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Despite taking civilian casualties, Sierra Leone will not condemn Guinea’s recent cross-border pursuits of rebel forces, Information Minister Julius Spencer told IRIN on Tuesday.
He said Freetown did “not want to jeopardize the relationship between Guinea and Sierra Leone”. Guinea and Sierra Leone are long-standing allies - and with Liberia form the Mano River Union, a trading bloc set up in 1973.
However, in retaliation against rebel attacks on its soil, the Guinea Air Force has been bombing rebel positions in Sierra Leonean border towns. Guinea accuses Liberia, Burkina Faso and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone of supporting the insurgents. Civilians have been killed and wounded, and tens of thousands of refugees and Guineans displaced by the fighting. Spencer, who described the Guinean actions as having been “provoked by the RUF”, said that his government was trying to prevent further civilian suffering.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions