GUINEA ANNEXES YENGA IN BLOW TO PRESIDENT BIO AND SIERRA LEONE
By Kabs Kanu
Despite the peace overtures by Sierra Leone’s President Maada Bio who traveled all the way to Conakry twice to pacify successive Guinean leaders, Guinea has gone ahead and finally annexed YENGA .
The Guinean authorities have even erected a monument in YENGA with the inscription SINCE 1886 , as of to tell Sierra Leoneans that they had owned the piece of land since 1886. Though there was no official announcement from the Guinean government that they had annexed Yenga, the erection of the monument speaks louder than words.
Why are the Guinean authorities doing this to Sierra Leone, a country that has bent over backwards to pacify them in the past and to maintain cordial and fraternal relations with them? I thought this YENGA issue was resolved between former President Ernest Koroma and former Guinean Head of State , Professor Alpha Conde ? Prof. Conde faithfully assured President Koroma that all Guinean military personnel will be withdrawn from YENGA and it was done.
We might be at odds with President Bio over his misrule and tribalistic domestic policies but Sierra Leoneans will not take kindly to Guinea’s unfriendly, unprovoked aggression, provocation and incursion into our country, though on the other hand, Sierra Leoneans will blame the SLPP government for its spinelessness and inability to work out a diplomatic solution on the disputed land with Guinea.
We hope ECOWAS will intervene in this latest provocation by Guinean military authorities before it sours the relations between the two countries.
Sierra Leoneans and Guineans share very strong, deep and enduring ethnic, cultural and familial bonds that should not be fractured by politicians and soldiers . Both countries have enjoyed peaceful and sisterly relations from time immemorial and Guinea even performed a marvelous role in helping to end the rebel war in Sierra Leone. We cannot afford to be at loggerheads with our sister nation.
We hope to see a speedy response from ECOWAS.
Picture credit : Sylvia Blyden .
