Government proposes summit for post-conflict states

Liberia wants the leaders of African states that have just emerged from conflicts to hold a summit to fashion a collective strategy for approaching aid donors, PANA reported, quoting Finance Minister Nathaniel Barnes.

Barnes said on Tuesday that post-conflict countries had identical problems which would be better confronted collectively than individually. Concerned post-conflict countries could develop a strategy document for a unified approach to economic recovery and reconstruction, he said.

“I am pretty confident that if you were to do a survey of the eight top priorities of post-conflict countries and cross-reference them, you will probably find that six of those priorities are identical,” Barnes told PANA in Monrovia.

He said the proposed meeting would include finance and development planning ministers.

Maintaining national security, he added, was one of the most sensitive problems in post-conflict states because it is essential to investment, good governance and the rule of law which international institutions use as a yardstick for aid.