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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 182
28 June - 04 July 2003


CONTENTS:

LIBERIA: Taylor under intense pressure to resign and leave Liberia
NIGERIA: Strike shuts down the country
NIGERIA: Obasanjo accused of failing to end rights abuse
COTE D'IVOIRE: Rebels stay in government
GUINEA: Forest region situation still complex
SIERRA LEONE: Two more arraigned before Special Court
GUINEA-BISSAU: Elections again proposed for 12 October


LIBERIA: Taylor under intense pressure to resign and leave Liberia

The situation in Liberia continued to deteriorate despite a truce in
fighting, but military chiefs of defence staff from the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) met in Ghana on Thursday to discuss the
size of an intervention force to monitor the fragile ceasefire in Liberia.
Its Joint Verification Team left for the Liberian capital, Monrovia, to
pave way for such a force.

The meeting followed US President George Bush's repeated demands that
President Charles Taylor step down "to stop further bloodshed". It was
expected that the US government would announce a 500-1,000 soldiers to
back-up the ECOWAS force over the weekend. "We're exploring all options to
keep the situation peaceful and stable. But one thing has to happen:
Taylor needs to leave the country...in order for there to be peace and
stability," Bush said on Wednesday.
  
Bush's demands sparked-off protests against Taylor in Monrovia. But
heavily armed police dispersed the demonstrators who marched through the
centre of the city demanding Taylor's resignation.

Former US President Jimmy Carter on Thursday welcomed Bush's
"determination to help the people of Liberia find the path to peace and
his strong support for the ceasefire signed early this month." Expressing
support for "a multinational humanitarian intervention" he added that:
"Taylor needs to leave the country, permitting the cease-fire to prevail
and democratic elections to be held. Taylor needs to leave now."

International media reported that Taylor could go to exile in Nigeria.
Foreign Ministers of Nigeria and Liberia shuttled between their capitals
from Wednesday to Friday over "the situation in Liberia". Diplomats said
Taylor had initially rejected the offer of exile to Nigeria unless an
indictment against him for war-crimes was lifted.

Monrovia remained calm through the week, since rebel forces retreated from
the city last Friday and a 17 June ceasefire agreement was re-established.
Government fighters removed some checkpoints from the city centre, shops
opened but the banks remained closed.

Aid agencies resumed helping the hundreds of thousands of displaced
people. Some 586 cholera cases were reported. The UN High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) said that a large number of the 15,000 Sierra Leonean
refugees in Monrovia, were seeking emergency evacuation aboard a
UNHCR-chartered passenger ferry that was on its way from Freetown.

Liberia degenerated into chaos at the start of June, when rebels of the
Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) fought their way
into Monrovia's suburbs as they began peace talks with the government in
Ghana.

The government, LURD and another rebel group, the Movement for Democracy
in Liberia (MODEL), subsequently signed a ceasefire agreement in the
Ghanaian capital, Accra, on 17 June. But this collapsed within hours,
stalling negotiations on a political settlement to end 14 years of
intermittent civil war, during which more than 200,000 people have died.
The peace talks were due to resume in Accra on Friday.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that the situation in
Liberia was "urgent, tragic". Pope John Paul II appealed to the
international community to help Liberia during his weekly general audience
in St Peter's Square in Rome. The pontiff said he felt a "deep sorrow over
the dramatic events [in Liberia]".

But the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), President John Kufuor of Ghana, urged the UN to consider setting
aside the indictment of Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes
in order to facilitate a negotiated settlement to Liberia's civil war.

On June 4 Taylor was publicly indicted by a UN-backed Special Court in
Sierra Leone for his part in fuelling that country's 10-year civil war.
The charges were announced as the Liberian leader flew to Accra to begin
peace talks with the two rebel movements.

But a visiting UN Security Council team led by Britain's ambassador to the
United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, that was touring West Africa to
promote peace and stability in the region rejected the request. "There is
no immunity against those who go against human rights," Greenstock said in
Ghana on Monday.

For IRIN coverage of the Liberian crisis go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Liberia


NIGERIA: Strike shuts down the country

A nationwide strike called by Nigeria's trade unions shut down the country
through the week. On Wednesday, anti-riot police fired tear gas and shot
in the air to disperse a rally by the trade unionists in the capital,
Abuja. Negotiations between representatives of the umbrella trade union,
Nigeria Labour Congress, and officials of President Olusegun Obasanjo's
government continued and reports indicated a compromise could be reached
by the weekend.

The unions called the protest after the government raised petrol prices by
54 percent on 20 June, saying Africa's largest oil producer should no
longer have to spend US $2 billion a year on subsidising fuel that was
already cheap by international standards. The unions said price increases
for petrol, diesel and kerosene would only aggravate poverty among
Nigeria's 120 million people, 70 percent of whom live on less than US $1 a
day.

Signs the industrial action may hurt Nigeria's oil exports began to emerge
on Tuesday after senior employees of oil transnationals joined the strike.

For IRIN coverage of the strike go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Nigeria


NIGERIA: Obasanjo accused of failing to end rights abuse

Human Rights Watch urged Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to put the
"ending of impunity for human rights abuses" at his top agenda, saying he
failed to rein in widespread abuses by the security forces during his
first four-year term as elected leader. In an open letter to Obasanjo on
Wednesday, HRW said no action was taken on perpetrators of extrajudicial
killings and political violence during last April's elections. Hundreds of
people were killed in the run-up to these elections, which returned
Obasanjo to power for a second four-year term. HRW said communities in the
oil-rich Niger Delta were targeted.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35163&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGERIA


COTE D IVOIRE: Rebels stay in unity government

Cote d'Ivoire's rebel movements decided on Wednesday to stay in
government, 48 hours after threatening to withdraw from the
three-month-old government of national reconciliation. The threat was
sparked by an incident last week when Communications Minister Guillaume
Soro, who is also Secretary-General of the main rebel group, was attacked
by pro-government militants.

Soro was attacked by hardline paramilitary pro-government youths when he
visited the state television on Friday. He was forced to take refuge in
the building's sick bay for two hours until police restored order and
escorted him out. He said the attack was a failed assassination attempt.

The rebels on Tuesday met a UN Security Council team, led by Britain's
ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, which was touring
West Africa to seek ways of containing the conflicts in Liberia and Cote
d'Ivoire. It was agreed that the rebels stay in government.

Cote d'Ivoire, the most prosperous country in West Africa, collapsed into
civil war in September last year after a failed coup. Fighting died down
after the January peace agreement and the dispatch of 4000 French and
1,300 West African peace-keeping troops to police the front line. A
ceasefire between the two sides has held well since early May. The
incident was the latest test for the fragile Ivorian peace process.

For IRIN coverage of the Cote d'Ivoire crisis go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Cote_d_Ivoire

 
GUINEA: Forest region situation still complex

The humanitarian situation in Guinea's southeastern Forest region remains
highly complex, with the area receiving wave-upon-wave of people uprooted
from countries in the subregion by conflicts, Action by Churches Together
(ACT) said on Wednesday. To continue assisting Liberian refugees,
ACT/Lutheran World Federation said they opened a small operational base in
Kissidougou with funds initially planned for Kouankan. Other ACT funds
planned for 2003 refugee assistance activities in Kouankan, would be used
to start a mental health and agriculture component.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Guinea
 

SIERRA LEONE: Two more arraigned before Special Court

Two leaders of Sierra Leone's former Kamajor militias on Tuesday pleaded
not guilty to eight counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, at a
UN-backed Special Court trying those responsible for the greatest crimes
during Sierra Leone's decade of civil war.

The Kamajors fought for the government, but they are believed to have
committed serious crimes including shooting suspects, hacking or burning
people to death, cannibalism and human sacrifice. One of the suspects,
Alieu Kondewa, told the court: "I am not guilty, I have never killed
anyone, and I am not a thief." Moinina Fofanah, initially refused to take
his plea but later pleaded not guilty.

The Court has so far indicted twelve individuals, including Charles
Taylor, the president of neighbouring Liberia. The Prosecutor accuses them
of bearing the greatest responsibility for the violence that occurred in
Sierra Leone.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35139&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SIERRA_LEONE


GUINEA-BISSAU: Elections again proposed for 12 October

Guinea-Bissau's parliamentary elections, which were postponed three times
this year, may take place on 12 October, President Kumba Yala said on
Monday. But the head of the National Electoral Commission, Higinio
Cardoso, said it could be difficult to complete all preparations by then.
Idrissa Diallo, the leader of the opposition National Unity Party, also
cast doubt on the government's ability to organise free and fair elections
in October. Originally planned for February, the polls were postponed for
April then July for lack of preparation.

Yala was elected in 2000 after his predecessor was overthrown in a coup
which led to a year-long civil war. But the country has since been
entangled in political and economic crises. In June, the UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan told the Security Council that Guinea-Bissau had
"embarked on a downward course."

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Guinea-Bissau


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