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Sierra Leone says security force members apprehended by Guinea’s military following border incursion

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Sierra Leone’s government on Tuesday said that several members of a security team, including an officer, were apprehended and transported over the border by members of Guinea’s military.

For more than two decades, the West African countries have been involved in a border dispute that stemmed from the Sierra Leonean civil war between 1991 and 2002. Sierra Leone’s government had invited Guinea to help defend its eastern borders during the war, but the Guinean troops didn’t completely withdraw after the war.

Last year, the Guinean military entered a mineral-rich border town in Sierra Leone, sparking regional concerns.

The latest incident, according to a statement by the Sierra Leonean government, happened on Monday at the border town of Kalieyereh in Falaba district, where it said members of its armed forces and police were working on “making bricks for the construction of a border post and accommodation facility” for the border post.

The weapons and ammunition of the apprehended members of the security team were also taken, the government said. The statement didn’t provide an exact number of how many people were taken into Guinea.

The “government is actively engaging through established diplomatic and security channels to confirm their location and secure their safe and unconditional release,” the statement said.

Guinean authorities didn’t immediately comment on the incident.

Sierra Leone said its national flag was hoisted in the town in which the incident on Monday incident, and the territory is recognized as belonging to Sierra Leone.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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