Press briefing by Jacques Paul Klein, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Liberia, and Lt. Gen. Daniel I. Opande, Force Commander

5 November

Near verbatim

SRSG Klein: I'm pleased to note that while UNMIL is only a month old, I think we have made a great deal of progress. You see no weapons on the streets of Monrovia. I cannot say there are not any weapons in homes, but we can't do house to house searches. We are not there yet, but there are no weapons on the streets. The UNMIL forces under Gen. Opande's command have pushed out into different parts of the country with the force structure we have. A number of troop contributors are sending in their reconnaissance teams - Bangladesh, Ireland, Namibia, Ethiopia, Jordan, Nepal, Netherlands. Those troops will all eventually be with us.

We are engaging on a daily basis the National Transitional Government. As you know, I meet every Wednesday at 11:00 with Chairman Bryant. We are here to be partners with the Liberian government and are here to assist them over the next two years as they rebuild the infrastructure of Liberia. The DDR program has been drawn up. We are looking at beginning that program, starting it up in early December with an initial three cantonment areas, so we are working with all three parties now, because it is a lot of infrastructure when you set up a camp for a thousand people. It is not easy.

The UN humanitarian agencies are working very hard as you know, sometimes at great risk to themselves, as are the NGOs. I met this morning for instance with Oxfam and congratulated them on their continued efforts. Schools are coming back to life. Chairman Bryant and I were out this week launching the UNICEF Back-to-School Programme, 750,000 children. We have undertaken UNMIL Quick Impact Projects and tomorrow we will launch some street repair, fix the potholes, so as you are driving you are not bumping around as much. We are bringing in ambassadors from Abidjan this Friday. In other words, we have a dilemma. We have many ambassadors accredited to Liberia who are not resident here. So my question was how do they know what is going on here. The only way for them to find out is for me to bring them here. So I am sending a UN aircraft to bring them here. I will host them for lunch and we will try to sensitize them to the problems of Liberia and the roles their countries can play in helping us try to rebuild. We are looking at planning a donor pledging conference in January. I was delighted that the United States government came forward with $445 million for Liberia. That should put to bed all the nay-sayers, pessimism, negativism, that I have heard since I got here that we would "not receive a dime." This is more than a dime. This means that the United States ambassador has $200 million of discretionary spending that he can use to help rebuild Liberia and the other $245 million will pay for the peacekeeping operation. So I am quite pleased with that and I am hoping that other donor countries now will see what the American contribution has been and make some of their own.

Gen. Opande: I know you will be focusing more on the recent events that have taken place, especially the ceasefire violations in Nimba County, but before I get to that, the SRSG has articulated our position on our deployment and day-to-day activities. Since we took over from ECOMIL and re-hatted ECOMIL, we have received one more battalion from across the border in Sierra Leone, BANBATT-1, which used to be part and parcel of UNAMSIL peacekeeping operations. That is the only major contingent we have received since taking over the command of UNMIL. That battalion was specifically given to me to act as my force reserve, because as you remember, prior to the installation of the government, there was quite a bit of commotion around and people weren't so sure whether we were able to hold it together for long before those who would want to disturb the peace process are back again at it. But thank God, since then, we have been able to pacify that.

We have been in touch with the parties to the conflict. We have disarmed, so to say, a large number of militia, especially the government militia in and around the areas where we are deployed and more so, within the city, and we have recovered thousands of small arms, as well as mortar and anti-aircraft guns from those militia forces, including the ATU. We are keeping all those weapons safely under lock and key. We have also opened the main highway from Monrovia all the way to Saniquellie and you can drive all the way from here to Saniquellie without going through any major hurdles. This was a major effort, cooperation between us, LURD and the Government forces that are in Nimba. Apart from that, we have undertaken patrols nearly throughout the country to all the major areas where we are going to deploy our troops and we continue to do that and we are hoping that within a short while we should be able to receive more troops and as and when we receive more troops we are going to stretch out throughout the country. I can assure you that once we get our troops, it will be a thing of the past saying that we cannot give protection to the people out there wherever they are and these ceasefire violations, which will still occur, we will be in a better position to address them promptly and timely and ensure that we do our job.

I know you are going to ask me about Nimba. Over the weekend there have been a lot of activities around Tapeta, Grey and Sagleipie. That has been a contested area. A contested area, why? I don't know. Let me say that it shouldn't be, but what we have now found out is that both Government militia and MODEL militia have been at each other's throats, as the result of which the people who suffer are the civilians. So they go around saying that they are fighting each other and they end up burning villages and houses and displacing civilians, as a result of which we conducted three investigations which culminated in the one yesterday which took the Defense Minister, the Justice Minister, our own people as well as MODEL, to Tapeta, where we had a very clear message to those MODEL fighters: Stop it and withdraw to Tapeta, because they were now on the offensive, moving northwards to Sagleipie. The same message was taken to the government troops on the other side that they will not engage MODEL and disengage from this unnecessary skirmish. We are hoping that the message has gone down to the people concerned. You may be asking why can't we deploy there ourselves to be in-between. We don't have troops to do that. We are today stretched to the limits. We are hoping that within the next couple of days there will be another mission that will encompass more traditional leaders of both the groups who will go to the same places, Tapeta and Sagleipie, and talk to the general population as well as the combatants and this will be a thing of the past.

Janet Johnson, Radio Veritas: How are you going to start DDR next month when you don't have enough troops already deployed throughout the country?

Klein: We are going to try to have the camps in those areas that we control. The three camps will be in those areas that we already control. This is a symmetrical process; that means 1,000 from all three sides simultaneously.

Opande: Just to add on to what the SRSG has said, if the factions are committed to the peace process, which they do tell us they are at every level, and they really want to disarm their men and women, they will do it and they should do it. We are hoping that they will do that.

V. Daniel Somah, New National newspaper: Some of these fightings that are going on are caused by lack of presence of UNMIL in those areas. We notice that deployment has been very slow. What is responsible for the slow sending of troops to Liberia by the countries that have committed men?

Klein: The dilemma you have is until you have a mandate, you can't do anything. You can't negotiate with countries. They will not commit to anything. The mandate is one month old. So one should be pleasantly surprised that we actually have what we have here. But it takes time to come here from Pakistan or Bangladesh or Ireland or the Dutch hospital ship or Namibia. I think the Ethiopian recce team is in town. It just takes time. The first thing a country does is send a reconnaissance team. Where are you putting my people? Where are they going to live? Are there water, ablutions, food, logistics, etc? So it is simply a deployment process that takes time. You cannot move 800 or 900 men and women and their equipment over night. It just doesn't happen. It doesn't happen in NATO or anywhere else. So the sad part is, and I have said time and again, you may see an increased level of violence, because the thugs, the gangsters and the killers out there realize their days are running out and they only have another month or two. But once General Opande has the force structure he needs, I assure you we will put an end to that problem. In the meantime, tragically enough, we have to more or less live with it. And that's the honest answer. You can make up a lot of nonsense, but that's the honest answer, and I always try to be honest with people.

John Kollie, Radio France International: General, I heard you said that the road to Saniquellie, which is a long stretch of road held by a lot of rebel groups, is now free and safe to move on. How can we guarantee that without your men on the ground, such as in Ganta?

Opande: Let me state clearly what I meant. Before we negotiated with LURD and the Government forces holding this stretch of land, even they themselves couldn't move across a stretch of land that they held. But we did, and we have traveled the route all the way from Saniquellie. I have travelled the route from Ganta all the way back here, and not only me, some NGOs have been on that road. The first of the civilian people who just want to go their way were on this road on Monday. That does not mean that it is 100 per cent safe, but it is now open. You can drive through there, go to Saniquellie and come back.

John Kollie, RFI: Maybe they know you are going there, so for a few days, they will be good, but once I drive there alone, I might get killed.

Opande: Let me tell you that we continue to patrol this road ourselves nearly every other day. Our Guinea-Bissau battalion sends patrols every day from Kakata all the way beyond Baila and then back, or into Ganta and back. So if there is any lawlessness that will take place there until we deploy and ensure that that road is now clear, at least we have certain information about that. You can try it, if you don't want to try it, you are probably doing the right thing.

Winston Monboe, VOA: This is a follow-up about areas near Buchanan where I gather daily reports that government militias have molested and intimidated people believed to be MODEL fighters or supporters. It brings us to the question of whether the road to Saniquellie is clear. Can you address yourself to the issue of the Buchanan road now?

Opande: I was on the Buchanan highway on Friday myself because I also heard the same story, but actually there was one incident where the government militia actually molested MODEL and thank God we were informed straight away and we got there in the middle of the night and retrieved the two gentlemen who had been arrested. We have taken very strong protest to the Government side. On Friday, I went and had a talk with the militia in Compound One, because they are only in Compound One. That is where the incident took place and that is where they have been creating a problem because from Roberts International Airport all the way to St. John River is actually under our control now and there shouldn't be any molestation of people along that highway. This took place at Compound One, as a result of which we are now taking containers there, we are collecting their weapons, those militias, and we are going to have them under lock and key.

Clarence Johnson, Love Radio, Buchanan: Your forces just went up to St. John's River, they haven't entered into Buchanan. Why?

Opande: Again, the same answer. We don't have enough troops to go into Buchanan. It will require at least two infantry companies to pacify Buchanan. I don't have those.

Klein: This whole issue of rumor mills...we are flooded every day in this office with rumors, hearsay, innuendo, all three sides putting out false propaganda. You have an obligation. When I was a newsman, three sources independently confirmed before I put anything in print. That is your obligation, because you can be either part of the problem or part of the solution. That's what the international standard for journalism is and everything else is rumor and hearsay.

James Lloyd, The Evidence newspaper: One problem at stake [inaudible] on the purchase of arms....What are the benefits?

Klein: In other words, you are asking what kind of package each individual will get as they process through the camps. It is very complex because first you have to disaggregate the children. You have to disaggregate the women. You have to disaggregate the young people who are under 18 who are technically children from the adults. You have to do a physical. You have to do an identity card. You have to do psychological counseling. You have to do debriefing. You have to do vocational training. You have to do a whole range of things which takes months. It's a very intense, complex process of trying to take someone and reintegrate them back in society.

James Lloyd, The Evidence newspaper: Sometime ago you mentioned about restoring water and electricity in Monrovia. We haven't seen that done.

Klein: That's a six-month process. It's not going to happen overnight. How do you do a 36-inch pipeline which everyone has tapped into illegally and destroyed? That's a $40-50 million project. What we have done is we have the 16-inch pipeline running from White Plains. Then the international community, all the agencies, many of the NGOs are involved in water distribution, that's ongoing. The actual electrical generators are up and running if you go to the plant. They are running. The problem is everyone has stolen the wiring, stolen the transformers, so we can generate the electricity today, but the grid is not there. That's the problem and the EU is working on it, so you might check with Mr. Rudd (EU) where they are exactly. But as I said, the generators are up and running, we worked the fuel issue. Simply what is missing is wiring, transformers, and the city could be lit.

Opande: Actually they have started working on this grid in certain areas. Over the weekend, I saw them fixing, they have started working.

Weah Karpeh, The News newspaper: One question to Gen. Opande, you said you have been to and fro to Nimba - Saniquellie to be specific. In recent days, the people of Nimba met at the City Hall and decided they would take measures that they find necessary if attacked somewhere...Did you have time to talk to them when you were there? My question to Ambassador Klein: You sounded frustrated when you described the factions as rogues, criminals, thieves and murderers. It looks as if you are giving up.

Klein: I am frustrated. The war is over, Taylor is gone. What are these people still killing each other for? Or put another way, I wouldn't mind if they killed each other, but leave the people of Liberia alone ! That's what really hurts me. Now, while we are on that topic, let me say that on 8 October, the Government of Liberia ratified the [Statute of the International Criminal Court], which means that any act committed after that technically is a crime and can be prosecuted. So for those leaders out there, and you might send them that message, dossiers are being kept, names are being kept, records are being kept and what they are doing now are crimes. This is no longer a war where you can amnesty people. That's over. That's what frustrates me. How can you continue to kill innocent people when you know the war is over, when you know that in two or three months, General Opande and his troops will basically control Liberia and disarm it and demobilize it? That's what I find so frustrating.

Opande: My answer to your question is that every time I go out there, I spend a lot of my time not just looking, but talking to the people, engaging the people on the ground, so that they themselves can also talk to those rogues and thieves who are amongst them to stop what they are doing and at the same time, at the leadership level, I talk to everyone, out there in the field and right here in the city. We have an open door policy. I would also appeal to you press people: help us pass that message around that those people who continue to loot and kill, their days are numbered. I pass that message every week to the leadership of the three parties on a very important committee that I chair, the Joint Monitoring Committee, that their days are numbered, and even the leaders themselves, especially those fighting forces, will be held responsible for what their men and women are doing now after 8 October.

Isaac Yeah, DC-101 Radio: You mentioned the coming of 1,115 police and customs officers. We've seen that hasn't been the case so far. There is [inaudible] of civil authority in the areas controlled by LURD, to the extent that people are finding it difficult to have redress ...[inaudible]...Taylor police..[inaudible]...How soon are they coming so civil matters will be addressed?

Klein: There are going to be 1,115 international civilian police officers. The new police commissioner will be here this coming Sunday. His name is Mr. Kroeker, who has experience from Kosovo, Bosnia and elsewhere. He is very good. His deputy will be from Ghana, also an outstanding police officer who served in the UN in the CIVPOL office in New York. Now what the goal will be. One-third of these 1,115 will be armed police in units - that means able to move, arrest and detain. The others will be mentors. There will be international policemen in every police station in Liberia, monitoring what is going on, day and night. The Police Academy has to be restructured, new curriculum. And then what you have to do is take the police force that we have now, which no one knows how many there are, 3,500 to 4,000 is the estimate. You demobilize them, you demilitarize them, and then you build a new Liberian police force. You recruit from the whole ethnic spectrum of Liberia, you train, you equip them, a new Police Academy curriculum, and you pay them for two years, because unless I pay you, you don't work for me. And everyone understands that. I don't want policemen taking bribes. I don't want policemen shaking down citizens. So we are going to have to build over the next two years an honest police force, so that I can say two years from now to Chairman Bryant, Here, we've tried to build a modern Liberian police force that is honest, trustworthy but understands its job is to protect the citizens of Liberia and not to exploit them. So that is the challenge.

On the judiciary, it is the same way. Prosecutors, judges will all be vetted. Where did you get your academic degree? Did you print it yourself, or did you actually go to a school? How did you get your job? Did your uncle get you the job, or did you actually deserve the job? Those who are qualified by legal standards will be retained and also paid, because there is nothing worse than corrupt judges and prosecutors. Abou Moussa, my one deputy, has the whole United Nations family, all the NGOs, the humanitarian assistance, the pledging donor conference in January. My other deputy, Mr. Seraydarian, has the whole judicial reform and police reform. Unless you do judiciary and police together, it's like clapping with one hand. It doesn't work. They have to go together, and we have to find honest prosecutors so that when we round up some of these thugs that are out there now killing people we have a prosecutor who will indict them and a judge and jury that will convict them.

We have one jail in Monrovia. The human rights people went to look at it. There is one gentleman who at the moment is incarcerated. He is a convicted murderer apparently. But they said to him, "Based on the time you have served and your record of good behaviour, you could actually probably be released." And he said, "I'm not going out there, it's too dangerous." And he's still in his jail cell fixing his roof. So that's a good quote for you.

Gibson Jenie, The Analyst newspaper: PAE lost its contract with UNMIL, involving the jobs and lives of hundreds of Liberians. Do you have a contract with PAE, if not who do you have a contract with?

Klein: No, no one. PAE has nothing to do with UNMIL. PAE is an American company, Pacific Architects and Engineers, that was contracted by the US Government to support the ECOMIL forces that were here through 1 Oct. That's what their job was. It had nothing to do with the UN. On 1 October, we assumed and took over the support of the ECOMIL troops as well as the new UN contingents coming in. We have nothing to do with PAE. Now, we are contracting, we have hundreds of contracts already with local Liberian companies for everything under the sun, from cleaning up garbage with a wheelbarrow and a shovel, repaving the roads - that's a whole different area.

Robert Powell, IRIN: You mentioned, Mr. Klein, that you want to make a clean start with the police, recruit new people. What happens to the army?

Klein: There will be no new Liberian army if I can help it. If I had to give advice to the Government of Liberia, I'd say you don't need an army. Armies sit around playing cards and plotting coups. What Liberia needs is a very strong state border service to guard Liberia's borders against smuggling, illegal migration, cross-border combatants, and three or four frigates out in the water here to save Liberia's fish from being stolen by foreign entrepreneurs who come here. That's what Liberia needs. Why do I say a good customs state border service?Because they are busy , they are working, you have three shifts, 24 hours a day, so you are not sitting around in the barracks imagining you can be President when you are a captain or sergeant. So my advice to the Government would be you don't need an army, armies are a waste of time and a waste of money and I think it would be very dramatic for Liberia to say we are the first African state to say we have no intention of attacking our neighbors, that's what armies do. We are the first African state to say we don't need an army, we intend to live in peace with our neighbors, but we do want secure and stable borders. That I think would be fairly dramatic. Now the army will be fully demobilized and demilitarized, all of them. Then again when we do the recruiting, if there is a state border service, or whatever it might be, you'll again to do that, you will bring them in, you will vet them, you will train them and I would hope, and I'm hoping Ambassador Blaney would support this, that perhaps the US government would take on the training. If someone asks what is the United States presence in Liberia, then we can say not only have they been generous with money, but they have taken on bilaterally the training of the Liberian military or state border service or whatever it might be called. I would also advocate not training them here. I would advocate putting together a battalion, 600-700, and taking them to the United States, to a place like Fort Benning for six months, and really training them into a highly elite league, professional unit that understands the role of the soldier in a democratic society - that their job is to protect the citizens of the state and not to kill them.