Immigrant community divided over Strauss-Kahn accuser

NEW YORK — Some call her a "liar attracted by money", others unconditionally support her. The Guinean maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault has deeply divided New York's community of immigrants from Guinea, who are now trying to protect themselves from fallout from the case.New York has no "Little Guinea" neighborhood that could be compared to "Little Italy" or "Chinatown."Guineans here are scattered around Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx where Strauss-Kahn's accuser had been living until the beginning of the case.Her compatriots now closely follow all the twists and turns of the proceedings.In a Guinean restaurant in Harlem Saturday, two immigrants from the West African country discussed the case.Mohamed, 50, belongs to the Malinke tribe, one of two main ethnic groups in Guinea.In his view, "the girl should have negotiated directly with Strauss-Kahn and avoided involving the American justice system.""Now her name is everywhere and that it is not good," sad Mohamed, who believed the woman had lied.Hearing that a waiter, a man in his 20s, makes a face. He belongs to the Fulani tribe as does Strauss-Kahn's accuser."I do not think she lied because a Fulani woman cannot lie," he replies in perfect French.Once alone and far from the restaurant, Mohamed points out: "In my view, the Fulanis love money and they are liars. As far as I am concerned, she is not even Guinean, she is Fulani."Community concernedFarther east in the Bronx, on the corner of 166th Street and 3rd Avenue, a red brick building houses a two-story mosque called the Futa Islamic Center. Here, according to The New York Times, the controversial hotel maid used to pray.Veiled little girls play at the entrance. One of them holds a yellow binder entitled "Islamic Studies." A little boy nearby is carrying a backpack with an inscription "Marseille Olympics."Tidiane Ba, a Guinean who came to collect his children from the mosque, is concerned about fallout from the Strauss-Kahn case."Maybe she lied," he said. "If so, i

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