Liberian president requested EU help with elections

Date:24/07/03

By David Cronin

CHARLES Taylor, Liberia's president, asked for EU help with elections scheduled for October before his recent pledge to flee the country, European Voice has learned.

But Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, has told Taylor that his institution would first have to assess if conditions are in place to guarantee the presidential and general elections will be conducted in a fair manner. Prodi did not, however, rule out sending EU observers to the war-ravaged west African state or providing technical assistance with the polls.

In a 25 April letter obtained by this newspaper, Prodi raised "personal concerns" with Taylor about Liberia, based on a report from Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.

A subsequent paper which Annan submitted to the UN's Security Council in June refers "to a growing sentiment within Liberian society that conditions for free, fair and credible elections currently do not exist" without a ceasefire between warring factions and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

Among the factors Annan cited as impeding a poll are the continuing violence in ten of Liberia's 15 counties, the serious underfunding of the country's electoral commission and allegations it lacks the requisite impartiality from Taylor, president since 1997, and his henchmen.

While Taylor, who is wanted for war crimes by a tribunal in Sierra Leone, signalled last week he is willing to meet US demands he step down and take refuge in Nigeria, his spokesman was quoted this week as saying he is under intense pressure from compatriots to remain in office.