Sierra Leone, Guinea defuse border tensions after release of 16 detained officers

Sierra Leone says Guinea has released 16 of its soldiers and police officers who were detained earlier this week, a development authorities say has helped ease tensions along the two countries’ shared border.

“All security officers arrested by the Guinean authorities have been safely handed over to Sierra Leone,” the information ministry said in a statement posted on social media on Friday.

According to officials in Freetown and reported by Africanews, the officers were constructing a border post and another facility in the frontier town of Kaliyereh when members of Guinea’s armed forces arrived and detained them on Tuesday.

Guinea gave a different account of events, saying several dozen armed Sierra Leonean personnel had crossed into its territory without authorisation, prompting its security forces to apprehend them.

Guinea’s Prime Minister, Amadou Oury Bah, said on Thursday that the dispute would be resolved quickly through diplomatic engagement.

Sierra Leone and Guinea share a border of about 700 kilometres, with some territorial disputes dating back to Sierra Leone’s civil war, which ended in 2002.

During the conflict, Guinea deployed troops to assist in the fight against rebel forces.

The latest incident occurred in an area that has been contested for more than 20 years. Sierra Leone maintains that the territory lies within its borders, while Guinea continues to station soldiers in the area.

Both countries are members of several regional groupings, including the West African bloc ECOWAS and the Mano River Union, which also includes Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.

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