U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 133
26 July - 1 August 2003


CONTENTS:

LIBERIA: Amid ongoing fighting, Nigerian soldiers to deploy
COTE D'IVOIRE: No date set for exchange of prisoners
TOGO: New government without traditional opposition
GABON: Constittion once again amended
Sierra LEONE: Sankoh dies in jail


LIBERIA: Amid ongoing fighting, Nigerian soldiers to deploy

Another chaotic week in Liberia, with its usual toll of displaced people,
outbreaks of contagious diseases and malnutrition, has ended on a positive
note as the Economic Community of West States (ECOWA) on Thursday pledged
to send Nigerian soldiers as a vanguard of a multinational peacekeeping
force in the troubled country by Monday at the latest.

Within an hour of the ECOWAS announcement, fighting broke out again in the
Liberia capital Monrovia, which has been in the last two weeks the scene
of heavy fighting, often killing civilians, between troops loyal to
President Charles Taylor and fighters from two rebel movements.

The summit, held in Ghana as it currently holds the chair of the regional
organization, also said that Taylor would step down and leave the country
by Wednesday, after the troops had deployed. Taylor had set a deployment
of peacekeepers as a prequisite for his departure. US President George
Bush, who over the last few weeks has faced international pressure to send
US troops to rescue Monrovia, had also said his troops would deploy only
after West African peacekeepers were on the ground.

On Wednesday, a 12-man reconnaissance team, headed by the
commander-designate of the peacekeeping force, Nigerian General Festus
Okonkwo, arrived in Monrovia to prepare for the arrival of the troops.

The fighting has mainly taken a toll on the civilians. Humanitarian relief
agencies, such as the ICRC, World Vision, Caritas, MSF, despite the risky
and volatile situation, continue to offer as best as they can assistance
to residents. Lack of potable water and food and spread of contagious
diseases such as cholera rank as the most pressing needs. Thousands of
people have lost their homes.

The prices of the little food that is available in the capital have
skyrocketed in price, rendering it unaffordable to the people, who have no
money or no way to earn money.

Throughout the week, fighting raged on. Liberia's second town, Buchanan,
fell to the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), one of the two
groups fighting to oust Taylor.

Talks in Ghana, which begun on 4 June to solve the Liberian crisis, are
going on. However the peace conference, which includes the political wings
of MODEL and LURD, government representatives, opposition parties and the
civil society, has yet to agree on the formation of a transitional
government.

Earlier in the week, MODEL threatened to pull out of the negotiations if
the civilian politicians persisted in trying to exclude the rebels from a
leading role in a post-Taylor transitional government. This government
would be tasked with organizing fresh elections.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan this week strongly condemned the ongoing
fighting and said the rebel groups were "disqualifying "themselves from
any future government role in the west African nation.

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

COTE D'IVOIRE: No date set for exchange of prisoners

Representatives of the Ivorian army and the rebel movements on Tuesday
exchanged the names of prisoners of wars, but failed to set a date on a
formal exchange, military sources said this week.

A date could not be set because, according the sources, the parties
submitted "incorrect lists". The ECOWAS peacekeeping mission, which has
been deployed since the beginning of the year, said this week the next
step would be to harmonise the list. According to media sources, the
government submitted a list of 50 POWs it had captured since September
2002 while the armed movements, also known as New Forces, submitted 44
names.

This fourth meeting between the two belligerents, which was assisted by
French, West African and United Nations military observers, also made no
"real progress" on the question of disarmament, demobilisation and
reintegration as the New Forces said they have done all the military
concessions they could make. They told the meeting that it was now up to
the politicians to take the next step to ensure that the DDR programme
remains on track. The next step, according to them, was the nomination of
the security and defense ministers and the signing into law of a proposed
amnesty bill.

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

GABON: Constitution once again amended

Gabon's Parliament and Senate, largely dominated by the ruling party of
President Omar Bongo, on Tuesday approved amendments to the constitution
which would allow President Bongo to seek re-election indefinitely while
reducing the number to one the number of voting rounds in all elections.

Under its old format, the constitution stipulated that the presidency
could rule for maximum of two seven-year terms, and provided for two
rounds of voting in all elections. The constitution was last changed in
1997.

Proposed a week earlier, the amendments were overwhelmingly approved as
188 of the 210 parliamentarians who make up both chambers voted. 183 cast
their ballots in favour of the amendments which the opposition had dubbed
the move "a constitutional coup d'etat" meant to keep Bongo atop this
small, oil producing country. The new constitution will take effect in
2012.

In power since 1967 following the death of Gabon's first president Leon
M'ba, Bongo is Africa's second longest-serving president after President
Eyadema of Togo. Gabon's next election would take place in 2005.

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

TOGO: New government formed with traditional opposition

After weeks of negotiations, Togo's new 26-member government does not
include any of the county's traditional opposition, however for the first
time, Eyadema has given a post to one of his sons.

The government was formed on Wednesday. It does however include opposition
parties- known in Togo as the "constructive opposition"- who are in
alliance with the ruling party.

The main opposition groups, notably the Union of Forces for Change (UFC)
of veteran opposition leader Gilchrist Olympio, the Panafrican Patriotic
Convergence party of former prime minister and diplomat Edem Kodjo, the
Action Renewal Committee of lawyer Yaowi Agboyibor and the Democratic
Committee of African Peoples led by scientist Leopold Gnininvi were left
out as they had declared, weeks earlier, that they would not be in
government.

Faure Essozima Eyadema, the president's son, holds the ministry of public
works, mines and telecommunications.

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

SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh dies in jail

Foday Sankoh, the former leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
rebel movement, died on Tuesday in custody while awaiting trial for
atrocities committed during the country's decade-long civil war.

Sankoh, 66, had died in Freetown's Choithram Hospital. He had been
seriously ill since he suffered a stroke in August last year. In recent
months Sankoh had been confined to a wheelchair, suffered from
incontinence, was unable to feed himself and apparently unable to speak. A
post mortem has been ordered.

With his dying, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to try those
who bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes and violations of
international law violation during the country's 10-year war, has lost two
of its key accused. In early May, Sam Bockarie, a rebel commander in
Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front rebel movement, was killed in
Monrovia.

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


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