Defeated presidential candidate of the opposition SLPP has called on Guinean president, Alpha Conde to “use his good office to ensure that we all work together in the best interest of peace and stability in Sierra Leone and the sub-region.”By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Addressing the press at the party's Wallace Johnson Street in Freetown, Rtd. Brig. Julius Maada Bio said he made the call while in Guinea on the invitation of the Guinean president at the weekend.
“I particularly emphasised that no Sierra Leonean should be intimidated or marginalised because of their political, regional or ethnic affiliation,” he is quoted as saying in a press statement issued by the party.
In Guinea, Bio said, his delegation was reminded of the “close ties” between Sierra Leone and Guinea which dates as far back as the days of Siaka Stevens and Ahmed Sekou Toure the two countries' first presidents.
The opposition flag bearer also said that the Guinean president emphasised “our collective need for peace as there can be no development without peace,” adding that both governments were willing to do anything they could to ensure peace prevailed in the two sister countries.
Mr. Bio said that he shared his party’s reservations about the 17 November 2012 elections and the “increasing ethnic and regional polarization as well as the molestation and the intimidation to which our members have been subjected to both before and after the elections.”
The Guinean president, he said, agreed with them as a party that it was important to avoid ethnic tension, and observed that politics tends to “divide our people who have always been together.”
