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 22-41-9339
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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 193
13 - 19 September 2003


CONTENTS:

GUINEA-BISSAU: President Kumba Yala overthrown in bloodless coup
LIBERIA: Aid reaches rebel areas, UN discusses new mission
COTE D IVOIRE: One year after attempted coup d'etat
SIERRA LEONE: Former junta member indicted for war crimes
GHANA: Warnings that the economy is slowing down
CHAD-SUDAN: Sudanese refugees desperate for assistance
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: More oil money, but suffering continues
GUINEA: Lansana Conte to run for another presidential term


GUINEA-BISSAU: President Kumba Yala overthrown in bloodless coup

President Kumba Yala, 49, of Guinea-Bissau was toppled by the army in a
bloodless coup on Sunday. Yala was elected president with 72 percent of
the vote in 2000, his one-time supporters became increasingly disenchanted
with his erratic style of government. Last year, he dissolved parliament
after it passed a vote of no confidence against him. Then he delayed for
four times the election of a new legislature.

The pre-dawn coup was led by the 52-year old army chief of staff, General
Verissimo Correia Seabra. Mid-week, Yala signed a statement rescinding
power to the soldiers. A committee chaired by the Catholic bishop of
Bissau, Jose Camnate Na Bissign, was expected to suggest names to make up
a new government after the soldiers pledged they would return to barracks.

Sources close to the ad-hoc commission appointed by Correia Seabra to work
out how this former Portuguese colony should be governed in the immediate
future, told IRIN it would recommend the appointment of a broad-based
civilian government to rule the country for up to six months until fresh
parliamentary elections were held.

Diplomats in Bissau said Correia Seabra had warned Kumba Yala repeatedly
in recent months that the army would be forced to intervene if the
president failed to put his chaotic and near bankrupt government in order.

Mozambique's President, Joaquim Chissano, who is currently President of
the African Union (AU), unequivocally condemned the coup. He urged the new
military leaders to hold immediate talks with the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) "to find the best solution to restore
constitutional order".

On Thursday, the presidents of Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal flew to this
small West African country for talks with General Verissimo Correia
Seabra. Correia Seabra pledged that he would only serve as interim
president for a short while until fresh elections were held. However, he
refused to set any deadlines for holding a new poll.


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


LIBERIA: Aid reaches rebel areas, UN discusses new mission

Relief agencies extended their reach deep into Liberia's rebel held areas
where thousands of war-displaced people are living rough. The agencies
sent assessment missions as far as Harper near the Cote d'Ivoire border,
which is controlled by the rebel Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL)
and Gbarnga in the north, which is controlled by the rebel Liberians
United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

The UN said on Thursday it would resume full-scale relief efforts in the
rebel held counties of Maryland, River Gee, Grand Gedeh and Nimba, after
Liberia's new Transitional Government takes office on 14 October. Already
the World Food Programme started distributing food to 32,000 people in the
southeastern port city of Buchanan, 120 km from the capital, Monrovia.

The transitional government, led by businessman Gyude Bryant, is due to
replace the rump of Charles Taylor's administration, now headed by Moses
Blah. Blah took over as head of state when Taylor was forced by
international pressure to resign and leave the country on 11 August.

In New York, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday asked the
Security Council to authorize the deployment of 15,000 peacekeeping troops
and 875 police officers to the war-ravaged country, as part of an enlarged
UN mission (UNMIL).

"With the recent political and military developments in Monrovia, the
security situation in the country continues to improve," Annan said in his
report. "Liberia remains highly unstable, however, as armed groups,
militia and criminal elements operate throughout the country," he added.

"The armed conflict in Liberia resulted in serious abuses of human rights
and humanitarian law, including deliberate and arbitrary killings,
disappearances, torture, widespread rape and sexual violence, arbitrary
arrests, forced conscription, use of child soldiers, systematic and forced
displacement and indiscriminate targeting of civilians," Annan said.

Although Taylor left for exile, diplomats said he continues to orchestrate
clashes between government militias and rebel forces in the interior of
Liberia by telephone from his new home in Calabar in southeastern Nigeria.

Annan said: "I call upon Taylor to abide by the terms of the agreement
reached with Nigeria regarding his exile and to disengage completely from
Liberian politics."

Meanwhile, the European Commission on Tuesday gave a grant of eight
million euros to support peacekeeping efforts in Liberia by the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOWAS deployed a force,
ECOMIL, in the country.
 
Poul Nielson, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian aid, said: "We
have in recent years witnessed an increasing and successful involvement of
African leaders in conflict resolution on their continent. ECOWAS' role in
brokering and monitoring peace in Liberia is a good example."

ECOMIL said it lacked the capacity to deploy throughout the rebel-held
north and east of the country and would focus on strengthening its current
positions nearer Monrovia. Its Commander, General Festus Okonkwo told a
news conference that his troops would not establish bases north of Totota,
109 km north of Monrovia or beyond the Saint John Bridge, near the port
city of Buchanan, 120 km southeast of the capital.

In Monrovia, the European Union representative Geoffrey Rudd told
reporters that electricity will be restored to some of its parts within a
few days, more than 10 years after it was cut off during fighting that
damaged the city's hydro-electric power station.

"For the past days the EU in collaboration with the Liberia Electricity
Corporation [the state power company] have tested the power distribution
lines in Monrovia," he said "Within a matter of days, electricity will be
supplied once more."

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


COTE D IVOIRE: One year after attempted coup d'etat

Activities to mark one year after mutinous soldiers rose up to try and
topple the government of Laurent Gbagbo, were marred by the shooting to
death of a young man on Thursday as several hundred students displaced
from the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire protested.

The demonstration was staged a day before the anniversary of a failed coup
on 19 September 2002 that pushed Cote d'Ivoire into civil war. There were
fears that more student demonstrations would take place in Abidjan on
Friday in protest at the police killing and that these might prompt
further violence.

Despite the signing of a peace agreement in January and the formation of a
broad-based government of national reconciliation in March, relations
between President Laurent Gbagbo and the rebels who continue to occupy the
north remain tense. Gbagbo accused the rebels of backing an alleged coup
plot against him last month.
 
However Albert Tevoedjre, the United Nations special envoy to Cote
d'Ivoire, said on Wednesday that following the appointment of new
ministers of defence and external security, he expects the demobilisation
and disarmament of rebel forces occupying the north of the country to
start on 1 October.

Gbagbo chose law professor and human rights activist Martin Bleou as
Minister for Internal Security and Rene Amani, a political independent
with close personal links to Prime Minister Seydou Diarra as Defence
Minister.

Signs of trouble appeared on Saturday when the rebel Patriotic Movement of
Cote d'Ivoire, issued a statement protesting at the way the new ministers
had been chosen. Colonel Soumaila Bakayoko, the MPCI's military chief of
staff, said "The armed forces of the New Forces do not identify themselves
with the people chosen in this way."

Gbagbo responded to the MPCI's complaints by urging his supporters to
mobilise against the rebels, whom he described as "sorcerer's
apprentices."
 
"I urge Ivorians to clean their weapons and take courage," the president
said in an inflammatory speech on Sunday. "The war is not over....I want
you to be imaginative and create all sorts of ways of protesting. We want
no more rebellion," he added.

However in a sign of confidence that the peace process was back on track,
the UN downgraded its security rating of Cote d'Ivoire on Friday.

In France, Master Sergeant Ibrahim Coulibaly, a well known leader of
military coups in Cote d'Ivoire, and five other people who were arrested
three weeks ago on suspicion of recruiting mercenaries to commit acts of
terrorism in the West African country, were released from custody.

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


SIERRA LEONE: Former junta member indicted for war crimes

Santigie Kanu, a non-commissioned officer who formed part of a military
junta that ruled Sierra Leone from 1997 to 1998, was indicted for war
crimes on Wednesday by the country's UN-backed Special Court. He was
charged on 17 counts with violating article three of the Geneva Convention
and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Special Court, which is staffed by international prosecutors and
judges, was set up to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for
atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's 1991 to 2001 civil war.

It currently holds nine of the 13 people it has indicted since March. Two
have died - former RUF leader Foday Sankoh and his military commander Sam
Bockarie - and two are still at large. These are former Liberian president
Charles Taylor was granted political asylum in Nigeria when he was forced
to relinquish power last month and Johnny Paul Koroma.

In New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended that the mandate
of the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL, be extended for a
further six months.

Meanwhile the spread of Lassa fever in refugee camps in southern and
eastern Sierra Leone has been brought under control except in Jimmi Bagbo
camp, where severe cases continue to be registered, the UN High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

Lassa fever is an acute viral illness transmitted by rats that is common
in West Africa. It can cause a variety of symptoms, including fever, chest
pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and loss of hearing. If untreated, it can result
in death. UNHCR said a campaign was under way to eradicate rats from Jimmi
Bagbo in Bo district, which houses over 6,000 mainly Liberian refugees.

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


GHANA: Warnings that the economy is slowing down

A leading economic think tank warned the Ghanaian government that the
economy slowed down during the first half of this year. The Centre for
Policy Analysis (CEPA) urged the government to agree to more realistic
economic performance targets with foreign donors and cautioned against
excessive spending in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary
elections due in December 2004.

"As at now, we see signals that suggest that the growth cannot be the same
as what was originally projected," Joseph Abbey, CEPA's Executive Director
told IRIN after a survey was published on Tuesday.

He said public spending had overshot as a result of generous pay
settlements for civil servants, teachers and health workers over the past
four years, whereas the anticipated additional revenues from the
privatisation of state enterprises had failed to materialise because of
delays in selling off loss-making companies.

"We should be careful not to be locked in by our concerns just to contain
inflation," Abbey said. "We need to ensure that our poverty reduction
programme has achievable targets in terms of health, education and the
provision of social services."

CEPA predicted an improvement in the balance of payments this year and
said Ghana's currency, the cedi, could appreciate against other major
currencies if the government maintained financial discipline.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36660&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GHANA


CHAD-SUDAN: Sudanese refugees desperate for assistance

Thousands of refugees who have fled insecurity in Darfur, western Sudan,
and scattered along the border with Chad, are in urgent need of
assistance, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported on Tuesday.

"Thousands of Sudanese refugees, mainly women and children, had to flee
their homes and country completely empty handed, and are arriving in Chad
in bad shape," says Sonia Peyrassol, MSF operational coordinator for Chad.
"There's no time to waste, we have to send staff and supplies immediately
to respond to the increasing needs."

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimated that about 70,000 Sudanese
refugees had entered Chad, while hundreds more were "streaming" in. They
are scattered in about 20 locations along the border, many around Tine and
Birak.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36638&SelectRegion=East_Africa,%20West_Africa&SelectCountry=CHAD-SUDAN


EQUATORIAL GUINEA: More oil money, but suffering continues

The discovery in 1995 of abundant offshore oil and gas near Bioko in this
former Spanish colony of just over 500,000 people, has raised production
to 350,000 barrels per day, most of which is exported to the United States
according to a new report by the US Department of Energy.

Oil companies from Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia and
Malaysia have joined the Americans in getting a slice of the oil and gas
bonanza in this densely forested country, raising Equatorial Guinea's per
capita income to US $4,472 this year, one of the highest in Africa.

But within the country itself, very little has changed. Very little of the
country's new found oil wealth has found its way into the pockets of
ordinary people.

"The failure of the government to inject oil revenues into the country's
economy, especially to fund much-needed improvements in the country's
infrastructure, has meant little improvement in the economic and social
welfare of most Ecuatoguineans. While real per capita GDP has doubled over
the last five years, there has been little positive change in social
indicators," the US report said.

"There is strong evidence of government misappropriation of oil revenues,
in particular for lavish personal expenditures," the report added.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36687&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=EQUATORIAL_GUINEA


GUINEA: Lansana Conte to run for another presidential term

Guinean President Lansana Conte said this week that he will seek a fresh
seven-year term in elections due in December on the ticket of his ruling
Party for Unity and Progress (PUP).

The 69-year-old head of state, who came to power in a 1984 coup, changed
the constitution two years ago so that he could serve an indefinite number
of terms. At the same time, he effectively delayed fresh elections for 24
months by extending the presidential term from five to seven years. But he
is debilitated by diabetes and heart problems.

The head of state made it clear that he did not intend to take a very
active part in the election campaign. Conte said that going on the
campaign trail would simply make his feet hurt. "You have chosen me, so
get on with the business yourselves," he said.

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


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