LURD leader Sekou Conneh returns from Guinea

Sekou Conneh, the leader of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement, returned from exile in Guinea on Tuesday following the signature of last month's peace agreement. Conneh, a 42-year-old former tax collector and second hand car dealer, returned in a LURD convoy that received special permission to transit through Sierra Leone. Cheering crowds danced and ululated to music provided by a military band at the small border town of Bo Waterside as Conneh's 14-vehicle motorcade rolled across the international bridge over the Mano River shortly before sunset. Conneh, dressed in a smart cream suit, refused to speak to waiting reporters. He was whisked onto Tubmanburg, a LURD-held town 60 km north of Monrovia, which is likely to become his temporary headquarters The crowd waiting to greet him at Bo Waterside included LURD fighters dressed in white T-shirts bearing Conneh's portrait and brandishing rifles. It also included many civilians. It was not immediately clear what role Conneh will play in the transitional government led by former businessman Gyude Bryant, which is due to take power on 14 October to guide Liberia to fresh elections in two years time. The peace agreement signed on 18 August in the Ghanaian capital Accra, allocated LURD was five of the 21 ministerial posts in Bryant's coalition government and the control of several parastatal organisations. The agreement to end 14 years of civil war was signed a week after former president Charles Taylor stepped down and sought asylum in Nigeria, leaving the government in the hands of his deputy Moses Blah. Heavy security provided by UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, Sierra Leonean soldiers and police and a unit of the Guinean army, prevented waiting reporters from getting close to Conneh as he crossed the border. Later in the week, he is due to visit Monrovia, to meet officials of the Economic Community for West Africa (ECOWAS), foreign diplomats and officials of Blah's interim government. Conneh told reporters at the Sierra Leone embassy in the Guinean capital Conakry before his departure that he was going to reside in Tubmanburg to prepare for LURD's participation in the transitional government. Sierra Leone government officials told IRIN in Freetown that LURD requested safe passage through Sierra Leone and this was granted was granted on condition that that his convoy traveled discreetly and only stopped to refuel. Conneh appears to have chosen to travel through Sierra Leone because of the poor state of Guinea's roads, which have been churned up by heavy rain. Sekou Damate Conneh was propelled to LURD leadership of LURD by his close family connections to LURD's main political backer, President Lansana Conteh of Guinea. His Liberian wife, Aisha, is the daughter of Conteh's personal soothsayer and is reputed to be no mean clairvoyant in her own right. Conneh, worked as a tax collector for four years until he fled into exile in Guinea in 1990. Moving to Conakry, he became a trader in second hand cars for several years and a fluent speaker of French. Conneh returned to Liberia after Taylor's election as president in 1997 to resume his former job as a revenue collector for the ministry of finance. But he soon quit to go back to car trading in Conakry. In 1999, he was invited to become chairman of LURD because of his high-level contacts with the Guinean government.