Liberia, Burkina deny helping rebels

The governments of Liberia and Burkina Faso have denied an accusation by the departing ECOMOG commander, General Timothy Shelpidi, that they have been helping rebels in Sierra Leone. “For several months we have repeatedly said that we have nothing to do with Sierra Leone and have no intention of being involved militarily there,” Liberian Deputy Information Minister J.Milton Teahjay told IRIN on Monday. “Nor do we have any expansionist plans in the sub-region.” “We cannot afford to be provoked by distractions like Shelpidi,” he added. Shelpidi, the departing commander of the ECOWAS -Economic Community of West African States- Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Sierra Leone, made the accusation on Thursday last on state radio in Freetown. He charged that Presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso were planning to destabilise the entire region, beginning with their support for Sierra Leone’s rebels. “As long as President Charles Taylor is in power in neighbouring Liberia, the Sierra Leone crisis will never come to an end,” Reuters reported him as saying. On Friday, Foreign minister Youssouf Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso also denied any involvement by his country in the Sierra Leone conflict, according to Africa No. 1 radio in Libreville. Allegations of Liberian involvement in Sierra Leone are not new. The international community, including the United States and Britain, have accused Liberia before of supporting the Sierra Leone rebels, who still control much of the interior of the country. While denying any involvement by his government, Taylor has admitted that individual Liberians are fighting in Sierre Leone as mercenaries, according to Reuters.