Liberia & Guinea Were ‘Inches Away from War’ in Buildup to Arrest, Extradition of Alleged Coup Plotter
MONROVIA, Liberia – Within the circle of the Liberian presidency, many are nonetheless baffled: How did a small personal jet achieve touchdown rights to the Roberts International Airport shortly after midnight on Sunday, November 3, 2024, in pursuit of a Guinean nationwide accused of attempting to recruit former Lurd rebels in a bid to topple the federal government of junta chief, Mamady Doumbouya and his National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD)?
Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
That such an operation was undertaken beneath a cloud of darkness and outdoors current Mano River Union and ECOWAS channels has tensions simmering between Liberia and its next-door neighbor, Guinea. More importantly, the problem seems to be resurrecting echoes of Liberia’s latest previous. The disappearance of a prisoner held with no courtroom order is alarming, recalling the mysterious killings of auditors up to now Coalition for Democratic Change authorities of George Weah. Weah’s successors, the Unity Party (UP), ran for workplace, promising change, and good governance. Now, almost a yr later, the UP finds itself mired in an issue involving the turning over of an accused to a navy junta when critics say there are established sub-regional, and worldwide processes for resolving worldwide grievances.
“Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Extradition shall not be granted if the person whose extradition is requested has been, or would be, subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the requesting State or if that person has not received, or would not receive the minimum guarantees in criminal proceedings, as contained in Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.”
Article V of the ECOWAS conference:
Under Article IV of the ECOWAS conference: “Extradition shall not be granted if the offence in respect of which is requested is regarded as a political offence or as an offence connected with a political offence.” Secondly, based on the conference, “the same rule shall apply if there are substantial grounds for believing that a request for extradition for an ordinary criminal offence has been made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person on account of race, tribe, religion, nationality, political opinion, sex, or status.” Thirdly, based on the ECOWAS conference, “Implementation of this Article shall not affect any prior or future obligations assumed by States under the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 and its additional Protocols and other multilateral International Conventions.” Article 5 states: “Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Extradition shall not be granted if the person whose extradition is requested has been, or would be, subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the requesting State or if that person has not received, or would not receive the minimum guarantees in criminal proceedings, as contained in Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.”
As delicate and sophisticated because the matter seems to be for the federal government, it’s the dealing with of the matter that has many in diplomatic circles questioning whether or not it may have been dealt with otherwise.
With echoes of historical past lingering within the backdrop of the controversial extradition of a Guinean nationwide from Liberia, it stays to be seen whether or not the choice by Liberia, was merely finished in panic, to fulfill the paranoia and fears of a navy dictatorship out to get its enemies – and the way a lot of a menace former President Condé is to the Doumbouya navy junta. More importantly, what implications the extradition of Cherif may have on future Liberia-Guinea relations. For many political observers, a very powerful final result lies on what the Guinea navy junta does with the suspected coup plotter in its custody and what it may imply for long-term regional stability and peace.
In Liberia’s latest previous, efforts to extradite political prisoners suspected of comparable acts didn’t go so nicely. For instance, through the Administration of late President William V.S. Tubman, a Liberian known as Booker T. Bracewell was accused of being a socialist and against Tubman. He escaped Liberia for Guinea. Tubman requested President Sekou Toure to ship him again. Bracewell was despatched again, arrested by the Liberian authorities, despatched to Belle Yalla, and killed. He was the brother of Dean Danlette Bracewell, who was on the University of Liberia within the early 80s, and Poman Bracewell, who was the authorized counsel for Firestone within the 70s.
Similarly, a number of Liberians fled into Ivory after the November 12, 1985, Thomas Quiwonkpa invasion. Among them was Prince Johnson, who would later develop into head of the breakaway faction of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front insurgent motion. The politician Samuel Dokie, and lots of Liberians like Tonie King, Tolbert’s son-in-law, had been additionally in Ivory Coast. The Ivorian authorities on the time, refused to arrest and ship them to Liberia after Liberian President Samuel Doe complained and wished them again. At the time, Doe accused former Vice President Bennie Warner of attempting to deliver troops to invade Liberia from Ivory Coast. Dokie, King and others weren’t extradited though Liberia had a treaty with Ivory Coast.
So, the historic implications of six-armed commandos descending from a non-public jet from the Guinean junta, wearing full navy apparel, had all of the markings of a possible political unraveling.
The commandos, based on two senior Liberian safety officers who insisted on anonymity to debate delicate issues, had been led by Ibrahima Sory Bangoura, the second answerable for the NCRD, the group which in 2010, ended the reign of former Guinean President Alpha Condé.
Condé was toppled in September 2021, when the junta, beneath the command of Doumbouya, staged a coup d’etat and introduced the overthrow of Guinea’s first democratically elected chief. At the time, Condé’s victory was seen as placing an finish to many years of authoritarian rule by the nation’s two first presidents, Sekou Toure and Lansana Conte, who dominated Guinea for 26 and 24 years, respectively.
Ironically, Bangoura, the pinnacle of the commandos storming Liberia, had solely taken over the place in June, following the demise of Sidiba Koulibaly, the previous right-hand man to Doumbouya.
Liberia & Guinea: Mirror Has Two Faces
If the latest historical past of coup d’etats within the subregion is something to go by, the similarities are hanging.
Shortly after toppling the federal government of William R. Tolbert on April 12, 1980, Master Sargeant Samuel Kanyon Doe and his seventeen low-ranked officers who toppled Tolbert, quickly started to collapse – and one after the opposite, Doe’s coup conspirators – Thomas Weh Syen and Nicholas Podier – quickly discovered themselves the themes of Doe’s wrath amid accusations that they had been attempting to overthrow him and take management of the People’s Redemption Council which had ended many years of Americo-Liberian rule in Africa’s oldest republic.
Some western diplomats now worry that Doumbouya’s paranoia that enemies like Condé – whom he faraway from energy – are out to get him, is threatening the steadiness of the subregion. Liberia and its neighbors could also be on the mercy of the one navy junta remaining within the Mano River Union.
In a scene paying homage to the Doe period in Liberia, Doumbouya’s former right-hand man, Koulibaly died mysteriously in detention, simply days after being sentenced by a navy courtroom. His attorneys instantly branded his demise as suspicious. Koulibaly was sentenced by a navy courtroom to 5 years on June 14 for desertion and weapon offences in a trial his supporters denounced as trumped-up. He was second-in-command to Doumbouya through the 2021 coup that introduced them to energy. Prosecutors at a navy tribunal mentioned in a press release that Koulibaly died on June 24 whereas in custody. Although an post-mortem ordered by the prosecutors discovered his demise “could be attributable to severe psychological trauma and prolonged stress” inflicting a coronary heart assault, Koulibaly’s lawyer, Mory Doumbouya was quoted by AFP as saying that the demise was as a consequence of “anything but natural causes.”
The backdrop of the 2021 coup in Guinea lay the idea for the sense of uncertainty now triggering stress between Liberia and Guinea. The two nations share a strategic border within the sub area which has within the latest previous endured civil wars, a number of coups, and lingering uneasiness. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, all sharing borders, have every taken turns at coping with turmoil.
The arrival of the six Guinean commandos, absolutely armed, on Liberian soil, signaled a boiling level. The relationship between Liberia and Guinea is on the ropes – engulfed in mistrust.
When the commandos landed, based on one Liberian safety official, the Liberian navy guards had been instantly overwhelmed.
“We had a state of affairs during which we had been inches away from struggle. The Guinean commandos landed on the airport and our AFL took place, as you already know they (AFL) have their very own limitations with deadly weapons and stuff like that – so, all people panicked. It was late, the President was asleep and many of the prime safety officers weren’t within the loop as to what was unfolding.
What was unfolding was clear.
The Guineans had been in Liberia for one objective. They wished Abraham Khalil Cherif, a Guinean nationwide the Doumbouya Junta authorities believes was on a mission to recruit former rebels of Lurd.
Cherif was arrested simply days previous to the commandos’ arrival in Liberia. His arrest was already inflicting anger, with some Muslim teams saying that they may not perceive why he was arrested. Many started to worry that Cherif had been picked up by safety and turned over to the Guinean commandos and killed.
Cllr. Kabineh J’aneh, a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, additionally a former member of Lurd, went a step additional and accused the Unity Party authorities of “kidnapping” Cherif, his consumer. Cllr. J’aneh alleges that Cherif’s present whereabouts are unknown. According to Ja’neh, there’s suspicion that Cherif might have been handed over to Guinean authorities with out due authorized course of. The arrest raised diplomatic tensions between Liberia and Guinea, with Guinea accusing Liberia of harboring people intent on destabilizing its management.
In a number of interviews, top-level safety and authorities officers clarify to FrontWeb pageAfrica how authorities on the Roberts International Airport took their eyes off the ball as six armed commandos – performing on the orders of Guinean navy chief Mamady Doumbouya – landed on Sunday, November 3, declaring that they had been on the town to arrest a Guinean nationwide accused of recruiting former members of the defunct insurgent group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (generally known as Lurd), in a bid to overthrow the federal government of Guinea. Undertaken in darkness, and outdoors current Mano River Union and ECOWAS channels, the act may have led to a distinct final result.
This is the second time an elected authorities throughout a non-crisis time has allowed Guinean navy personnel on Liberian soil. After the 1979 rice riot, President Tolbert was criticized for permitting Guinean troops on Liberian soil by many, together with senior TWP authorities officers and members of each progressive camps, PAL and MOJA.
While the federal government has been tightlipped, a number of sources confirmed to FrontWeb pageAfrica that Cherif was apprehended and detained on the Monrovia Central Prison after safety personnel had been notified of his entry from Guinea. Allegedly, Cherif was recruiting former combatants in Liberia with the intention of difficult the junta authorities in Guinea. His members of the family in each nations are reportedly fearful for his security and not sure of his actual location.
Liberian safety sources confirmed to FrontWeb pageAfrica that Cherif, a non-Liberian nationwide, was certainly handed over to Guinean authorities. Despite Ja’neh’s declare that Cherif is a Liberian citizen who ought to be tried beneath Liberian legislation, a duplicate of Cherif’s passport provided by Liberian safety intelligence, however couldn’t be verified, signifies that he’s a Guinean born in Lola, Guinea.
Family of Cherif argue that he’s actually, a Liberian. Cherif’s grandfather, seen in {a photograph} offered by Cherif’s household, shaking fingers with President Tolbert, is the late Alhaji Matea Sekou Sherif. Family members say Cherif was born in Liberia however despatched by his dad and mom to Guinea for Islamic research. They declare he was really born on Crown Hill, Monrovia, which makes him a Liberian. Cherif’s household says he opted for the Guinean touring doc to go to the Middle East for research, since that was the best route, Guinea being a Muslim dominant nation. Cherif’s household argue that every one of this data was made out there to the Liberian Police and brokers of the National Security Agency.
Cherif’s disappearance prompted Criminal Court “A” Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie issued a 72-hour ultimatum final Friday to the ruling Unity Party authorities, demanding the dwelling physique of Cherif.
For some months now, the Guinean junta has been accusing former President Condé, who has been in exile in Turkey, of recruiting mercenaries in Liberia to overthrow the navy authorities. According to Guinean authorities, a number of recruits have been apprehended and returned to Guinea for prosecution. However, past Cherif, FrontWeb pageAfrica has not verified whether or not different Guineans have been extradited by Liberia. Questions stay about whether or not any deportations had been performed in accordance with authorized protocols.
Condé Reportedly Been Trying to Reach Boakai
FrontWeb pageAfrica has additionally gathered from sources on the RIA that Cherif just isn’t the primary accused Guinean to have been picked up. In September, an unnamed particular person was additionally picked up in Liberia after a navy flight from Guinea flew in with Guinean commandos, armed and carrying navy uniforms.
In the times previous to the arrest of Cherif, safety officers acknowledged that there might have been some efforts by Condé to talk with Liberian President Joseph Boakai. In reality, safety officers say, President Boakai was absolutely conscious of the risks emanating from the notion that he had any discussions with Condé.
“We are sitting down one Thursday, and we got news that Alpha Condé had left Turkey and was in Cote d’Ivoire on his way to Liberia – and that he was supposed to meet the President,” the supply confided to FrontWeb pageAfrica.
The supply mentioned prime officers across the President rushed to him to tell him what was within the air. When contacted, President Boakai reportedly instructed aides, ‘That he had received some calls from unknown and strange numbers, but he never spoke with Condé.’ The supply quoted the President as saying: ‘I cannot meet this man because everyone knows that I cannot be in touch with Condé, considering existing fears the current military government has.’
Both the Executive Mansion and the Ministry of Justice declined to publicly tackle the problem when contacted.
Apparently, FPA has gathered that the Guineans had known as frantically that Condé was on his solution to Monrovia solely to search out out that Condé was really in Cote d’Ivoire.
Turkish officers, the sources contend, have been unhelpful, and declined to cooperate with Liberian authorities relating to Condé. The Turkish authorities, the sources say, has not given any data in any way relating to Condé.
“The Guineans made a representation and sent a delegation to say, ‘Look, if Liberia cannot cooperate, they will have to declare war on Liberia because it was just getting too much and that they would have no choice but to move into Liberia and seize territory where they were suspicious of former Lurd rebels, using Liberia to enter Guinea and overthrow the military government. They were clear that they had no issue with starting a war; that they would do it because their sovereignty was under threat.”
The Condé menace – whether or not actual or not, continues to strike worry within the circle of the navy junta. Just final November, Guinean Justice Minister Alphonse Charles Wright introduced an investigation into Condé for treason.
The investigation into Condé follows a litany of judicial probes together with corruption allegations, assassination, torture, kidnapping and rape from his tenure as President. Since his ouster, new probes have been wanting into “alleged acts of treason, criminal conspiracy and complicity in the illicit possession of arms and ammunition,” based on a letter from Wright to the general public prosecutor in Guinea’s capital of Conakry. The letter alleges Condé had acquired weapons and ammunition, however didn’t present particulars.
The Guinean junta’s fears come as Condé, 85, has been comfortably dwelling in Turkey with some well-connected outdated pals and unafraid to make his voice heard on sizzling political matters in Guinea – strikes that proceed to make Doumbouya and his authorities jittery.
Prior to the arrest of Cherif, Aboubacar Sylla, the Guinean ambassador in Liberia reportedly confirmed Liberian intelligence authorities Interpol documentations and a observe verbale, making the case for Cherif to be turned over to Guinea.
Suspicion Over FIR Handling of Landing Right
FrontWeb pageAfrica has discovered {that a} resolution was quietly made to arrest Cherif and switch him over to the Guinean embassy however that had not been finalized.
Because the Guineans had been afraid that permitting Cherif to roam round Monrovia can be problematic and make Doumbouya and his junta much more nervous amid current fears of recruitment of former Lurd rebels on Liberian soil, the choice was apparently accelerated on the Guinea finish to ship within the commandos to get Cherif again to Guinea.
“If it meant him being released, he should not be allowed to be free within the borders of Liberia because that would have been worse, especially so when he was a Guinean national. Also, releasing him to go free in Liberia would have confirmed the Guinean fears that Liberia was indeed harboring dissidents to overthrow the Guinean junta government,” a safety supply instructed FPA on the weekend.
Where issues received a little bit sticky, a number of sources instructed FPA, is that the Guineans had been due in Liberia on Monday, November the 4th, for a gathering on the problem of Cherif’s turnover. Somehow, mysteriously, FPA was knowledgeable, the Guineans received touchdown rights to land the personal jet shortly after midnight on Sunday, November third.
To achieve this, the Guineans wanted the approval of the Roberts Flight Information Region, a tripartite group answerable for the management and security of air navigation within the mixed higher airspace of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. However, every member state manages its portion of the airspace from the bottom to 3000 ft. Mean Sea Level (MSL). In the spirit of the Chicago Convention of 1944 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Roberts FIR was established on Aeronautical Cooperation on seventeenth January 1975, signed by late President Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea, late President William R. Tolbert of Liberia, and late President Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone. The purpose was to offer expeditious air navigation providers and guarantee air site visitors security, effectivity, and regularity within the mixed airspace of the three Member states.
What made it simple for the Guineans, based on safety officers, is Ngobu Mantho, Deputy Director for Technical Services on the Roberts FIR is a Guinean nationwide. It was Mantho, safety sources say, who was instrumental in securing the touchdown rights for the jet carrying the commandos to land. “While we were delaying them and saying we could not give you any landing rights or information on what was unfolding with Cherif, you won’t believe that Saturday around 11 0’ clock we got word that the people had gotten landing rights behind us,” mentioned the safety supply.
The supply added: “When we known as the RIA, we had been knowledgeable that they’ve this factor on the web the place individuals can request touchdown rights and confirm. So, that they had no management. The supply defined that Mantho, the Deputy for Technical Services, used his place to request touchdown rights for the flight.
“You received’t imagine who all arrived on that flight: six armed commandos with ammunition. I perceive the man who got here is quantity two within the junta subsequent to Dumbouya. When our personal military people described what they noticed, you your self, who’s a civilian, can be in shock. The guys arrived on the airport in a jungle fashion and mentioned they weren’t speaking to anyone. The Guinean overseas minister Morissanda Kouyaté contacted the Liberian overseas minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti and Dombouya made it clear that the Guineans had been prepared for struggle. The Guineans had been on the airport and refused to talk to anyone. They had been speaking with Dumbouya of their struggle room in Guinea.
‘Cherif Still Alive,’ Liberian Govt. Source says.
Ironically, FPA has discovered that whereas the Roberts FIR has the accountability to offer air navigation providers and handle the higher airspace of its member states, when it comes under 3000ft, it’s managed by particular person states. The airport authority and Civil Aviation Authority handle the decrease airspace as much as strategy, touchdown and floor dealing with. The civil aviation in Liberia is the only real authority that offers or points touchdown permits within the particular case of Liberia, elevating questions concerning the authorities’s personal rationalization and the way the touchdown rights concern was dealt with.
Accordingly, after the jet landed on the RIA and the commandos’ refusal to talk to junior officers, Liberian safety sources say, the native intelligence officers briefed the manager department that they needed to take a fast resolution on the assure that Cherif will obtain due course of in Guinea. Immediately, Cherif was turned over to the Guineans and he was taken in a foreign country, reportedly by the commandos.
FrontWeb pageAfrica has been knowledgeable that so as to observe up on Guinea’s promise that Cherif wouldn’t be harmed, an emissary from Liberia traveled to Guinea to substantiate that. FPA has additionally been knowledgeable {that a} joint investigation is ongoing with the Guineans.
A senior UP authorities supply instructed FPA on the weekend: “This is necessary because we are hearing that arms and ammunition are also in Liberia and if we are not very careful, it could be used in Liberia. So, a joint investigation is going on. As far as I know, Cherif is not dead because he is a very important information tool for both the Guinean junta and the Liberian government. He’s a needed character. If he is killed, there will be no way of finding out what we want out of him. As far as I know from the emissary we sent to Guinea and the ongoing investigation, Cherif is still alive. The situation is calm but is still very tense in terms of the trust and the confidence.”
For the instant future, exterior legitimate video, or photographic proof that Cherif continues to be alive, it’s unclear what implications the ordeal of the previous week could have in the long run for Liberia and Guinea ties within the wider peace and stability. For many political and diplomatic observers, latest uneasiness within the Sahel and West Africa, resulting in an alarming variety of navy coups, has put the West African subregion on edge. The Mano River Union particularly has its work minimize out as many worry a spillover impact in anybody nation may spell risks for the remaining.
Russia, China Lurking
Liberia, nurturing a successive democratic transition, together with Sierra Leone, has thus far performed together with the expectations of worldwide stakeholders advocating for peaceable democratic transitions. However, latest coups in nations like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger — which lately shaped the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — is little doubt threatening the pattern as nations like Guinea, led by a navy junta, and others, eye nearer cooperation with China and Russia, prompting issues and dismay from pro-democracy brokers. Guinea particularly is of concern as a consequence of its strategic closeness to Liberia. As Doumbouya and his junta entrench their grip on energy, the menace is obvious.
In latest days, emissaries of President Boakai have held conferences with leaders of the Mandingo neighborhood in a bid to elucidate the Cherif saga, providing shadowy particulars and explanations of what has been transpiring over the previous few days. But even amid the try to ease tensions, Liberian authorities officers are going through the truth of the surprising.
“The truth of the matter is, we are still on a very tense, difficult matter. The matter is very, very sensitive. We were just a minute away from war. We had armed foreign soldiers at our airport. If one bullet had fired, the airport would have shut down. In fact, the immigration reported that a Guinean flag was put up in some parts of Lofa and they had to take it down later on. So, we are having this problem and that’s what is in the briefing. We are dealing with a very sensitive dilemma here.”
The delicate nature of the Guinea-Liberia stress bears familiarity to a squabble in August 2012 between subsequent door neighbors Sierra Leone and Guinea relating to the border city of Yenga. In 2005, Sierra Leone and Guinea signed an settlement confirming Yenga – a tiny city on the banks of the Makona River – belonged to Sierra Leone. However, Guinean troops remained within the city. Although the 2 nations finally pledged to resolve the dispute over management of Yenga city by way of dialogue, many Sierra Leoneans on the time expressed dismay and accused Guinea of bullying. Guinean troops had entered the city greater than a decade in the past to assist the Sierra Leonean military combat rebels however refused handy the city again to the Sierra Leonean authorities after defeating the rebellion. At the time, it was believed the Guineans had been afraid that the city may very well be used as an entry level for rebellion, thus their defiance over the matter. In the tip, either side agreed to work out the modalities on a buffer zone.
With echoes of historical past lingering within the backdrop of the controversial extradition of a Guinean nationwide from Liberia, it stays to be seen whether or not the choice by Liberia, was merely finished in panic, to fulfill the paranoia and fears of a navy dictatorship out to get its enemies – and the way a lot of a menace former President Condé is to the Doumbouya navy junta. More importantly, what implications the extradition of Cherif may have on future Liberia-Guinea relations. For many political observers, a very powerful final result lies on what the Guinea navy junta does with the suspected coup plotter in its custody and what it may imply for long-term regional stability and peace.
