Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said here on Monday she hoped international sanctions on the country’s forestry and diamonds sectors would soon be lifted.
Johnson-Sirleaf, who became Africa’s first elected woman leader in January, said that ”we are working on lifting sanctions” on the two key industries, after talks with European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels.
Once one of Africa’s most prosperous nations with abundant timber, rubber and mineral wealth, Liberia lies in ruin after more than 14 years of civil war.
In hopes of getting the sanctions scrapped, Johnson-Sirleaf said that her government was drawing up guidelines on better protection and management of its forests after cancelling previous concessions.
The new government was also making ”some progress” on meeting the conditions of the Kimberly process, which aims to prevent so-called blood diamonds from conflict zones reaching international markets.
The United Nations Security Council required the reforms in order for the sanctions to be lifted when they were first imposed in December 2003.
For the sanctions to be lifted, Liberia has to be able to certify the origin of its diamonds and show that it has full control over the forests where logging takes place.
”Once we have met those conditions we expect that we will be favourably considered for the lifting” of sanctions, Johnson-Sirleaf told reporters. – Sapa-AFP