Liberia (Hansard, 24 June 1994)

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the United Nations Security Council last considered Liberia; and what are the latest reports to the United Nations on the progress of its mission there.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
The Security Council met in late May 1994 to discuss the Secretary-General's report on Liberia of 18 May 1994. The Council President issued a statement on Liberia on behalf of the Security Council on 23 May 1994. Copies of both the statement and the report have been placed in the House Library.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what problems exist with the financing of the United Nations supported peace initiative in Liberia; and which countries have proposed to withdraw.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
The United Nations status of contributions reports shows that at 30 April 1994, of the $39.8 million assessed on member states for the United Nations observer mission in Liberia—UNOMIL—for the period 22 September 1993 to 21 March 1994, unpaid assessments amounted to $24.6 million.
The United Nations Secretary-General reported on 18 April that as of 31 March, voluntary contributions to the trust fund for the implementation of the Contonou accord amounted to $15.16 million, from the Governments of Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. At the time of the Secretary-General's report, expenditure authorised from the trust fund totalled $11.7 million.
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The Secretary-General also reported that, on the basis of a draft budget prepared by a joint mission of the United Nations and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in September 1993, the Elections Commission has estimated that an overall amount of $13.7 million will be required to carry out the electoral process. The report stated that the transitional Government will endeavour to provide some $8.5 million of this amount and will seek international support for the remaining $5.2 million.
Of the United Nations troop contributors, only Tanzania has announced a decision to withdraw.