ECOWAS seeks UN aid to deploy on Guinea’s borders

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders called on the United Nations on Wednesday to help the deployment of regional troops along the borders between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The call came at a one-day extraordinary summit of the 13-member regional body in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting expressed “great concern” over persisting tension along the common borders of the three countries and urged their governments “to take individual and collective measures to curb the activities of armed rebel groups operating on their respective territories”. “The heads of states ... appealed to the United Nations Security Council to authorise and assist in the deployment of ECOMOG (ECOWAS Monitoring Group) forces along the borders,” the document said. While President Charles Taylor of Liberia attended the summit, his Guinean counterpart, Lansana Conte, stayed away. Sierra Leone’s Ahmad Tejan Kabbah made a late appearance after deliberations had ended and later held talks with the chairman of ECOWAS, President Alpha Konare of Mali, Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo and Taylor. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Niger were represented by their heads of state. A Gambian minister and a Senegalese ambassador represented their presidents. ECOWAS decided last December to send about 1,700 troops from Nigeria, Mali, Niger and Senegal to the borders of the three countries, where insurgents have engaged in cross-border raids since September 2000, killing hundreds of people and displacing tens of thousands. The summit reaffirmed the regional body’s readiness to deploy the troops. It urged Guinea and Liberia to sign the required agreement on the status of the ECOMOG forces. The summit also appointed a special mediation committee comprising Nigeria, Mali and Togo to encourage dialogue between the leaders of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and quicken the restoration of peace between them. Liberia was also asked to reverse its expulsion of the ambassadors of the two other countries and “President Taylor acceded to this request,” the communiqué said. The summit expressed appreciation to Guinea for hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone. The leaders also urged the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to hasten its troop deployment throughout Sierra Leone and establish the full authority of its government over its territory.