Acting Foreign Minister B. Elias Shoniyin received in audience an 18-member delegation from the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York currently visiting Liberia.

The visiting UN delegation, headed by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. El Ghassim Wane, was accompanied to the Foreign Ministry by the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) to Liberia, His Excellency Mr. Farid Zarif, who is also the head of the UN Operations in Liberia.

According to a Foreign Ministry release, welcoming the UN Assessment Team to Liberia, Deputy Foreign Minister Shoniyin said meeting with H.E. Zarif and the visiting team is always interesting for the Liberian Government and the UN Mission in Liberia.

Mr. Shoniyin expressed how grateful the people and Government of Liberia are for the level of support from the UN, particularly from 2003, with the formation of UNMIL and the very meaningful role it has played in restoring and maintaining peace in Liberia.

He told the UN Assessment Mission head that he was certain that when they begin to fully interact with Liberians they would feel and see how grateful Liberians are to the UN family. “UNMIL has not only been with us in the security sector, but also greatly worked in civil affairs. They have helped us to restore some of our civil institutions also including the private sector,” he stated.

Acting Minister Shoniyin further told the UN Team that the Liberian Government would appreciate the current configuration of UNMIL moving forward until after 2017.

“For us, 2017 is going to be a very critical period and a test of how consolidated and firm our peace and stability is. It will also give us a sense of how strong and firm the ‘shock absorber’ is to respond to potential issues of pre or post-election crisis. We are anticipating that the election will go on without any crisis. However, it is also important that we leave room for any unlikely event. With that in mind, we believe that the maintenance of the current configuration will be extremely important at this time and the end of 2017,” Mr. Shoniyin emphasized.

Responding, H. E. Farid Zarif spoke of how the UN values the quality of its relationship with the Liberian Government. “It’s based on mutual respect and understanding. This has enabled us to be very frank and candid with each other and to discuss issues relating to peace and stability for the government and people of Liberia and the international community,” he stated.

He told Minister Shoniyin that the composition of the UN assessment team shows the importance the UN attaches to the relationship it shares with Liberia. The team includes UN personnel from the UN Secretariat as well as other levels of that body. “The reason for this composition is that the UN wants to develop a very comprehensive understanding of the situation in Liberia and make recommendations for the future,” Mr. Zarif added.

According to him, since the team’s arrival on August 29, they have been talking to a lot of people on the ground, including government officials and representative of civil society organizations, among others.

He hoped that when the team has finished talking with those they have targeted, they will feel confident that they have gathered all the relevant materials for their works, which will lead to recommendations of future engagement between the Liberian government and the UN.

Also making remarks, UN Assistant Secretary-General Wane buttressed what Mr. Zarif had said earlier that the composition of the delegation is a further indication of the strong partnership between the Liberian Government and the UN.

“We have been requested to work in partnership with the UN Mission here to come up with recommendations on what the future should be in our relationships. Our assessment is based on what has been outlined by the UN Secretary Council, including assessing the security situations on the ground and extend to which Liberian institutions have catalogued the achievements that have been made on the ground,” he added.

He further stated that in designing this new partnership, they are happy that they were able to achieve the milestone of the security transition from UNMIL to the Liberian Government at the end of June 2016.

Despite this, according to Mr. Wane, the UN Assessment Team is cognizant of the fact that other things might have been missed and that they would tackle what needs to be done to consolidate peace and security in Liberia.

Assistant Secretary-General Wane further said they are aware that there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed and they are keen to listen to every Liberian stakeholder in order for them to understand what remains to be done about the challenges on the ground and what they (stakeholders) think should be the role of the UN and other external partners in helping Liberia to move forward.

“We are mindful of the fact that we have key elections taking place next year. Of course this is very important in term of democratic transition, in terms of peace consolidation and stability and we are working to make that election a peaceful and transparent one. We have the responsibilities to make sure that what have been achieved peaceably is maintained based on the perimeter of the new partnership more adjusted to the current reality in the Liberia of today, which is different  from the Liberia of the past,” he added.

Assistant Secretary-General Wane further maintained that his team will do all to get the relevant pieces of information that they can so that they can proffer the best recommendations that would form the basis for future engagement between the Liberian Government and the UN.

Senior Foreign Ministry officials attending the meeting included the Deputy Minister for International Corporation and Economic Integration, Hon. Dehpue Zuo; Cllr. Dweh Gray, Deputy for Legal Affairs; Assistant Minister for Public Affairs, Mr. J. Wesley Washington; and Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Alberta Doe.

The visiting UN Assessment Team meets with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf later this week.

The UNMIL’s mandate expires on September 30 and the Council is expected to adopt a resolution later this month renewing the mission’s mandate in its current configuration for a period of three months, pending the recommendations of this assessment mission due in November.

Maintaining stability in Liberia remains the core issue of the Council, given the ongoing drawdown of the mission and the June 30 transfer of security responsibilities from UNMIL to Liberian authorities, and the potential for destabilization leading up to or during the 2017 presidential elections.