Government seeks support from former civil war rivals

The government of Liberia, which does not have a standing army, held meetings with former civil war faction leaders to seek their help in defending the country against dissidents, according to news reports. Some of the faction leaders, who during the war opposed President Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), are now ministers in his government. Defence Minister Daniel Chea told reporters that Friday’s meeting with the former rebel bosses was part of government’s strategy to mobilise militiamen to fight the dissidents it says come from Guinea. Conakry has denied involvement: Interior Minister Moussa Solano said on Radio Guinee on Friday that the accusation was diversionary and part of an anti-Guinea campaign by the people and media of Liberia. Present at the talks in Monrovia were the minister of youth and sports, Francois Massaquoi, PANA reported. He headed the now defunct Lofa Defence Force. Others were Deputy Transport Minister Brown Blayee of the one-time Liberia Peace Council, Colonel Chemo Kuyateh of Alhaji Kromah’s United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO-K) and the deputy director of the National Fire Service, Apollo Jay Swen, of Roosevelt Johnson’s Ulimo-J. Chea told reporters that the dissidents were burning towns and villages in Lofa as they retreated, AFP reported. In a related development, the Mano River Union’s Joint (MRU) Joint Security Committee began meeting in Monrovia on Monday to discuss the fighting, diplomatic sources in Liberia told IRIN. The meeting, which was supposed to begin on Saturday, was delayed because Guinea said its delegation had flight connection difficulties. Guinea is being represented by its ambassador in Monrovia and Sierra Leone by its interior minister. Liberia’s justice minister, Eddington Varmah, chairs the committee. MRU is a subregional grouping of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.