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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Fax: +225 22-41-9339
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 205
6 - 12 December 2003


CONTENTS

COTE D'IVOIRE: Thursday killing caps off hopeful week
LIBERIA: Bad start to disarmament
NIGERIA: Public debate on Taylor asylum
NIGERIA: ExxonMobil to pay US $10 million for oil spill
CAMEROON-NIGERIA: Hand-over of Lake Chad village begins
MAURITANIA: Haidalla trial continues

COTE D'IVOIRE: Thursday Killing caps off hopeful week

Members of the Ivorian army killed late Thursday night 12 armed men who
were attempting to attack the national television station. The incident
coincided with the killing of another seven gunmen in the eastern
middle-class suburb of Abobo, military sources said on Friday.

Sources told IRIN that two suspects have been arrested.

All the dead men had the words "Brigade Nindja" written on their black
T-shirts. "Brigade Nindja" is the name of one of he pro-government
militias in Abidjan who were allegedly trained and armed by the government
of President Laurent Gbagbo after the failed coup d'etat of 19 September
2002.

A senior army officer said an investigation has been launched and “the
bodies will be examined one by one to determine who these people are.”

The attacks marked another black spot on the road towards peace,
particularly in light of a week highlighted by meetings between the
government and the rebel movement, to get the rebels to return to
government and to begin a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
process.

Although the rebels have yet to announce their return to the government of
national reconciliation of Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, the two sides
have agreed to begin disarmament on Saturday.



The week did however start on a good note as 40 soldiers of the national
army were released after months of captivity in Bouake and Korhogo, two
rebel-held towns.

The UN Humanitarian Envoy for the Cote d’Ivoire crisis, Carolyn McAskie,
concluded on Wednesday a three-day mission in which she appealed to both
the government and the rebels to keep on negotiating for a peaceful
resolution to the 15 month-old crisis.

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


LIBERIA: Bad start for disarmament

On Monday, one day after the start of Liberia’s disarmament process,
disgruntled former combatants rampaged and looted across the capital
Monrovia in demand for on-the-spot benefits, notably money, for
participating in a disarmament process.

The incidents, which took place on Monday and Tuesday, left nine people
dead.

The fighters rioted because they were angry that they were not given cash
in exchange for their guns, a benefit they had been promised as part of
the disarmament process. Prior to the incident, at least 2,000 former
combatants had disarmed.

By Wednesday, an initial payment of US $75 had been paid to former
combatants, half of the $150 they are to receive in the first weeks of
disarmament. They would also receive US $150 after completion of a
reinsertion programme.

Calm returned to the city on Wednesday.

An estimated 40,000 former fighters are expected to disarm across several
camps in the country.

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

NIGERIA: Public debate to discuss Taylor asylum

The lower chamber of Nigeria’s national legislature announced on Thursday
that it intends to hold a public hearing on the asylum granted to former
Liberian president Charles Taylor.

The chamber said civil society groups, officials from the ministries of
justice and foreign affairs would be invited to discuss the ramifications
for Nigeria’s foreign policy of hosting an indicted war criminal, as well
as its impact on the respect of the rule of law.

The chairman of the chamber’s committee on foreign relations, Usman
Bugaje, said on Thursday no date had yet to be set for the hearing.

Since11 August, Taylor has been living in the southern Nigerian city of
Calabar.

Prior to his departure Taylor was indicted by the United Nations-backed
court in Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity, stemming from his
support for rebels accused of atrocities against unarmed civilians during
that country’s 10 years of civil war.

There have been continuing calls on the Nigerian government by local and
international human rights groups, foreign governments, the UN court in
Sierra Leone and the International Police Organization (Interpol) for
Taylor to be handed over for trial.

It was President Olusegun Obasanjo who granted asylum to Taylor.

According to Bugaje, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives
was consulted by Obasanjo before he took the decision.


http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Nigeria

NIGERIA: ExxonMobil to pay US $10 million for oil spill

The US-based oil giant ExxonMobil has been ordered to pay three Niger
Delta communities 1.4 billion naira (US $10.1 million) as compensation for
the effects of a 1998 oil spill, Nigerian and company officials said on
Monday.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha of the
Federal High Court in Lagos held the oil company liable for damage done by
floating crude oil to fisheries and the ecology of the coastal communities
of Bonny, Brass and Andoni, a court official said.

The crude oil, the judge ruled, was part of the over 40,000 barrels
spilled when a pipeline connecting ExxonMobil’s offshore Idoho platform to
its Qua Iboe oil export terminal, succumbed to wear and tear in January
1998. The company had argued in court it was not oil from its facility
that had caused the damage complained against by the communities.

Relations between transnational oil companies producing over two million
barrels of crude daily in Nigeria and the inhabitants of the oil-rich
Niger Delta, where most of the oil is produced, are at best difficult.

Impoverished communities in the region accuse the joint ventures of
government and oil transnationals of cheating them out of the wealth
produced in their land and causing massive environmental damage.

Violent disruption of oil operations, including kidnapping of oil workers
for ransom, violent protests and fighting among the communities for
benefits from oil companies are common.

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

CAMEROON-NIGERIA: Hand-over of Lake Chad village begins

Nigeria handed over on Monday the first of 33 villages it is due to return
to eastern neighbour Cameroon, under the terms of a ruling of the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the border dispute between the two
countries, officials said on Tuesday.

A village called Nada was returned to Cameroon on Monday, according to a
senior official of Nigeria’s National Boundary Commission.

Under the exchanges, scheduled to take place over 10 days, Nigeria will
give up another two villages on 16 December in return for one from
Cameroon. The process will be concluded on 18 December when Nigeria will
return the remaining 30 villages, he said.

The handover process was worked out at meetings of the Nigeria-Cameroon
Mixed Commission in the Nigerian capital Abuja late in October and
Yaounde, the Cameroon capital, last week.

The handover of territory involves dismantling administrative structures,
withdrawing security agents, customs and immigration services and
replacing them with those of the recipient country.

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


MAURITANIA: Haidalla trial continues

The trial of former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla and 14
co-defendants, accused of plotting against the state, continued this week
in the capital Nouakchott. As at 17:00 GMT on Friday, no verdict had been
pronounced

The trial, which started on 1 December, was however suspended on Tuesday
and Wednesday, without any explanations being given to the defence team,
defence lawyers told IRIN. It resumed on Thursday.

Defence lawyers have said the case against the 15 men is “totally void”.
On the first day of trial, they had asked for the unconditional release of
the men.

FOR IRIN coverage of Mauritania, please go to
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Mauritania


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