G-Bissau cracks down on rebels
2001-01-05 23:35
Conakry - Guinean President Lansana Conte has launched a stinging attack on a "syndicate of African leaders" he claims is supporting armed
incursions into his country from neighbouring states. Meanwhile, sources said the Guinea-Bissau troops cracked down on Casamance separatists on Friday.
Conte said in an address broadcast on state radio and
television that African leaders have been lured by the mineral wealth of his country
into supporting the rebel attacks.
"We are talking about (Liberian President) Charles Taylor and
(Burkina Faso President) Blaise Campaore, but it is not only these
two," he said in Thursday night's address.
"There is a syndicate of African leaders who are at the base of
these rebel attacks along our borders," he said.
Since early September, deadly clashes between Guinea's armed forces
and unidentified bands of armed rebels have ensued in southern
Guinea, along the nation's border with Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Hundreds of civilians in southern Guinea have been killed in the
clashes, and tens of thousands of others have fled the violence.
Among those sent fleeing are most of the estimated 460 000 refugees from neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone whom Guinea has been hosting.
Both countries were torn by civil war for much of the 1990s and remain unstable.
Conte's government primarily blames army deserters and Sierra
Leone's rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which it says is
backed by Liberian President Charles Taylor in a destabilisation
bid.
Taylor's government denies this allegation and accuses Guinea of
backing "armed dissidents" active in northern Liberia.
In his address, Conte acknowledged Liberian dissidents were living
in Guinea, but said they were "only refugees" who were not engaged
in any military activities.
He said the main concern of the African leaders, however, was not
Liberian dissidents, but the "exploitation of Guinea's wealth."
"They have no other objective but this exploitation," he said,
referring to the country's gold, diamonds and other minerals.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) late last
month agreed to send 1 676 soldiers to patrol Guinea's border in a
bid to halt the spreading insurgency.
Troops Crack Down on Separatists
Guinea-Bissau troops had cracked down on rival Casamance
separatists from neighbouring Senegal who had been fighting each
other on Guinea-Bissau territory, military sources said on Friday.
The sources, who asked not to be named, told AFP the troops had launched a "heavy-handed" operation to quell the feud, seizing large stocks of weapons and arresting several Casamance rebels, among them Mamadou Tamba, advisor to rebel leader Salif Sadio.
Tamba was being held by the army in Sao Domingos in northern
Guinea-Bissau, just seven kilometers from the
Senegalese border, the sources said.
"We are not taking sides in this conflict. All we are interested in is ridding our territory of these armed groups, regardless of clan memberships," a Guinea-Bissau general told AFP by telephone.
An officer reported that several villages were burnt along the
border near Sao Domingos, leading Guinea-Bissau to tighten
security.
Other sources said fighting between the rival Casamance factions was continuing on Friday in northern Guinea-Bissau.
The Senegal-based Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC) was scheduled to meet in Banjul, in Gambia on January 2, but cancelled the meeting after the rival factions began
fighting on December 28.
The meeting had been expected to hammer out a position on peace
with the Senegalese government after 18 years of insurgency.
The MFDC, embroiled in a leadership struggle, has split into two
wings: a disarmed "civilian" strand in the north and a military
pole based in Guinea-Bissau since 1998.
On December 16, a rebel delegation met for the first time with
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade's government at a protocol ceremony expected to launch full-scale negotiations on an 11-point peace plan.
No negotiations have been held yet, however. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA