PRESS BRIEFING BY ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR PEACEKEEPING

The United Nations today began the airlift of the first of the two Nigerian battalions scheduled to be part of the forward Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces participating in the multinational force authorized by the Security Council for Liberia, correspondents were told at a Headquarters briefing today.

Deployment from Freetown of the Nigerian battalion -- troops that were part of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and were scheduled to be repatriated to Nigeria –- began on schedule, said Hedi Annabi, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.

In spite of inclement weather in Monrovia, a total of 142 troops, equipment, as well as a forward headquarters of 14 persons, had been deployed from Freetown to Robertsfield airport near the war-ravaged Liberian capital, as of this morning.  The airlift would continue over the coming days and would accelerate.  Barring any unforeseen development, the deployment was expected to be completed by 17 August.

The second Nigerian battalion and its equipment would be transported by the United States and was scheduled to begin around 15 August, he continued.  The United Nations, through UNAMSIL, would sustain and provide logistical support to the two battalions for an initial period of 30 days until a contractor, with the support of the United States, took over.  He pointed out that, because of the ongoing downsizing of UNAMSIL, instead of being redeployed to its logistics base at Brindisi, some of those assets were now being redeployed to Liberia.

Mr. Annabi said that, in anticipation of the adoption of resolution 1497, preparation had already begun for the follow-on peacekeeping force that the resolution called for, to be deployed after the multinational force.  As was usually the case in such situations, preparations were also under way to send a technical survey mission to Monrovia, as soon as security conditions permitted.  Also, the United Nations was in touch with potential contributors to that follow-on peacekeeping force, and would soon be meeting with them to firm up all arrangements for their deployment and ascertain exactly what countries were prepared to participate and what assets and equipment they were prepared to offer.

Also as part of the planning process, an Integrated Task Force (ITF) on Liberia was being established and was expected to hold its first meeting this week under the chairmanship of Jacques Klein, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Liberia.

Responding to correspondents’ questions, Mr. Annabi observed that it took time to prepare and assemble a peacekeeping operation, because the United Nations had to do it with contributors.  That work -- to firm up all offers and arrangements for their deployment -- would only start this week, now that the resolution had been adopted.

Also, it was hoped that the deployment of the multinational force, as called by the resolution, the departure of President Charles Taylor from the country, as he had promised to do, and the rebels’ adherence to their own commitments to

cooperate with that force would result in a sufficient improvement in the security situation to allow for a transitional government to be put in place.

He, however, cautioned that the deployment of the force would be done incrementally, building from Monrovia and outward into the country.  Citing the Secretary-General’s note of caution, he said time was needed to prepare and train troops for their tasks and that “we should not be rushed unduly into deploying forces that are not ready, because it will come back to haunt us, as it did in Sierra Leone in May 2000”.  While dates were good to provide focus, what was important was to carefully prepare the follow-on force and make sure that, when the United Nations took over, the force was fully operational, equipped and capable of fulfilling the tasks set out for it.

To another question, he explained that, besides the ECOWAS countries, other “well known traditional contributors” from other continents had made offers and expressions of interest that one would expect from such traditional contributors.

* *** *