POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Military Junta Violates Sanctions

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

CONAKRY, Jan 30 1998 (IPS) - Sierra Leone’s deposed leader Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and members of the exiled community have expressed concern over the frequent violations of the sanctions imposed on the military junta in Freetown.

“We are aware that junta members and their relatives do come in and out of Guinea and that goods are also smuggled into Sierra Leone, via Guinea,” said Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie, a spokesman for the deposed Sierra Leone leader.

“However, the issue has been raised with the Guinean authorities, who have assured us that their security agents would tighten the screws, and hence, block this entry and exit route,” he added.

Last October, West African leaders meeting in Conakry, Guinea, resolved to impose trade and travel embargos on the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which seized power from the elected civilian government in May 1997. The sanctions were imposed as one measure to force the military to restore civilian rule in Sierra Leone.

The Nigerian-led West African troops blockaded Sierra Leone’s sea and airports, so as to prevent the entry and exit of goods and pro-junta sympathisers, and to enforce the embargo.

But despite these measures, the military junta’s sympathisers have, on many occasions, managed to smuggle in goods and foodstuffs, which are very scarce in Sierra Leone. These include rice, flour, petrol, and sugar.

The Guinean authorities have stepped up their patrols on the highway linking the two countries, and just last week, security netted a truckload of petrol destined for Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital. Several people were arrested.

“This is an isolated case because there are many other outlets that the smugglers use, such as Buzra Wharf in the prefecture of Matam, in Conakry,” said one source who declined to be named.

Sources at the Buzra Wharf say there is collusion between the smugglers and Guinean customs and naval officers manning the port. For each item smuggled, an undisclosed fee is paid as a bribe, the sources say.

But boat operators at the Buzra Wharf do not view their runs into Sierra Leone as a violation of the sanctions. “We are simply helping to alleviate the suffering of the people of Sierra Leone by ferrying needed commodities into that country,” a boat operator at the Wharf said.

Mamou in the east of Guinea has also been identified as a smugglers’ conduit. Cocoa and coffee, which are major cash crops, are often smuggled out of Sierra Leone through Mamou.

The exiled Sierra Leonean former government and its sympathisers are much more infuriated at the numerous violations of the travel embargo imposed on the AFRC members and their families.

In mid-January, an irate mob belonging to the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in Sierra Leone, together with some members of the ousted government, stormed a Conakry hotel on a tip- off, and attempted to arrest suspected junta members who were occupying some rooms there.

The MRD is campaigning for the exiled government of Kabbah to be restored to power by April 1998. It has also tasked itself with the duty of monitoring the sanctions.

“The Guinean security certainly has something to do with the travel embargo-busting of the junta people and we cannot sit by and allow this to continue, ” says Avayama Caulker, the MRD’s chairman.

But the Guinean government says it is committed to the sanctions.

“We are still committed to the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) peace plan for Sierra Leone and the sanctions. Guinea would not allow its territory to be used as a conduit by the AFRC military junta,” an official in the Guinean government told IPS.

The ECOWAS Committee of Five on Sierra Leone, which includes Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Ghana, have delegated to the Guinean government the responsibility of ensuring that the sanctions are not violated.