.

Large-scale organized repatriation ofLiberian refugees ended in June last yearwhile that of Sierra Leonean refugeesended in December 2004. UNHCR andpartners estimate that about 14,000 SierraLeonean and 75,000 Liberian refugeesremain in asylum in many West Africancountries. Reintegration Officer HenokOchalla of UNHCR says 2,433 SierraLeoneans have opted for local integrationin Liberia with 70 per cent of them optingfor naturalization.

In September this year, the first groupof 16 Sierra Leonean refugee families con-sisting of 118 individuals moved into theirnew homes at Low Cost village

at a colourful ceremony. Prior to the relo-cation, “go and see” visits were organisedwherein the refugees interacted with theirfuture hosts. Cultural and sporting activi-ties were also organized, and WorldRefugee Day on 20 June was celebrated inthe community all in preparation for therelocation process.

After 18 years of nomadic life as arefugee, 75-year-old Kadaka now consid-ers Liberia his home. “Wherever I can livein peace is my home,” he says in fluentLiberian English, happy that he now has aroof over his head and his family. “Wehave a good relationship with our hosts.We thank God for everything,” saysMawata, his wife, who is engaged in pettybusiness.

The 32 buildings occupied by Kadakaand others is a pilot project. The houseswere built by the Liberian govern-

TTooggeetthheerr aass OOnnee


ment in the 1980s but were vandalised andabandoned during the country’s civil war.Sixteen of the houses were allocated to thehost beneficiaries who were identifiedbased on a community vulnerability analy-sis. UNHCR through its partner, theChristian Children Fund (CCF) is imple-menting various training programmes for

the former refugees and their hosts. Theyhave been organized into four cooperativegroups to undertake agricultural activities.They have also benefited from a businesstraining workshop and each of the 16refugee families integrated and vulnerablemembers of the host community hasreceived US$250 to start small businesses.

Added to the 32 renovated houses and

the 50 under construction at Low Cost vil-lage, another 60 are being constructed atMemeh Town on the Monrovia –Tubmanburg highway. “By December, webelieve we would have completed all the110 houses. Twenty of them will go to thehost communities and 90 to the refugees,”says Ochalla. In Low Cost village, the

construction of a multi-purpose communi-ty centre is nearing completion. It willinclude a meeting hall, three classroomsfor kindergarten, reading room for chil-dren, health clinic to treat minor ailments,a children’s playground, among otherfacilities.

Community Development ChairmanTamba

S. Stephen is all smiles for what is goingon in his community. The father of eight,who is a beneficiary of the renovatedhouses, says the ongoing constructionwork is giving jobs to both skilled andunskilled labourers hired from among thehost community and the integratedrefugees. “Right now the community isvery engaged,” he says. But all has notbeen smooth sailing with the integrationprocess though. In Memeh Town, someinstitutions claimed ownership of parts ofthe land allocated for construction work,an issue that is being addressed by theLiberian Ministry of Land and Mines,Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Officeof the Vice President.

While local integration picks up inLiberia, Liberians in Sierra Leone are alsogoing through the same process. BothSierra Leoneans and Liberians are alsointegrating in Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia,Nigeria and Guinea. Such local integrationof refugees will contribute to regionalpeace and stability, experts believe.

IInn LLooww CCoosstt vviillllaaggee,, tthhee ccoonnssttrruuccttiioonn ooff aa mmuullttii-ppuurrppoosseeccoommmmuunniittyy cceennttrree iiss nneeaarriinngg ccoommpplleettiioonn.. IItt wwiillll iinncclluuddee aammeeeettiinngg hhaallll,, tthhrreeee ccllaassssrroooommss ffoorr kkiinnddeerrggaarrtteenn,, rreeaaddiinnggrroooomm ffoorr cchhiillddrreenn,, hheeaalltthh cclliinniicc ttoo ttrreeaatt mmiinnoorr aaiillmmeennttss,, aacchhiillddrreenn’’ss ppllaayyggrroouunndd,, aammoonngg ootthheerr ffaacciilliittiieess..


By Carly Learson

At Klay Town School, gradeone students are arrivingfor the start of the schoolday. Dressed in blue tunicsand white shirts, they run

and shout, oblivious to the heat of the sunthat burns even at 8 in the morning. Somequeue to get a drink from a new handpump, thirsty after the long walk to school.

A whole generation of Liberia’s chil-dren and youngsters lost out on educationdue to the civil war that lasted 14 years.Most have had their schooling interruptedat some point, while many have never hadany formal education at all. Now that

peace has arrived, these children arereturning to school, anxious to learn afteryears of only dreaming about getting aneducation. In many schools it is notuncommon to see a grade one class withtwelve-year-olds sitting beside their five-year-old classmates.

Among the 800 children at Klay TownSchool are several hundred who are part ofa new programme run by UNICEF and theMinistry of Education designed to encour-age older students who want to learn. Thisis their best chance to get some education.The Accelerated Learning Programmeoffers older children the opportunity tocomplete their primary education in threeyears, rather than the regular six.

Today is a special day for the KlayTown ALP class – the students are eachgetting a new UNICEF backpack with sto-rybooks, writing paper and pencils inside.Some of the children rip open the plasticwrapping and dig straight into the con-tents, while others are very careful to keepthe plastic intact to protect their new pos-session. Without further ado the teacherstarts the class reading one of their newbooks together.

The programme is being run at schoolsin most counties in Liberia, with speciallytrained teachers engaging students rangingfrom 7 to 20 years. Klay Town School hasseven special ALP teachers for grades oneto five. The ALP students are divided into

A New Chance


two sessions, with younger childrenattending in the mornings and older onesin the afternoon.

The teachers are taught to focus onthose aspects of the curriculum which willgive older students the best practical waysto advance more quickly through thegrades – skills like reading, writing andmathematics. With these skills the childrenwill be better able to comprehend the moredifficult work when they reach junior highlevel.

County Education Officer AmosFolley says the programme is workingwell at the school. “Somebody who is 12will now be more likely to be ready to startjunior high,” he says. “Before they wouldonly be up to fourth grade.” He says theALP programme makes it much easier toretain students. “The older children wouldfeel embarrassed about being in classeswith small children. This way they canmove more quickly, meaning they stayinterested and are more likely to keep

going with their education.”Bendu Boakai is one of the students

who began her schooling this year in theAccelerated Learning Programme. She is11 years old, and is starting second grade.She spent many years dreaming of goingto school but was never able to. “I wantedto cry,” she says. Now she is dreaming ofnot just finishing school, but going on touniversity. She loves all her classes, buther favourite is spelling.

The programme has been an over-whelming success in the school. Quaye D.Russell teaches 6th to 9th grade classesand he says he can generally see no differ-ence between the ALP students and thosewho have gone through the regular pri-mary school programme. “They do verywell,” he says. “The students are verymotivated to learn.”

Yet, challenges abound. Russell esti-mates that less than 5 per cent of the stu-dents he teaches go on to finish highschool. The closest high schools are in

Tubmanburg, a half hour drive away, orMonrovia, even further. The lack of publictransport makes it difficult for many stu-dents to get to school regularly. Social andfamily pressures to marry or start earningmoney also weigh on the minds of stu-dents. A shortage of qualified teachers isalso a major challenge.

But UNICEF is supporting the govern-ment by providing training and incentivepay to teachers who participate in theAccelerated Learning Programme, andworking with the Government to ensuresalaries are paid on time and directly toteachers so that they don’t need to taketime off work to go and collect theirsalaries.

In a country where the challenges tothe education system can be overwhelm-ing, the Accelerated Learning Programmeis proving a valuable investment in thefuture of Liberia’s children.

IN CONVERSATION: HENRIETTA MENSA-BONSU


How would you describe Liberia’sprogress in the area of the Rule of Lawduring the last one year?

The Rule of Law sector has alwaysbeen identified as the weakest part of ourreconstruction efforts. This has meantengaging constantly with the Minister ofJustice and with the Chief Justice or withthe Ministry and the Judiciary. We haveactively supported the Poverty ReductionStrategy pillar of Governance and Rule ofLaw to help the national partners to set outtheir immediate priorities as well as longerterm rebuilding of the justice sector. Aretreat of the Rule of Law sector inSeptember brought the national partnerstogether, leading to enhanced collabora-tion between the Judiciary and theMinistry of Justice.

A major challenge facing the Judiciaryis capacity building. So we have enabledthe Judiciary to launch a Judicial TrainingInstitute which will train not just those onthe job but also their potential recruits.

Rebuilding the Liberia National Policewas always a major task of UNPOL.Unlike in the case of the Armed Forces,there was no assessed contribution devot-ed to rebuilding the police. This has meantthat unless one has a donor to take on theresponsibility of funding, whatever pro-grammes have been drawn up do not hap-pen. Under the direction of SRSG Løj, aninitiative has been launched to develop astrategic plan for the LNP and it’s pro-gressing quite well. We’ve had supportfrom the Office of Rule of Law and

Security Institutions in New York.They’ve brought down a strategic plan-ning team to help develop an implementa-tion plan.

Personal security still remains a majorconcern among many Liberians and theLNP is yet to evolve as a professionaloutfit and stand on its own feet. Whatneeds to be done to get LNP becomefully professional and capable of offer-ing a sense of security to the popula-tion?

The restructured LNP is only aboutfive years old. There’s the issue of maturi-ty that faces every such new institution. Itwas important first to recruit enough peo-ple and train them and make the forceoperational. Before recruitment, thesepeople had to be vetted, but we have sincehad a lot of complaints about the quality ofthe recruits. Admittedly, at the time of theoriginal recruitment exercise there wasstill a lot of fear in the system and notmany people challenged those who hadstepped forward to be recruited. A recerti-fication process is soon to be undertakenand this will again involve the public andso in the much improved security situationit is hoped that the public will assist inensuring that the exercise will achievewhat the original vetting may not haveachieved. We have also now put in meas-ures to make sure that people who aretrained in the force are disciplined.

The Emergency Response Unit (ERU),which is an armed unit in the LNP, is alsounder training. Already 139 persons have

graduated and been deployed out of a tar-get of 500. We do have challenges inrecruiting women into it because apartfrom its higher standards of physical fit-ness and others, personnel in the ERU canonly be recruited from the LNP, which hasitself not achieved the 20 percent femalebenchmark despite arrangements for spe-cial recruitment of females.

We are conscious of the fact that it’sfrom the police operations that the averageperson can feel a sense of security and so

Liberians are more conscious of their rights…AAss LLiibbeerriiaa rreeccoovveerrss ffrroomm 1144 yyeeaarrss ooff cciivviill wwaarr,, eennttrreenncchhiinngg tthhee RRuullee ooff LLaaww iinn tthhee ccoouunnttrryyhhaass bbeeeenn aa mmaajjoorr pprriioorriittyy ooff tthhee UUnniitteedd NNaattiioonnss MMiissssiioonn iinn LLiibbeerriiaa.. IInn aann iinntteerrvviieeww wwiitthhEEddiittoorr MMaatthheeww EEllaavvaannaalltthhoodduukkaa,, tthhee DDeeppuuttyy SSppeecciiaall RReepprreesseennttaattiivvee ooff tthhee SSeeccrreettaarryy-GGeenneerraall ((RRuullee ooff LLaaww)),, HHeennrriieettttaa MMeennssaa-BBoonnssuu,, ddiissccuusssseess LLiibbeerriiaa’’ss ccoonnttiinnuuiinngg ttrraannssffoorrmmaa-ttiioonn ffrroomm aa llaawwlleessss ssoocciieettyy ttoo oonnee tthhaatt aaddhheerreess ttoo tthhee RRuullee ooff LLaaww..


we are working on enhancing people’ssense of insecurity.

Many people do not still have faith inthe Judiciary. That leads to mob vio-lence, reconciling issues outside therealm of courts. For example, a rapistpays LD$200 to the victim’s father andgoes scot- free. What are the things thatthe Judiciary needs to do to regain con-fidence among the population?

These are not just problems of theJudiciary but the judicial sector in generalcoupled with the effect of the civil war.Cases can be heard by the Judiciary onlywhen they are put forward by the State. Sowe have had to help strengthen CountyAttorney offices and provide Defencecounsel to enable trials to take place.

Currently ten new County Attorneys,who are all law graduates, have beenappointed by the Ministry of Justice.Defence Counsels are also being appoint-ed by the Judiciary. Before this time, therewere many County Attorneys who did nothave law degrees, and a few did not evenhave high school diplomas. We are helpingto train the new County Attorneys and weshould see some improvement soon.

The justice system is progressively

being rehabilitated and it is important forthe public to be aware that judicial optionsnow exist for them to use. The challenge isto attempt to change habits formed in 14years of civil unrest within five years. Weare hopeful that working with theJudiciary to develop its strategic plan andsupporting the Ministry of Justice todevelop a similar plan, a reversal of thefortunes of the Justice sector will occur.

We are also supporting the restructur-ing of the Corrections sector. Many exist-ing Corrections facilities are warehousesor some other structure that was convert-ed. UNDP is involved in a project with theMinistry of Justice to assess these facilitiesto determine their rehabilitation needs.

We are trying to use Quick ImpactProjects (QIPs) funds to build detentioncenters particularly in the areas whichhave none, like Grand Kru, Rivercess, etc.The money available from QIPs is notenough to build a fully fledged correction-al institution but we’ve been lucky to linkup with a trust fund that is supporting us tobuild a correctional facility in River Gee.We also worked with the Government ofLiberia on operationalizing the Palace ofCorrections in Zwedru, which is nowhousing convicted persons from variousprisons.

Rape happens to be the most frequentlycommitted serious crime in Liberia. Doyou think this high number is linked tothe legacy of civil war? What can we doto reduce the incidents of rape which inmany cases involve very young chil-dren?

We launched an anti-rape campaign inall of the 15 counties in conjunction withthe Ministries of Gender and Justice. Weare currently working on the second phaseof the campaign. We formed the UNResponse to Rape Group within theMission and the Country Team, which wasthe moving spirit behind the anti-rapecampaign. This group also has commis-sioned a research on rape to establish whyrape incidents are high so that we couldtailor the preventive measures appropri-ately. The data collection is over, dataanalysis is going on, and a preliminaryreport is expected in about four weeks.

We are also part of the sexual and gen-der-based violence project between the

Government of Liberia and the UN aimedat harmonizing all activities to countersexual and gender-based violence. We areassisting the Ministry of Justice to estab-lish a sexual and gender-based violenceunit to speed up prosecutions. We also par-ticipated in a Ministry of Justice initiativeto standardize the medical forms that haveto be filled by medical personnel who firstreceive rape victims so that the report thatthey write can be tendered as evidence incourt.

In the area of human rights, whatprogress has Liberia achieved since theend of civil war five years ago?

Once a war ends, people have to be re-educated on proper ways to co-exist intimes when there is civil law and order.The Human Rights and Protection Section(HRPS) of the Mission has been veryinstrumental in doing this, not just bymonitoring the human rights situation andbringing to the attention of those who canaffect the situation but also by impactingthe human rights culture through variousprogrammes. It has set up human rightsclubs in schools in order to educate themon human rights. No doubt, Liberians aremore conscious of their rights now.

HRPS has also been working veryclosely with the Truth and ReconciliationCommission to shape it and to get it todeliver on its mandate. TRC’s public hear-ings have helped to alert the public as tohow low people sank during the civil crisisand how unacceptable certain practices arewhich must be stopped.

HRPS has also embarked on a cam-paign to ensure that some harmful tradi-tional practices are discontinued, in partic-ular trial by ordeal and lynching based onallegations of witchcraft. There have beena number of convictions and not too longago some of those were pardoned by thePresident on condition that they would docommunity service. HRPS has taken thisup and has devised a programme for themto be advocates against the practice thatsent them to prison. So the Human Rightsand Protection Section is doing its bit notjust to create public awareness but also toshape the culture of human rights for thepresent and for the future.

By Carly Learson

For years many Liberians haverelied on food from the WorldFood Programme as a crucialbackup. However, as the coun-try moved out of conflict a

major part of the WFP work in Liberia wasfocused on its school feeding programme.And with Liberia slowly gettingback on its feet, WFP scaledback its feeding programme incapital Monrovia to focus onrural areas where food wasscarce. But with the suddensurge in global food prices WFPrecently announced that it wouldbe bringing the school feedingprogramme back to Monrovia.More than half a million chil-dren across Liberia now haveaccess to daily meals providedby the agency.

One of those schools isImam Abdullah A Tunis Institutein Vai Town, Bushrod Island.Ibrahim F. Pusah, who managesthe school, says he is relievedthat the school feeding pro-gramme is starting again. “Themajority of children are hungrywhen they come to school,” hesays. At around 8 a.m. the chil-dren start arriving. Even the tini-est girls wear brilliant whitescarves on their heads, matchingthe shirts of the boys as they runaround in the earthy courtyardof the school. It takes a full fiveminutes of yelling by the princi-pal before the children quietdown and hurry off to their classrooms.For two hours they will work in Arabic,learning to read, write and speak. At thetop of their lungs 400 children read fromdifferent sections of the Koran, the voicesescaping from the twelve classrooms andechoing through the halls and around thecourtyard.

While they are learning, a group of sixof the children’s mothers prepares themeal. Huge sacks of bulgur wheat havebeen donated by the Saudi Arabian

Government, and the slightly fermentedsmell of the wheat fills the courtyard as thegrains are boiled in a huge pot. In a secondpot the women prepare a sweet-smellingstew made from chicken and fish withonions, beans, Liberian peppers and palmoil. The pots sit above burning coals on atraditional Liberian stove. The womentake turns stirring the pots and getting the

bowls and cutlery ready. Hadya Tunis is one of the cooks. She

travels from Duala each day with herdaughter to cook the food. She likes tostick to classic Liberian food – potatogreens, cassava leaf, palm butter. “Wework hard,” she says. “We need manythings, like spoons, dishes and pans. Butwe are happy to have the food here again.For many children this is their first meal ofthe day.” At ten thirty the rush begins asthe children take their bowls and find a

space on the ground to enjoy their food.There is also enough food for some of thelocal children who have been lingeringshyly at the entrance to the school.

The school feeding programme hasbeen a great success in rural areas ofLiberia as well. In November SpecialRepresentative Ellen Margrethe Løj visit-ed a school in Gbarnga, Bong County,

which was chosen as a QuickImpact Project. The school isrunning an agricultural pro-gramme to teach the childrenhow to grow food. “It’s veryimportant that the children learnearly to farm the land,” SRSGLøj said. “There is no reason toimport all this food.” Shewatched as the mothers cookedbulgur wheat and potato greensfor the hungry children. Theyline up with their green plasticbowls before taking their foodback to their desks. SaysayTomah finishes his food inrecord time. “The food is fine,”he says, before running to getsecond helping.

A recent Government ofLiberia, UN and NGO assess-ment found that surging foodprices have a greater impact inareas where there are high ratesof poverty, and that programmeslike school feeding can have ahuge impact in preventing mal-nutrition. In areas where schoolenrolment is low, such as thesouth-eastern counties ofLiberia, school feeding pro-grammes can be the major

attraction in attending school. In additionto daily meals older girls are given take-home food rations.

WFP West Africa Regional DirectorThomas Yanga says the agency is focusedon helping the Government of Liberia toget all children enrolled in school. “As theGovernment of Liberia responds to theimpact of high food prices WFP remains inthe forefront of efforts to lessen thisimpact, and to help children in the face offood insecurity,” he said.


WFP Feeds Half a Million Children Daily

Happy to be in school


By Sulaiman Momodu

Ghanaian President JohnAgyekum Kufuor hasassured senior UnitedNations personnel of hiscountry’s continued sup-

port to Liberia. “Ghana will provide what-ever support it can to Liberia and we willdo so, in the name of humanity, becausethat is what any Government should do,”he said at a meeting with the UN officialsat the United Nations Mission in Liberia(UNMIL) headquarters in Monrovia onthe sidelines of his State visit to Liberia inNovember.

During his two-day visit at the end ofhis second and final four-year term asPresident, the Ghanaian leader pointed outthat the UN could learn from what tran-spired in Liberia to help the international

community tackle emerging conflicts inother parts of the world. “Besides politicalconflict, emerging global phenomena,such as climate change with its consequentcataclysms, have forced even the mostpowerful nations to accept that they are nolonger insular islands,” he said, alluding tothe interdependence of the world’snations. “The UN can help make globalgovernance work and it has shown this byproviding leadership to trouble spots in theworld,” said Kufuor, who earlier inspecteda guard of honour at UNMIL headquarters.

Ghanaian peacekeepers have played acrucial role during various stages ofLiberia’s civil conflict with a number ofthem sacrificing their lives in the cause ofpeace in Liberia. In 2003, Ghanaian peace-keepers were among the first to arrive inLiberia to bring the carnage to a stop andprepare the way for the deployment of the

UN mission. The West African nation alsohosted the final peace conference in Accrathat led to the Comprehensive PeaceAgreement and provided support to theelectoral process through provision of bal-lot papers. Currently, members of theGhanaian military, police and civilians arecontributing to Liberia’s peace and recov-ery efforts. More than 700 members of theGhanaian contingent are deployed inGrand Bassa and River Cess Counties witha mandate that also includes ensuring ruleof law in the flashpoint Liberia AgricultureCompany rubber plantation. “We neverfail to acknowledge this immense contri-bution made by Ghanaians for the peacethat Liberians enjoy today,” said DeputySpecial Representative for Recovery andGovernance Jordan Ryan, expressing grat-itude to the President and his Governmentfor the support to the Liberian peaceprocess and to peacekeeping in general.

Noting that the UN mission has comea long way, Ryan noted that many chal-lenges lie ahead. “There are concerns overcrime, especially armed robberies and rape– these will not be solved overnight…asUNMIL embarks on the next phase of itsdrawdown, the support of yourGovernment is even more crucial in termsof Liberia’s peaceful transition and devel-opment,” he said.

“The greatest needs lie in strengthen-ing Liberia’s rule of law institutions andrestoring public confidence in the justicesystem,” said Ghanaian-born DeputySpecial Representative for Rule of Law,Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu. She acknowl-edged Ghana’s support to Liberia indiverse ways and highlighted trainings andmeetings held in Ghana, including therecent UN-facilitated Judiciary StrategicPlanning Meeting for the LiberianJudiciary in Accra. Mensa-Bonsu reiterat-ed that the close collaboration betweenUN and the Ghanaian and internationalpartners, as well as the Government andthe people of Liberia, “is yielding a peacedividend.”

During his visit, Kufuor receivedLiberia’s highest national award for therole he played in restoring peace, democ-racy and stability in Liberia. Ghana is cur-rently hosting the highest number of about20,000 registered Liberian refugees in theWest Africa sub-region.

President John Kufuor inspects a guard of honour by UNMIL peacekeepers

Ghanaian PresidentPledges More Support


By Carly Learson

Every week ships enterMonrovia’s Freeport ladenwith sacks of Chinese rice. In2007 Liberia produced 40 percent of the rice its people

needed. Why, when the country has somuch rainfall, more than nearly any otherin the world, good conditions and fertileland, is there such a dependence onimported rice? This question has becomethe focus of UN agencies, including FAO,WFP and UNICEF, as they try to help thegovernment of Liberia address the issue offood security.

Surveys show that annual consumptionof rice in Liberia is around 240 kg per per-son. For every hectare of land planted, anaverage of 815 kg of rice is produced. Forupland areas the yield is even lower. Theaverage size of a plot of land, which isfarmed either by one family or collective-ly, is 0.9 hectares, enough to feed onlythree people. Thus, at current levels, thereare few reasons for a family to start plant-ing rice when it is cheaper to buy Chineserice while growing other crops to sell.

Dependence on imported rice hasmade Liberia vulnerable to rising foodprices. But when it doesn’t make sense for

an individual farmer to grow rice, self-suf-ficiency on a national scale becomes diffi-cult to achieve.

This is not a new phenomenon.President Tolbert was faced with a similarmarket dynamic. Almost every Liberianwas buying imported rice while farmerswere planting other crops which were sub-sidised by the Government to encourageexporting. The Government recognisedthe vulnerability of its position and inter-vened by applying huge import tariffs,effectively doubling the price of importedrice, in the hope that this would make itmore viable for poor farmers to start grow-ing their own rice rather than buying it.But the decision simply meant rural peoplecouldn’t afford to eat, a consequence thatled to the 1979 rice riots believed to be theprecursor of the civil war.

Now the sharply rising food prices aremaking many Liberians unable to affordenough rice for their families. SinceDecember 2007 rice prices have risen by60 per cent internationally. Given the fail-ure of market intervention to force peopleonto the land, the Government, in collabo-ration with UN agencies, is instead focus-ing on increasing productivity. Liberia’syields are incredibly low at less than onetonne per hectare. The average yield in

sub-Saharan Africa is 1,500 kg perhectare. Worldwide, average production is3,500 kg per hectare.

Chinese rice is cheap because it is effi-ciently produced. Liberian rice is grown insome of the most labour-intensive, ineffi-cient environments in the world. Chinesefarmers have state-of-the-art equipmentsuch as tractors, processing mills and har-vesting machines, so that rice can quicklybe planted, harvested and processed.Processed rice is transported on high-grade roads through an established logis-tics chain to an efficient port where it isshipped in bulk. In Liberia most rice farm-ers don’t have a road connected to theirfarm, they have problems with pests andwork is mostly done by hand. The Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO) isnow working on implementing sustainableand effective programmes to increase theproductivity of Liberian rice farms.

Rebecca Sumo and Lydia Flomo aretwo women who are trying to make ricefarming work for them. Their 75-acre farmin Careysburg was bought for them byOxfam. The rice is at harvesting stage, sothey work by cutting the long stalks with asmall knife.

Sumo, Flomo and the other womenused to grow rice in Lofa before the war.When they fled as refugees they lost alltheir property. Now living in Monrovia,they got together to form the GbarlinWomen’s Cooperative, and approachedOxfam to get help to start their farm again.“We started when we were in the refugeecamp,” Lydia says. “We begin to cryaround for help. Farming is hard work – ittakes a woman to do this.”

Back in Lofa they used to thresh therice manually, using their feet to separatethe grain from the husk. On their new farmFAO has provided two threshingmachines, built by local blacksmiths. For afarm like this the machines are ideal.There is no access to the farm by road, sotractors and large scale threshing machin-ery is impossible to transport. When therice is packed into the 50kg sacks they will

Rice, more rice?


carry it back to the road on their heads.The women at the Careysburg farm aredealing with huge challenges to make ricefarming work.

Further into the country’s interior theproblems only increase. The poor state ofthe roads makes transport prohibitivelyexpensive, so rice is generally grown forsubsistence only. Even then the pre- andpost-harvest losses add a huge burden.Pre-harvest losses include crops beingdestroyed by animals such as grass cutters(groundhogs), which eat the entire crop,and birds, which attack the grains. Themain culprits of post-harvest losses arerats, which find their way into huts wherethe grains are stored. Estimates put aver-age losses from rats at up to 19 per cent ofthe total harvest.

FAO has developed cheap and effec-tive ways to tackle pre- and post-harvestlosses. One farm that benefits from FAObelongs to Tamil Gortor. Until recentlybirds had been regularly attacking the farmlocated in the jungles of Bong County.Today however, the farm is eerily silent.That’s because FAO has provided themwith 352 metres of reflective tape, whichhave been strung across the crops. Thetape, shimmering red and silver, seems toinstil mortal fear in the birds, keepingthem away from the farm since Tamilstrung it up. A fence has been built roundthe perimeter and trap wires, also fromFAO, installed to catch the groundhogs.The harvested rice is now stored in a struc-ture up on stilts, with zinc sheets attachedto the legs. The zinc is incredibly slippery,and rats cannot get past it to reach the rice.With tape costing just US$4 per roll, FAOhas been able to help 81,000 farmersacross Liberia through the provision ofpest management inputs and training.

“Already we have seen higher yieldswhere the zinc, reflective tape and trapwires are being used,” says J. KanieMerfee from FAO. “It’s great to be able tomake such a difference for so little cost.”Tamil is optimistic about her farm. “Thehelp has been welcome,” she says. Withthe help of FAO, Tamil and others like hermay be able to move beyond subsistencefarming and start growing rice for sale.And that may lead to fewer ships withChinese rice docking at Monrovia’sFreeport.



Mark Monjolo, originallyfrom Gbarzon Districtin Grand GedehCounty, is an ex-com-batant who fought for

two different rebel factions during the civilwar. As the war came to an end in 2003,Monjolo and several hundred other ex-combatants like him ended up at theGuthrie Rubber Plantation, deprived ofany income and no skills to earn a living.All they wanted was to pillage the govern-ment-owned plantation, spread over300,000 acres across the north-westerncounties of Bomi and Grand Cape Mount,as their new way of life.

Guthrie soon became a hotbed of eco-nomic crimes and human rights violations.Former combatants lay siege to the planta-tion, tapping and selling latex and terroriz-ing the local community. Opened in 1957,the plantation was last managed by aMalaysian company, Guthrie RubberCompany, from 1981 to 2000.

A national Disarmament,Demobilization, Rehabilitation andReintegration (DDRR) programmelaunched by the United Nations Mission inLiberia soon after the end of the war suc-cessfully reintegrated tens of thousands ofex-combatants. However, a research con-ducted in 2006 by the UK-based NGO,Landmine Action, revealed that a sizeablenumber of combatants occupying Guthrie,having handed in their weapons to theircommanders, were excluded from theDDRR process because their weapons hadbeen reallocated elsewhere.

Though the negotiation process waslong and tedious, with support from theUN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) andother UN agencies, the government ofLiberia managed to convince a majority ofthe hard-core former combatants to leaveGuthrie while it gradually restored Stateauthority around the plantation, after beingoccupied and looted for nearly three years.

While gradually curbing illegal tap-ping, the rehabilitation and reintegrationcomponent of the Government-UN JointRubber Plantation Task Force commenceda screening process to verify the eligibilityof ex-combatants for the official reintegra-tion programmes in formal education or

vocational training. Over 350 other ex-combatants of Guthrie, who were not qual-ified for the formal rehabilitation pro-grammes, were selected to receive six-month vocational skills training after con-cerns were raised that such individualswere vulnerable to militia re-recruitmentin Côte d’Ivoire or Guinea, or were likelyto pose a public order and criminal threatwithin Liberia.

Working in collaboration with theMinistry of Agriculture, Landmine Actiondesigned and implemented the TumutuAgricultural Training Programme (TATP).In early September 2008, 357 ex-combat-ants and a number of community memberswere proud graduates of a six-month agri-culture and social integration training. Thetraining provided graduates with liveli-hood skills in five agricultural areas: rub-

ber culture, rice, vegetable, tree crop(palm oil) production and animal hus-bandry. In addition, the graduates receivedformal and informal reintegration training,delivered by ex-combatants who havethemselves been reintegrated. They alsoreceived business, literacy and numeracytraining to enable them to perform com-petitively in the agricultural economy.

At the graduation, a proxy for Vice

FFrroomm GGuutthhrr


President Joseph Boakai reminded themthat they should take advantage ofLiberia’s vast agricultural resources andchart a bright future for themselves. Heurged them to give agriculture a newimage by pursuing it as a business. “Goback to your various communities and useyour newly acquired knowledge to facethe challenges of Liberia’s recovery andreconstruction, especially in the area of

food security,” the graduates were advised.Each graduate received a start up kit to

facilitate their reintegration process intheir original community. In addition, theMinistry of Agriculture facilitated the allo-cation of a piece of land to each graduate,providing an incentive to invest in thedevelopment of their communities. Theproject recognises the centrality of com-munity in the reintegration process andincludes active measures to encouragecommunity participation. LandmineAction is expected to do a follow-up oneach graduate and based on their progresswill provide a second package.

“I feel so proud going back to my com-munity with skills that can feed me and myfamily for life. I will take advantage ofwhat I’ve learned and share with others,”said a proud Monjolo. “We were in that

bush (Guthrie) destroying ourselves, butthank God our brothers came and rescuedour lives.”

Christine Lang, the Country Managerof Landmine Action-Liberia, noted thatalthough the TATP was originallydesigned as a security sector reform proj-ect aiding the peaceful dismantling andreintegration of ex-combatants, it has alsofacilitated other highly desirable develop-ments. She highlighted the creation of aspecifically designed training curriculumwhich has involved a partnership approachand engagement with various stakeholderssuch as the Agriculture Ministry, theLiberian Rubber Development Authority(LRDA), Central Agricultural ResearchInstitute (CARI), community leaders andthe ex-combatant trainees themselves.Working at a local level has also ensuredcommunity participation and ownership.

Lang notes that while LandmineAction’s projects are aimed at addressingshort and medium term needs and provi-sion gaps as a method of ensuring contin-ued peace and stability, its specificapproach links directly to Liberia’s longterm economic strategy. “By producinghighly skilled agricultural graduates,Landmine Action’s programmaticapproach will assist in creating a self sus-taining and highly robust agriculturaleconomy in Liberia.”

The Sinoe Rubber Plantations (SRP) inSinoe County is another hotbed of eco-nomic crimes and human rights violations.Following the successful intervention inthe Guthrie Rubber Plantation and theTATP, Landmine Action will begin theconstruction of its second training site inSinoe County in January 2009.

The Sinoe Agricultural TrainingProject (SATP), as it will be known, is aresponse to a request by the Ministry ofAgriculture and UNMIL, and will includedetailed research into the organization anddemographics of the Sinoe RubberPlantation to ensure an appropriateresponse to illegal activities and communi-ty concerns. The SATP intends to deliverthe same standard of focused agriculturaltraining that has been successful in TATPand will be designed to maximise thedevelopment impact upon the district inwhich the training is to take place.

Graduates from the agricultural training programme

Ex-combatants tending their vegetable farm

rriiee ttoo SSiinnooee


By Carly Learson

At the Sasstown Clinic, five-month-old baby Fatahclings on to her mother asshe receives a vaccine thatcould save her life. Unlike

Fatah, her mother grew up in very differ-ent times, and she hopes her little daughterwill never experience the kind of brutalityshe witnessed as a child.

The civil war is over and the youngLiberian children of today are spared thenightmares of their parents. Yet, Liberia’schildren face an uphill task as the legacyof the civil war -- such as poverty, lack ofmedical care, dilapidated infrastructureand hunger -- continues to haunt them.For every thousand babies born in Liberia,157 won’t live to see their first birthday.More than a quarter won’t reach fiveyears.

Children in Liberia are dying everyday from illnesses that are easily prevent-ed in other parts of the world. One of thebiggest killers is measles – a disease easi-ly eliminated through routine immunisa-tion. But without effective refrigerationand transport, vaccination programmes arefar more difficult in Liberia than else-where. However, the UN’s agency for chil-dren, UNICEF, is taking up the battle byrolling out an extensive immunisation pro-gramme using local expertise to giveLiberia’s children protection from measlesand other diseases.

Sasstown Clinic is a small, freshlypainted building behind the local market-place on a quiet section of the Monrovia -Tubmanburg road. Inside are three privateconsultation rooms, a storeroom and awaiting room. Every Thursday new moth-ers and mothers-to-be leave their homesearly in the morning to make the journey

to the clinic. They gather in the waitingroom on chairs arranged in rows, watchingshort educational videos shown on a tele-vision at the front of the room. By 8 a.m.the chairs are all taken by mothers holdingtheir babies on their laps. Children findspots on the ground or run around outsidethe building. Newcomers find a shady spotunder a tree after they have registered theirnames with the nurse.

There is just one doctor at the clinic toperform the vaccination. He sits in acramped corner of the waiting room, hissupplies on a small table next to him. Oneby one he calls the women to him so hecan quickly but gently slide the tiny nee-dle, filled with measles, diphtheria andpenta vaccines, into the chubby arms oftheir babies. The babies are sleepy afterthe long wait, and the unexpected jab putsthem in a foul mood as they leave the clin-ic. The vaccines are stored in a refrigeratorpowered by kerosene which is transportedfrom Monrovia regularly. There are plansto install solar panels to provide a cheapand reliable energy source to keep the vac-cines at their required temperature. A devi-ation of just 2 degrees can make the vac-cine unusable.

The program is managed by ShirleyKialen, an experienced nurse who movedfrom Buchanan in Eastern Liberia a yearago. She has been overwhelmed by thenumber of women who are desperate toget their children vaccinated. “We have upto 75 patients each day. There are manychildren around here who were not immu-nised as children and now their parents arebringing them so they can catch up.” Theclinic also specialises in anti-natal care,and administers treatment for malaria.

One in five deaths of children underfive in Africa can be attributed to malaria.For those children who survive the endem-

Battling for Survi


ic disease there are complications, mostprevalently malnutrition as a result ofvomiting, anaemia, and loss of appetite.Liberia is one of the rainiest countries inthe world. During the rainy season manyhomes become islands surrounded bywater. The warm, stagnant water wherechildren play and mothers wash clothingoffers malaria-carrying mosquitoes a per-fect environment to breed. Malaria affectsmost countries in sub-Saharan Africa.However in Liberia the combination oflow standards of housing and lack ofaccess to treatment result in high mortali-ties.

At Sasstown Clinic, UNICEF, in con-junction with the Global Fund, is provid-ing treated mosquito nets as well as pre-ventative drugs, especially for pregnantwomen. Kialen says the clinic is providingmuch needed help in tackling the twobiggest threats to young children. “Therelationship with UNICEF is very strong,”she says. The clinic functions extremelyefficiently given its limitations – thewomen are attending in droves, holdingonto the cards the doctor gives them whichoutline the immunization schedule fortheir children.

The immunization programme is ahuge step towards improving the survivalchances of Liberia’s children. The chal-lenges are immense, and such programmesrequire extensive long-term investment.But as laughing mothers strap their weep-ing, freshly vaccinated children to theirbacks for the walk home, the glow on theirfaces is unmistakable. The fear of losingone’s child is very real here, but everywoman leaving the clinic knows she hasgreatly improved her child’s chance of sur-vival.

val TThhee iimmmmuunniizzaattiioonn pprrooggrraammmmee iiss aa hhuuggee sstteepp ttoowwaarrddss iimmpprroovviinngg tthhee ssuurr-vviivvaall cchhaanncceess ooff LLiibbeerriiaa’’ss cchhiillddrreenn.. TThhee cchhaalllleennggeess aarree iimmmmeennssee,, aannddssuucchh pprrooggrraammmmeess rreeqquuiirree eexxtteennssiivvee lloonngg-tteerrmm iinnvveessttmmeenntt.. BBuutt aass llaauugghh-iinngg mmootthheerrss ssttrraapp tthheeiirr wweeeeppiinngg,, ffrreesshhllyy vvaacccciinnaatteedd cchhiillddrreenn ttoo tthheeiirrbbaacckkss ffoorr tthhee wwaallkk hhoommee,, tthhee ggllooww oonn tthheeiirr ffaacceess iiss uunnmmiissttaakkaabbllee..


By Sulaiman Momodu

For over eight years since hecompleted high school, Johncould not stop wonderingabout what the future holds forhim. With a wife and two chil-

dren to support, the 35-year-old has noregular source of income. For thousands ofLiberians like John, eking out a living is adaily struggle.

“When a man lives from hand-to-mouth, even his own children will not beproud to call him father,” John says, hop-ing for better days as he recently graduat-ed as a carpenter after attending a voca-tional training course conducted by UnitedNations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

“With the skills I have acquired, I will nomore go about begging in order to feed myfamily.”

Five years after the restoration ofpeace, UNMIL’s focus has shifted fromwinning hearts and minds to capacitybuilding. “Liberians must and should be inthe driver’s seat,” says SpecialRepresentative Ellen Margrethe Løj,stressing the need to involve Liberiansmore in all aspects of work in order tostrengthen their capacity as the UN mis-sion gradually draws down.

Since 2003, UN military personnelhave been supporting relief, recovery, anddevelopment efforts under the aegis ofCivil-Military Co-ordination (CIMIC).The peacekeepers collaborate with gov-ernment ministries, agencies and local

authorities to render assistance in varioushumanitarian and development pro-grammes.

“It’s not about us, it’s about them,”says Col. Christopher Holshek, Chief ofCIMIC, noting that the catchphrase is themain theme of their programme. “Themessage is simple. Liberians should be inthe lead as they build their future. We arehere to help them build that future as longas we can, before we draw down to thepoint where we can’t.” CIMIC experts saytheir focus now is sustainable capacitydevelopment assistance in close coordina-tion with County Support Teams (CSTs)and UNMIL’s Civil Affairs.

Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy(2008-2011) has four pillars includingPeace and Security; Economic

IItt��ss nnoott aabboouutt uuss��

Revitalisation; Governance and Rule ofLaw; and Infrastructure and BasicServices. UNMIL is rendering support toall these areas. The UN mission is lookingto get both the AFL and LNP involved incivil-military efforts, in order to bringthem to the forefront of recovery and helpthem improve relations with their ownpeople. One upcoming initiative involvespublic service train-the-trainer packages inroad and traffic safety, public health edu-cation, first aid, sexual exploitation andabuse mitigation, and rape prevention. Bytraining local security personnel in first aidfor example, in the event of an accident,police officers could fill an important firstresponse gap and save lives.

In order to improve collaboration andco-understanding, CIMIC organises train-ing courses targeting UNMIL military andcivilian staff, non-governmental organiza-tions, Liberian National Police, and thenew Armed Forces of Liberia, among oth-ers. From March to October this year, foursuch courses have been organized.

Post-war Liberia has witnessed a pro-liferation of commercial motorbike taxis,known as penh-penh. Yet there are notmany skilled persons to repair and keep

them road worthy. To address this prob-lem, interested persons are now beingtrained as motorbike mechanics. Othervocational training includes masonry, car-pentry, welding, tailoring and designing,animal husbandry, computing, first aid andbasic medical care, generator and vehiclemechanic, different types of agriculturalcapacity-building, and more.

More than 1,000 Liberians have so farbeen trained this year in various fields.CIMIC is also seeking to synchronizethese efforts with others, align trainingstandards, and link vocational skills train-ing with opportunities for small businessdevelopment and micro-financing. InGrand Bassa County, some peacekeeperstoday teach science subjects in one of thehigh schools in the absence of qualifiedLiberian teachers.

A major challenge to security anddevelopment in Liberia is the poor state ofthe road network. UNMIL’s engineershave been doing repairs and maintenanceof roads with about two-thirds of the workfunded by organizations like the UnitedNations Development Programme, WorldBank, and Africa Development Bank. Asanother dry season approaches, UNMIL

Peacekeepers demonstrate ways of modern farming

will be working in close collaboration withthe Ministry of Public Works to train peo-ple in basic road construction skills.Currently, there are not many engineers inthe country which has enormous work todo to recondition deplorable roads. “IfLiberians are looking for their goldenhour, this is it. Now’s the time for them touse us as much as they can to help them beable to help themselves. Once we’re gone,that window of opportunity closes,” stress-es Col. Holshek.

In the face of high unemployment andrising food prices, UNMIL’s peacekeepershave been supporting various agriculturalprojects throughout the country, endowedwith fertile agricultural land. In BongCounty for instance, peacekeepers are sup-porting 400 ex-combatants and others cul-tivate some 25 acres of land. Rice, cassa-va, corn, pumpkins and other vegetablesare some of the crops cultivated.

As UNMIL peacekeepers leaveLiberia eventually, John the carpenter andmany other Liberians will hopefullyremember the blue berets who came fromfar away lands not only for restoring peaceto Liberia but also for giving them skills torebuild their lives.


By Sulaiman Momodu

As the people of Liberia con-tinue to consolidate peaceand begin taking ownershipof the country’s develop-ment, accountable leader-

ship is emerging as a crucial element thatwould determine the nation’s progress. A

leadership training for local governmentleaders held in October in Buchanan, cap-ital of Grand Bassa County, has been partof the efforts to address this issue.

It is not uncommon to hear of discon-tent in communities as a result of improp-er implementation of development proj-ects and misuse of funds. Addressing thetraining workshop, Deputy SpecialRepresentative for Recovery andGovernance Jordan Ryan urged Liberianlocal government leaders to be account-able to their people as they implement the

development agendas of their counties.“A leader has to be accountable, focused,responsive and relentless about results thatwill make people’s lives better,” he said at

the training of county superintendents andtheir deputies drawn from all the 15 coun-ties in the country.

Jointly organized by UN-HABITAT,the United Nations Mission in Liberia, theUnited Nations Development Programme,Liberia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs andLiberia Institute of Public Administrationunder the theme “Recovery throughEnhanced Local Leadership andGovernance”, the capacity building train-ing is part of the efforts to make countyadministrations effective in deliveringdevelopment to the people. Noting theimportant efforts undertaken by the UNCounty Support Team, including the col-laboration with USAID, leading to thesuccessful rehabilitation of 14 of the 15county administrative buildings, Ryansaid: “As county leaders, you need infor-mation, to know exactly what is going onin your counties – how you are meetingthe goals of the Poverty Reduction

Training Accountable Lea

““AA lleeaaddeerr hhaass ttoo bbee aaccccoouunnttaabbllee,, ffooccuusseedd,, rreessppoonnssiivvee aannddrreelleennttlleessss aabboouutt rreessuullttss tthhaatt wwiillll mmaakkee ppeeooppllee’’ss lliivveess bbeetttteerr,,””JJoorrddaann RRyyaann ssaaiidd aatt tthhee ttrraaiinniinngg ooff ccoouunnttyy ssuuppeerriinntteennddeennttssaanndd tthheeiirr ddeeppuuttiieess ddrraawwnn ffrroomm aallll tthhee 1155 ccoouunnttiieess iinn tthheeccoouunnttrryy..


Strategy; the pace of development in yourcounties, and reporting to your peopleabout progress being made.”

UNMIL’s Chief of Civil AffairsFrancis Kai-Kai says local leaders havebeen given resources but still require moretraining on how to use them for the goodof the whole community. He said the train-ing idea came out of a needs assessment ofcounty administration, which identifiedcapacity building of superintendents ascrucial. “The objective is to improve theoverall management of county develop-ment processes in Liberia. The traininghad to do with many fields, both humanand material and also how to use power tomobilize people and resources,” says Kai-Kai.

Liberia’s Internal Affairs MinisterAmbulai Johnson acknowledged thatcounty administrators were facing seriouschallenges such as limited resources, bro-ken-down infrastructure and lack of tech-

nical know-how. He urged the superin-tendents to use the training to acquireskills that will make them better plannersand implementers of projects. In thisrespect, leadership competencies such as‘Communicating’, ‘Decision-making’,‘Negotiating’, ‘Managing Finances’,‘Institution-Building’ and ‘Using Power’were some of the relevant topics discussedat the training.

“The training was very interesting,rewarding and fruitful,” remarked Grand

Bassa County Superintendent JuliaCassell, who hosted the training. “It gaveus the opportunity to compare notes.”About 3,000 District Commissioners andMayors, Legislative Caucus members,Paramount, Clan and General Chiefs,Project Planners, Line Ministries and CivilSociety Organisation representatives couldbenefit from similar trainings planned for

the next 12 months. But will the leadership training result

in change of attitudes? The Civil Affairschief, whose section will be involved inconducting more training, said the UN isin Liberia to support the government andexpressed the hope that those trained, andwho appeared genuinely satisfied and will-ing to change, will put into practice theknowledge gained. “We want the superin-tendents to translate to reality what theyhave learnt. We want to see real improve-

ment,” he said, adding: “It is an enormouschallenge, but this training programmewill help enormously if people are open tomaking the most of the learning opportuni-ty.”

Faylene Woolley of Civil Affairs con-tributed to this report

Jordan Ryan opens the leadership training workshop

dership

LLiibbeerriiaa’’ss IInntteerrnnaall AAffffaaiirrss MMiinniisstteerr AAmmbbuullaaii JJoohhnnssoonn aacckknnoowwll-eeddggeedd tthhaatt ccoouunnttyy aaddmmiinniissttrraattoorrss wweerree ffaacciinngg sseerriioouuss cchhaall-lleennggeess ssuucchh aass lliimmiitteedd rreessoouurrcceess,, bbrrookkeenn-ddoowwnn iinnffrraassttrruucc-ttuurree aanndd llaacckk ooff tteecchhnniiccaall kknnooww-hhooww..


By Sulaiman Momodu

Some 62 Liberian Universitystudents are eagerly lookingforward to the New Year asthey have been selected for thefirst ever Legislative

Internship Programme in Liberia, set tobegin in January. “I wish we could startnow. I can’t wait to start,” says final yearstudent, Wilhemina.

The programme will introduce theyoung Liberians to the working of democ-racy in the post-war nation by acquaintingthem with legislative norms and processes.They will be assigned to the variousCommittees and will provide support inresearch and analysis, bill drafting, notetaking and other related tasks. Wilheminasays she has been assigned to the Foreign

Affairs Committee and is very excitedabout it. “Sometimes we are outside hereand we don’t know what is happening inthe Capitol Building. This is an opportu-nity to know what happens inside theNational Legislature and to know howdemocracy works,” she says, revealingthat her dream is to become a diplomat.

The Legislative Student ScholarshipProgramme is sponsored by the UNDemocracy Fund and is implemented bythe United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) with technical sup-port provided by the UN Mission inLiberia (UNMIL) and the NationalDemocratic Institute. Pundits say it is aunique ‘win-win’ arrangement whereinstudent beneficiaries gain exposure to alearning experience in democratic gover-nance, rule of law and public policy mak-

ing while supporting the work of theLegislature through its committees, whosework is impeded by inadequate researchand documentation capacity.

The Liberian Legislature received agrant for the programme in October 2006but the selection of interns was sluggishand marred by politicking forcing somestudents to march to the Capitol Buildingin protest. The rigorous selection processinvolved 400 applicants and took into con-sideration regional diversity and genderbalance. The selected interns represent allthe 15 counties of the country with aboutfour from each. The students will be work-ing with Legislative committees over aperiod of two years.

The Political Policy and PlanningSection (PPPS) is UNMIL’s focal point forthe Legislature. The section, in collabora-

Legislative Internship Set


tion with members of the Legislature,designed the internship programme, whichis now being handled by the UNDP as theentity for the disbursement of funds.UNDP’s Policy Specialist Cleophas O.

Torori says the innovative programme willcover the full tuition of the students pro-vided they maintain the academic stan-dards set by the programme. At themoment, the programme is limited only to

the country’s main University but willeventually expand to other universities andinstitutions of higher learning. Since com-mittees meet on designated days of theweek, the work of the interns will not sig-nificantly impact their university classes.

The Head of PPPS, Babafemi A.Badejo, is very positive about the pro-gramme. Even the smallest inflow ofmoney is very significant for students whohappen to be very good but having prob-

Interns at their induction

to Begin

TThhee ssuuppppoorrtt UUNNMMIILL hhaass bbeeeenn rreennddeerriinngg ttoo tthhee LLeeggiissllaattuurreeffoorr aa vviiaabbllee ddeemmooccrraattiicc pprroocceessss wwiillll ccoonnttiinnuuee.. TThhee UUNN mmiiss-ssiioonn hhaass ttwwoo ssttaaffff bbaasseedd aatt tthhee LLeeggiissllaattuurree –– tthhee SSeennaattee aannddtthhee HHoouussee ooff RReepprreesseennttaattiivveess –– ttoo ffoollllooww tthhee ddeebbaatteess aannddeennggaaggee iinnddiivviidduuaall lleeggiissllaattoorrss oonn lleeggiissllaattiivvee rreeffoorrmm,, ccoonnssttiittuu-ttiioonnaall cchhaannggeess aanndd ootthheerr iissssuueess wwiitthhoouutt bbeeiinngg iinnttrruussiivvee..

lems in paying tuition, he says. The inten-tion of the programme is much more inthat the quality of the Legislature isexpected to improve and the studentsthemselves will imbibe democratic cul-

ture, Badejo adds. The programme is alsoa way of grooming potential leaders in dif-ferent aspects of life such as compromisesthat are necessary in decision making.

“As the future leaders of Liberia, youwill be in a position to better understandthe checks and balances of government,the mechanisms for bringing a bill to thelegislature and its passage into law, thenegotiations that take place and how billsimpact on the lives of citizens,” noted theDeputy Special Representative of theSecretary General, Jordan Ryan, at a two-day orientation programme held inOctober at the Capitol Building inMonrovia. The orientation was facilitatedby legislators, the University of Liberia,UNDP, UNMIL and National DemocraticInstitute personnel during which a varietyof topics covering legislative proceduresand processes were discussed.

The Chairperson of the JointLegislative Modernization Committee,Senator Blamoh Nelson, advises theinterns to see themselves as technical“aides” primarily to facilitate the work ofthe Legislative Committees. Convincedthat the programme will help improve theimage of the lawmaking body, which issometimes mired in controversy, the legis-lators have already allocated some fundsfor the programme in the budget for nextyear.

The support UNMIL has been render-ing to the Legislature for a viable demo-cratic process will continue. The UN mis-sion has two staff based at the Legislature– the Senate and the House ofRepresentatives – to follow the debatesand engage individual legislators on leg-islative reform, constitutional changes andother issues without being intrusive. “Wewill continue to constantly interact withthe students in terms of sharing ideas andexplaining legislative processes. We willcontinue to be one of the resources that thestudents will count on for support,” saysBadejo.

The Legislative Scholarship GrantProgramme is part of a global project withsimilar internships programmes in otherparts of the world. The UN DemocracyFund was established at the 2005 WorldSummit at the UN headquarters in NewYork and is funded for the promotion ofdemocracy and human rights.

By Carly Learson

As the first ever all-femaleunit in a UN peacekeepingmission, the Indian FormedPolice Unit made headlinesall over the world when the

contingent arrived in Liberia in January2007. After a year, the first contingent hasreturned home and the second contingentof women is now well into their time inLiberia.

Apart from their regular duties ofguarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,conducting night patrols and anti-robberyoperations and guarding the Truth andReconciliation Commission, the femaleofficers are assisting the local communityin various ways. Commander Rakhi Sahihas been extremely active in encouragingher officers to become involved in theircommunity and learn about the people andculture of Liberia. “Our camp here isdivided into three locations, and inbetween there is a school, the VictoryChapel School,” she said. “When weopened up a hospital on our premises Inoticed small children from the schoolcoming and asking for help. That’s whatinspired us to get into community polic-ing.”

The contingent started a medical out-reach programme welcoming childrenfrom the school and their families to theIndian hospital at any time to seek medicaltreatment. The success of this programmeencouraged the contingent to explore otherways to support the children. The contin-gent has since developed self-defencetraining and dancing classes for the kids.“We are integrating ourselves with thecommunity,” says the Commander.“Without doing that you can’t get the con-fidence of the country you are serving in.”The Principal of Victory Chapel School,


Indian Female PoliceReach Out


Jason Sargeor, is grateful for their help.“The Indian women established a friend-ship with our school, and help with thingslike medical treatment and water for thechildren,” he said. “The children like tosee the Indian women.”

Twice a week the children are split intojunior and senior classes for their training.In the morning heat they stand in rowsdivided by gender in the school’s fore-court. The Indian Officers position them-selves at the head of each line while offi-cer Kimnu Kipgen takes the microphoneto start the warm-up. It’s important for thechildren to do star-jumps and stretches toprepare before they start their self-defencetraining with ‘Ninja’ Kim Lhingjakim. Theofficers demonstrate karate poses whichthe children emulate with varying degreesof success, but lots of enthusiasm. Nurseryteacher Gloria Adjei says she is very grate-ful for what the Indian women are doingfor her children. “Our girls need to bephysically fit,” she says. “They need to beable to defend themselves. The Indianwomen are fine, they didn’t think them-

selves too big, they came to us and now weare one.”

Once the self-defence class ends thechildren run inside ready for theirfavourite part of the Indian FPU visits –dancing. Bhangra music blasts from asound system at the back of the room. TheLiberian children start shaking their hipsas though they’ve been doing it all theirlives. The Indian women in their pink t-shirts are swarmed by children shimmyingand waving their arms in the air.

Commander Sahi says she is particu-larly keen about helping Liberian girls,who face so many challenges growing upincluding sexual violence. She is hoping toexpand her programme to other girls’schools in the area, and is working withNGOs to find ways for her officers to helpmore through self-defence training. Butshe also hopes to address the problem at itsroot – by getting through to boys. “It’s theoutlook of the male child,” she says.“Boys should be comfortable to live with agirl child and should be able to view thegirl child as one of his own, as a human

being.”The meeting room of the Indian FPU is

a container filled with sofas and a wide-screen television. A portrait of MahatmaGandhi hangs on the wall. The women arepart of an elite unit in India, chosenbecause of their abilities to deal calmlywith any situation. The work can be diffi-cult, particularly when the women go outon night patrol with the Liberian NationalPolice. “Sometimes people can get aggres-sive with the LNP officers,” Sahi says.“When this happens we can only advise,not intervene. We do our best to assistthem.”

The contingent has 125 members. 105form the all-female FPU, while the twentymen are support staff such as cooks anddrivers. The women have been in Liberiafor nine months now, and are feeling likethe country is their second home. “I amvery excited to be teaching the children ofLiberia, I have enjoyed being in Liberia,”Kim Lhingjakim says. Kalpana Sreeniwasagrees. “I have really enjoyed it here, I amvery happy here. I have a lot of friendsnow.”

Liberians

Edgarlyn T. Freeman(Student/Cuttington University)

Amos Harris (Student – University of Liberia)

J. Cole Bangalu (Assistant Ministerof Labour / Trade Union Affairs)

Samuel Swaray (PetroleumInspector/Real International)

Agnes Ayo Freeman (Student/Inter-digital Computer School)


Will Liberia benefit from the election of the fir

”

”

”

”

”

”

“

““

““

“

“Liberia will definitely benefit becauseboth countries come a long way.

President George W. Bush increased hiscountry’s assistance to post-conflict

Liberia and I do believe that his succes-sor will do much more.”

George Barpeen (President/Press Union of Liberia)

“I’ll like to just say that Liberia will con-tinue to benefit from the US

Government. I say that from the per-spective that government is continuity

whether it’s President-elect BarackObama or anybody else, Liberia standsto immensely benefit from the AmericanGovernment as it has continued to do.

Whatever plans the US Government hasfor Africa and Liberia will continue.

Though the US Government is undergo-ing a lot of financial difficulties, his con-centration will be rebuilding his coun-try’s economy but at the same time nomatter the situation, it has a policy for

Liberia and Africa that remains.”

“We hope and pray that Liberia benefitsfrom the election of President-elect

Obama. I don’t see that in the immedi-ate future but as an optimist, his presi-dency will ensure that peace is consoli-dated as well as continue to lend moresupport to improving our educationaland health system, our infrastructure

etc.”

“My answer should be yes. Africa as awhole will benefit from the election ofBarack Obama, not only Liberia. Youknow he has Africa at heart becausethat is where his roots come from. To

ensure peace and stability in the country,we hope that he enhances his support tothe security sector reform. Secondly, he

should support education and lastlyinfrastructural development.”

“Well, I say yes. Indeed we will benefit.Let me just say that Liberia has come

from 14-years of political instability as aresult of our civil conflict attributed to

tribal groups. As a country over the peri-od, we did not appreciate each other.

The election in the US shows that despitebeing a black man, the nation is above

race, colour or creed. This shoulddemonstrate to us that no matter your

colour, tribe or where you come from, itis not important; rather what you can do

to ensure that your country remainspeaceful, stable and developed.”

“I believe that Liberia would benefit,being the first black to set that historicalrecord in the United States. I believe hewill assist Africa where his roots are. For

Liberia, I’m of the opinion, during hisadministration, he will ensure that peace

is consolidated in the country.”

s Speak

Massa Kallon (Student/University of Liberia)

Professor Dr. Togba-NNah Topoteh(2005 Presidential Candidate)

Mardia Mason (Contractor/UNMission in Liberia)

Dr. Laurence K. Bropleh (Minister ofInformation, Culture & Tourism)


rst African-American President Barack Obama?

”

”

””

”“

“

““

“Liberians will benefit from Barack

Obama’s elections because his electionhas raised the consciousness of

Liberians into believing that this countrybelongs to them and they have a rightto work and benefit from their work.Certainly most Liberians don’t feel a

sense of ownership; no sense of nation-alism amongst Liberians. Now, with hiselection as the US first African-American

President, this has given Liberians asense of belonging and ownership. Also

someone who is coming along as asymbolism for peace is of great interest

to Liberia, especially coming from asuper power. Liberians now know thatthey have a responsibility for moving

their country forward. Having said that,there are other benefits; but I should

caution that we should not always thinkabout benefits in a relationship. We

have to think about what is it that wehave to offer as well.

The late civil rights leader Martin LutherKing said that one day blacks will not

be judged by the colour of their skin butthe content of their character. Look atwhat has happened today. The election

of President-elect Obama might notbring immediate benefits; but in thenear future considering our historical

ties, there will be some benefits.

Liberia will benefit because as mostDemocrats are black, they will favour

Africa in general. Despite the change inadministration, there will not be much of

a policy change. Liberians expect tobenefit through policies already set in

motion by his predecessor.

I don’t think in the short term Liberiawill benefit from the election of

President Barack Obama. I don’t thinkeven during the first two years of his

presidency Liberia will benefit. You haveto understand that the economic crisisthat he has inherited will have a greatimpact on how the country proceeds

especially when the crisis besides affect-ing Wall Street is also affecting MainStreet. For now, while the reforms are

being put in place to give confidence tothe markets, Liberia and other thirdworld countries would be given little

attention.

I hope that Liberians will not have lessthan pragmatic hope when it comes tothe election of an African-American in

the United States. Let me draw theanalysis from South Africa. When

President Nelson Mandela came fromprison and was elected president manySouth Africans had less than pragmatichope. They believed that finally a black

African was president so everythingwould be well for black South Africans.It doesn’t work that way. We in Liberia,the Liberian Government for example,engage the US Government, not indi-viduals. America’s foreign policy will

remain America’s foreign policy.Presidents come and go, they bring a

slant to the policy but it does not uprootthat policy. However, what Liberians can

say is that we believe that PresidentObama will have a special sensitivitytowards Liberia’s plight because he

understands. He’s never forgotten hisparental roots coming from Kenya. Hecomes with a certain sensitivity that Ithink will play a role in the advocacy

when it comes to Africa, especially post-conflict Liberia.

Israel Akinsanya(National Chairman/Liberty Party)

A publication of the United Nations Mission in Liberia Public Information Officewww.unmil.org

UNMIL FOCUS, Vol. 5, No. 01

Documents

UNMIL FOCUS · ple. “You are the ones to uphold the law; you are the ones expected to enforce the law; therefore, you yourself must obey the law so that when you stand to tell some-body