YouSaid · the spoken record

Kromah

lines on the record
18
first
1996-01-29
most recent
1996-01-29
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “It is unfortunate that the mass media have portrayed the United States Ambassador as having gone to Monrovia to issue instructions and orders to us, when in fact the scenario was quite respectful and encouraging. Liberia is the portion of God's planet that has been given to us. We almost lost it. This has strengthened us. The Economic Community of West African States has done well on behalf of the international system. More than ever before, the United Nations and the individual States concerned should fully identify with our just aspirations at this time: the areas of involvement are clear, and we will do our best to help ourselves, with the Council's solidarity and cooperation.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  2. “We are particularly delighted by the fact that, since our Government was installed in September last year, the United Nations has been pleased to send us important visitors, led by the Secretary General himself, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, followed by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Her Excellency Mrs. Madeleine Albright, and the United Nations Development Programme Administrator, Mr. James Gustave Speth. The members of the Collective Presidency had extremely useful exchanges with these visitors in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The Government was left with the distinct impression that these visitors fully appreciated the level of commitment to the peace process of the members of the Presidency, three of whom are the leaders of the key warring parties.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  3. “In conclusion, my colleagues and I in Liberia's Collective Presidency are not under the illusion that this Government is the panacea for Liberia's problems; nor do we believe that the United Nations should do for Liberia what Liberians can do and ought to do for themselves. On behalf of all my colleagues, I can say that we take the blame for the past and will take the blame for the future: we accept the responsibility of restructuring our country, shoulder to shoulder with our compatriots. It is only natural that the United Nations and the rest of the international community should assume their moral obligations towards Liberia as a founding member of the United Nations and as a place where human beings live.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  4. “Delivery of basic health care and provision of safe drinking water, together with the supply of electricity, particularly in the densely populated city of Monrovia, have also become priority concerns for the Government. We are encouraging the privatization of important components of the public service institutions as a measure to speed up recovery in these areas. An inter-ministerial economic management committee is now carrying out a special study on how natural resources can be utilized to the full for reconstruction, taking into consideration the crucial mistakes that were made in the past.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  5. “The discussions have been centred on the need to provide technical assistance for capacity-building. In the meantime, the Government is putting in place certain minimum fiscal policies intended to improve tax and revenue administration and check government spending. A debt-relief strategy is also being designed, with the assistance of the multilateral institutions. In the public safety area, we have given priority to the police and other civic-oriented institutions to cater to the social and other problems attendant on a society at war with itself. An effective and efficient police service will not only raise the public's confidence and sense of security, but will also provide a proper substitute for the warring factions as the first line of contact with civilians throughout the Liberian countryside.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  6. “While endeavouring to manage the business of disarmament, the Liberian Government also has the mandate and the obligation to supervise the provision of basic public services. Public expectations here are high, and the demands on those services are no less so. All these variables affect the nature of the peace process: local politicians are making full use of the strains and gaps in public services to strengthen their individual positions, as if these were normal times. The Government has therefore implored its Vital agencies and institutions to confront face on the basic economic and other problems at the root of reconstruction. In the past few months, Liberia has reinforced relations with the International Monetary Fund and held discussions with the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other multilateral creditors.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  7. “My next subject is the election programme. One of the best things the Liberian people expect to gain from their bitter experience is guaranteed elections for national and local officials of the government. This is provided for in the peace agreements as a final stage following deployment, disarmament, repatriation of refugees and registration of voters. At this point, we are seeing only marginal international interest in the election programme. We appeal for greater assistance and encouragement: everything must be done to ensure that we have the type of elections that will engender lasting peace. Many of us in the current Government are impatient with the form of government which has been put together with the sole aim of bringing peace to our nation. I come now to the matter of public services.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  8. “This, we hope, will improve the security psychology, and reduce feelings of isolation. I turn to the question of the aid channel. In troubled spots around the world, this decade has seen the proliferation, rapid expansion and deployment of international non-governmental organizations through which massive bilateral, institutional and international funding has been channelled. Along with certain specialized agencies of the United Nations, these non-governmental organizations have effectively been in exclusive charge not only of receiving funds, but of determining, in many cases, where in their country of assignment they want to be. Less than half of their budgets serves as assistance for the declared targets and beneficiaries. There is certainly a need for adjustment in these arrangements and attitudes.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  9. “The logistical strength of the NDDC and other relevant institutions of the Government is also decisive in the disarmament exercise. We have submitted preliminary packages for these programmes. Equally important is adherence to the provision in the agreements that there shall be no use of the communications media or other methods to propagate hostility between the warring groups. There is presently an internal campaign being orchestrated in Monrovia to make future political capital, in the midst of the current military arrangements to disarm. With the Council's support, the Government of Liberia intends to deal with this matter amicably and properly. We are studying a strategy whereby the Government will encourage consultation and dialogue with civic and political groups on major issues, in a bid to find common ground.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  10. “The NDDC, composed of senior warring party officers and civilians, seems properly poised to have a positive impact on the fighters. Deployment of the peace-keepers has started, and we expect the completion of this exercise, accompanied by the backing promised by the international community, to set the real pace for disarmament. It is not only ECOMOG that is underequipped, but also the Liberian Government and the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), the two other institutions that are required by the peace agreements to implement various relevant provisions of the accords. We hear the good news of more helicopters coming for UNOMIL, but the chronic need for UNOMIL to prepare the assembly sites and to marshal the provision of food for the disengaged soldiers is another determining factor in disarming the fighters.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  11. “Rawlings of Ghana. We hope that the initial pledges made at that conference here in New York will not only be fulfilled expeditiously, but that further consideration will be given to the rest of the expenditure requirement, which will be useful in aborting and preventing the regrettable and undue military and political hiccups in the peace process. A key factor in paving the way for peace and guaranteed elections in Liberia is disarmament. In addition to the efforts of the Government that I have already mentioned, we have set up the National Disarmament and Demobilization Commission (NDDC), empowered, among other things, to educate and inform all of the combatants about the timetable for deployment and disarmament, as well as to explain the process of reintegration into the larger community.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  12. “Upon our inauguration on 1 September last year, we immediately invited the Field Commander and staff of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to the Executive Mansion and clearly indicated our readiness for the deployment of the peace- keepers and the subsequent disarmament of our fighters. The Field Commander was very blunt and simply told us that he was not ready, due to the lack of logistics and additional manpower. We quickly launched a campaign to sensitize the international community to the need to fulfil its promises to cooperate with the Liberian peace process. The Government of Liberia took the lead in this public relations drive and, thanks to the overwhelming impetus of ECOWAS and the United Nations, a donors conference was subsequently organized by the Secretary-General in conjunction with the ECOWAS Chairman, President J.J.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  13. “His opinion is certainly shared by those who are equally impatient over appreciating the complexity of the Liberian conflict, who prefer to confine their perceptions to the surface of the problem and yet venture to appear to be making profound analyses of the situation and its current status. It is important to note that more than 65 per cent of fighters in the various warring factions in Liberia are relatives of more than half a million refugees and of nearly an equal number of displaced Liberians. Let me therefore assure the Council that the vast majority of these fighters want to disarm this very minute. That is one of the fundamental reasons why the warring party leaders hastened to sign the Abuja Agreement, which brought the current Government into office.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  14. “And from these lessons we are optimistic that our country has a new opportunity to develop faster and better; a new opportunity to build according to our legitimate taste and size; a new opportunity to convert the bitterness, mutual distrust and suspicion, prejudice and hatred into elements of unity and prosperity. We are coerced by our immediate past to achieve peace and democracy. With this vision, we are not surprised by the reporting of a New York Times journalist, who, after having spent less than 10 hours in Monrovia several days ago, considers our reference to an emerging renaissance in Liberia as an example of our "going out of our mind." The journalist in question is not alone in his analysis.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  15. “There were also all sorts of sanctions imposed on Liberia, and yet everything prohibited found its way into the country. Even the planning and activities that immediately preceded the war were not information and knowledge exclusive to Liberians. At the peak of the war, invisible hands were felt under and on top of the debris. Yet it was convenient to say the Liberian conflict was an internal matter and needed to be resolved by Liberians alone. Technically, that declaration was correct. Notwithstanding the acts of external commission or omission, the Liberian people had the ultimate responsibility to reject undesirable influences, whether internal or external. I assure the Security Council that we have learned our lessons.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  16. “Our objective is not to impress any powerful nation or the international community that we are making progress. Our target is realistic in that we Liberians were the direct and immediate victims of the conflict and are equally the front-line and immediate beneficiaries of any resulting peace and democracy. This is the basis of the goodwill, sincerity and commitment that must necessarily be demonstrated by the Liberian side of the conflict. I make reference to a Liberian side because there is a non-Liberian side to the problem and its resolution. It is common knowledge that Liberia cannot produce weapons or ammunition; and yet these have been present in abundant quantity and sophisticated quality to inflict the calamity at hand.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  17. “The leaders and the people of Liberia have no choice but to obey the call of reality: live in peace or live no more. Consequently, the various peace accords brokered by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and witnessed by the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity have culminated in a unified Government in Monrovia, with all parties to the conflict participating. The Liberian Government, headed by a six-man Collective Presidency called the Council of State, has established the hope that full normality will be restored in Liberia. The principle of collective fate is today working so heavily in favour of peace that I and my colleagues on the Council of State consider the peace process now to be irreversible, no matter what happens and no matter what one hears or sees.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source

  18. “I bring the members of the Security Council fraternal greetings from my Government and people. We are grateful for the support that the United Nations continues to demonstrate for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Liberia. Indeed, for half a century now the United Nations has remained the hope of the universal human family, struggling in most cases to defend the deprived and to enhance the inalienable mission of humankind. We in Liberia are indeed thankful to almighty God for preserving our nationhood and sovereignty during the past six years, most of which have witnessed a devastating and tragic war, clearly generated by internal and external interests. More than ever before in this running saga of hardship for our people, there is hope now for lasting peace.”

    1996-01-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.3624 (1996) · source