21st July 2000

Vol 41 N0 15

Free article preview  

Liberia LIBERIA

Cross-border crisis

Guinea and Sierra Leone are paying back the Taylor regime for its rebel sponsorship. But their operations could spin out of control

Self-proclaimed guerrilla maestro Charles Taylor is in a bind. The border wars between Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, stoked by the Liberian President, are rebounding on his government. Variously-named Liberian rebel groups have crossed from Guinea into Liberia's north-west Lofa County, capturing the main provincial town of Voinjama. Presidents Lansana Conté of Guinea and Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone have lost patience with Taylor and the Liberian-sponsored dissidents and are tolerating, if not actively encouraging, Liberian rebel groups operating from their countries. Taylor accuses Britain and the United States of orchestrating a rebellion against his regime. There are, of course, denials all round. There has been heavy fighting around Voinjama and Taylor's forces have had trouble pushing back the rebels. Lofa County is Liberia's bread-basket and the main transit route into Sierra Leone for Taylor's allies in the Revolutionary United Front. Lofa's refugee camps host several thousand Sierra Leoneans and Guineans, including RUF fighters and their families. Liberian military sources claim that SLR rifles, supplied by Britain to the pro-Kabbah forces in Freetown, have turned up in the hands of anti-Taylor rebels....

(This article contains approximately 2116 words)

end of free article preview

Current subscribers: log in now to read the complete article. Misplaced your password? Then click here for a password reminder.

Not a subscriber? Then you can read this article in full either by becoming a subscriber now, for 3, 6 or 12 months, or you can buy this individual article.

  • Subscribe to Africa Confidential:
  • Buy this article:
  • 3-month subscription
    Prices from £205.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
    6-month subscription
    Prices from £376.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
    12-month subscription
    Prices from £705.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
  • UK & European Union
    £17.00 (+ VAT where applicable)
    Rest of the world
    $27.00

  • If you have a print subscription already, click here for a password that gives you full access to the website.
  • If you are logged in, but still cannot access the full text of this article, email customer services or telephone us on +44(0)1638 743633.

Keywords:

 Charles Taylor, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Lansana Conté, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Britain, United States, Ahmed Sékou Touré, Ahmed, Alpha Condé, Blaise Compaoré, Burkina Faso, Dissing the dissidents, Sam Hinga Norman, Junior Tarrawali, G.V. Kromah, Samuel Doe, Roosevelt Johnson, Nigeria, Daniel Chea, Charles Den, Abdoulaye Keita, Joe Gbala, Varmah Koney, Lavali Supuwood, Thomas Q. Harris, Mohammed Siaboso Jumandy, William Tubman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Freddie Taylor, Chucky, Sam 'Maskita' Bockarie, Philip Kamah, South African, Nimba provides the backbone, Enoch Dogolea, , Libya, Moses Z. Blah, Tunisia, Thomas Pickering, Ghanaian, Indian, The donors' strike in Monrovia, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, Moammar el Gadaffi, Emmanuel Shaw, Cyril Allen, Evelyn White-Kandakai, Peter Coleman, Roland Massaquoi, Monie Kaptan, Nathaniel Barnes, Côte d'Ivoire, Africa Confidential