Guinea and Liberia

Moussa Dadis Camara, President of Guinea.

What does the crisis in Guinea have to do with Liberia?

• Moussa Dadis Camara, the current president of Guinea, is Kpelle.  This is an ethnic group found in both Guinea and Liberia.   Camara was born near the Liberian border.
• Former Liberian fighters are reported to have played a role in the massacre of protesters in Conakry.  Camara denies this.  The Liberian Minister of Information said, “We don’t believe that this is true. We have beefed up our security at that border and are making sure that this will not happen. However, we are investigating.”
• The people making allegations that Liberians participated in the massacre are Guinean opposition politicians.  So we should view these claims skeptically.  Nonetheless, one of the opposition leaders, Jean-Marie Dore, says the Liberians were former members of United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO).   ULIMO, one of the earlier fighting factions, was strongest in Lofa County, which borders Guinea.

Two Updates: Jeff Austin just posted this comment.

I have heard rumors that Aishe Conneh, former wife of LURD leader Sekou Conneh, is still in Conakry. She was close to Lansana Conte, and supposedly funneled Liberian former fighters into the crackdowns in the last couple years of Conte’s rule. The rumor goes that she has kept her influence under the new regime and was responsible for the Liberians who were involved in the recent violence, if that was in fact the case. Anyone have anything on this? Also, I know Dadis to be Guerza, from what I have read and from some Guerza people I met in March who told me this. From what I know, it is one of the small forest region tribes. Perhaps it is related to the Kpelle?

Cheechiay Jablasone  posted this comment via Facebook.

If the Guinean opposition makes accusation that Liberians were involved in the suppression of protesters in Conakry because Dadis Kamara is Kpelle, a tribal group also in Liberia, then they need to note this fact: Kpelles are about the most peaceful, submissive group in Liberia. These people are known to be growers and not hunters or warriors. The few Kpelle that were fighters in the Liberian war fought for NPFL not ULIMO. Fighters of the latter were mainly Mandingoes, a tribal group in both Liberia and Guinea and the Krahns. Guineans need to look at their history of a strongman leadership and stop pointing at Liberia.