Sanctions against Liberia 'not based on facts' Evelyn Leopold New York - Liberia's foreign minister said on Monday the UN Security Council decided to punish his country with diamond and travel sanctions based on half complete information and unverified reports. Speaking a few hours after the embargoes went into force, Monie Captan accused the big powers on the council, especially Britain, of making up their minds without bothering to ascertain whether his country had cut ties with Sierra Leone's brutal Revolutionary United Front rebels. Furthermore, Captan said, some of the arms and ammunition given by Britain to the Sierra Leone army were now used by rebels fighting in northern Liberia. The area, at the borders of Sierra Leone and Guinea, is the scene of a growing regional battle involving government forces and rebels groups from all three states.
British officials deny supplying the rebels.
The embargoes went into force on Monday, a delay of two months since the 15-member body adopted the sanctions resolution, sponsored by the Untied States and Britain. The delay was to give Liberia time to meet the council's demands. Its top officials, especially President Charles Taylor, are accused in a UN report of fomenting civil war in Sierra Leone's by supplying the RUF with guns in exchange for illicit diamonds. But Captan said a report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week, which the council used as evidence, clearly stated most of the information was unverified. But his government's plea was ignored.