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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 96
27 October - 02 November 2001


CONTENTS:

NIGERIA: Government condemns army massacre in Benue
NIGERIA: Government plans ID cards to safeguard national security
NIGERIA: Cholera kills 40 in Kwara
THE GAMBIA: Authorities close private radio station
THE GAMBIA: Head of rights organisation released
SIERRA LEONE: Minister arrested for illicit diamond deals
SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament concludes in rebel stronghold
GUINEA: Anti-referendum supporters clash with troops
GUINEA: UNDAC team completes mission
COTE D'IVOIRE: Detained soldiers released
COTE D'IVOIRE: Women need 30 percent more energy than men
GUINEA-BISSAU: Private newspapers shut down
LIBERIA: Panel recommends extension of sanctions
TOGO: Three journalists released
WEST AFRICA: Japanese development aid

NIGERIA: Government condemns army massacre in Benue

Nigeria's Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday described as
"reprehensible" the massacre of scores of civilians and the destruction of
their villages by soldiers in central region Benue State, national media
reported him telling state officials in the capital, Makurdi.

Atiku, accompanied by Benue governor George Akume, visited Zaki-Biam,
Gbeji, Vatse, Jofar and Katsine-Ala, where soldiers in armoured tanks had
rounded up people of the Tiv ethnic group and shot them before
systematically levelling houses, including the country home of retired
army chief of staff, Lt-Gen Victor Malu.

It was the first official condemnation of the action early last week by
Nigerian soldiers in apparent revenge for the killing of 19 of their
colleagues. National human rights groups had earlier criticised a
statement issued on Sunday by the authorities which refused to condemn the
action of the troops.

The prolonged communal conflicts involving the Tivs, who are mainly
farmers, and the Jukuns in neighbouring Taraba State, who are mainly from
pastoral and fishing communities, are usually over land ownership. The 19
soldiers who had been sent on a peacekeeping operation to the region, were
abducted and killed by a Tiv militia on suspicion they were aiding the
Jukuns.

Meanwhile Obasanjo announced on Tuesday the creation of a special national
security committee to seek ways of resolving the spate of ethnic and
religious conflicts that have wracked Nigeria in the two years since he
was elected into office.

Curfew reduced

A dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed recently in two towns in Benue has been
reduced by two hours following improved security, Radio Nigeria reported.
The curfew, which covers the capital Makurdi and Gboko, the second biggest
town in the state, now runs from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Clashes/army attacks leave 300,000 displaced

Up to 300,000 people, many of them Tivs, are currently displaced as a
result of the Tiv/Jukun clashes and last week's attacks by the army, local
officials said this week. Large numbers of displaced people are staying in
several camps around Makurdi, where they joined others who had fled
earlier fighting in June between Tivs and Hausa-speaking Azeris in nearby
Nasarawa State.

There are widespread fears that prolonged conflict in the region, which is
one of Nigeria's food producing areas, is likely to undermine the
country's food security.

NIGERIA: Government plans ID cards to safeguard national security

The government plans to issue special identity cards to foreigners living
in Nigeria, underscoring new perceptions of threats to national security
that have emerged in the country since the 11 September attacks in the US.
Minister of State for Internal Affairs Mohammed Shata announced recently
that the move was "an additional measure in improving the security of the
country in view of the political and economic implications of uncontrolled
movement of aliens in Nigeria."

Moves against "religious extremists" in Ondo

The Ondo state government in southwestern Nigeria on Wednesday banned
open-air religious meetings by both Christians and Muslims in a bid to
pre-empt an outbreak of religious clashes, Nigeria's 'Vanguard' newspaper
reported. State governor Chief Adebayo Adefarati and religious leaders in
the state made the decision in a meeting during which the governor said
"religious extremists" had invaded the state, the paper reported.

In mid-October violent clashes between Muslims and Christians in Kano
state left scores of people dead. The riots followed a demonstration by
Muslims in the northern state to protest U.S. air strikes against
Afghanistan.

Police and other security agencies have since been maintaining a
nationwide alert to avert the outbreak of reprisal attacks against
northern Muslims resident in the mainly Christian south of Nigeria. The
Oodua People's Congress, which purports to defend the interests of the
southwest Yoruba ethnic group, said in a statement after the Kano riots
that the group intended to carry out revenge attacks against
Hausa-speaking northerners.

NIGERIA: Cholera kills 40 in Kwara

Around 40 people, including five children, died last week following a
cholera outbreak in seven communities in the western state of Kwara, local
media reported at the weekend. The outbreak, symptoms of which include
vomiting and diarrhoea, has been blamed on a lack of clean drinking water,
local media reported Ezekiel Afolabi, state director of public health, as
saying. Afolabi, following an assessment mission to the affected areas,
said the epidemic was now under control.

THE GAMBIA: Authorities close private radio station

Citizen FM, a private radio station, was closed down by the authorties on
Monday after its owner Baboucar Gaye was accused of not paying his income
tax amounting to 93,000 dalasi (equivalent to US $5,500). Gaye, who was
picked up by agents of the National Intelligence Agency and held for four
hours, denies defaulting in his tax obligations. Speaking to IRIN shortly
after his release, he said he would pay the amount in order to get his
station back on the air and then fight his case in court. "This is nothing
more than an attempt to gag the independent media," Gaye told IRIN.

This is not the first time Gaye has come under the scrutiny of the
authorities. In 1998 the government ordered the closure of the station and
the seizure of all its equipment after accusing Gaye of running the
station without a license.

THE GAMBIA: Head of rights organisation released

The head of the Gambian section of Amnesty International (AI), Mohammed
Lamin Sillah, was released on bail on Friday after four days in detention
at Gambia's National Intelligence Agency (NIA). In a statement, AI
welcomed Sillah's release but said it remained concerned by his arrest and
incommunicado detention "that can only be seen as an attack on freedom of
expression and human rights defenders in Gambia." Sillah had not been
charged, AI said, adding that he was not ill-treated either, "but
detention conditions in NIA are poor". He had been picked on 22 October by
NIA officers for "questioning".

SIERRA LEONE: Minister arrested for illicit diamond deals

Sierra Leone's Minister for Transport and Communications, Momoh Pujeh and
his wife, were on Thursday arrested for involvement in illegal diamond
dealings in the eastern district of Kenema, news reports said. BBC quoted
a statement from the Anti-Corruption Commission as saying that Pujeh and
his wife were found in possession of a large quantity of diamonds. There
were also allegations that Pujeh had smuggled some diamonds to the United
States, BBC said.

Despite a government ban, illegal diamond mining activities by former
combatants and others continue in the eastern region.

SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament concludes in rebel stronghold

More than 100 combatants from the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
on Monday handed over their weapons to UN peacekeepers in Bombali,
northern Sierra Leone, a statement from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL) said on Tuesday. The disarmament, witnessed by UNAMSIL's Force
Commander Lt-Gen Daniel Opande, was carried out in Kamakwie, the last
chiefdom to disarm in the district.

Disarmament began in Masingbe in central Tonkolili District on Thursday
with some 113 former fighters handing over weapons, UNAMSIL said.

GUINEA: Anti-referendum supporters clash with troops

Dozens of opposition supporters attempting to stage a rally in the east of
the country have been arrested and at least 10 injured following clashes
with Guinean troops, a Guinean opposition source told IRIN.

Guinea's main opposition parties arrived in Kankan on Tuesday on the
latest stop of a nation-wide campaign to encourage a boycott of the
constitutional referendum scheduled for 11 November, the source said. The
rally was not allowed to take place, he added. If approved, Guinea's
constitution, which was last amended in 1993, would extend the
presidential mandate from five to seven years, allow unlimited terms in
office, and not impose a maximum age limit on presidential candidates. It
would also allow the president to nominate supreme court judges.

Meanwhile the G-7 group, representing the world's seven most
industrialised countries, and the European Union have called on the
Guinean government to respect the constitution.

The G-7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and US.

GUINEA: UNDAC team completes mission

A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team has concluded that
the humanitarian needs of populations devastated by floods in Haute Guinee
(eastern Guinea) more than four weeks ago remain unmet. The team, who
conducted an assessment mission from 21 to 25 October, has recommended
that the UN, international organisations and other partners meet to
mobilise more aid for the area, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a news release on Monday.

The recent floods, caused by the overflowing of the Niger river, have
affected some 200,000 people and destroyed 20,000 hectares of farmland.
Sectors hit hardest include agriculture, water and sanitation, health and
education.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Detained soldiers released

Six military men, including the aide-de-camp of Cote d'Ivoire's former
junta leader General Robert Guei, were released on Monday after two weeks
in detention for threatening state security.

The aide Fabien Coulibaly, who was in Abidjan to organise security for
Guei's attendance at the national reconciliation forum, was arrested for
making enquiries about equipment and ammunitions contained at the national
armoury and the naval base. Coulibaly also allegedly asked colleagues "to
cooperate with him on a few things", Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi
said last week. Guei had demanded their release as a condition for
attending the Abidjan talks, a two-month long initiative aimed at finding
solutions to the country's socio-political problems, but it is still
unclear when he will be in the capital.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Women need 30 percent more energy than men

A recent nutrition study conducted by the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) in Cote d'Ivoire found that women need 30 percent more
energy than their male counterparts, the agency said in a statement last
week. The study which FAO said could serve as a model for researching
specific nutrition needs in other parts of the developing world noted that
women work two to three hours longer than men. The work practices of some
3,352 women and men in agricultural communities were compared and results
showed that women performed all the domestic tasks as well as working in
agriculture while men worked only in agriculture. FAO conducted the study
in collaboration with the Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Private newspapers shut down

Two private newspapers were closed on 26 October for threatening state
security and for operating without a license, Lusa reported the attorney
general, Caetano Inthcama, as saying. Guinea-Bissau's private media have
criticised the closure of 'Diario de Bissau' and 'Gazeta de Noticias' as a
violation of press freedom.

The press is not the only sector to have come under the scrutiny of the
authorities recently in Guinea-Bissau. Since his election in January 2000,
President Kumba Yala has come into conflict with members of his own party,
other political actors and members of the judiciary. Earlier this month
the authorities denied rumours that sections of the military were
preparing to overthrow the government.

LIBERIA: Panel recommends extension of sanctions

An independent five-member panel dealing with sanctions against Liberia on
Tuesday recommended that the UN Security Council extend the arms embargo
and rough diamond sanctions on the country, a UN statement said. In a
report released at the UN headquarters, the panel said that despite some
progress, "a steady flow of new weapons had continued to enter into
Liberia in violation of UN sanctions". According to the report, timber
production - an important source of revenue for the government - "had also
been a source of revenue for sanctions-busting". It, therefore,
recommended that the UN impose a ban on all round log exports from Liberia
starting from July 2002.

The panel of experts, appointed on 20 March 2001, was mandated by the UN
to, among other things, investigate violations of the arms embargo and the
travel ban on senior officials of the Liberian government. It was also to
collect information on the compliance by the government with the demands
to cease all direct and indirect import of Sierra Leone rough diamonds and
to expel all members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) from Liberia.

TOGO: Three journalists released

Three Togolese journalists, who had been detained for the last several
weeks on various charges, were released this week, news reports said.
However a fourth one remains in detention, news reports said.

Lucien Messan, managing editor of the private weekly 'Le Combat du peuple'
was serving a prison term on forgery charges. Alphonse Klu, of the weekly
'Nouvel echo', had been detained for an article stating that several
billion CFA francs had been discovered in the basement of the residence of
a prominent political figure. Rigobert Bassadou, publishing director of
'Echos d'Afrique', was charged with defamation for an article published in
September accusing a state official of embezzlement, 'The Republic of
Togo' online news site reported.

However Abdoul Ganiou Bawa, publishing director of 'Echos d'Afrique',
remains in detention on the same charges as Bassadou. The media watchdog,
Reporters sans frontieres, has asked the authorities to release Bawa.

WEST AFRICA: Japanese development aid

Japan's government has granted some 156 million CFA (US $221,000) for
development projects and medical aid in Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal. In Cote
d'Ivoire US $136,00 will be divided between local organisations for
development projects including the construction of wells, purchase of
medical equipment for a children's health centre and construction of an
AIDS information centre, Japanese embassy in Abidjan said in a news
release. A Senegalese teaching hospital in the capital Dakar is the
recipient of medical equipment worth some 60 million CFA (US $85,000).


IRIN-WA
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Fax: +225 22-41-9339
Email: IRIN-WA@irin.ci

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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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