Liberia denies providing mercenaries for ex-strongman

Monrovia has denied a claim by Cote d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo that former Ivorian strongman General Robert Guei has been recruiting mercenaries in Liberia.

“Liberia’s government has been very emphatic in denying these rumours,” a diplomatic source in Monrovia told IRIN. He said Defence Minister Daniel Chea had denied the charge and assured Gbagbo during a visit to Abidjan that his government had no knowledge of Liberian mercenaries in the neighbouring country.

Guei had become de facto president of Cote d’Ivoire on 24 December 1999, when the military overthrew Henri Konan Bedie. Popular protests brought an end to his rule on 25 October after he claimed victory at a presidential election held three days before. Guei disappeared after his ouster, but suddenly reappeared in early November for a meeting with Gbagbo in the central town of Yamassoukro, Cote d’Ivoire’s administrative capital.
He again disappeared, and was reportedly staying in his village of Kabacouma, in western Cote d’Ivoire, near the border with Liberia.

Reports of a Guei-Liberia link had surfaced about two months ago. On 6 October - ‘Le Patriote’, a newspaper close to the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR), had reported that about 12 Liberian “commandos” escorted by two Ivorian gendarmes had been seen in the town of Man, near the Liberian border.

The newspaper reported that other gendarmes intercepted the group in a town along the way. The two escorts then contacted unknown persons by phone, after which they were allowed to continue on to Abidjan, ‘Le Patriote’ had reported.

The Liberian issue came into the news once again during upheavals on 24-25 October sparked by Guei’s claim that he had won the election: there were reports that some of the protesters killed by the security forces had been shot by Liberians who had allegedly been guarding Guei.

If true, the reported recruitment of mercenaries by Guei could result in the destabilisation of Cote d’Ivoire as is happening in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the Monrovia-based diplomat said. This was an apparent reference to reports that Liberian President Charles Taylor has been backing Sierra Leonean rebels and Guinea dissidents.

Abidjan points finger at Mali, too
Meanwhile, Cote d’Ivoire’s government implicated nationals from another country in the upheavals that have plagued the country in recent weeks.

Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi accused “armed elements from Malian territory” of participating in violence in Tengrela, in the north of the country, during parliamentary elections held on 10 December.

The opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) boycotted the election, which was not held in the north - considered an RDR stronghold - after people forced state officials to leave some areas and election materials were damaged in some places.

Kouassi alleged on state television at the weekend that individuals with firearms and dressed like dozos (traditional hunters), had crossed into Cote d’Ivoire from Malian territory, He said they attacked the “symbols of the Ivorian state,” in particular the prefecture and gendarmerie outposts, which were allegedly burnt down, before fleeing.

“These facts in addition to the recurrent declarations made by Malian President Alpha Omar Konare, are disturbing,” said Kouassi, who indicated that the Ivorian authorities were going to refer the matter to the Malian government.

Konare is chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Malian president and many other leaders, countries and organisations such as the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity, the European Union and the United States, have deplored the exclusion of leading politicians from presidential and legislative elections in Cote d’Ivoire.