The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has deployed a technical assessment mission to the Mano River Basin and called for immediate de-escalation following a sharp rise in tensions along borders shared by Guinea with both Sierra Leone and Liberia, raising concerns about the risk of armed confrontation in a region with a troubled territorial history.
In a statement issued from its Abuja headquarters on Thursday, March 12, 2026, the ECOWAS Commission said it had been compelled to expand the geographical mandate of the mission beyond the longstanding Guinea-Sierra Leone flashpoint at Yenga, to also cover new developments along the Lofa County border between Guinea and Liberia, which have introduced additional complexities to existing territorial sensitivities in the basin.
The Yenga dispute has its roots in Sierra Leone’s 1991 to 2002 civil war. Guinea intervened alongside Sierra Leone’s army to suppress the Revolutionary United Front insurgency, initially as an invited peacekeeping force, but Guinean forces never fully withdrew after the war ended, citing ongoing security threats, with intermittent demilitarization accords in 2012 and 2019 failing to produce a lasting settlement.
The latest flashpoint erupted in late February 2026. Guinea’s military confirmed the detention of 16 Sierra Leonean soldiers after accusing them of crossing the border and raising their flag on Guinean soil, while Sierra Leone maintained its joint security team was making bricks for a new border post in territory it insists is sovereign Sierra Leonean land. The soldiers were subsequently released following diplomatic negotiations between Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Timothy Musa Kabbah and Guinea’s Prime Minister in Conakry, temporarily defusing tensions, though the underlying dispute remains unresolved across a shared border of more than 700 kilometres.
Local residents in the Yenga region have been growing increasingly fearful, with many already fleeing the area due to the presence of armed forces and uncertainty over what might happen next.
ECOWAS urged all three affected states to exercise maximum restraint, respect internationally recognised boundaries, refrain from unilateral actions that could undermine bilateral relations or regional security, and prioritise ECOWAS-facilitated diplomatic channels for the peaceful resolution of disputes. The Commission said it would undertake additional diplomatic engagements to ensure a comprehensive assessment of all areas of current and potential friction.
Analysts have warned that unchecked provocations risk sparking firefights between regular forces, and that without swift action to contain the crisis, spillover effects could undermine wider regional stability. The ECOWAS Commission reaffirmed its commitment to working with national authorities toward lasting peace in the Mano River Basin.
