Rights body says Koroma's presence a menace

A human rights body says the presence in Liberia of Sierra Leone's ex-military junta leader, Johnny Paul Koroma, could have a destabilising effect on Liberia, AFP reported on Thursday. The Liberia Council and Human Rights Alliance fears that Koroma, who purportedly leads the former soldiers of the Sierra Leonean Army (ex-SLA), could use Liberia as a command post to attack his erstwhile ally, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The RUF and the ex-SLA are estranged because the former soldiers say the RUF neglected them in negotiating a power-sharing deal with the government of Sierra Leone. Liberian politician Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf told IRIN on Friday that if Koroma and the RUF failed to resolve their differences and both sides resorted to fighting the Liberia government would likely be forced to take sides, an act that would put Liberia and Liberians at risk. "Koroma has to stop being afraid of going home," she said. Ealier the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, appealed to Koroma and RUF leader Foday Sankoh to return home. Doing so and taking bold and concrete measures to implement the accord, Otunnu said, would "demonstrate their commitment to peace". That task of prodding them in that direction has fallen on the UN Special Representative in Sierra Leone, Francis Okelo. He visited Liberia on Wednesday to see Koroma, and was in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on Friday to persuade Sankoh to return to Freetown.