UN Security Council eases arms embargo on Liberia

UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Reuters) The UN Security Council today eased its ban on weapons sales to Liberia to enable President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to arm newly trained police and security forces.

A resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council exempted from the embargo all security and police officers trained since October 2003 as well as members of Johnson-Sirleaf's own security detail.

Separate UN embargoes on Liberian diamond and timber exports were not affected despite a plea from the president that they be lifted as well.

''It is highly unlikely that the government of Liberia can make any significant stride in poverty reduction and the provision of social services when the diamond and timber industries, two significant life wires in the economy of the country, continue to be under United Nations sanctions,'' she said in a May 24 letter to the council.

Johnson-Sirleaf took office in January, becoming Africa's first elected female head of state.

Council members have insisted that, before acting on the other embargoes, they want the necessary controls in place to ensure that any exports of Liberian resources end up benefiting the people of Liberia rather than corrupt politicians.

Washington drafted the resolution adopted today.

Asked last week why the arms embargo would be eased before the other sanctions, US Ambassador John Bolton said this was ''quite logical when you consider the importance of making sure the government is able to be sovereign throughout its entire territory, to provide law and order and conditions of stability for the people, which they sorely need.'' Johnson-Sirleaf took over from a transitional government installed in 2003 after former President Charles Taylor fled into exile in Nigeria, ending 14 years of on-and-off civil war in the impoverished West African nation of 3.2 million people.

Taylor has since been turned over to a UN-backed tribunal in neighboring Sierra Leone, where he has pleaded innocent to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Security Council imposed a ban on Liberian timber and diamond exports as well as an arms embargo during Taylor's final years in office after accusing him of fueling conflict in the region through an illicit trade in arms for diamonds and other natural resources.

Reuters SY GC2136