Liberia is denying accusation by Guinea Conakry that drug traffickers and their allies in neighboring countries were planning to overthrow the military government of Captain Moussa Camera.
Guinean state media said over the weekend that Captain Camera put the army on high alert after learning of the plot allegedly from fighters in Guinea-Bissau and Liberia.
An official statement read on state television did not say where the government was getting its information.
Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh said Liberia will never again allow its territory to be used in destabilizing another country in the sub-region.
“We, the Liberian government were alerted to this situation by the Guinean authorities earlier into last week. What we learned is that there were moments of border crossings. We sent our intelligence in the area, and what we have been assured by the Guinean authorities is that this is under control,” he said.
Bropleh said Liberia has fortified its borders and that there were consultations currently ongoing in Guinea headed by Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Zainab Bangura.
He denied Liberia has harbored fleeing drug traffickers from Guinea Conakry.
“Not only do we not have that information, but we will not tolerate…the Liberian soil will never again be used by anyone or groups of persons to destabilize any country, let alone our neighboring country,” he said.
Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone are members of the Mano River Union, a sub-regional economic organization.
Bropleh said a meeting of the Mano River Union planned for this Tuesday in Conakry will still go ahead but at a later date.
“I can tell you that the Mano River Union summit will happen and most likely in Conakry. However, there may be a shift in the day. Rather than Tuesday, it may take place later on in the week,” Bropleh said.
In his speech to the Ghanaian Parliament last Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans to do more to end instability and corruption on the continent.
Bropleh said President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf welcomed President Obama’s speech.
“As you know President Sirleaf has been a person of stability, particularly within the Mano River Union and within ECOWAS. She has hailed President Obama’s visit to Ghana because Ghana is firmly becoming the true representation of democracy and peaceful transfer of power,” Bropleh said.
He said as chairman of the Mano River Union, President Sirleaf has taken the lead to make sure no country in the sub-region would face destabilization.
Bropleh reiterated that Liberia was not aware of persons or groups within its borders who were planning to overthrow any government within the Mano River Union.
