West Africa leaders pledge border peace

A decade of conflict has created thousands of refugees

Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have agreed to ensure security along their common borders.

The West African leaders reached the deal at peace talks in Morocco on Wednesday under the auspices of King Mohammed.

We have turned the page and forgotten about the past - today's agreement is a brand new beginning for us

Mahawa Bangoura,
Guinean foreign minister

Thousands of people have fled recent gun battles between rebels and government forces in north-west Liberia, which has accused Guinea of supporting the rebels.

The summit declaration condemns the action of what it calls non-state actors in Liberia, which is taken to mean the rebels.

Officials will meet next week to discuss implementation measures.

"We have not talked about that [accusations]. We have turned the page and forgotten about the past," Guinean Foreign Minister Mahawa Bangoura told Reuters.

"Today's agreement is a brand new beginning for us."

In a related move, Nigeria is said to have agreed to host security talks with the West African regional grouping, Ecowas.

It is seeking to persuade both the Liberian Government and rebels to attend.

Natural riches, human misery

The BBC's West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle says the three countries have a dramatic history of border wars which have created huge flows of refugees.

King Mohammed (r) is seen as a neutral figure

He says a feature of the conflict has been attempts to create chaotic conditions that allow the region's diamonds, gold and timber to be exploited.

All along the common borders of the three states, there are destroyed towns and miserable refugee camps, but at the same time, functioning diamond mines and profitable timber concessions.

The conflicts began in earnest in the early 1990s when civil war in Liberia spread first into Sierra Leone and then into Guinea.

Both Sierra Leone and Guinea blamed Liberian President Charles Taylor for starting the main trouble.

But in the latest development, a new proxy war has broken out between Guinea and Liberia, with Mr Taylor accusing Guinea - with some justification, our correspondent says - of backing rebels opposed to him.