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
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e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 221
10 - 16 April 2004


CONTENTS:

COTE D'IVOIRE: Political impasse continues
MAURITANIA: Government refuses to legalise party
LIBERIA: DDR programme- Take two
CHAD-SUDAN: Political talks in jeopardy?
GUINEA: FIDH slams Guinea’s rights records


COTE D'IVOIRE: Political impasse continues

Cote d'Ivoire's political situation remains deadlocked, three weeks after
26 of the government’s 41 ministers pulled out from government in protest
to a banned demonstration that left dozens of dead.

However a positive sign appeared this week as for the first time, since
the 25 March demonstration, seven opposition parties, under the banner of
the "G7" met with Prime Minister Seydou Diarra to find ways to bring back
together the government and convince the “G7” to meet with President
Laurent Gbagbo. But successive meetings on Tuesday and Thursday yielded
nothing between Seydou and the group. Another meeting is scheduled for
Saturday.

About two weeks, Diarra met with the leaders of the main opposition
parties: former president Henri Konan Bedie of the Democratic Party of
Cote d'Ivoire; Alassane Ouattara of the Rally of Republicans and Guillaume
Soro of the "New Forces."

Niger's president Mamadou Tandja traveled to Abidjan on Thursday, the
latest West African president to attempt to mediate between Gbagbo and the
parties who represent seven of the ten signatories of the Ivorian peace
accord, the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement.

Amid this impasse, the United Nations has sent a human rights team who,
for the next ten days, will investigate the circumstances leading to and
surrounding the death of the 37 people who died on 25 and 26 March. The
opposition says that 10 ten times more people- between 300 and 500 people-
died in the two days of violence. The mission is expected to issue its
findings next month.

The "New Forces" told IRIN this week that they don't plan on breaking away
from the country. On 4 April, rebel leader Soro Guillaume issued a
statement which "secessionist undertones" which caused uproar within the
local and the Follow-Up of the Marcoussis Agreement.

The Follow-Up Committee condemned the 4 April statement, saying that it
threatens the country’s integrality.

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


MAURITANIA: Government refuses to legalise party

Mauritania’s interior ministry has refused to legalize a new political
party created by politicians and supporters close to former President
Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.

In actuality, the ministry even refused to accept the papers which would
have created the Party for Democratic Convergence, a would-have-been
senior source told IRIN from the capital Nouakchott.

The presence of Islamist, pending court cases for some and suspended court
sentences for others force the authorities to ban the party, the source
said.

The party would have what is known in Nouakchott as “Haidalla’s friends”,
referring to politicians, businessmen and others who backed Haidalla’s
presidential bid during last November election.

Haidalla ruled this largely Islamic state from 1979 until 1984 when he was
overthrown by current president, Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya. It is Taya
who defeated Haidalla in the November polls by winning 63 percent of
votes.

In the meantime, security forces have continued their crackdown on
suspected collaborators of former army members, Saleh Ould Hanena and
Mohamed Ould Cheikhna, the masterminds of last June’s failed coup d’etat.

In the last two weeks, four serving military officers and two civilians,
including Hannena’s older brother, have been arrested in connection with
the coup.

Already 120 soldiers are awaiting trial for their alleged participation in
the plot. No trial date has been set.

Local observers in Nouakchott fear that these latest developments could
lead to a further deterioration of relations between on one hand a
government increasingly seen as corrupt and an muzzled opposition and a
poor and marginalized population on the other.

For Mauritania articles please go to
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Mauritania


LIBERIA: DDR programme- take two

Liberia's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme (DDR)
was re-launched this week, after a four-month halt to fine-tune the
programme.

On Thursday, a total of 255 fighters, including 35 child soldiers, turned
in their guns to United Nations peacekeepers in Gbarnga, a former
stronghold of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy armed
movement (LURD). DDR is also due to get under way at three other sites by
the end of the month.

The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) made a false start in early December,
when hoards of gunmen rioted on the streets of Monrovia to demand cash for
handing in their weapons. Nine people died in the disturbance.

Up to 50,000 fighters, from the LURD, the Movement for Democracy in
Liberia and former government soldiers, are to disarm in the coming months
and be completed hopefully by October when the UN begins organized
repatriation of hundreds of thousand of Liberian refugees living in
neighbouring countries.

UNMIL spokesman Margaret Novicki said that each fighter would receive a
cash payment of US $150 on discharge from the disarmament camp, and
another $150 and skills training in due course.

But a new row seems to have appeared between the UN and the factions to
disarm over training.

Under current plans, disarmed fighters would be discharged from the
centers after just seven days, a time considered insufficient to receive
proper and adequate skills training, the factions said.

One day earlier, Abou Moussa, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Liberia,
announced the world body will begin repatriating more than 330,000
Liberians starting in October. The repatriation would run until March 2005
“early enough for the elections”, Moussa said.

Since the ousted of President Charles Taylor and the UN deployment,
thousands of Liberians have returned home on their own means, an
often-perilous endeavour.

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


CHAD-SUDAN: Political talks in jeopardy?

The Sudan government and two rebel groups are scheduled to meet next week
to negotiate a political solution to a 15-month old conflict that has been
raging in Darfur, western Sudan.

However on Friday, media reports indicated that the Sudan Liberation Army
(SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) were backing out of the
scheduled talks because of government violation of a ceasefire that went
into effect on Sunday.

Gathered in Chad last week under Chadian mediation, the belligerents inked
a humanitarian ceasefire. The ceasefire would allow desperately needed aid
to reach thousand of people caught in and displaced by the conflict.

But accusations have surfaced that the Sudanese army and its militia have
broke the agreement, media reports said on Friday.

The two sides have been fighting in Darfur, near the border with Chad,
since February 2003. The fighting has displaced more than 110,000 in Chad;
created 750,000 internally displaced people and led to the death of
thousand of people.

Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians

The rebel groups say they are fighting for greater political and economic
rights for the area.

For CHAD-SUDAN coverage please go to
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Chad


GUINEA: FIDH slams rights’ record

The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) has criticized the
regime of President Lansana Conte for appearing democratic, but in reality
basic freedoms and rights are systematically violated in the country.

In a report titled “Guinea: a virtual democracy with an uncertain future”,
FIDH rolled out a list of violations, including arbitrary arrests, rigged
elections, and impunity.

"Although the regime of President Lansana Conte has not reduced all the
areas of freedom available to citizens to zero, it has transformed the
social and political life of Guinea into a caricature democracy in which
the rights and freedoms in the constitution are violated", FIDH said.

The report was prepared after country visits in November 2003 and February
2004.

The report's publication coincided with a government decision to prevent
two opposition leaders, Ba Mamadou, the chairman of an alliance of
opposition groups and former Prime Minister Sydia Toure, from leaving the
country to fly to neighboring Senegal. Mamadou has since accused the
government of having a “black-list” of opposition activists, businessmen
and journalists who are to be prevented from going abroad.

The Paris-based organization also drew attention to Conte’s ill health,
warning that if the army colonel, in power since 1984, came to die in
office, it would lead a “high risk period of transition” which could
easily take the form of a “military coup with possible violence.”

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


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