Global Policy Forum

By Evelyn Leopold

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor absconded with government money and has tried to loot revenues since he went into exile, says a U.N. panel monitoring sanctions against the West African nation. The report was discussed by the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, with members saying the sanctions on diamonds, arms, logging and some travel would stay in place for the time being, as the panel had recommended. "The situation is such that the sanctions will just continue," said Angolan Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, this month's council president.

The embargoes were imposed after Taylor's government was accused of fomenting warfare in the region for wealth and power and must be reviewed every six months. An August peace deal ended most fighting between rebels and government forces, sent Taylor into exile in Nigeria and cleared the way for a transitional government under Gyude Bryant. But the panel said the country's commerce was riddled with corruption, kickbacks and bribes from foreign concerns that now also involve rebel leaders. Liberian consumers, for example, pay more for fuel and rice than necessary, the report said. It says attempts to trace illicit bank accounts and other illegal Liberian activities by Taylor and others met with little response from governments and firms in the United States, Britain, Switzerland and China, among others.

"Former President Charles Taylor has diverted and continues to divert revenues and assets of the Government of Liberia," the panel said. The report said that funds taken illegally from the Liberian International Shipping and Corporate Registry, with a key office in Vienna, Virginia, were invested in real estate. "Even from his exile, Charles Taylor has attempted to sell some of those properties, including one in South Africa which had been used to house the Liberian Embassy," the panel said. Another example was $800,000 in cash on behalf of Taylor transported on SN Brussels Airlines by an employee of the Monrovia-based Ecobank Liberia last May. Requests by the Belgian airline for information have been ignored.

CASH, DIAMONDS AND TIMBER

And the report said there were strong indications a withdrawal from the Liberian central bank in June for $700,000 also went to Taylor and he took it with him into exile. Violations of the arms embargo were reported previously, with the weapons brokered by the Belgrade-based Temex company. Just days before Taylor went to Nigeria on Aug. 7, U.N. peacekeepers at Liberia's Robertsfield airport discovered a cache of ammunition for the defense minister. The panel said it had been informed these arms also originated in Serbia.

On diamonds, the report said the flow from Liberia had decreased because of fighting and the rainy season rather than the impact of sanctions. But it said the gems still were smuggled to neighboring nations despite new certification procedures under the international Kimberley Process. "Liberian diamonds continue to flow to the international market and an internationally accredited certification scheme, introduced by neighboring countries under the Kimberley Process have failed to prevent this," the report said. On timber, the panel said the industry, which accounts for 20 percent of the country's revenues, is barely functioning because of warfare and the rainy season. But it said rebels had been negotiating with foreign firms to resume logging.

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