POLITICS-LIBERIA: Fears Of Civil War Looming

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Jeff Cooper and Lansana Fofana

ACCRA/FREETOWN, Apr 26 1999 (IPS) - Liberia seems to be sliding back into civil war following last week’s rebel attacks on the border town of Voinjama which forced more than 5,000 civilians to flee into neigbouring Guinea.

The Liberian authorities have accused former ULIMO-K rebel leader, Alhaji Kromah of being behind the attack.

Kromah fled the country after losing the 1997 elections to Charles Taylor, and was named in an alleged coup plot by the Liberian authorities last November, tried in absentia and found guilty of treason.

More than 150,000 people were killed during Liberia’s first civil war between 1989 and 1997.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has confirmed the presence of Liberian refugees in Guinea, says it is expecting more to cross into the country, if the fighting in Voinjama continues.

“The refugees crossed into the border town of Macenta and we are currently sheltering and feeding them, while making preparations for others who may be forced by insecurity to cross into Guinea,” said a UNHCR statement, made available to IPS, this week.

Within Liberia, thousands, displaced by the fighting, have moved to the central town of Gbarnga, according to the Liberian Refugee Repatriation Commission.

Journalists who visited Vainjama over the weekend quoted eye- witnesses as saying that between 20 and 50 people were killed and that decomposing bodies could be seen lying all over the place.

President Taylor’s KISS FM Radio claimed that the invading ULIMO-K fighters had occupied Voinjama before the 1997 general elections and simply removed arms and ammunition which they had concealed in the ground in Voinjama during the 1996 disarmament of fighters, and sprung into action.

One of the captured insurgents, Mohamed Kromah, 25, was quoted by the radio as saying that he was recruited in Guinea. Relations have soured between the two countries.

Denying Liberia’s claims, Guinean Communications Minister Ibrahim Mongo Diallo said Guinea would never allow its territory to be used by insurgents to attack Voinjama.

“Guinea is committed to peace in the sub-region and cannot allow its territory to be used as launching pad for aggression against a neighbouring state,” Diallo said over the weekend.

But Liberian authorities remain unconvinced. Information minister Joe Molba claimed Macenta was being used as the recruitment centre of the dissidents.

Liberia has complained to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the United Nations and ECOWAS, the West African regional grouping, whose military force, ECOMOG helped bring about stability in Liberia and oversaw elections there.

Unconfirmed reports Monday said Taylor also called up his Sierra Leonean counterpart Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to prevail upon Guinean leader, Gen Lansana Conte, to intervene into the border crisis.

Tensions have heightened in Liberia since Taylor won the 1997 elections. More than 350 people were killed last year by Liberia’s dreaded security agents, following a two-day street battle with the supporters of Roosevelt Johnson, Taylor’s arch political rival.

Supporters of opposition leader Samuel Dokie have also remained bitter with the murder of Dokie, his wife, sister and three other members of his family five months after Taylor assumed office in 1997.

More than 100 ethnic Mandingo, including two ULIMO-K commanders, have also been detained by Taylor’s security forces. Kromah has threatened to move into Liberia from exile to secure their release from jail.

The tensions have further been compounded by the fact that 13 ethnic Krahns (Johnson’s followers), who were found guilty of an alleged treason, were sentenced to ten years in jail by a Monrovia court in March.