/ 5 June 2001

ANNAN URGES MANO RIVER PEACE

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to hold a summit as a confidence-building measure toward achieving peace in and between their nations. His call came in a 23 May report on displaced populations in the three countries which, he said, have one million war victims, including refugees and IDPs. Meanwhile, Liberian President Charles Taylor said on Tuesday that if West African leaders became complacent about the war in Lofa County, northern Liberia, the entire region could be endangered, the Liberian Ministry of Information reported. Reports are that Liberian troops have seized British-made ammunition from anti-government forces in Lofa. Taylor said the British presence in West Africa would “continue to threaten” Liberia. British military instructors have been training regular Sierra Leonean troops. The war in Lofa has displaced some 60_000 people, according to official estimates. – IRIN