Member countries agree on border security

Ministers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone agreed on Thursday to implement plans to strengthen security along their borders and revive their long-dormant economic grouping, the Mano River Union, the Sierra Leone News Agency, SLENA, reported on Friday. The ministers of foreign affairs, security, internal affairs, defence and justice ended their two-day meeting of the union's Joint Security Committee, with a timetable to implement the security measures. They called for a committee of legal experts, chosen by the justice ministries, to meet in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, on 13 March. That committee will develop mechanisms for handling dissidents threatening the three governments, and submit a list of suspected dissidents residing in each other's countries. A Technical Committee of the joint security body was given the mandate to implement the first phase of the deployment of a Joint Border and Security force along the common borders. On 25 March, the Guinean and Liberian ministers of defence and security will meet in Conakry, the Guinean capital. The two countries have recently been blaming each other for supporting armed anti-government dissidents. Both have denied the claim and relations had deteriorated to a low ebb. The latest meetings are a sign that there could be a thaw. Last week Moroccan King Mohammed VI organised a summit of the Mano River Union in the capital, Rabat, to ease political tension that has pitted Liberia against Guinea and Sierra Leone. [Full text of Joint Security Committee on http://www.sierra-leone.gov.sl/slnewspages.htm]