FORMER LIBERIAN LEADER QUESTIONED BY POLICE FOR CORRUPTION

Former Liberian Transitional Chairman, Charles Gyude Bryant was yesterday called in my the Liberian security forces to answer to charges of corruption.

The called in of former Chairman Bryant by state security for corrupt charges brings to seven the numbers of former officials to be called in.

According to a local radio station, Former Chairman Bryant was called in to clarify allegations concerning his involvement in financial frauds committed during the transitional period.

Mr. Bryant, accompanied by his lawyers, told reporters he sees the move by the government as a violation of their constitutional rights.

Several officials of the former transitional government also accompanied Mr. Bryant to the Justice Ministry. Mr. Bryant is expected to appear again at the Justice Ministry on Monday

FOR SNOWE'S REMOVAL, SEVERAL EXPRESSES FEAR

Following the news of the removal of the House of Representative Speaker, Edwin M. Snowe by his colleagues currently meeting at the Unity Conference Center in Virginia, outside the city, several Liberians are expressing fear on the issue.

Speaking to the GNN, the many Liberians, many of whom are from the public and private sectors and students of several Universities and Colleges said they were concerned about the constitutional provisions being applied by those lawmakers who sought the removal of their Speaker in the face of bribery charges leveled against them.

They also indicated that the failure of probing the alleged bribery case against them, it was worrisome for them to "quickly remove the Speaker who is the principle accuser without going through the case of bribery."

Speaking further, a law student of the University of Liberia, Thomas Tarr, told the GNN, "We are baffled of this situation; the credibility of our lawmakers must be questioned," he stressed.

For his part, the embattled Speaker says he is still Speaker of the Liberian Parliament, "This is a joke, I am still the Speaker, these guys are waisting their time," Mr. Snowe told a local radio station.

In a related development, the International Contact Group on Liberia has urged members of the House of Representatives to respect the due process of law.

The ICGL also urged the representatives to adhere to the rules of procedure of the House to resolve procedural and organizational matters. The ICGL’s statement comes after a group of representatives this week passed a vote of no confidence in House Speaker Edwin Snowe.

It wants the representatives resolve the matters because they are impeding the legislature’s ability to conduct the business for which its members were elected. The group said the allegation of bribery at the House is totally unacceptable and called for an independent investigation in accordance with international best practice. The ICGL comprises the United States, France, Morocco and Nigerian. Others are the United Kingdom, Ghana , the United Nations , ECOWAS and other international organizations, according to a press release issued today.

WEST AFRICAN LEADERS FOCUS ON GUINEA, IVORY COAST

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West African heads of state have concluded a summit in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The top two issues were the on-going general strike in Guinea and the stalled peace process in Ivory Coast. The leaders expressed concern over the situation Guinea. They also sought to encourage dialogue in the Ivory Coast. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar.
Burkina Faso's President and newly-elected chairman of ECOWAS, Blaise CompaoreAs a second week of strikes continues to incite deadly violence and paralyze industry in Guinea, eleven presidents issued a communiqué urging the newly-elected chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore, to send a high-level peace delegation to Guinea.
Officials of the regional group known as ECOWAS said the delegation could include Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
One of the summit participants, Burkina Faso's Minister of Regional Cooperation, Jean de Dieu Somda, says instability in Guinea requires immediate attention.
"Heads of states have to understand the [situation] of Guinea and try to know what ECOWAS can do to help this country in this actual situation," he said.
Lansana Conte (File)Absent from the meeting was Guinean President Lansana Conte. Union leaders have demanded Mr. Conte set up a transitional government. They say the ailing president is unfit to solve the country's worsening economic crisis.
Mr. Conte dismissed his minister of presidential affairs late Friday and replaced him with a close ally. It is not clear why the president took the action.
Guinean union leaders say the replacement, which comes from the president's party, was an insufficient gesture. They continue to demand that Mr. Conte step aside.
In addition to Guinea, Ivory Coast also dominated the agenda. In the face of a stalled U.N.-backed peace process, the heads of state welcomed Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo's initiative to engage in direct talks with the rebels who control the northern half of the country.
Mr. Gbagbo has previously blamed the ECOWAS group for being incompetent in helping reunite Ivory Coast.
The outgoing ECOWAS chair, Niger's President Mamadou Tandja, urged African leaders, in his words, not to give way to weariness about Ivory Coast.

Strike Action In Guinea Intensifies, 3 Killed

By Saliou Samb and Nick Tattersall

CONAKRY, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Violence triggered by a general strike spread to the remote south of Guinea on Saturday, killing at least three people as security forces clashed with protesters demanding an end to President Lansana Conte's rule.
Union leaders called the strike, which has paralysed the country for 11 straight days, saying Conte -- a reclusive diabetic in his 70s -- is unfit to govern and should step aside.
Riot police armed with rifles and tear gas have clashed with youths in the coastal capital Conakry and a dozen other towns in recent days, killing at least five people.
But Saturday's was the first unrest reported as far away as Nzerekore, more than 500 km (300 miles) south of the capital in the volatile forest region.
"The protesters went towards the prefect's residence to loot it. The resulting clash with soldiers killed three people and injured 12," Lamine Bangoura, a senior army officer and governor of Nzerekore, told Reuters by telephone.
Residents said several hundred protesters had marched into town, cutting down trees to block roads. A police station in the Boiro neighbourhood was looted and prisoners released.
The strike and the protests it has triggered pose the toughest challenge yet to Conte's 23-year rule and threaten to throw the former French colony into turmoil, diplomats and analysts say.
The region around Nzerekore is vulnerable because of its porous borders with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, across which arms and fighters are smuggled with relative ease.
"There is mounting fear that a descent into violence may precipitate regional instability," Kissy Agyeman, Africa analyst at research group Global Insight, said in a note this week.
"Guinea borders Sierra Leone and Liberia, countries which are still reeling from the aftermath of civil conflict, so heightened insecurity in the country could have depredations across the region as a whole."
POLITICAL IMPASSE
With no obvious successor and a fractious military, Conte's ailing health has long caused fears of a violent struggle for power. Even factions within his own ruling elite vying to succeed him appear to be growing impatient, analysts say.
Strike leaders say Conte is too sick and erratic to rule, citing a spate of confused cabinet reshuffles and his intervention to free from jail two ex-allies accused of graft.
They want him to step aside and hand power to a new transitional prime minister agreed on jointly by the government, opposition, civil society and unions.
Even if such an agreement could be reached, diplomats doubt it would guarantee political stability for long.
"The option of a strong prime minister running the country, which lots of people talk about, has already failed twice because the prime minister hasn't been given the necessary powers," said one diplomat who asked not to be named.
Late on Friday, Conte dismissed his right-hand man, Fode Bangoura, minister in charge of presidential affairs and a powerful member of his ethnic Soussou clique, in an apparent concession to the unions.
The opposition said the move was not enough and vowed to continue the strike, which has interrupted bauxite production in the world's top producer of the ore.