DATE=4/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SIERRA LEONE / SECURITY (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261483
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
INTERNET=
INTRO: Security ministers from Sierra Leone, Liberia
and Guinea-Conakry have agreed to form a joint
committee to monitor their shared borders. V-O-A West
Africa Correspondent John Pitman reports officials say
the agreement is designed to defuse tensions along the
border before they escalate into crises.
TEXT: Sierra Leone's national security advisor, Sheka
Mansaray, tells V-O-A this is the first time that
security ministers from the three neighbors have
agreed to create a body charged with monitoring the
borders.
Mr. Mansaray says the ministers, who met in Freetown
on Monday, agreed to create what is being called a
"joint security committee" at the ministerial level.
/// MANSARAY ACT ///
Now, what this joint security committee does is
receive reports from a body that's considered to
be operating on a technical basis, making
recommendations to them on the kind of problems
they may encounter, and suggesting actions to be
taken. So, the ministerial committee, which is
the joint security committee, will either take
action or refer matters to the heads of state
for their attention.
/// END ACT ///
The borders between Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia
are notoriously porous. The ease with which illegal
diamond and weapons smugglers can pass back-and-forth
between the three countries has been cited in the past
as one of the main sources of instability in the
region.
Monday's meeting was held under the auspices of the
Mano River Union -- a group created by Liberia, Sierra
Leone, and Guinea to promote economic integration, but
which increasingly has dealt with security issues as
well.
The agreement comes amid news reports of a potential
border dispute between Sierra Leone and Guinea. On
Monday, the Reuters news agency reported the presence
of heavily armed Guinean soldiers along the Moa river
in eastern Sierra Leone.
It remains unclear why Guinean soldiers might have
entered Sierra Leone. However, the two countries have
been involved in a long-standing border dispute in the
area.
According to the Reuters report, as well as subsequent
local newspaper accounts, a United Nations
peacekeeping official has confirmed the presence of
the Guinean soldiers' -- although the peacekeeping
officer said the Guineans told him they believed they
were on Guinean soil.
Sierra Leone's national security advisor Sheka
Mansaray dismissed the reports in an interview with V-
O-A on Tuesday. He said the ministers had discussed
the reports of cross-border incursions and had found
them to be, in his words, "untrue."
/// OPT // MANSARAY ACT ///
These are some of the issues we discussed and
laughed over. Reports about incursions or
training of people in one country to cause
problems in another. We've all received those
informations from various sources and we sat
down -- the ministers concerned, the officials -
- and reviewed these reports and found them to
be totally untrue. So, frankly, I don't think
we'll stop hearing these kind of reports. But I
can assure you nothing of this sort is happening
right now.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
While dismissing the reports of incursions, Mr.
Mansaray did concede that the movement of arms across
the three countries' borders is "directly related" to
the border security issue. However, he said the
ministers did not discuss the arms trade on Monday,
since, in his words, it was already being dealt with
in other forums.
Mr. Mansaray said instead of targeting specific
problems, the ministers focused on creating a unified
mechanism to address those issues in the future.
(Signed)
NEB/JP/JWH/PT
18-Apr-2000 15:11 PM EDT (18-Apr-2000 1911 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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