Germany gives US $250,000 for ECOMOG

Germany agreed on Monday to provide US $250,000 to airlift West African troops due to be deployed on the border between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Economic Community West African States (ECOWAS) reported. The agreement was signed in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, by German Ambassador Karlfried Bergner and ECOMOG military liaison officer Colonel Dixon Dikio. Bergner also presented ECOWAS with a second set of five satellite telephones to support its efforts to bring about peace and security in the subregion. Germany had pledged the 10 telephones last year. Some 1,700 troops from Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal are to protect the Guinea-Liberia-Sierra Leone border, facilitate the free movement of persons and ensure the safety of humanitarian agencies serving the tens of thousands of refugees trapped in the areas of conflict. ECOWAS leaders decided at a December summit to send in the troops, after reviewing the lack of security on the border between the three countries.