Africa Media Watch

As tension escalates between Guinea and its neighbours Liberia and Sierra Leone, Media Watch looks at comment and reaction from around the region.

'Explosive' border situation

The Guinéenews news service described the situation on the border between Guinea and Sierra Leone as "explosive", with Sierra Leonean refugees in the area fleeing armed incursions and the Guinean armed forces battling rebels in southern Lofa county.

Tension over raids

Guinéenews reported that at the same time the political situation in Guinea remained "blocked" following the sentencing to five years in prison of Guinean opposition leader Alpha Conde, convicted of sedition.

Victim of "external aggression"

Guinean Prime Minister Lamine Sidime, speaking in a radio interview earlier in the week, pulled no punches in apportioning blame for the cross-border attacks.

"Everything points to the fact that it is an external aggression from Liberia which has, for years, been preparing to engage in war with Guinea," he said.

It is a truly organised and concerted attack

Guinean Prime Minister Lamine Sidime

"It is backed by countries like Burkina Faso and with its plans executed by rebels of the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front, and opponents in the Alpha Conde camp. It is a truly organised and concerted attack," he said.

Halt 'anarchy' against refugees

Liberia's The News condemned what it called "the unwarranted terror" reportedly unleashed by President Lansana Conte's nationwide address, in which the president accused refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia of seeking to destabilize Guinea and of hiding "rebels" among their ranks.

The rebels who attacked Guinea were wrong, but the Guineans have blundered

The News, Monrovia

"We call on the Guinean authorities to immediately halt the mob action and anarchy against Liberians and Sierra Leoneans residing in that country," The News said.

"We do not subscribe to...the persecution of unarmed civilians due to the dastardly acts of their armed compatriots allegedly being carried out against a neighbouring country. As it is often said, two wrongs cannot make a right; the rebels who attacked Guinea were wrong, but the Guineans have blundered," it said.

The Panafrican News Agency (Pana) quoted a Burkina Faso government statement in which it "categorically" denied any involvement in the current situation in Guinea.

The statement "expressed serious concern over the situation in Guinea, saying it could threaten peace, security and stability of the West African sub-region," Pana reported.

Rebels 'infiltrated camps'

Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah meanwhile sought to play down tensions, following talks with his Guinean counterpart in Conakry.

Claims that rebels have infiltrated refugee camps

"When I saw President Conte he told me he had intelligence reports that the rebels had infiltrated the refugee camps, so he gave instructions to his people to round up and properly screen them, and the Sierra Leoneans who behaved themselves and do not cause any problems should be set free," Kabbah said in a radio and television address.

"But if they find anyone whom they suspect to be a rebel clearly he would not be set free because he would endanger the security of their country, which is the same thing I said we should do for our own security," he said.

"So I found out that I could not disagree with him on that," Kabbah said.

'Rising xenophobia'

The US-based Liberian news magazine The Perspective saw "omens of rising xenophobia with dire humanitarian implications" in this week's developments in West Africa.

It blamed what it called Liberian President Charles Taylor's "love affair with war and destabilisation at home" for the trouble.

Many Liberian political exiles would rather disappear in Guinea than return home

The Perspective

"Guinea's expulsion of Liberians is one of Taylor's objectives because, according to sources, he has been intensely lobbying with the Guinean authorities to expel his opponents," it said.

"A list of wanted men and women was allegedly sent, but the Guineans are said to have ignored the requests. Many Liberian political exiles would rather disappear in Guinea than return home where they face imminent elimination," the magazine concluded.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.