The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Liberia established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1509 on 19 September 2003, following the resignation of President Charles Taylor, the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and the end of major fighting in the Second Liberian Civil War.
UNMIL followed earlier United Nations involvement in Liberia, including the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL), which had been established in 1993 to support peacekeeping efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during the First Liberian Civil War.Adibe, Clement E. (1997). "The Liberian conflict and the ECOWAS-UN partnership". Third World Quarterly. 18 (3): 471–488. doi:10.1080/01436599714821. UNOMIL was an observer mission and did not have enforcement powers; the armed peacekeeping force on the ground was the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). UNOMIL ended in 1997 after Liberia's 1997 elections, but renewed conflict beginning in 1999 led to a second civil war and, eventually, the establishment of a new United Nations peacekeeping operation in 2003. UNMIL took over peacekeeping responsibilities from the ECOWAS-led ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL) on 1 October 2003.
The mission was authorized with a strength of up to 15,000 military personnel and 1,115 police officers, along with civilian, political, human rights, humanitarian, and administrative components. Its mandate included supporting implementation of the ceasefire and peace agreement, protecting civilians and United Nations personnel, assisting humanitarian access, supporting disarmament and demobilization, helping restructure Liberia's security institutions, and supporting elections.
UNMIL remained in Liberia for nearly fifteen years. Its military and police presence was gradually reduced as responsibility for national security was transferred to Liberian authorities. The mission formally ended on 30 March 2018. Assessments of UNMIL have generally credited the mission with helping restore security, supporting post-war elections, and strengthening public confidence in the rule of law, although the mission was also criticized over allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, including transactional sex involving some United Nations personnel.
Background Civil war in Liberia claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people - mostly civilians - and led to a complete breakdown of law and order. It displaced tens of thousands of people, both internally and beyond the borders, resulting in some 850,000 refugees in the neighboring countries. Fighting began in late 1989, and by early 1990, several hundred deaths had already occurred in confrontations between government forces and fighters who claimed membership in an opposition group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by a former government official, Mr. Charles Taylor.
From the outset of the conflict, a subregional organization, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), undertook various initiatives aimed at a peaceful settlement. The United Nations supported ECOWAS in its efforts to end a civil war. These efforts included establishing, in 1990, an ECOWAS's military observer force, the Military Observer Group (ECOMOG). The Security Council in 1992 imposed an arms embargo on Liberia, and the Secretary-General appointed a Special Representative to assist in talks between ECOWAS and the warring parties.
After ECOWAS brokered a peace agreement in Cotonou, Benin, in 1993, the Security Council established the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL) under Security Council Resolution 866. Its task was to support ECOMOG in implementing the Cotonou peace agreement - especially compliance with and impartial implementation of the agreement by all parties. UNOMIL was the first United Nations peacekeeping mission undertaken in cooperation with a peacekeeping operation already established by another organization.
Delays in the implementation of the peace agreement and resumed fighting among Liberian factions made it impossible to hold elections in February/March 1994, as scheduled. In the following months, a number of supplementary peace agreements, amending and clarifying the Cotonou agreement, were negotiated. With the ceasefire in force, the United Nations successfully observed the conduct of the elections in July 1997. Mr. Charles Taylor was elected president. Following his inauguration on 2 August 1997, President Taylor formed a new Government and announced a policy of reconciliation and national unity. UNOMIL's principal objective was achieved.
However, the Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighboring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and by June–July 2003, Charles Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group's shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.
UNOL (1997–2003)
In November 1997, following the completion of UNOMIL's mandate on 30 September, the United Nations established the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL), headed by a Representative of the Secretary-General. That first United Nations post-conflict peace-building support office was tasked primarily with assisting the Government in consolidating peace following the July 1997 multiparty elections.
With the full support of the Security Council, UNOL facilitated the promotion of national reconciliation and good governance and helped mobilize international support for the implementation of reconstruction and development programmes.
However, the peace-building efforts of UNOL were seriously hindered by the inability of the Government and opposition party leaders to resolve their political differences. Meanwhile, the promotion of national reconciliation was undermined by systematic abuses of human rights, the exclusion and harassment of political opponents and the absence of security sector reform. These elements contributed to the resumption of civil war in Liberia, prompting the international community to call on the warring parties to seek a negotiated settlement of the conflict.
On 8 July 2003, as fighting between Government forces and various warring factions intensified and humanitarian tragedy threatened, the Secretary-General decided (S/2003/695) to appoint Jacques Paul Klein of the United States his Special Representative for Liberia. He was entrusted with the task of coordinating the activities of the United Nations agencies in Liberia and supporting the emerging transitional arrangements. On 29 July, the Secretary-General outlined (S/2003/769) a three-phased deployment of international troops to Liberia, leading to a multidimensional United Nations peacekeeping operation. He also indicated that, in view of the appointment of Mr. Klein, and the envisaged establishment of a United Nations operation in Liberia, the mandate of UNOL would naturally have to be terminated.
Resolution 1497 (2003) On 1 August 2003, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1497 (2003), authorizing the establishment of a multinational force in Liberia and declaring its readiness to establish a follow-on United Nations stabilization force to be deployed no later than 1 October 2003. On 18 August 2003, the Liberian parties signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Accra. By that Agreement, the parties requested the United Nations to deploy a force to Liberia under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations to support the National Transitional Government of Liberia and assist in the implementation of the Agreement. With the subsequent deployment of the ECOWAS Mission in Liberia, the security situation in the country improved.
Recommendation for the establishment of a UN peacekeeping mission As requested by the Security Council, the Secretary-General submitted on 11 September a report (S/2003/875) providing an update on the situation in the country, and containing his recommendations on the role the United Nations could play to facilitate the effective implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, as well as on the size, structure and mandate of a peacekeeping operation in Liberia.
The Secretary-General recommended that the Council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, authorize the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation with a troop strength of up to 15,000, including 250 military observers, 160 staff officers, up to 875 civilian police officers and an additional five armed formed units each comprising 120 officers, and a significant civilian component and necessary support staff.
He said that the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) would be a multidimensional operation composed of political, military, civilian police, criminal justice, civil affairs, human rights, gender, child protection, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, public information and support components, as well as an electoral component in due course. The Mission would include a mechanism for the coordination of its activities with those of the humanitarian and development community. UNMIL would coordinate closely with ECOWAS and the African Union. In order to ensure a coordinated United Nations response to the many subregional issues, UNMIL would also work closely with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) and the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA).
The Mission would be headed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, who would have overall authority for the activities of the Mission and of the United Nations system in Liberia. The Special Representative would be assisted by a senior management team consisting of, among others, two Deputies, a Force Commander with the rank of Lieutenant General, and a Police Commissioner.
A senior gender adviser, with staff, would be part of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to undertake and support gender mainstreaming within the various pillars of the Office and with civil society and other external partners. An HIV/AIDS policy adviser, with supporting staff, would also be attached to the Office of the Special Representative, to coordinate activities in the Mission area for the prevention of HIV transmission among civilian and military personnel and host communities.
The Secretary-General proposed that the mandate of UNMIL would be to support the National Transitional Government of Liberia and the other parties in the effective and timely implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement; to monitor adherence to the ceasefire agreement of June 17, 2003; to assist the National Transitional Government in extending State authority throughout Liberia; to provide security at key government installations, in particular, ports, airports and other vital infrastructure; to ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel; to facilitate the free movement of people, humanitarian assistance and goods; to support the safe and sustainable return of refugees and internally displaced persons; and to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence in the areas of immediate deployment of United Nations formed military units.