Global Policy Forum

By James West

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a five-member panel of experts to visit Liberia and assess the implementation and impact of the United Nations Security Council's sanctions regime imposed on the country. Measures include a ban on timber exports as well as existing travel, arms and diamond embargoes.

The panel appointed Friday is charged specifically with looking into restrictions on the diamond trade and the timber industry. The Panel of Experts will also assess the impact these measures on the local population, as well as check the implementation of an arms embargo.

On June 21, 2005, The Security Council unanimously extended for six months the existing sanctions against Liberia's diamond exports, which it said have been increasing, and re-established a panel to investigate if and how funds are being raised to buy weapons to foment new violence. At the time, the Council noted its concern over "the increase in unlicensed mining and illegal exports of diamonds and the NTGL agreement to, and lack of transparency in, granting exclusive mining rights to a single company."

It urged the NTGL to intensify its efforts, with the support of the UN Mission in Liberia, "to establish its authority over the diamond-producing areas, and to work towards establishing an official Certificate of Origin regime for trade in rough diamonds that is transparent and internationally verifiable, wit a view to joining the Kimberley Process."

The Security Council also noted that even though the presence of UNMIL had improved security in the country, the NTGL had not extended its authority over the country's timber producing areas, or its borders and although there was no evidence of illegal timber exports, the NTGL had undertaken few of the reforms that would lead to the lifting of the export embargo.

The Council then called on the NTGL to "urgently intensify its efforts to reform the Forestry Development Authority, to implement the Liberia Forest Initiative and to implement the Forest Concession Review Committee's recommendations for reform, which will ensure transparency, accountability and sustainable forest management and contribute towards the lifting of the measures on timber."

The Security Council renewed sanctions against the country in 2003 and extended the measures to include a ban on timber exports in addition to existing arms and diamonds embargos citing Liberia's "active support" of rebel groups which were having a destabilizing effect on the sub-region. After determining that former Liberian President Charles Taylor's government had helped the rebel Revolutionary United front (RUF) in Sierra Leone fight the government there, the Security Council initially approved the measures in May 2001.

The timber ban was prompted, according to the council, because Liberia's Government had not shown that revenue from timber industry was "used for legitimate social, humanitarian and development purposes."

The Security Council stated that it would routinely consider how best to minimize the impact of the ban on the country's humanitarian situation and could allow the resumption of exports to fund relief programs. The newly appointed panel is expected to report back to the Security Council in December.

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