US government demands protection for aid workers

The United States government has demanded that all fighting groups in Liberia including the government, cease fire to ease the disruption of humanitarian assistance to many people in dire need, by ongoing conflict. At a news conference in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Tuesday, US ambassador to Liberia, John William Blaney said that he recently held a meeting with aid workers at which most of them said they were operating in an insecure environment. According to the United Nations, relief agencies are unable to operate in over 70 percent of Liberia and at least 200,000 people have been internally displaced by fighting between the government and rebels which has intensified over the last months. Blaney urged a new armed group in southeastern Liberia, Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) to ensure protection of relief workers. MODEL controls two major counties, Grand Gedeh and Sinoe, where displaced people have been dispersed by fighting. He expressed concern that the Liberian government had not brought to book those responsible for the killing of Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) workers in Toe town, Grand Gedeh county, in the northeast near Cote d'Ivoire in March. The aid workers, killed while on a visit to a project, included Kaare Lund, ADRA director for Norway, Emmanuel Sharpolu, the agency's director for Liberia and a driver, Musa Kita. They went missing on 28 February. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the killing and called on Liberia to bring the perpetrators to justice. Blaney's call followed numerous complaints from aid agencies that insecurity had hampered their duties. On Monday, the World Food Programme (WFP) called on the Liberian government to provide security guarantees before it resumed food distribution to refugees and displaced people in camps near Monrovia. Justin Bagirishya, WFP Liberia country director, said that food distribution and attacks by armed men on the camps were linked. Blaney also told reporters that his government was in contacts with the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and was trying to establish similar contacts with MODEL to restore peace in Liberia. He denied reports by the Liberian government that US supports the LURD. "The US is working to help a genuine peace process to include a lasting and effective ceasefire. [It] will assess the seriousness and political will for peace on both sides," he said. "We will call upon both sides to show flexibility and not empty rhetoric or useless recitals of one-sided positions."