LURD leader drops demand for Bryant to go

10 days after calling for Gyude’s Bryant’s removal as head of the transitional government, Sekou Conneh, leader of the LURD rebel movement, has changed his mind. Conneh, whose own leadership of LURD is challenged by a faction supporting his estranged wife, told IRIN in an interview that he did not have any "personal problem" with Bryant as leader of Liberia's broad-based transitional government. We do not want this peace process to be delayed,” Conneh said on Thursday. "We have been talking with him [Bryant] to consult us, to ensure that the peace process works. We do not have any personal problem with Gyude Bryant. He was selected by the factions, I support him and the transitional government, because we all need to work together to bring total peace to this country." Conneh spoke to IRIN at his heavily guarded private office on the northwestern outskirts of Monrovia. As usual, the former tax official and second hand car dealer was smartly dressed - this time sporting a brown safari suit. On 26 January, Conneh and Thomas Nimely Yaya, the leader of MODEL, the other rebel movement in Liberia, signed a joint statement accusing Bryant, a respected former businessmen, of being inept and inadequate and demanding his immediate replacement. MODEL changed its mind two days later, although Nimely personally avoided making a statement. Now Conneh, under heavy pressure from the United Nations and the United States, has said he has withdrawn his own objections to Bryant's leadership so as "not to derail the peace process". The three warring factions; Liberians United for Democracy in Liberia (LURD), the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) and the former government of Liberia, along with political parties and civil society groups, selected Bryant to head the transitional government at peace talks in Ghana in August. Bryant was sworn into office on 14 October at the head of a coalition cabinet, dominated by the three armed factions, that will lead Liberia to fresh elections in 2005. Conneh was quick to voice his continued support for a UN-supervised disarmament programme that is due to get under way later this month following an abortive start in December. “I can assure you that we are prepared to disarm,” Conneh told IRIN. “I am going to liase with the UN to carry out smooth disarmament of our fighters in all parts of Liberia where they are found,” he promised. On Monday, Conneh was in the LURD stronghold of Gbarnga, 150 km northeast of Monrovia, to take part in a UN-organised sensitization campaign about the disarmament programme. He personally handed over 81 Kalashnikov semi-automatic rifles and a pile of ammunition to the peacekeepers. Conneh, who is 43, also made a fatherly plea to the UN to “take good care..[of]..my boys and men.” Aid organisations have stressed the need for an estimated 38,000 to 58,000 former combatants in Liberia to be given schooling, training and decent jobs once they hand in their guns to dissuade them from drifting back into conflict and banditry. Some of the fighters are children as young as nine. Conneh made no mention of his earlier complaint that LURD fighters were being left out of a new police force being trained by UN peacekeepers. Outside, 75 of his ‘boys’ stood guard on his compound. Their T-shirt-and-jeans uniforms contrasted with the fatigues and distinctive blue berets of the UN peacekeepers also stationed to watch over the LURD chairman. Conneh, who became leader of LURD rebel group soon after its foundation in 1999, was reluctant to speak about his estranged wife Aisha Keita Conneh. Many LURD military commanders have said publicly they would prefer to see her as head of the movement. When asked about his 39-year-old wife, Conneh said simply, “I don’t want to speak on the issue.” Last month, the small but intimidating Aisha told IRIN that she was the “founder and main leader" of LURD. Aisha, a soothsayer and close confidente of Guinean president Lansana Conte, LURD's main backer, has long been seen by Monrovia’s gossips as the rebel movement's real power broker. Political analysts familiar with LURD say it was largely because of Aisha's close connections with the Guinean leader that Conneh was made chairman of LURD in the first place. At the end of December, a group of 40 senior LURD commanders signed a petition demanding that Conneh, who they accused of doing nothing for the welfare of rebel combatants, be replaced by his wife. Following the signing of a peace agreement in August last year to end 14 years of civil war, Conneh and his wife continued to live in the Guinean capital Conakry. However, the split in LURD sent both of them scurrying back to Monrovia last month, albeit separately, to try and heal the rift. Conneh belongs to the Mandingo tribe, which was regarded with suspiscion by former president Charles Taylor, who was forced to quit power and go into exile a week before the signing of last year's peac agreement. Many of those who formed LURD previously fought against Taylor in the Mandingo-dominated rebel movement ULIMO-K rebel movement. LURD sources said Aisha Conneh fell out with her husband after he appointed Luisini Kamara, a brother of his first wife, as finance minister in the transitional government. She had not been seen in public in Monrovia for several days and speculation is growing that she may have left the country. However LURD officials told IRIN privately that the leadership crisis with the rebel movement goes on with West African diplomats and religious leaders trying to negotiate a truce.