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REVISTA IEEE 11

319 Carlos Alberto Carravilla Gregorio Analysis of the situation of peace and… of the GRL belonging to the Liberian Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Program (DDRR)56. On May 25th, 2016, the United Nations Security Council decided, through a unanimous resolution, to put an end to the arms embargo against Liberia and dissolved the related mechanisms, such as the Sanctions Committee and the panel of experts. At the same time, the Council exhorted the GRL to establish the necessary means to combat illegal arms and ammunition traffic57. The relation between the transfer of security responsibilities from UNMIL to the GRL and this resolution seems obvious. The United Nations Security Council seeks to have the security forces of the GRL arm themselves in order to assume the said responsibilities. In fact, according to an interview carried out by the author with a member of UNMIL in May 2016, the only, or at least most visible, initiative taken on the part of the GRL in order to face up to this transfer is to militarize the border patrols of the BIN. http://revista.ieee.es CONCLUSIONS The causes of the civil war in Liberia between 1989 and 2003 are still present in the country because they have not been dealt with since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in August of 2003 either by the Government of the Republic of Liberia or on the part of the international intervention in the country. Neither the United Nations Mission in Liberia, nor other peace-building actions promoted by international intervention, have had an impact on the various essential elements sufficient to stabilize Liberian society, namely: democratic governability, inclusion and the reduction of poverty. The principal reason explaining this situation is that the top-down approach of peace-building applied by UNMIL and the international intervention has been perceived by the majority of the population as an external imposition, just as occurred with the founding of Liberia as a new State in 1847. During the last fourteen years, the military and police components of UNMIL have acted as conflict inhibitors thanks to their dissuasive effect. This effect is about to disappear, while the security forces of Liberia are still not prepared to assume security responsibilities throughout the country. In this situation, considering that there exist in Liberia local capacities for waging war and that the United Nations Security Council has lifted the arms embargo against Liberia, the possibility of a relapse into a new phase of war from the latent 56  United Nations News Centre, «Security Council ends 13-year sanctions regime on Liberia»,United Nations News Centre, 2016, available at: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54045#. V1NWJGadL10. Viewed 04.06.2016. 57  United Nations News Centre, «Security Council Ends 13-year sanctions regime on Liberia», United Nations News Centre, 2016, available at: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54045#. V1NWJGadL10. Viewed: 04.06.2016.


REVISTA IEEE 11
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