Liberia is denying
accusation by Guinea Conakry that drug traffickers and their allies in
neighboring countries were planning to overthrow the military government of
Captain Moussa Camera.
Guinean state media said over the weekend that Captain
Camera put the army on high alert after learning of the plot allegedly from
fighters in Guinea-Bissau and Liberia.
An official statement read on state television
did not say where the government was getting its information.
Information
Minister Lawrence Bropleh said Liberia will never again
allow its territory to be used in destabilizing another country in the
sub-region.
“We,
the Liberian government were alerted to this situation by the Guinean
authorities earlier into last week. What we learned is that there were moments
of border crossings. We sent our intelligence in the area, and what we have
been assured by the Guinean authorities is that this is under control,” he
said.
Bropleh said Liberia has
fortified its borders and that there were consultations currently ongoing in
Guinea headed by Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Zainab Bangura.
He denied Liberia has
harbored fleeing drug traffickers from Guinea Conakry.
“Not only do we not have
that information, but we will not tolerate…the Liberian soil will never again
be used by anyone or groups of persons to destabilize any country, let alone
our neighboring country,” he said.
Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia
and Sierra Leone are members of the Mano River Union, a sub-regional economic
organization.
Bropleh said a meeting of
the Mano River Union planned for this Tuesday in Conakry will still go ahead
but at a later date.
“I can tell you that the
Mano River Union summit will happen and most likely in Conakry. However, there
may be a shift in the day. Rather than Tuesday, it may take place later on in
the week,” Bropleh said.
In his speech to the
Ghanaian Parliament last Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans to
do more to end instability and corruption on the continent.
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Liberian_President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
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Bropleh said President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf welcomed President Obama’s speech.
“As you know President
Sirleaf has been a person of stability, particularly within the Mano River
Union and within ECOWAS. She has hailed President Obama’s visit to Ghana
because Ghana is firmly becoming the true representation of democracy and
peaceful transfer of power,” Bropleh said.
He
said as chairman of the Mano River Union, President Sirleaf has taken the lead
to make sure no country in the sub-region would face destabilization.
Bropleh reiterated that
Liberia was not aware of persons or groups within its borders who were planning
to overthrow any government within the Mano River Union.
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