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Ivorians Must Exercise Restraint

The NEWS (Monrovia)
EDITORIAL
February 18, 2003
Posted to the web February 18, 2003
Monrovia
LIBERIA, SIERRA LEONE and Ivory Coast have a feel of the bitter pains of war.
The Liberian war began 1989, followed by that of Sierra Leone in the 90s, and
Ivory Coast last last September.
DURING THESE TURBULENT situations, citizens of each of the affected Nations
have hosted one another as refugees. The positive or negative effects of
playing host to destitute multitudes is perfectly known to these Nations.
SO FAR, IT is Guinea that has not got its population on the move, but continues
to bear frustration with which the fleeing from the other three neighbors
wanders.
HORRIFYING ACCOUNTS OF the treatment the vulnerable get regularly filter to one
Country or the other. The newest is the unhealthy treatment Liberians encounter
in the the Ivory Coast.
ACCORDING TO THE United Nations High Commission for Refugees(UNHCR) since
fighting began at the Liberian-Ivorian border towns, the situation has become
explosive with Liberians suffering attacks from Ivorian government forces.
THIS SITUATION DETERIORATED to this level when President Laurent Gbagbo
implicated English-speaking West Africans in his country's crisis.
FOLLOWING SUCH PRONOUNCEMENTS, the security forces backed by the local people,
set ablaze houses belonging to Liberians. Even UN's Humanitarian Envoy Carolyn
McAskie also expressed concern for the manner in which Liberians are being
targeted in the Ivory Coast.
OUR VIEW IS that in as much as we condemn any Liberian acting as a freelance
armed man in the Ivorian Crisis, we find it illogical and unreasonable the
inhumane treatment Ivorians give Liberians generally.
WE THINK THAT whatever Liberians are arrested for participating in the
conflict, such individuals must be handed over to the Government of Liberia for
prosecution. This, we believe, diplomacy requires.
ON THE OTHER hand, we urge the Government of Liberia to do all it can to
intensify its monitoring of the movement of the population along the borders,
especially former combatants. This would help to enhance the neighborliness
that had existed between the two Countries.
THUS, THE GOVERNMENT and people of Ivory Coast must exercise restraint in their
dealings with Liberians that reside in their Country.

   

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