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UN chief congratulates Liberia for progress in peace, fight against corruption

25 September 2010 22:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday "congratulated Liberia for its progress in consolidating peace, fighting against corruption," and welcomed " the long awaited establishment of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights" in the West African country, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website.

The statement came as Ban was meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on the margins of the annual general debate of the UN General Assembly, which opened here on Thursday morning.

"The secretary-general congratulated Liberia for its progress in consolidating peace, fighting against corruption and reaching the completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative," said a readout issued by Ban’s spokesman at the end of the meeting.

"The secretary-general welcomed the long awaited establishment of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights and hoped it would start its work expeditiously," the statement said.

During the meeting, the secretary-general and the Liberian president also discussed the preparations of the elections in Liberia, reform of the justice and security sectors as well as the future of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the readout said.

UNMIL is a peace-keeping force established in September 2003 to monitor a cease-fire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of the then President Charles Taylor. It consisted of up to 15,000 United Nations military personnel and 1,115 police officers, along with a civilian component. It superseded the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL).