UNMIL tells fighters to return looted vehicles

The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has once more demanded that armed groups in the country return vehicles and other equipment looted from relief agencies during recent fighting. Souren Seraydarian, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Liberia, said UNMIL had told them that these vehicles were needed to facilitate the delivery of aid to desperate people throughout the country. The senior UN official said UNMIL discussed the issue with representatives of the former government of Charles Taylor and the two rebel groups, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) earlier this week. "We have raised the question of items looted from humanitarian agencies including vehicles and communication equipment over time, and the need to return them to the agencies or NGOs operating to assist the people of Liberia," Seraydarian said. "We think that we made a lot of progress [in the meeting], that the parties are cooperating with us to identify the vehicles and materials, and to return them to the UN for redistribution to their legitimate owners," he added. Hundreds of vehicles, many belonging to aid agencies, have been stolen or hijacked by lawless fighters from the three groups. Relief workers said LURD alone had seized more than 50 vehicles from aid agencies since it began attacking the capital, Monrovia, in June. LURD repainted some of the vehicles in camouflage colours and its fighters can still be seen driving them around Monrovia. Some trucks taken from the World Food Programme are being used for commercial transport from Monrovia to LURD controlled areas such as Tubmanburg in Bomi County, 60 km northwest of the capital. The vehicles stolen, Seraydarian said, included those taken by Taylor's elite Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU), those hijacked by LURD and some seized by MODEL as earlier this week. "This applies to all three parties," he stressed. During a shootout between Taylor loyalists and MODEL along the highway from Monrovia to the port city of Buchanan on Tuesday, MODEL rebels hijacked two vehicles belonging to an unidentified aid agency, according to relief workers. The ATU was the largest and most dreaded fighting unit formed by Taylor. Set up in 2000, it was initially an elite presidential guard service commanded by Taylor's son, Chucky Taylor, but later turned into a full fighting force. It frequently used the stolen vehicles to transport ammunition to the frontline.