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

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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 178
01 - 06 June 2003


CONTENTS:

LIBERIA: IDPs flee camps as rebels advance into Monrovia
COTE D'IVOIRE: Annan appoints Bangladeshi to head MINUCI
MAURITANIA: Government continues political crackdown
TOGO: Eyadema to rule for five more years


LIBERIA:  IDPs flee camps as rebels advance into Monrovia

Liberian rebels surged into the western outskirts of the capital Monrovia
on Friday after heavy fighting overnight which sent thousands of displaced
people fleeing in heavy rain into the city centre.

There was chaos in the streets as the tropical downpour continued. The
rebels were reported to have advanced within 15 km of the city centre and
several international organisations said they had begun making
arrangements to evacuate their remaining staff to neighbouring Cote
d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone.

The upsurge in fighting came a day after President Charles Taylor
announced that he had foiled an attempted coup by several military
commanders and senior figures in government.

Taylor sacked Vice-President Moses Blah, who was apparently implicated in
the plot and announced that he would dissolve his cabinet next week.
Several news reports suggested on Friday that Blah was now under arrest.

Many of those fleeing on foot from the latest fighting were inhabitants of
camps for displaced people on the outskirts of Monrovia. They told IRIN
that the sound of heavy artillery fire had continued from the western
outskirts overnight as government reinforced its positions with militias
and the elite Anti-Terrorism Unit.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had
received reports that most of the 200,000 inhabitants of the camps for
displaced people were moving out towards the city centre because of the
intensification of fighting between rebels of the Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and government fighters.

In Ghana, peace talks which were to have started between the Liberian
government and LURD were stalled for the second day running. Ghanaian
foreign minister, Nana Akuffo-Addo, said they would not resume until there
was a ceasefire in Liberia and a second rebel group, the Movement for
Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), sent a delegation to participate in the
negotiations.

Relief workers in Monrovia warned of a possible humanitarian disaster if
fighting continued around the city for several days. OCHA said most of
those arriving in the city centre had no water, food, medicines or
sanitation facilities. Hospitals were struggling to cope with the wounded
as police ambulances ferried them from the front line.

International organisations started meanwhile evacuating staff from the
country. "We are concerned about the security of our staff and are moving
non-essential staff to Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown," one aid worker
said.

By Friday afternoon, the rebels were reportedly 15 km from the city centre
and had taken control of Iron gate, Virginia and Caldwell areas in the
northwestern outskirts of Monrovia. An earlier rebel attempt on Thursday
to take over these areas was repulsed by government fighters, eyewitnesses
told IRIN.

A 14-man LURD delegation to the Ghana talks was tight lipped about the
fighting. They however told reporters they would not sit down to talk
representative of a government "led by an indicted war criminal." This was
a reference to Wednesday's indictment of President Charles Taylor by a
UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone. This accused him of war crimes
for backing the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during Sierra
Leone's civil war in the 1990s.

However, the Ghanaian foreign minister told reporters that the peace talks
in Akosombo, 100 km north of the capital, Accra, had only been stalled
temporarily.
 
"President John Kufuor [of Ghana] has sent an air force plane to bring the
MODEL here. Let us give them the weekend to join the talks," Nana
Akuffo-Addo said. He did not say where the plane had been sent.

The Liberian peace talks formally opened on Wednesday at a ceremony in
Accra attended by six African presidents, but they have made little
headway since.

Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Secretary-General of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), which brokered the talks along with the UN-backed
International Contact Group on Liberia, said some limited discussions
would go on in Akosombo in the meantime.

General Abdulsalami Abubakar, facilitator of the talks appealed for a
ceasefire. "The tragic mistake any group can make is to think that there
is a military solution to Liberia. It has never been so and it will never
be," he said.

But some delegates said they were disturbed by Taylor's announcement on
Thursday that he had foiled a coup attempt and by the Sierra Leone's issue
of an international warrant for his arrest.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an opposition politician who served as interim
president before elections in 1997 that brought Taylor to power, said
Taylor's indictment by the Special Court in Freetown "has changed the
whole nature of the conference."

COTE D'IVOIRE:  Annan appoints Bangladeshi to head MINUCI

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed on Wednesday an army officer
from Bangladesh, Brig-Gen Abdul Hafiz, to head the initial contingent of
military observers of the newly created UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire
(MINUCI).

As Chief Military Liaison Officer of MINUCI, Hafiz will be responsible for
military relations between the UN office and forces from France and the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); advising the office of
the UN Special Representative on military matters; ensuring general
security.  Several African, European, Asian and South American countries
have agreed to provide military officers to the mission.

Annan's appointment came one day after the UN Security Council reiterated
concern for the humanitarian situation in the country, saying it was
particularly worried about the recent wave of Liberians fleeing Liberia to
seek refuge across the border where the situation itself was still
volatile. However French, West African, Ivorian forces as well elements of
rebel movements have been deploying throughout the western area, which has
welcomed well over 15,000 displaced people in the last two weeks, to
restore peace and stability in the area.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the coastal town of
Tabou has received the recent influx as fleeing populations, including
Liberian refugees and Ivorian and West African nationals who had fled to
Liberia to escape the Ivorian conflict, entered the country through
numerous official and unofficial entry points.

An inter-agency mission, which included the World Food Programme, UNHCR
and the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, recently
concluded a two-day mission to the area to assess the situation of the
newly displaced.

MAURITANIA: Government continues political crackdown

The government of Mauritania in the last week banned an Arabic language
newspaper and closed numerous socio-cultural organisations in what has
been described as a crackdown on Islamic organisations that at times have
been called "extremist."

The closing of four cultural organisations, the closing of the Al-Raya
newspaper, and the sentencing of nine members of the banned Nouhoud
opposition party were the latest in a month-long socio-political
crackdown, a few months from the country's next presidential elections.  
Some opposition critics, including former president Ahmed Ould Daddah,
have said it is an attempt by incumbent president Maaouiya Sid Ahmed Ould
Taya to hamstring the opposition ahead of December polls.

Another 30 members of the opposition Movement of Democratic Forces also
appeared in court to face charges of treason, while a dozen of other
government critics have been arrested and are awaiting to appear before a
judge, according to media sources. Bail was denied for the MDF members.

Al-Raya is accused of "subversion and intolerance," while its editor has
not been seen since 30 May and a warrant of arrest was issued for its
chairman of the boards.

The International Federation of Human Rights League have demanded the
release of all those arrested in this latest crackdown saying their trials
were unfair or their rights to a fair trial were denied.  The Media
Foundation of West Africa appealed to the Mauritania authorities to lift
the ban on the paper.

TOGO: Eyadema to rule for five more years

General Gnassingbe Eyadema, Togo's president since 1967, will run the
country for the next five years following his victory in presidential
polls held on Sunday. According to final provisional results from the
electoral commission, Eyadema won 57.22 percent of the votes cast by some
2.3 million voters, ahead of Emmanuel Bob-Akitani of the opposition Union
of Forces for Change who won 34 percent of votes.

Eyadema's Rally of the Togolese People has denied all fraud accusations
that the opposition has made.  On Tuesday, three international delegations
of observers also denied the opposition’s accusation of large-scale fraud,
saying the irregularities that they had witnessed were not sufficient to
discredit the entire poll.


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