Opposition leader calls for end to Guinea-Liberia war

The opposition Union pour le progres de la Guinee (UPG) has called on presidents Lansana Conte of Guinea and Charles Taylor of Liberia to stop sheltering each other's enemies on their territory, AFP reported on Sunday. "The war between Liberia and Guinea is merely a problem between the Liberian and Guinean heads of state," UPG leader Jean-Marie Dore said at a news conference after an extraordinary congress of his party. He said Conte should order his army to disarm immediately members of the United Liberation Movement (ULIMO) of Liberia, which was one of the factions opposed to Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia during the Liberian civil war. By making such a move, Guinea would avoid giving Taylor "a pretext for making trouble in Guinea", said Dore, who asked Conte to "take into account the aspirations of the Guinean people who urgently need freedom, security and peace". Since September, fighting along Guinea's borders with Sierra Leone And Liberia has caused hundreds of deaths and displaced tens of thousands of refugees and Guineans. Guinea accuses Liberia, Burkina Faso and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone of supporting the attacks. The three parties, in turn, deny Conakry's accusations, with Monrovia charging that the Guinean government is responsible for insecurity in northeastern Liberia.