West African Nations Work to Resolve Energy Issues

In order to resolve the region’s endemic energy shortages, the Mono River Union (MRU) countries are meeting to attempt to resolve their differences.

The Mano River Union (MRU) is an international association established in 1973 between Liberia and Sierra Leone, which in 1980 also included Guinea to encourage economic cooperation among the countries. The MRU is named for the Mano River which begins in the Guinea highlands and forms a common border between the two countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone.
 
Given the multilayered conflicts raging throughout Africa, objectives of the Union could not be achieved until such outstanding disputes such as the Sierra Leonean civil war, the first and second Liberian civil wars received at the very least a level of stasis. However, on 20 May 2004, the Union was revived at a summit of the three leaders of the Mano River Union states, Presidents Lansana Conte of Guinea, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone and Chairman Gyude Bryant of Liberia, who eventually reached a general consensus, and the issue has now become how to repair the nations’ infrastructure while attracting substantial foreign investment which still meets the peoples’ demands and needs.
 
Critics note that the Mano River Union has been in existence for 38 years; but there is little to show up to now for its existence.

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com