New Democrat (Monrovia)
31 May 2011
UNMIL boss, Ellen Margrethe Loj, is concerned over the return of Liberian mercenaries and Ivorian fighters to Liberia and has announced the reinforcement of the country’s border with Cote d’Ivoire, according to Reuters.
The UN Special Envoy expressed the concern in Dakar, Senegal during a press conference.
“The first concern is the weapons that might be transported across the border. We have had a few incidents in some towns at the border area where AK-47s have been used in armed robberies,” she said after a meeting of UN heads of peace missions in the West Africa region.
“We don’t know if their intention is to seek refuge only or to take part in illegal activities in one or the other side of the border, so we have to find out what their intentions are,” she said.
She said UNMIL was concerned by the return to Liberia of mercenaries and Ivorian fighters and had reinforced its forces to patrol the long border between the two countries.
Liberian police have announced the arrest of several suspected mercenaries who they said have crossed into the country with weapons hidden in unknown places.
Liberian mercenaries were allegedly hired by supporters of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo during the four-month post-election conflict which ended with Gbagbo’s capture in April.
The government of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has said Liberian mercenaries killed about 220 people, mostly civilians as they fled towards the Liberian border. “Yes of course we are concerned in Liberia about the return of alleged Ivorian fighters and Liberian mercenaries,” the UN Secretary General’s special representative to Liberia, Ellen Margrethe Loj, told a press conference in Dakar.
Loj said the UN had reinforced its forces along the border and increased cooperation between security forces of the two countries. The 700km border is mostly dense rainforest with little infrastructure and is difficult to monitor. The UN had said over 180,000 Ivorian refugees fled to Liberia because of the conflict. The heads of UN peace missions said in a statement that the new government in Ivory Coast needed to do more to aid the return of refugees and improve security, particularly in the western part of the country which borders Liberia. “The situation (in Ivory Coast) remains alarming but as the administration of President Ouattara is putting in place stability structures, the situation will become much calmer and the refugees could return home,” Said Djinnit, the UN Secretary General’s special representative for West Africa, told the news conference.
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