Echo Of The Pen!!
By Lansana Fofanah
lansfofanah@gmail.com

The continuous sour relationship between Sierra Leone and her closest neighboring country; Guinea by every means deserves to be drawn to the attention of the international community.Despite belonging to the same regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), the African Union, and the Mano River Union, Guinea continues to see Sierra Leone as a threat to its peace and security which to a large extent is fastly eroding the trade and bilateral ties between the neighboring countries.
The Yenga Story
At the peak of the Sierra Leone Civil war in 1998, Guinean troops moved in Yenga, a strategic town in Sierra Leone as a way of supporting the Government of Sierra Leone to fight and push back any potential attack that may affect to Guinea.
The civil unrest in Sierra Leone ended in 2002 which by every means demanded Guinean forces to return and leave Yenga to be manned by Sierra Leonean troops.
In a signed communique between President Lansana Conde and President Tejan Kabbah, both late, a 1912 treaty between Britain and France showed that Yenga belongs to Sierra Leone.
Several meetings were held between the leaders of the two sister countries to proffer a lasting solution to the Yenga dispute but to
no avail.
It is indeed clear that the civil unrest in Sierra Leone served as an opportunity for Guinea to realize its presence in Yenga which it had been eyeing as part of its territory.
Successive governments continue to face the same Yenga issue as recently, Sierra Leoneans were targeted to be paying taxes to the Guinean Government.
The Plight of Refugees
Being the safest country in the region, Guinea played a pivotal role in hosting refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone during the unrest in those countries.
But they went through untold hardship and torture in the latter part from both the Guinean government and civilians.
According to an Amnesty International report, in September 2000, a radio broadcast by President Lansana Conte endangered the lives of refugees in Guinea as he accused them of supporting and acting as informants for rebels. This saw the torching of refugee camps, killings of refugees misunderstood to be rebel collaborators.
”In one incident in early October 2000, a helicopter gun-ship flew low over a refugee camp in Kalia, Forecariah region, and fired artillery close to the camp, which resulted in civilian deaths and injuries; this appeared to be a deliberate attempt by the Guinean Security forces to terrorize refugees and force them to flee the camp”, an Amnesty International report states.
Despite the end of the war life returned to normal, many of those returnees had bitter memories that they continue to live with.

Recent Mercenary Allegation
In the wake of the just concluded Presidential election in Guinea, President Alpha Conde accused Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, of recruiting mercenaries to disrupt the Guinea election and by extension accusing the country of interfering in the politics of Guinea.

Even though that allegation has been debunked by the Mano River Union Secretariat, Guinea has moved to impose trade sanctions on Sierra Leone by stopping the movement of goods from to and from Sierra Leone.
There are unconfirmed reports of some Sierra Leoneans currently under harsh conditions in detention cells in Guinea.
It would have been better for the Government of Guinea to exhaust diplomatic channels
before resorting to the current stands it has taken which has the potential to undermine the peace, security, and cultural relationship between the sisterly nations.
For Sierra Leone, we have indeed had our fair share of the nemesis of a senseless war, that took a hard-bite on the lives and development of the country. And getting back to those horror memories would be the silliest thing anyone could think of.
For our Guinean counterparts, even though they are yet to test the bitterness of war and we pray for that not to ever happen, they have witnessed and seen how war could erode the development of a nation.
It is time for His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio to act and act fast in engaging his counterpart to resolve the long-discord between the two countries.
Credit: News 24 publication.