The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) said Wednesday it "is disturbed over events" in neighboring Cote d'Ivoire following two days of disturbances there.

UN Special Envoy to Liberia Allen Doss said "there were disturbances not far from the Liberian border. But we will continue to monitor very closely to prevent arms from crossing the border."

"We are also ready to attend to humanitarian needs and to assist evacuate our personnel if it is required. But we hope that there would be a reasonable resolution to the Ivorian conflict," he added.

Reports from Cote d'Ivoire say supporters and the ruling party of Gbagbo are dissatisfied with the decision of the international community requesting the dissolution of the Ivorian parliament whose mandate expired, terming the decision as "interference in the internal affairs of Cote d'Ivoire."

Cote d'Ivoire, through international mediation, has been grappling with an ongoing conflict for the last three years between rebel soldiers in the north and the government controlled south.

The UNMIL is therefore concerned that a spill-over effect could threaten the newly achieved peace in Liberia, brokered by the Economic Community of West African States, with the inauguration on Monday of the country's first female President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, following 14 years of civil war.

"Our mandate is to consolidate the peace in Liberia and maintain security," the UN envoy said. Doss said, "the election of Johnson-Sirleaf was not only significant to Liberia, but the world, since there are very few women leaders in the world."

"Women in Africa," he said, "have not enjoyed the full benefits of the continent. Seeing women ascending to political leadership was therefore significant for their cause." "We welcome Johnson-Sirleaf's inaugural declaration of intent to crack down on corruption," Doss said, adding that "her remark to implement the GEMAP (Governance Economic Management and Assistance Program) was encouraging."

Under the GEMAP, the Liberian government along with its development partners would contract foreign experts for three years to control and manage key revenue generating agencies of the government in an effort to curtail what has been observed as "systemic corruption" within the public sector.

According to a World Bank representative to Liberia, the contracted international financial and management experts would intervene at all levels of revenue collection and expenditure process with "binding co-signature authority" along with their Liberian counterparts.

It is expected that under the agreement, an enabling environment would also be created to attract and guarantee direct foreign investment in the country.

The GEMAP agreement stipulates that procurement, concession, contracts and licensing would go through competitive bidding in line with internationally accepted standards as well as ensuring that monopolies in these areas are liberalized.

The Liberian civil crisis was to a large extent attributed to mismanagement of the country's resources at the expense of the ordinary citizens.

But with the new democratically elected government now in place, the UN special envoy said, "the government has a great deal of international good-will, and I think the UN mission in Liberia will stay the course and maintain a strong security profile and security footprints."

The UN mission's mandate in Liberia will expire in March this year. But Doss said, "it would be surprised if the UN Security Council does not extend the mandate."

The Security Council in resolution 1509 (2003) authorized the deployment of 15,000 international peacekeeping troops which has since kept the peace in the west African state and disarmed more than 100,000 ex-combatants and created an enabling environment for the holding of national elections last October and November in which Harvard-trained economist Johnson-Sirleaf defeated football star George Weah in a presidential runoff with 59.4 percent votes.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2006)