The government of Liberia wants an urgent meeting of ECOWAS countries and the ICG-G to discuss the growing wave of tension in neighboring Guinea.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International Contact Group for Guinea (ICG-G) is working to bring peace to Guinea and the entire sub region.

Liberia is a perfect of example of the peace initiatives of ECOWAS and International Contact Group.

In a dispatch from the Foreign Ministry, the Liberian government frowns on the recent killing of several unarmed civilians in the Guinean capitol of Conakry last week by the Guinea army. “The Liberian government has expressed grave concern over events unfolding in neighboring Republic of Guinea”. The release averred.

Continuing, “the government notes it has learned with profound regrets of the deaths of over ninety persons during a demonstration in Conakry on Monday, September 28, 2009”.

The killing in cold blood of blameless Guineans by the military junta of Moussa Dedis Camara has been condemned the world over, including the country’s former colonial master France and the United States of America.

Thousands had gathered at a stadium in Conakry to illustrate dislike of anecdote that junta leader Capt. Camara would run for president dissimilar to his earlier promise not to do so. Camera, upon his take over, told the world he would organize elections by December of this year without his participation; he has now conflicted that, extending elections date to January 2010.

Following the deadly crackdown, the Liberian government wants restraint on the part of the junta: “resort to use of force and violence can only lead to unnecessary loss of life and complicate the democratic process being pursued by the International Contact Group on Guinea and member states of the Mino River union”.

Liberia, through its leader president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf currently chairs the Mino River Union (MRU), a subset of ECOWAS. The MRU also comprises Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

President Sirleaf has continued to push for peace in the neighboring country since soldiers seized power in a bloodless coup following the death of long serving leader Lassana Conteh last year.

The Foreign Ministry dispatch quotes the president as urging the junta to “fully adhere to the previous agreement made with the ICG-G regarding the upcoming transitional plan for the holding of elections and restoration of democratic rule in that sisterly country”.

Opposition leaders and aid Groups have reported up to 157 deaths, but the government has placed it at 57. There are reports of rape and the bayoneting of people in the streets of Conakry by soldiers. Thousands have been reported injured to include opposition leader, Cellou Dallein Diallo.

The regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened sanctions, while France plans to suspend military co-corporation with the former colony.

The junta’s call for a transitional government following the crisis has been out-rightly ruled out by opposition leaders. Though it has regretted the killings, the junta has placed a ban on what it calls “subversive gatherings” by all sides. In a TV address, Captain Camara said “troublemakers would be severely punished”.