By Isaac Massaquoi
Journalism, they say, is an idealistic profession. It is based on the hopeful belief that if readers know the truth, they will make intelligent, informed decisions that will change things for the better. I am starting on this note this week just so that you understand my optimism that the leaders of the Mano River Union countries will finally understand that for the vast majority of their peoples, the ideals of the MRU remain a distant dream further compounding the organisation’s irrelevance to the daily lives of the peoples in one of the most troubled regions of the world.
Another hastily arranged MRU summit has just ended in Conakry with another communiqué, which, like the many others gone before means absolutely nothing to anybody. The MRU remains the same reclusive and largely ineffective organisation created by Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone and his friend William Tolbert of Liberia. They are both dead now but their idea was all about using the MRU to further integrate the peoples of both countries for trade, collective security and development using the strong socio-cultural ties between both countries as a launch pad.
When Guinea joined up later, it was a move Stevens and Tolbert welcomed without reservation. Ivory Coast was the last country to join up at a time when it was caught up in a vicious civil war. The realisation that there will be no security in the Ivory Coast as long as their neighbours in the MRU were up in flames, was perhaps the most important driving force behind their decision to join the MRU.
The latest summit took place a few days after a deadly attack on UN peacekeepers by Ivorian dissidents operating from bases inside Liberia. Seven UN soldiers from Niger and some civilians were killed. This explains why the conference was more about security than anything else. The Heads of State further emphasised that “no government or country of the sub-region should encourage dissident groups to use their countries to create instability in other countries.”
The MRU leaders, through the Communiqué, “endorsed the Operational Plan on Peace and Security, and instructed the Secretariat to ensure its full implementation, in collaboration with the Member States.”
Let no one tell me the MRU is completely out of the woods with respect to the wars that have blighted the region. The situation in the Ivory Coast is dangerous and while summit meetings are fine, it will take more than talking and writing communiqués to bring reconciliation and peace to that country. President Alassane Ouattara should never fool himself that overwhelming international support and the use of military force alone will bring total peace to his country. The solution to his problem can only be found inside the Ivory Coast. The UN will not be around him forever. Ouattara will have to make peace with all factions in that country including Laurent Gbagbo’s people. It is not easy but we know from our experience in Sierra Leone that genuine peace and reconciliation remains the only option for that war-battered nation.
In Sierra Leone, former fighters are all over the place. They even have their own political party, which came out of the former rebel movement. Some have found their way into the army and police force and others are in schools and universities. Ivory Coast should never be pampered into believing there’s any alternative to talking, making sacrifices and reconciling with former adversaries. Unlike Sierra Leone, the Ivorian nation is divided along tribal, religious and regional lines.
The situation on the border with Liberia is not a child’s play. The UN has security primacy in Liberia. It will take Liberia many more years to re-build its security infrastructure to the extent of being able to take full control of its borders. The UN has left Sierra Leone but we have the International Military Advisory Training Team (IMATT) playing an advisory role and also helping with intelligence in line with the Office of National Security (ONS). They Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces has been downsized and restructured. The process has been a painful one. Even today former soldiers are complaining about end-of-service benefits not being paid but it’s a source of pride to us that today our soldiers are on peacekeeping missions abroad. This was not done by just wishing it happened – rather through hard work and sacrifice. I am saying this because the Ivory Coast should not be deluded into believing that all their enemies are in Liberia.
From the communiqué, there’s a lot of goodwill on the Liberian side to help with what could well be the start of a low-grade counter insurgency campaign by people loyal to Gbagbo that could gain momentum as Ouattara presses ahead with his winner-takes-all polices in Abidjan. So while the Liberian spirit would be willing to help, the flesh would be too weak.
As an organisation, the MRU has failed to deliver what Stevens and Tolbert promised many years ago – free movement, trade and sub-regional integration
Movement within the MRU is more than a problem. Connections by air and sea are almost non-existent, with dugout canoes available to Guinea, which only the brave can attempt, including, of course, smugglers. There’s no air link between Guinea and Sierra Leone, Air Morocco flies at ungodly hours to Liberia once a week or so. Sierra Leone and Liberia are doing badly with road connections to each other. Our road to Guinea is first class but on the southern flank to Liberia, it’s like the road to hell. It takes five hours from Bo to cover less than 150 kilometres.
Petty traders and people who for family reasons just have to travel are braving it out. But there are unnecessarily too many checkpoints, which are basically there to extort money from our people. I have travelled on all these roads and I have first-hand experience of this wicked extortion ring. Guineans are the most ruthless when collecting money from passengers. They tell you their fees and you pay up, otherwise no travel. Sierra Leonean and Liberian border guards are much more subtle but they collect the same amount of money as their Guinean counterparts.
I once boarded a taxi from a place called Kenien for a journey to Bambeto in Conakry. Halfway through the journey, a police officer stopped the car and spoke to the driver in one of the local dialects. The driver took out a 5,000 Francs bill. And from observing him I knew he was telling the officer he had no change to pay the 1,000 Francs bribe. The police officer stretched out his hand, collected the money, searched through some rough note in his pocket (apparently collected from other locations), and gave the driver his change. It so happened there was another Sierra Leonean on board the vehicle and the driver had worked in Sierra Leone before. Sensing we were from Freetown, he suggested that Sierra Leone police officers would never behave like that in front of ordinary passengers. I agreed with him saying they have their own methods and networks through which they collect what Kenyans call kitukidogo.
The situation at the border crossing at Pamalap is worse. Try telling them about MRU protocols on free movement of people and goods. They will tell you, their president is in Conakry and they are in charge at the border. That should demonstrate how brazen Guinean police are in this extortion business. So when President Alpha Conde came across the other day to join President Ernest Bai Koroma to formally open a joint customs post, I wasn’t very hopeful about whatever benefit the project would bring to our people. Demonstrating the unity of the two countries was good but what about the free movement of goods and services across the borders. The checkpoints are far too many and they check nothing. Drivers pay their booking fees and off they go.
The MRU was allowed to decay for too long. I understand the fact that conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone lasted too long and leaders were pre-occupied with the survival of the states and the peoples. But even before that, then as now, the MRU was a meeting place for heads of state once in a year, to share some jokes and gossips, drink a beer or two and issue one of those communiqués I referred to earlier.
Why are children not being taught about the MRU in schools? Why don’t we promote those common values we share as people of the sub-region? Even the building that houses the MRU Secretariat in Freetown is badly in need of repairs and prestige. For many years some states failed to pay up their contributions and some of the international staff were either completely disillusioned or returned home. The new Secretary General, Saran Daraba has a strong background in civil society activism. May be she can change things. But alas, she can only implement decisions taken by her masters. And I am not sure those masters always back up their resolutions with the necessary cash and political support.
So going back to where I started, I am hoping that some policy makers in the four MRU capitals will read this and decide to do something about the real ideals for which the MRU was set up. It makes no sense for Liberian immigration officers to constantly raid and arrest MRU citizens for all sorts of documents; and for Guinean security personnel to randomly harass MRU citizens even when they can produce genuine papers. Those policy makers must urge countries to scrap the many checkpoints on the deadly roads and help all the other countries to build their roads and intensify transport links; all MRU countries must cooperate with each other to fight crime including small arms, drug trafficking and people-smuggling. These are the real problems of our sub-region. By the way when is the next summit?
