Liberia & Sierra Leone
Liberian rebels report victories, Sierra Leone at risk

afrol News, 13 June - The Liberian rebel movement LURD claims it captured the small town of Suehn, some 30 kilometres north of Monrovia, on Tuesday and that it continues its military advances. LURD further warns the Sierra Leonean government it should take action against troops attacking them from across the border. 

In a statement sent to afrol News, the rebel group 'Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy' (LURD) said an "Executive Marines Unit" had captured Suehn on 11 June. "In their bid to resist LURD in two small settlements just south of Suehn, 23 soldiers of the forces loyal to [Liberian President] Charles Taylor were killed," the rebels reported. LURD had "suffered one dead and nine wounded in that operation."

The LURD communiqué at several occasions mentioned the increasing involvement of Sierra Leonean territory in the escalating Liberian civil war and warned the Sierra Leonean government that the conflict could spread over the border. 

The rebel forces had "isolated remnants of Sam 'Mosquito' Bockarie's independent RUF [Sierra Leonean ex-rebels] and Taylor's [National Patriotic Front of Liberia] in the dense forest of Kailahun District in Sierra Leone," the communiqué reads. Bockarie is an old Taylor ally from the time when Liberia and RUF cooperated in destabilising Sierra Leone. LURD claims that "these renegade forces have been attacking us at the rear in Foya and Vahun Districts frontiers areas of Sierra Leone." 

Also in Tuesday's attack on Suehn, a unit of the Liberian government forces that had been cut off had "fled toward the Sierra Leone border." The government unit had been "under the command of a man named Trawally," who also had been able to reach Sierra Leonean territory.

Based on these claims, the Liberian rebels now are warning the Sierra Leonean government; "We are therefore calling on the authorities of Sierra Leone to act decisively because we do not want to be forced to enter Sierra Leone in pursuit of these forces operating out of their territories." The armed conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have had historic tendencies of border-crossing.

The LURD statement further nourished the numerous reports on the Liberian government's forced recruiting of child soldiers. Capturing Suehn, LURD forces had also captured "a soldier named Tiawon Paye ... who appeared to be a minor." The boy was quoted saying that he and other boys "were forcibly recruited at gun point" by "Taylor's death squad" in Ganta, Nimba County. 

Paye had appealed to LURD leadership for clemency, "which has since been granted. He is currently in Voinjama," the rebel statement says. Voinjama, in Lofa County and close to the Guinean border, houses the rebels' headquarter. 

Sources: Based on LURD and afrol archives