White House Must Give Timetable for Liberia Intervention

Oxfam-America
Thursday, 24 July 2003

Oxfam today called again on the White House to announce a concrete and non-negotiable timetable for its support for the deployment of peacekeepers to Liberia, including US troops. This comes in the wake of an announcement by ECOWAS that more than 1,000 West African troops are slated to enter Liberia within two weeks.

The international agency warned that ECOWAS troops cannot get to Liberia quickly enough, nor be fully effective, without the substantial logistical and financial support that the US must take the lead in providing. Comments made yesterday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell tacitly endorsed a US-led multinational military intervention in Liberia of "limited scope and duration," but did not offer a specific timetable or parameters for US involvement.

"For Liberians, international indecision is as deadly now as shooting and shelling," said Sam Nagbe, Oxfam's Project Officer in Monrovia, who is trapped in his home with only two days' supply of food and little water.

Gunfire and mortar explosions are not the only risks to Monrovia's besieged citizens, Nagbe reports: "Robbery and rape are looming over the community. I have heard a friend got seriously battered for resisting the rape of his 11 year-old daughter by armed men. It's impossible to get him or the girl to hospital because of the fighting."

Oxfam staff, by taking advantage of a brief lull in combat, completed the emergency chlorination of water supplies in Monrovia today (Thursday). Oxfam's water engineer, Paul Jaiblai, was able to chlorinate water for displaced families seeking shelter at the Oxfam office and also in Monrovia's international school.

Several hundred people have been killed in Monrovia this week. More than 200,000 people are living in appalling conditions, having fled the fighting between government and rebel troops.

Oxfam is calling on the United States to immediately:

give financial and logistical support for the immediate deployment of West African ECOWAS troops as part of a UN-mandated multinational peacekeeping operation.

commit its own troops to lead a multinational operation.

Oxfam is also calling on the United Nations Security Council to:

act swiftly to authorize the ECOWAS deployment and a US-led multinational rapid reaction force for Liberia.

provide peacekeeping troops with a clear mandate to protect civilians, provide humanitarian access, and ensure a system is put in place to monitor any ceasefire and the performance of peacekeepers.

For more information, or to contact Oxfam-America, see their website at: www.oxfamamerica.org

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