ICG urges international action to end civil war

The International Crisis Group (ICG), a Belgian-based organisation that aims to resolve conflicts, has called for concerted action by the international community to end the civil war in Liberia, which has destabilised neighbouring countries. The ICG said sanctions and containment policies had not stopped Liberian President Charles Taylor from supporting rebellions beyond his borders and becoming a regional security problem. "There is a critical need for further international action to end the war and halt the spread of chaos that has both inflamed the Côte d'Ivoire crisis and threatens wider military conflict and humanitarian disaster in West Africa," It said in a report entitled "Tackling Liberia: the eye of the regional storm." The ICG said the "key mechanism" for tackling the problem should be the International Contact Group on Liberia." This was created in September last year on the recommendation of Liberian politicians and representatives of interest groups to involve the international community in efforts to end the conflict. It comprises Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, the US, the African Union, the European Union (EU, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the UN. "The war that originally encompassed Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea has now expanded east to Côte d'Ivoire [where] Liberian contenders are using the Ivorian crisis, which broke out on 19 September as a proxy battleground," the ICG said. "All indications are that no one is in control of the situation on the Côte d'Ivoire-Liberia border." The ICG is an independent organisation that conducts field-based analysis and advocacy to prevent and resolve conflict. It is chaired by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari with former former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans as President. The ICG accused Taylor of increasingly using rebel fighters from the west of Côte d'Ivoire to combat Liberian rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) at home. Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo was meanwhile supporting a breakaway faction of LURD that is fighting Taylor in eastern Liberia, it added. "His [Gbagbo's] largesse enabled the formation of a new LURD faction, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL)," ICG said. "Western Côte d'Ivoire has become a magnet for mercenaries of many nationalities...a regional humanitarian crisis is raging throughout Liberia and western Côte d'Ivoire." The ICG said: "ECOWAS and the wider international community must deal with the growing tendency of leaders in West Africa to sponsor rebellions abroad to protect their positions at home. Burkina Faso, Guinea, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire have all employed rebel groups either to get rid of their domestic enemies or to remove neighbouring leaders they do not like." The ICG called for a cease fire between Taylor and Liberian rebel forces, the creation of a UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and an extended mandate for the UN expert panel on Liberia so that it could investigate other West African leaders. The ICG also demanded international condemnation of Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea for supporting Liberian rebels. The full report is available at: www.intl-crisis-group.org