ENVIRONMENT/DEVELOPMENT BULLETIN-SIERRA LEONE: Libya Lends A Helping Hand

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Jul 18 1998 (IPS) - Libya has agreed to lend a helping hand to Sierra Leone where an ongoing conflict with rebel forces has caused a major shortage of nearly all commodities throughout the country.

Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah returned from Libya at the weekend, with a package of promises including shiploads of rice (the country’s staple food), and petrol and diesel, which are in high demand in the West African country.

“The president’s visit to the Arab Republic of Libya was a big success in terms of what he has been able to accomplish,” says presidential spokesman, Septimus Kaikai. “The Libyan government has offered Sierra Leone a large consignment of rice and petroleum products and the president will pay a follow-up visit (to Libya) which will form the basis of viable co-operation between the two countries.”

The Libyan government also agreed to join the efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone. “The Libyan government has promised to leave no stone unturned in assisting the government and people of Sierra Leone in achieving sustainable peace in the country,” says Kaikai.

This is perhaps the most welcoe news to Sierra Leoneans. It is generally believed that the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which has fought a seven-year guerrilla war against successive Sierra Leonean governments, had its cadre trained at Mathaba, a military camp situated in the Libyan desert.

RUF leader, Foday Sankoh, who is in detention in Nigeria, on charges of weapons possession, reportedly received his initial military training along with hundreds of other Sierra Leonean dissidents in Libya. And Sankoh’s backer, President Charles Taylor of Liberia, also allegedly received strong Libyan backing during his 1989-1997 bush war.

“I am happy at the wedding between President Kabbah and Col. (Muammar) Gadaffi, because the latter might talk to his rebel protege to stop the carnage in our country,” says Joe Kakua, a banker here.

Others, however, feel uncomfortable with any reproachment with the Libyan leader whose country is under a UN-embargo for refusing to hand over two Libyan nationals accused of masterminding a plane crash over Scotland in the late 1980s. “I only fear the backlash from Western donor nations,” says businessman Dominic Nyagua.

Newspapers, too, have splashed screamng headlines, such as ‘Kabbah Hits Jackpot In Libya’ in the ‘Justice’ tabloid, and Kabbah Snatches Gadaffi from Foday Sankoh’ – ‘Rice and Petrol From Libya’ in the ‘Democrat’ newspaper.

Colourful pictures of Kabbah and Gadaffi embracing each other were splashed on the state-run national television screen and their meeting extensively covered.

However, there have also been sharp reactions to the President’s pro-Islamic tendency, especially from non-Muslims and secularists.

“Libya helped train and finance the ‘revolutions’ of Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh, which were the most brutish wars in human history,” says a columnist in the independent ‘Democrat’ newspaper.

“If Kabbah embraces Gadaffi too warmly, he risks annoying the United States, and that could threaten our cash flow through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank,” the columnist says.

However, there have been no immediate reactions from western diplomats here, especially the Americans who have led the campaign to isolate Gadaffi’s Libya for supporting international terrorists.

An African diplomat told IPS on Tuesday that Kabbah’s Libyan visit may invite the silent wrath of the Americans.

“The Americans have pumped millions of dollars in the post-war reconstruction efforts of Sierra Leone, so I think the government and President ought to be very cautious in the type of friends to go along with,” he says.

Despite the criticisms, Libyan investors have continued to pay visits to Sierra Leone since Kabbah’s government was re-instated in March by the Nigerian-led West African Peacekeeping Force, ECOMOG.

The Libyan visit was President Kabbah’s second meeting with Gadaffi and several African Muslim leaders for prayer sessions. Kabbah, who is a Moslem, has also visited Saudi Arabia where he was promised petroleum products.

“I don’t think the President’s Islamisation drive is going to affect the religious balance in the country, because Sierra Leone is a secular state,” says Sheikh Tejan Bah, a Muslim cleric in Freetown, the capital city.

It is, however, still unclear what line of action Gadaffi will pursue to help resolve the conflict in Sierra Leone.

The UN Security Council this week voted to set up a small peacekeeping operation, comprising 70 military observers, in Sierra Leone. They will be sent to help disarm forces loyal to the country’s former military government, and members of the RUF who are still active in the east of the country.