Guinea
Sierra Leone conflict spills over to Guinea?

afrol.com, 14 September - The armed violence in Sierra Leone and Liberia has seemed to spill into neighboring Guinea in recent days, subjecting refugees and local citizens there to violent attacks and threatening to ignite the entire region. Is it Liberian Charles Taylor who wants to destabilize another neighbour country?

Guinea is strongly affected by the crisis in Sierra Leone. It hosts more refugees than any other African country, including nearly 100,000 refugees from Liberia and an estimated 330,000 from Sierra Leone. Its tradition of relative hospitality toward refugees has eroded as incursions from Sierra Leone and Liberia have increased. 

The latest development include attacks on border villages from Liberian and Sierra Leonean rebels and the massive attacks on refugees after an inflammatory speech by Guinean president Conté:

July/August: Persistent reports from the Liberian capital, Monrovia, of cross-border incursions into northern Liberia from Guinea. The nature of the insurgency in Liberia is unclear.

August: Fearful of incursions by Sierra Leonean rebels, the Guinean authorities closed the border at the beginning of August, later agreeing to allow access only to "vulnerable" refugees (including pregnant and lactating women; children below the age of 14 (later raised to 18); and the elderly). 

September 1: Armed assailants attacked the village of Massadou, in Guinea's eastern region, about 25 km from the country's porous border with Liberia. Attackers killed 47 people, burned huts, and looted local food stocks. The local population, and refugees living among them, fled. Survivors reported that former Liberian refugees who previously lived in Massadou accompanied the attackers from Liberia. Liberia denies the charge. 

September 3: Unidentified gunmen attacked the Guinean town of Madina Woula, about 170 km northeast of Conakry, along the Guinean border with Sierra Leone. Thousands of civilians were forced to flee their homes temporarily. 

September 6: Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels attacked the Guinean village of Pamalap in the Forécariah region, located about 120 km southeast of Conakry along Guinea's border with Sierra Leone. A fierce firefight ensued in which gunmen attacked a Guinean army garrison and abducted two Italian missionaries. Guinean authorities dispatched government troops to protect Sierra Leonean refugee camps about 13 km from the Guinea-Sierra Leone border. Nevertheless, preliminary reports indicate that several thousand Sierra Leonean refugees in Forécariah may have fled back to rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone last weekend, fearing attacks in Guinea. 

September 9: Guinean President Lansana Conté declares in a nationwide broadcast: "I am giving orders that we bring together all foreigners…and that we search and arrest suspects.... They should go home. We know that there are rebels among the refugees. Civilians and soldiers, let's defend our country together. Crush the invaders." 

September 10-12: The Guinean president's inflammatory remarks prompted a series of raids and round-ups resulting in the arrest and detention of at least 3,000 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees. Reports of attacks and serious abuse against refugees were widespread. This included mass rape. Large numbers of Sierra Leoneans sought shelter at their country's embassy in the Guinean capital, Conakry. Guinean officials agreed to release the detainees on Monday, but serious protection concerns remain among the refugee population in Guinea.

Liberian president Charles Taylor

The background for the conflict
Some regard the incursions as a coordinated effort by Liberian President Charles Taylor to retaliate against Guinea for providing asylum to Liberian dissidents and armed groups that have allegedly attacked Liberia. Others speculate that some of these border clashes are the product of local business transactions gone awry between RUF rebels and Guineans believed to be involved in diamond trafficking and other illegal cross-border activities. 

While armed men from Sierra Leone, as well as Liberia, are accused of carrying out the cross-border attacks that have raised regional tension, the dispute is largely between Liberia and Guinea. Each country has accused the other of harbouring dissidents seeking to destabilize its government. 

Guinea's prime minister, Lamine Sidime, on Tuesday blamed Liberia for the recent attacks. "Everything points to the fact that it is an external aggression from Liberia which has, for years, been preparing to engage in war with Guinea," Lamine told Radio France Internationale. He accused Burkina Faso of complicity.

Talks on their way
Malian President Alpha Oumar Konaré, chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), this week already had talks with Liberian President Charles Taylor and Guinean President Lansana Conté in Monrovia and Conakry respectively. Following these discussions, it was announced that officials from Guinea and Liberia are to hold talks before the end of the week to reduce the tension between the two countries. The president of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, met with Conté on Tuesday in Conakry. 

Konaré was quoted by AFP after his meetings with Taylor and Conte as saying "hope was permitted" regarding resolving the dispute. "I think his coming will help to lower tension in the sub-region," Taylor told the BBC.

Source: U.S. Committee for Refugees

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