By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Timothy Musa Kabba says “Guinea has not been acting in good faith’’ regarding the disputed border village of Yenga in the Kailahun district, east of Sierra Leone.
The minister was speaking at the weekly Government Press briefing in Freetown on 16th April.
“The President is not ready to tolerate the continuance of the Guinean forces inside Sierra Leonean territory,” he stated and cited the occupation by the Guinean army as an act of aggression and intrusion.
But Kabba admitted that they will continue to explore all diplomatic means to ensure Yenga was returned to Sierra Leone. “We are trying to intensify our diplomatic engagements with Guinea’’, he stressed.
He noted that they will seek redress through arbitration by the Mano River Union (MRU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and other international channels if all bilateral diplomatic engagements fail.
Kabba recalled the signing of a communiqué in 1912 between the British and the French, that saw Yenga being confirmed as Sierra Leonean territory, and other agreements like the symbolic handing over of the border area to Sierra Leone by former Guinean President Lansana Conte after his forces had temporarily occupied the area at the end of the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Kabba said since 2004, the Guineans have been reneging on the agreement and other treaties whilst Sierra Leone has tried to avoid a potential conflict.
The foreign minister spoke of his visit two weeks ago to the border area during which he took stock of the level of annexation, and also mentioned how President Julius Maada Bio recently sent a special envoy to Conakry to engage the authorities there on Yenga.
Yenga is a village in Kissi Teng Chiefdom, Kailahun district.
In 2001, during Sierra Leone’s civil war, Guinea sent troops into Yenga to help the army of Sierra Leone suppress the rebel Revolutionary United Front that had crossed into parts of Guinea.
In 2002 Sierra Leone and Guinea signed an agreement that Yenga would be returned to Sierra Leone, as soon as the Guinean borders were secured. In July 2012, Sierra Leone and Guinea declared demilitarization of the Yenga area.
However, the Guineans have in recent years maintained troop presence in Yenga whilst Sierra Leonean indigenes there continue to complain of being stopped from farming and being subjected to other acts of harassment.
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