U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa Tel: +225 22 40 4440 Fax: +225 22 40 4435 e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ciWEST AFRICA IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 15 8-14 April 2000
CONTENTS: GUINEA: Conde's trial begins BURKINA FASO: Human rights leader detained BURKINA FASO: Presidential mandate cut to five years GAMBIA: Banjul and surroundings calm NIGERIA: Enaharo returns from exile NIGERIA: Red Cross donates to Sharia riot victims NIGERIA: Environment conference aims at US $3 million NIGERIA: Curfew in Kaduna lifted WESTERN SAHARA: Settlement plan stuck, says UN envoy SIERRA LEONE: Urgent medevac for Army chief SIERRA LEONE: Ex-fighters allowed to join army SIERRA LEONE: Ex fighters damage NCDDR office SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh in Segbwema to disarm SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG not to withdraw fully SIERRA LEONE: UN troops return fire in Kenema SIERRA LEONE: First Jordanians arrive SIERRA LEONE: AFRC arrested over zinc theft LIBERIA: UN to fund pilot skills projects for war vets LIBERIA: Information ministers suspended GUINEA-BISSAU: Government protests aerial bombing COTE D'IVOIRE: WFP approves aid for 15,000 displaced GUINEA: Conde's trial begins Opposition politician Alpha Conde appeared before the State Security Court in Conakry under tight surveillance on Wednesday at the start of his trial for endangering the state. He is also facing charges of "assaulting law enforcement officers and of fraudulent transfer of foreign exchange", according to news reports. AFP reported that on entering the courtroom - ringed by an impressive array of armed police, gendarmes and soldiers - Conde told the media that the accusations against him were like "a novel, so badly written that they made him laugh". Conde, who said he has lost 15 kg since his arrest and imprisonment on 16 December 1998, is accused with 47 others but says he does not know his fellow convicts. Conde is defended by a team of Guinean and foreign lawyers in a trial being witnessed by several international observers, including parliamentarians and human rights advocates. BURKINA FASO: Human rights leader detained Officials clamped down further on anti-government protestors this week by arresting three political opponents in Ouagadougou on Thursday, the Union Interafricaine des droits de l'homme (UIDH) said. The union said its president, Halidou Ouedraogo, the secretary-general of the Confederation Generale du Travail du Burkina et vice president du Collectif, Tole Sagnon, and Norbert Tiendrebeogo, the president of the Front des Forces Sankaristes that represents a body calling itself le groupe du 14 fevrier au Collectif were taken from their homes. The arrests follow what a coalition of opposition forces said was a successful three-day stay at home that began on Monday and a demonstration by the public over the state's abuse of power. The strike followed public anger over police who fought at least 5,000 people marching in the capital on 7 April, demanding the government fully probe the suspicious death of investigative reporter Norbert Zongo. The 55 civil society bodies, political parties and interest groups - formed into a single opposition bloc - have over the past two months been demanding that the government exercise transparency and respect human rights in national affairs, the president of the opposition coalition, Haledou Ouedrago, told IRIN before his detention on Thursday. "We want the government to reform the judiciary, to end impunity, to guarantee human rights and revise the constitution and electoral code," he said. BURKINA FASO: Presidential mandate cut to five years Lawmakers voted on Tuesday to cut their country's presidential mandate from seven to five years and limit leaders to a maximum of two terms in office. In January 1997, the parliament, dominated by members of President Blaise Compaore's party, adopted a constitutional reform allowing presidents unlimited re-election and seven-year terms. Acoalition of opposition parties said Tuesday's constitutional reform should apply to Compaore. They fear that the reform will not be implemented until the next elections, paving the way for Compaore, 48, to seek two new five-year terms, AFP reported. GAMBIA: Banjul and surroundings calm Calm was restored to Gambia's capital, Banjul, and surrounding towns on Tuesday, a day after angry students and city hoodlums fought pitched battles with police which resulted in several deaths, Police Public Relations Officer Abdoulie Sanyang told IRIN. The demonstrators burnt cars and four police stations, and damaged telecommunications as well as other public and private property. They were protesting against an autopsy report on the death of Ebrima Barry, a high school student. He died after allegedly being beaten by firemen in the town of Brikama, about 30 km south of Banjul. The six accused firefighters are being held in remand. Throughout the week police maintained patrols in the streets of Serrekunda, a vast semi-residential neighbourhood and the centre of Monday's demonstrations some 12-15 km southwest of Banjul. The official casualty report, so far, is 12 people dead and 28 hospitalised. Government closes schools The government has responded by ordering the immediate closure of all schools and tertiary educational institutions. State House, the office of the president, condemned what it said was the "irresponsible and senseless behaviour" of the demonstrators, led by the Gambia Students Union, and said perpetrators would be held responsible. However, a coalition of five local human rights groups and the Gambia Press Union have condemned both students and government forces for the troubles. In particular, these bodies criticised the shooting of students and a Red Cross volunteer. "The alleged shooting, killing and maiming of students cannot be justified in any civilised society, especially one that professes to be democratic," the coalition said. The government denied its forces used live ammunition. NIGERIA: Enaharo returns exile, calls for national conference Veteran politician Anthony Enahoro, 73, returned home on Monday to a triumphant welcome home from four years of self-imposed exile and immediately joined the clamour for a national conference on reshaping the country's political and economic future. "The future lies in Nigeria becoming a union of nationalities," he told an audience of some 5,000 in a Lagos ceremony marking his return from the United States. The country's current constitution "imposed" by the military, he said, failed to recognise the divergent nationalities among the country's 120 million people and some 200 ethnic groups. His return, he added, was in "expectation that the grounds have been cleared for the debate". A political analyst in Ogun State, Godwin Obani, told IRIN, "Ninety-nine percent of Nigerians clamouring for federalism and confederation are in support of what he says." Enaharo helped form the National Democratic Coalition to protest the military's annulment of the 1993 presidential election and was detained again the following year for four months. He fled into exile in 1996. NIGERIA: Red Cross donates to Sharia riot victims The Nigerian Red Cross has donated food and other relief material to some 10,000 victims of the recent religious riots in Kaduna, Owerri, Aba and Enugu, `The Guardian' newspaper reported on Monday. It said the victims, still camped in hospitals, army and police barracks, are being given 800 bags of rice, 108 bags of beans, 2,640 cans of vegetable oil, 5,000 mats and 1,500 covered plastic buckets. NIGERIA: Bayelsa needs US $248 million to rebuild Odi The Bayelsa State government says it has prepared a 25-billion-naira (US $248 million) blueprint for the reconstruction of Odi, destroyed six months ago after federal forces moved in to arrest suspected police killers, `The Guardian' reported on Monday, quoting Governor Diepreye Alameyeseigha in Abjua, the federal capital. NIGERIA: Environment conference aims to raise US $3 million Delegates from 46 countries attending an environment conference in Abuja last week agreed to work more closely on environmental protection and sustainable development in Africa, the UN said on Monday. Recommendations made at the eighth meeting of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, held from 3-6 April, included the need to raise more than US $3 million over the next two years to support continent wide environmental activities. Delegates also agreed to revitalise their group as a vehicle for environmental cooperation and raise money to allow rapid response to natural disasters, the UN Environment Programme said. NIGERIA: Curfew in Kaduna lifted The Kaduna State government has lifted the curfew imposed since violent rioting erupted in the city of Kaduna in February between Muslims and Christians over the application of Islamic Sharia law, state radio announced. Radio Nigeria-Kaduna quoted a statement by the governor as saying on Wednesday that security agencies would continue city patrols to "ensure law and order". The ban on processions, demonstrations and unauthorised meetings was still in force. WESTERN SAHARA: Settlement plan stuck, says UN envoy The UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, James Baker, said on Wednesday as he ended a four-day tour to the region that a territorial settlement plan over the disputed land was stuck but not dead. "It is very much still alive but it is in the ditch," he told reporters in Madrid, Spain. Bakar, a former US secretary of state, toured Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria to try and nudge the principal belligerent parties - Morocco and the Polisario - to a referendum on whether Western Sahara should become independent or be part of Morocco. One of the major obstacles to holding the referendum is agreement on the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters. SIERRA LEONE: Urgent medevac for Army chief Sierra Leone's chief of defence staff, Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe, was flown home to Nigeria on Tuesday for urgent medical treatment, presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Thursday. Kaikai was unable to give details of Kobe's illness but the Sierra Leone News Agency reported reliable sources as saying that his condition was "very serious". However, Kaikai said Kobe was responding relatively well to treatment. Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has designated Colonel Tom Carew acting chief of defence staff. SIERRA LEONE: Ex-fighters allowed to join army Former fighters from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Civil Defence Forces (CDF) and Sierra Leone Army (SLA) are entitled to join the restructured army if they meet the criteria in the Military Reintegration Plan (MRP) recently endorsed by the government. The MRP, developed by the Ministry of Defence, provides for the screening and selection of ex-combatants who wish to join the restructured army and for the subsequent training of successful candidates, the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) reported in its bulletin on Friday. The first stage of the process is that all former combatants must disarm to UNAMSIL and go through a demobilisation process. Once completed each person will be entitled to benefit from either the civilian or the MRP. SIERRA LEONE: Ex fighters damage NCDDR office Former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) fighters vandalised the Brookfields office of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) on the western side of Freetown on Monday, Information Officer Dandersen Smith told IRIN. Some 200 former rebels went to the office to receive the second equal instalment of their US $300 allowance. However, when they discovered the money was not available they destroyed office furniture, smashed windows and light bulbs and stole money from a few employees. Calm was restored after the police were called and AFRC leader Johnny Paul Koroma's security personnel arrived and persuaded his supporters to stop the violence. No-one was hurt during the incident. SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh in Segbwema to disarm Rebel leaders and peacekeepers in Sierra Leone travelled to the eastern town of Segbwema on Monday to try and disarm fighters in the RUF controlled diamond region, a UNAMSIL information officer in Freetown told IRIN on Tuesday. UNAMSIL said some 74 RUF (Revolutionary United Front), mainly child soldiers, disarmed during Sankoh's visit. In spite of the low turnout, he added, the UN Secretary-General's Representative, Oluyemi Adeniji, said there was no cause for disappointment as it had been a positive exercise. As of 3 April the total number of personnel disarmed is 21,961, according to the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR). There are an estimated 45,000 combatants in Sierra Leone. SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG not to withdraw fully Around half the remaining ECOMOG troops will stay in Sierra Leone until the UN force, UNAMSIL, reaches full strength, presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Wednesday. In addition, he said, a Nigerian armoured battalion would soon arrive to join UNAMSIL. Nigeria, which provides the bulk of the West African peacekeeping force known as ECOMOG, said late in 1999 it would pull out all its troops by February. However, it agreed to a 90-day extension to allow the 11,000 UN force time to deploy fully. UNAMSIL currently has 7,391 personnel including 260 military observers in Freetown, Lungi, Port Loko, Lunsar, Masiaka, Makeni, Magburaka, Kenema, Daru, Mile 91, Bo and Moyamba, according to a March report by the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU). However, UNAMSIL has been unable to deploy to the eastern town of Kono despite recent and regular missions by military observers. Reports indicate an increasing concentration of Revolutionary United Front forces in parts of Koinadugu and Kono districts, HACU said. SIERRA LEONE: UN troops return fire in Kenema A quick reaction company of UN forces returned fire on 8 April as unknown assailants shot at Ghanaian UN troops at a Kenema base of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), spokesman Philip Winslow said. The attackers fled into the bush and no casualties were reported. SIERRA LEONE: First Jordanians arrive An advance team of 210 Jordanian soldiers arrived at Lungi International Airport on 9 April to join UNAMSIL. The remainder of Jordan's two battalions are expected as soon as logistics are in place, UNAMSIL reported. The Zambian contingent is expected early in May. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 3 April that the full UN peacekeeping force of 11,100 should be in Sierra Leone by the end of July. SIERRA LEONE: AFRC arrested over zinc theft Nigerian UN troops arrested at least 50 Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) fighters last weekend in the Occra Hills just east of Freetown, UNAMSIL told IRIN on Monday. At the time of their arrest they were heading for Freetown to sell the materials, which, according to the BBC, they had stolen from houses in the Maforki and Loko Masama Chiefdoms of Port Loko District. LIBERIA: UN to fund pilot skills projects for war vets The United Nations says it will fund pilot projects for marketable skills training of Liberia's civil war veterans, the UN Office in Liberia told IRIN on Wednesday. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Liberia, Felix Downes-Thomas, said the projects would also provide income generating jobs to help sustain the veterans. However, he said the final package of the type of projects that will be funded is due to be planned by UNOL and the veteran associations. "The veteran associations are due to come back to me on the type of project beneficial to them," Downes-Thomas said. In mid-1999, hundreds of former fighters stormed the UN office in Monrovia demanding money for reintegration into society. LIBERIA: Information ministers suspended Liberia Information Minister Joe Mulbah and his deputy, Milton Teahjay, have been suspended from duty for nearly two months after exchanging blows during an argument last week, news organisations reported. President Charles Taylor suspended the two ministers without pay for seven weeks. Their unpaid salaries would go towards repairing damage to the ministry building during the fight, news reports quoted a government statement as saying. The two men fought over Teahjay's decision to sack a junior member of staff while Mulbah was out of the country. GUINEA-BISSAU: Government protests aerial bombing Guinea-Bissau protested to Senegal on Wednesday for what it said was the aerial bombing of the northern border areas of Cutima and Jumbembem between 96 km and 112 km northeast of the capital, Bissau, Lusa reported. "The Senegalese military planes were allegedly pursuing rebels of the Movement of Casamance Democratic Forces," Lusa said. Guinea-Bissau Defence Minister Fernando Correia Ladim told Lusa that an estimate of casualties was not yet available but that investigations into Tuesday's raid, which he termed an accident, were continuing. However, the spokesman for the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance, Alexandre Djiba, told IRIN on Thursday his movement had no guerrillas in the zones allegedly bombed. COTE D'IVOIRE: WFP approves aid for 15,000 displaced The World Food Programme has recently approved about US $1.6-million for an emergency operation to feed some 15,000 people originating from Burkina Faso who were forced to flee Cote d'Ivoire in November after a land dispute. WFP Country Director for Burkina Faso, Stefano Porretti, said his organisation aimed to distribute at least 2,300 mt of food between March and November to cover the needs of the displaced population until the next harvest. At least 70 percent of them are women and children. The displaced people reportedly fled neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire because of extreme insecurity and many said they were victims of vandalism. Most want to return to Cote d'Ivoire to recover their property and resume their lives. Abidjan, 15 April 2000, 12:30 GMT [IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 22-40-4440 Fax: +225 22-40-4435 e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci] [This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . 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