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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 150
23 - 29 November 2002


CONTENTS:

COTE D'IVOIRE: Fighting breaks out, respect for human rights urged
GUINEA: Hundreds return from Cote d'Ivoire
NIGERIA: 30,000 displaced by religious riots - Red Cross
GUINEA-BISSAU: Elections set for February
LIBERIA: Security Council concerned over violation of sanctions
LIBERIA: Taylor urges ECOWAS to arrange talks with LURD
MAURITANIA: Acute malnutrition among children
SIERRA LEONE: Campaign on violence against women
SIERRA LEONE: Campaign to free jailed editor


COTE D'IVOIRE: Fighting breaks out, respect for human rights urged

Despite ongoing attempts this week to peacefully resolve the conflict in
Cote d'Ivoire, fighting broke out on Wednesday between loyalist forces and
insurgents around Vavoua, 450 northwest of the commercial capital,
Abidjan, and in Danane, near the border with Liberia. Security was beefed
up in Abidjan and a 19:00 to 06:00 GMT curfew extended to 2 December.

The army said the rebel Mouvement patriotique de Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI)
attacked them between Man and Seguela. French troops said government
forces launched a counter-attack backed by 200 mercenaries. Sidiki Konate,
MPCI spokesman in Lome, Togo, where peace talks are taking place, denied
that the MPCI attacked the army. On Thursday, a new group, the Ivorian
Patriotic Movement of the Great West, occupied Danane. It said it wanted
to avenge the death of General Robert Guei along with his wife, during the
19 September mutiny that marked the start of the rebellion.

The clashes resumed while French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin
was visiting West Africa. On Wednesday he said opposition leader Alassane
Ouattara had left the French Embassy in Abidjan, where he sought refuge at
the start of the rebellion. The minister urged parties to the conflict,
who resumed talks on Monday, to continue the Lome dialogue.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Ivorian government to
investigate abuses against innocent civilians on the basis of ethnic
origin, religion or political allegiance. HRW said in a report on Thursday
that opposition party members and presumed rebel supporters, were being
targeted. "Even in a time of emergency, basic human rights must be
respected," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the HRW Africa
Division said. "Cote d'Ivoire could plunge into the sort of brutal war
well known to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone."

The report details abuses, such as in the western town of Daloa, where,
"people dressed in military uniform killed several dozen civilians -
Ivorian Muslims, Malians and Burkinabés soon after the government gained
control of the town." It makes recommendations to both the government and
insurgents to minimise the abuses.

On Monday, the minister of transport, Marcel Amon-Tanoh, also invoked
rights abuses when he announced that he had resigned. His move came after
his party, the Rassemblement des Repubicains (RDR), asked its members to
withdraw from the ruling coalition. "My conscience can no longer stand all
these exactions, rapes, summary executions, murders perpetrated by the
death squad, in all impunity, against innocent victims," he said.

For IRIN stories on Cote d'Ivoire this week, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Cote_d_Ivoire

The HRW report is available at:
"http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/cotedivoire/"


GUINEA: Hundreds return from Cote d'Ivoire

Following the Ivorian crisis, Guinea began an operation on Monday to
airlift some of its nationals back home. Some 348 evacuees returned on
Monday and Wednesday, IOM's Zacharie Masse said. OCHA-Conakry said a
transit centre was established for them in the Commune of Matam, Conakry
District and another for 500 persons was being set up in Dixin. Some
returnees said they had been harassed. Many West Africans have been
leaving Cote d'Ivoire since the 19 September insurgency, due to insecurity
and the demolition of shantytowns where they lived. These include some
34,000 Burkinabe who have gone back home.

This IRIN story is available at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31131&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA


NIGERIA: 30,000 displaced by religious riots - Red Cross

Following four-days of religious riots in Nigeria, at least 30,000 people
have been displaced in the northern city of Kaduna, the Nigerian Red Cross
said on Thursday. More than 1,000 people were injured and 200 killed in
clashes between Christians and Muslims which erupted after Muslim
militants protested against a 16 November article in "Thisday" criticising
their opposition to the Miss World contest that was due to be held in
Nigeria. The writer, Isioma Daniel, suggested that the Prophet Mohammed
would have approved of the beauty pageant and may even have chosen one of
the contestants for a wife.

President Olusegun Obasanjo condemned the newspaper, saying legal action
would be taken against it.

The situation in Kaduna was brought under control on Sunday by security
forces, although tension was still high in the city. There were fears that
the violence could spread to other parts of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim
north after the pro-Islamic Zamfara State government issued a fatwa -
religious edict - urging Muslims to kill Daniel. However the federal
government said the fatwa was "of no effect".

Some 350 people were charged on Monday with arson, rioting, culpable
homicide and other offences. The organisers of the contest decided on
Saturday to move it to London. President Olusegun Obasanjo condemned the
newspaper, saying legal action would be taken against it.

Meanwhile the Independent National Electoral Commission said on Monday
that 25 new political parties had applied for registration for general
elections to be held next year following a relaxation of stringent
eligibility criteria.

Parties registered in the current exercise will join six existing ones,
including three registered in June for Nigeria's presidential,
parliamentary and local elections, tentatively set for 29 March and 29
April.

For detailed IRIN coverage of Nigeria this week, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Nigeria


GUINEA-BISSAU: Elections set for February

Guinea-Bissau will hold general elections on 23 February, President Kumba
Yala said on Monday - just over a week after dissolving parliament,
dismissing the Social Renovation Party (PRS) cabinet of Prime Minister
Almara Nhasse and appointing a caretaker administration.

For IRIN coverage of Guinea-Bissau, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Guinea-Bissau


LIBERIA: Council concerned over violation of sanctions

The UN Security Council this week again expressed concern at continued
violation of sanctions by Liberia's government, including an embargo on
arms importation. A Council statement said that apart from failure to meet
demands made in Resolution 1343, the Liberian government had used the
sanctions as an excuse for failing to improve services and carry out
reforms. The sanctions were imposed in March 2001 over Liberia's alleged
support for Sierra Leonean rebels and reported involvement in illegal
arms-for-diamonds trade.

Noting that a panel of experts which presented its report on 24 October,
had said the humanitarian impact of the sanctions was negligeable, the
Council urged Liberia's government to address the country's humanitarian
crisis and called on the international community to help Liberia alleviate
the worsening situation. It called for the prohibition of arms sales and
related materials to all Liberian recipients, including non-state actors
such as the LURD.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch had urged the Council to extend the arms
embargo on Liberia to rebel groups, including the LURD and monitor the
compliance of the Guinean government with that embargo. It said the
Guinean government's close relationship with Liberian rebel groups posed a
serious threat to refugees.

HRW also said LURD had "engaged in forced military recruitment of men and
young boys among the refugees, and have abducted adolescent girls for sex,
then returned them to the camp," adding that this was not acceptable
because the refugee camps had to be preserved and residents safe. LURD
members operated freely and openly within Guinea, HRW added, and in parts
of southern Guinea. It said refugees faced arbitrary arrest and detention
by the military or police on unsubstantiated charges of fighting for the
Liberian government.

In Monrovia, the Liberian government asked ECOWAS to arrange peace talks
with the LURD. President Charles Taylor met on Monday with the visiting
ECOWAS Chairman and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. They talked about
various options that Liberia wishes ECOWAS to take to initiate the talks.

Meanwhile presidential, parliamentary and local Liberian elections will
take place as scheduled in 2003. The chairman of the Elections Commission,
Paul Guah, told journalists on Tuesday he had submitted an US $11-million
election budget to the government.

For IRIN reports on Liberia this week, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Liberia


MAURITANIA: Acute malnutrition reported among children

Some 12.6 percent of Mauritania's children under the age of five,
especially in the south suffer from acute malnutrition, a study released
this week by World Vision said. It was conducted among at least 3,600
children in the region of Assaba, which borders on Senegal, and the
adjoining region of Tagant. In Aftout district in Assaba, the acute
malnutrition rate was 14.1 percent - double the national average of seven
percent.

Mauritania is suffering its worst drought in at least two decades, but
there has been little international attention for the plight of its
children, World Vision said. The next harvest is not until October 2003
and World Vision fears the situation will deteriorate by February.

For IRIN coverage on the Mauritanian drought, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Mauritania


SIERRA LEONE: Campaign on violence against women

A 16-day campaign targeting violence against Sierra Leonean women was
launched this week by the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL). The campaign targets people of both sexes from all social
strata, in towns and the countryside. UNAMSIL said the idea was to get
people "to realise that we can build a culture that says no to violence
against women but also to promote equal participation." According to the
UN Fund for Women, 94 percent of displaced households in Sierra Leone
experienced sexual assaults, including rape, torture and sexual slavery
during the brutal 10-year civil war that ended in January.

For detailed IRIN coverage of Sierra Leone, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Sierra_Leone


SIERRA LEONE: Campaign to free jailed editor

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists this week launched a campaign
to free Paul Kamara, who was jailed for libel on 12 November. On
Wednesday, the association put up posters marked "unfair trial, biased
judge, vicious sentence" in the capital, Freetown, to express condemnation
of Kamara's sentence. It also called for an end to the country's criminal
libel law.

Kamara, editor of "For Di People" daily newspaper, was sentenced to nine
months in prison and his newspaper was closed for six months after the
High Court found him guilty of 18 counts of libel and defamation. The
charges against him were filed on 5 April by an appeal court judge in
connection with articles in the newspaper which called the judge "a
thief", "a criminal", and "a constitutional fraudster". The newspaper also
ran a photo of the judge with the caption: "This man is dangerous".

For details of this story, go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31060


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