POLITICS: Armed Conflict Deepens Along Guinea/Liberia Borders

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE, Apr 20 2001 (IPS) - As the armed conflict deepens along the common borders of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, with its attendant humanitarian problems, the sub- regional grouping Mano River Union (MRU) seems to be slowly dying out.

The Mano is a key river that flows through the neighbouring West African states that had been embroiled in civil wars and cross border military activities by armed insurgents, over the past decade.

The union, which was formed more than 20 years ago, aimed at fostering economic, social and cultural ties between the three states. However, with the deteriorating security situation in the region, the union has remained largely dormant and even at the brink of collapse.

Liberia and Guinea have been accusing each other of supporting armed dissidents to attack each other’s country, while Sierra Leone blames Liberia for its own decade-long bloody civil conflict that ravaged that country.

Last month, Liberia expelled the ambassadors of Guinea and Sierra Leone for acts which the government there described as “not being consistent with their status as diplomats.” Sierra Leone responded by expelling the Liberian charge d’affaires in Freetown and soon, the Liberians closed their borders and deployed troops there.

In Guinea, there are more than 150,000 refugees from the two neighbouring states stranded along the border region and caught up between armed combatants. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has described the plight of these people as “the worst refugee crisis in the whole world.” Some quarter of a million refugees mainly from Liberia and Sierra Leone were caught up in this dreaded situation and so the UN High Commissioner for Refugees embarked on repatriating them home.

While being under siege, the refugees faced double tragedy as they were indiscriminately rounded up, beaten, raped and thrown into jails, by Guinean security forces, according to some returnees. Some even got caught up in crossfire and died. And, for those who managed to escape, some entered through territory controlled by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leonean rebel group, or through the disputed border towns in Liberia.

A humanitarian worker told IPS in Freetown: “These refugees are indeed in big trouble as they flee from one crisis right into another.”

It was anticipated that the Mano River Union, to which the three countries belong, would resolve such a border dispute. But it seems the MRU’s functions are being taken over by the West Africa Community (ECOWAS), which has mostly been preoccupied with attempts at conflict prevention and resolution.

The leadership in Guinea does not hide its feelings of disgust for its counterpart in Liberia whose President it sees as the brain behind the campaign of destabilisation of the sub-region. “How could we ever talk about a union with that criminal (President Charles Taylor) who is steadily fermenting trouble in the region,” queried a Guinean aide to President Lansana Conte.

The official added: “We can only revitalise that union when Liberia gets a sober leader.”

Sierra Leonean officials, on the other hand, have not been publicly talking about the moribund MRU. An aide to President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah told IPS “We are preoccupied with our war and state of insecurity much more than the MRU. If the other member countries are ready, then we can put strength into the Union.”

Notwithstanding that, the now-defunct union is financially in the red and would find it difficult to meet necessary commitments. The three countries have been impoverished by internecine violence and they all have near-battered economies.

The first case of instability in the Mano River Union erupted in Liberia in 1989, where the then National Patriotic Front (NPFL) of Charles Taylor launched a rebellion to oust the civilian government there. The war lasted for seven years leaving in its trail more than 150,000 dead and massive destruction of property.

The Liberian civil war then spilled over into Sierra Leone, with a then little-known ex-army corporal Foday Sankoh invading the country with his Revolutionary United Front, a rebel outfit that is best known for chopping off the limbs of civilians including children.

The Sierra Leonean conflict also cost more than 50,000 lives and displaced about a quarter of the country’s 4.5 million people who fled into neighbouring countries to seek refuge.

Even with the election of Taylor in Liberia, in 1997 as President, it seems the conflict there is far from over. A new rebel group, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) has waged fresh war on the Taylor regime, which already faces the prospects of sanctions by the UN Security Council.

The LURD rebels launch their attacks from neighbouring Guinea and have, since last September, been gaining grounds. They even claimed to have shot dead a minister in the Taylor administration.

Also in Guinea, dissident activities along the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone have resulted in hundreds of deaths and displacement of thousands more.

But as one political analyst puts it: “The resurrection of the MRU might just well help in resolving the crisis in the region and bringing the feuding neighbours once again together.”

It sounds a good idea but the constraints for realisation of such a move are pretty much colossal.