Armed forces kill 100 rebels

Guinean troops have killed over 100 dissidents who attacked two border villages 50 km west of the southern town of Macenta, a news source in Guinea told IRIN on Monday. Radio Guinee reported that 75 of the rebels were killed in the village of Condemeye and 60 in Gbeteourameye. It said 10 were being held by local authorities in the Panziazou subprefecture. The news source could not confirm the capture of the rebels in this operation but said that prisoners taken in previous operations had admitted to being recruited without knowing they were being taken to fight in Guinea. The prisoners were members of the Revolutionary United Front, he said. Many of them, he added, said they had abandoned the war in Sierra Leone to do jobs such as tailoring and hairdressing. They claimed to have come from Burkina Faso, Liberia and Sierra Leone, while some said they were recruited in Cote d'Ivoire, the source told IRIN. Guinea has spent vast amounts of money over the last four months to equip its armed forces to take on the insurgents from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Finance Minister Cheik Camara announced on Saturday he had set aside US $71million for defence in the 2001 budget.