Rebel leader declared overthrown by his wife

THE leader of Liberia’s main rebel movement was yesterday declared overthrown by his wife, who announced she was taking power with the open backing of dozens of her husband’s former battlefield commanders.

Asha Keita-Conneh, long believed a hidden power behind her husband’s guerrilla movement, made the announcement surrounded by rebel fighters as her baby lay beside her.

"I put him there as chairman. If you open a big business and put your husband in charge, if you see that things are not going the right way, you step him aside and straighten things up," Ms Keita-Conneh said. "If somebody gives you something and the person wants it back, there should be no problem."

As she spoke, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels nodded their assent.

The family feud threatens to destabilise the West African nation’s six-month-old, internationally brokered peace by opening a lasting rift between armed loyalists of husband and wife.

Ms Keita-Conneh said she acted because the ambitions of husband Sekou Conneh - a rarely seen, former used-car salesman - were putting the country’s peace in jeopardy.

However, Sekou Conneh took to Liberian state radio today to insist all that had happened was a family squabble and that he remained in power.

"I am chairman. Even if there was a problem between me and my wife it has been resolved and I am the chairman," he said.

It was unclear who enjoys greater support among rebel ranks.

LURD drove the former president, Charles Taylor, from power last August. Within a week, a power-sharing agreement that was meant to end 14 years of warlord power-struggles in Liberia had been signed.

A United Nations peace force due to grow to the world’s largest, at 15,000-strong, is helping enforce the peace. Nationwide disarmament is to start later this month.