August 4, 2004
A long-running power struggle for the leadership of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement has spilled over into violence on the streets of the capital Monrovia, forcing UN peacekeeping forces to send in tanks and step up street patrols.
For several months, Sekou Conneh, the chairman of LURD, has faced a challenge mounted by military commanders who support his estranged wife Aisha Keita Conneh. They want to see him replaced by Kabineh Janneh, a member of LURD's executive committee who is now Minister of Justice in Liberia's transitional government. The rival factions came to blows in the Bushrod Island area of Monrovia on Monday night and fighting between the two sides with sticks and stones continued until Tuesday morning.
The clashes died down after the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) sent in peacekeeping troops backed by tanks to restore order, but on Wednesday the situation in Bushrod Island remained tense. Eyewitnesses said at least 10 LURD fighters had been wounded in a series of clashes, some of which involved the vandalising and looting of shops and businesses owned by prominent individuals in the rival factions of the rebel movement.
Jacques Klein, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Liberia, warned both sides on Wednesday that the UN peacekeeping force would not allow them to undermine the country's peace process. "These bagarres (squabbles) and attempts to undermine the peace process by factional leaders are totally unacceptable and we will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure peace," the former US air force general and diplomat said. "It is incomprehensible for a leadership struggle to take place at this time when the factions will soon be phased out in keeping with the peace accord and the progress achieved in disarmament," he added.
Klein also warned that a return to political violence on the streets of the capital would make donors who have already pledged US$520 million towards the reconstruction of Liberia think twice before handing over the money. "Each time people beat each other in the streets, the donors hold back their funds," he said.
LURD was one of two rebel movements fighting against former president Charles Taylor, who stepped down and fled into exile in Nigeria a year ago. LURD and another rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL ) signed a peace agreement with the rump of Taylor's government a week later.
Sekou Conneh, who has led LURD since it began launching attacks into Liberia from neighbouring Guinea in 1999, said in a statement on Wednesday that he would resist all attempts to remove him. "I am still the chairman of LURD and Janneh and his cohorts are troublemakers who want to see this (peace) process derailed," the former tax official and second hand car dealer said. "It is not time to fight over any rebel group leadership when the factions are currently being disbanded," he added.
Conneh, who moved his home earlier this year from Conakry in Guinea to Dakar in Senegal, flew back to Monrovia on Wednesday evening, LURD Secretary General Joe Gbalah told IRIN. There was no immediate comment from Janneh, a former teacher, who led LURD's delegation to the Liberian peace talks in Ghana last year.
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