Liberia seeks €400m in aid

LIBERIA is seeking €400 million from a donor conference made up of UN nations to rebuild the country after 14 years of civil war.

Today, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, are expected to say how much their respective governments intend to pledge, and outline their visions for the future of Liberia, whose civil war has destabilised the entire west African region. Diplomatic sources at the UN said Washington was preparing to pledge €160m over two years. In the run-up to the donors’ conference, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told journalists the international community has an obligation to “help Liberia pick itself up”.

“We must all have learned by now the consequences of failed states, and what could happen when a state can be used as a haven by terrorist elements who organise, train and come to haunt the rest of us,” Mr Annan said.