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Liberian rebels joined Guinea unrest

Former Liberian rebels participated in a recent bloody crackdown on an opposition rally in Guinea by the country’s military, sources from the army, the opposition and a rights group have said.

The massacre that the UN and rights group say led to more than 150 deaths occurred on Sept. 28 when soldiers opened fire at a crowded stadium in Guinea’s capital.

“It was the presidential guard ... with elements from ULIMO and the NPFL that did that, that massacre,” a military source in Conakry said on condition of anonymity, referring to the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), a rebel group that fought in that country’s brutal civil war and the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebels that were led by ex-Liberian president and former warlord Charles Taylor.

“ULIMO members currently surround the head of the junta, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara,” the military source said, adding that ex-NPFL fighters were simply looking to work as mercenaries.

“That’s why they have no pity,” the source said.

Camara seized power in December last year after the death of Guinean strongman Lansana Conte, who had ruled the resource-rich country since 1984.

Conte had supported the creation of ULIMO and oversaw training of some of its members in Guinea, which neighbors Liberia.

Meanwhile, residents of Guinea Forestiere — an area near Liberia’s border — fought on the side of Taylor’s rebels in the 1989 to 2003 war. Many soldiers recruited since Camara took power come from the same region, the source said.

The military source’s claims backed up similar accusations made by opposition members and a rights group official.

One opposition leader, Jean-Marie Dore, claimed at least two of the soldiers who beat him during the crackdown were ULIMO members. He said they carried the same types of charms and necklaces that ULIMO members were known for.

Dore had supported the NPFL during Liberia’s war.

“One told me, ‘We’ve been looking for you for a long time ... I’m going to kill you with two bullets in the head,’” Dore said. “His friend said, ‘No, we have to cut his throat.’”

Another opposition leader, Francois Lonseny Fall, said, “we have never seen such a massacre in Guinea,” with the violence ­including women being raped with guns and sticks.

“It recalls the techniques used in Liberia,” he said.

Mamadi Kaba, Guinea coordinator for African rights group RADDHO, said a civilian working in a military camp has alleged there were signs Liberian rebels participated in the killings.

“He told us that there were soldiers covered in gris-gris [charms], like during the war in Liberia, who spoke English between them or a local language, and that he has since seen them at a camp in Conakry,” Kaba said.

Camara, who has apologized for the massacre, recently denied claims that Liberian rebels had been recruited.

“I have never recruited men, rebels,” he told Radio France Internationale. “I have never done it.”

Guinea’s government disputes the toll for the massacre given by rights groups, saying 56 people died and 934 people were injured.

Local human rights organizations say in addition to the death toll, 1,200 people were injured including many women who were raped by soldiers during the crackdown.

Liberia was ravaged by its civil war, which left more than 250,000 people dead.
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