Annan says longterm international engagement necessary

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says it is imperative for the international community to stay engaged in post-conflict Liberia for the long term. “Too many times we have witnessed the same weaknesses in international responses to post-conflict situations - in the shortage of funds, in the lack of international coordination, in the tendency for international actors to leave too hurriedly. This can reverse hard-won results and weaken the attempts we are making to build solid societies," Annan told reporters in Monrovia on Tuesday. He said plans were underway for a meeting to be held in October in Washington, D.C., to help raise funds for Liberia’s reconstruction. Annan said the UN Security Council has endorsed his recommendation for a longer presence of the peacekeeping mission in Liberia. "The UN Mission will continue to provide and assist in consolidating the peace so that the government can get on with its job of national recovery, reconstruction and development," he said. Annan expressed support for Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to heal the wounds of the civil war. The nine-member commission was inaugurated in June and is ready to hear cases of abuses and atrocities committed during Liberia’s 14-year civil war. The peace agreement signed n 2003 by armed groups and civilians called for the establishment of the TRC instead of a war crimes court. But some Liberians want war criminals to be put on trial, and on Tuesday dozens of youths marched in downtown Monrovia calling for the creation of a war crimes court in Liberia. The youths wore black t-shirts and carried symbolic caskets covered with black cloth to call attention to those killed during the war. "We want the secretary general to be aware of the need for a war crimes court in Liberia to stamp out the culture of impunity and serve as a deterrent to those warlords whose armed groups killed our people. We want justice," said Mulbah Morlu, one of the organisers of the march. ak/cs/ccr