MONROVIA (AFP) — United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon visits Liberia Monday at a time when the UN's biggest peacekeeping mission starts accelerating its pullout from the west African state.
Fifteen thousand blue helmets swept into Liberia, Africa's oldest republic having been founded by freed American and Caribbean slaves, in 2003 at the end of 14 years of back-to-back civil wars.
But despite an April UN report which said the the country was riddled with corruption and poverty, Ban lands just as UNMIL mission chiefs are beginning to timetable the phased exit of many more among its soldiers.
In many areas, Liberia -- a country of some four million people whose main exports are diamonds, iron ore, rubber, timber, coffee and cocoa -- is still struggling to get back on its feet under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in power since January 2006.
However, UNMIL's Namibian and Bangladeshi military contingents have already been reduced by one battalion each, with the Ghanaian and Nigerian battalions also shedding one company each.
A further battalion from Senegal will also be repatriated in 2008, UNMIL added in a statement given to AFP on Saturday.
The mission's chief, Ellen Loj, said drawdown, agreed in UN Security Council resolution 1777 in 2007, is planned meticulously so as to "minimise all potential security threats to the state".
Between November 2003 and October 2004, 101,495 fighters were disarmed and demobilised, with 90,000 resettled back into civilian life, mission statistics showed.
More than 500,000 displaced persons have also returned, while UNMIL has trained 3,662 new police agents who are gradually assuming their roles.
A total of 358 presidential guards, 139 prison guards, 37 immigration officers and 210 customs officials have also been groomed for duty.
The UN peacekeeping force has helped rebuild 3,000 (1,875 miles) kilometres of roads and worked on some 300 projects to restore and repair schools, health centres, wells, courts and police stations.
"As long as the UN forces are here, I don't see why we have to worry about the possibility of destabilisation," Moses Gbartu, a traditional chieftain in the country's north told AFP.
"I thought there was going to be confrontations during disarmament, but UNMIL showed prudence, vigilance and strictness," added shopkeeper Miattah Duago.
"That gave us hope for the future, and I think that as long as UNMIL is still here, we can have hope," she added.
The civil war in Liberia killed 270,000 people, leaving another 850,000 displaced or in refugee camps.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
