Guinea calls for summit on relations with Liberia

Guinean President Lansana Conte has called for a extraordinary summit of the three-nation Mano River Union (MRU) to discuss outstanding political differences between himself and Liberia's Charles Taylor, Radio Liberia International reported. The MRU, which is all but defunct, comprises Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Radio Liberia International quoted Doyin Okupe, special assistant on media affairs to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, as saying that Conte wanted the meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. According to Radio Liberia International, Okupe said such a meeting should help bring total peace and integration in West Africa, and that the need to resolve this and other subregional issues prompted Obasanjo to make a stopover on Monday in Monrovia. Radio France International (RFI) reported on Tuesday that relations between Taylor and Conte have been sour ever since Liberia's civil war started 10 years ago. Conte was a close ally of late president Samuel Doe, against whom Taylor took up arms in December 1989, RFI said. Conte and Taylor have occasionally accused each other of backing armed groups opposed to their respective governments. Recent sources of contention include a rebel incursion that left 28 people dead in Macenta, southern Guinea.