GUINEA-POLITICS: Authorities on Alert for Rebel Attack

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Apr 21 1997 (IPS) - Authorities in the Republic of Guinea have stepped up security along the border with neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia following reports that Guinean dissidents plan to invade that country.

According to this week’s edition of the independent ‘Point’ newspaper published on Monday in Freetown, the government of President Lansana Conte has ordered its security forces to arrest and detain suspected aliens, who might be mercenaries infiltrating the country in readiness for an attack.

“About 15 aliens, mostly Sierra Leoneans, were recently arrested by the military at Wamindara in Guinea on suspicion of being mercenaries,” the paper reported.

The first hints of a possible rebel attack by Guinean dissidents surfaced last month from the Guinean embassy in Monrovia, the Liberian capital.

Reacting to the embassy’s report, the field commander of the West African Peacekeeping Force (ECOMOG), General Victor Malu, issued a statement warning that: “ECOMOG would not tolerate any dissidents to launch attacks on any country in the sub-region”.

The man believed to be behind the plan to overthrow Conte’s government is dissident soldier, Colonel Gbago Zoumanigui, who was the alleged brain behind last year’s military mutiny in Guinea.

Several army officers were killed and others arrested. Zoumanigui, who was one of the commanding officers at the Guinean military camp of Alpha Yahya Diallo in Simbaya in Conakry, the Guinean capital city, fled the country following the failed coup attempt.

According to IPS sources in Monrovia, the colonel has been spotted in the Liberian capital. The ‘National’ newspaper of Liberia has also confirmed that Zoumanigui is in Liberia.

The reports say that Colonel Zoumanigui arrived in Monrovia from Libya and is allegedly putting the finishing touches to the plans for an attack inside Guinea. He and hundreds of other Guinean dissidents received military training in Libya before they entered Liberia. Bong and Lofa counties on the Liberian border with Guinea are suspected to be the entry points for the Guinean rebels’ attack.

Guinean military officials have also confirmed that they have insight into the planned attack. Col. Zoumanigui is said to be recruiting Liberians, Guineans and other nationals who had fought with the various factions in Liberia’s civil war.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Guinean dissident leader succeeds in recruiting Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels from Sierra Leone since these too are out of a job, because of the fragile cease-fire,” said political analyst Mike Kamara of the University of Sierra Leone.

The Sierra Leonean government and the RUF rebels signed a cease- fire last November in Cote d’Ivoire to end the six-year-old civil strife.

“There seems to be some kind of understanding between the various rebels — (Charles) Taylor of Liberia, (Foday) Sankoh of Sierra Leone, and … and Zoumanigui who is just entering the fray. They trade arms and mercenaries,” Kamara added.

Last week, it was reported that some suspected mercenaries were rounded up in the eastern suburbs of Conakry with guns and other ammunition.

“The security forces hardly go to sleep here. Suspected activities are monitored and aliens whose motives are unclear are often guests of the police. We are convinced about the reports (of the planned rebel attack),” said Abu Bakar Camara, an independent journalist in Conakry, Guinea.

Political observers here said that the current economic and political climate in Guinea makes it prone to be another conflict point in the West African sub-region.

Economic reforms have been introduced to shore up the ailing economy. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 1988-95 averaged four percent per year, but the Gross National Product (GNP) per head (estimated at 514 U.S. Dollars per head in 1994) remains low.

Guinea also has played host to hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, and among these are believed to be people who have been recruited into a rebel movement.

There is also reported disillusionment in the Guinean army where ordinary soldiers complain of poor pay, while the top officers who are members of the Susus — the President’s ethnic group– live in luxury.