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
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Round-Up 324
1 - 7 April 2006


CONTENTS:

SIERRA LEONE: Taylor pleads not guilty to crimes in sister republic
SIERRA LEONE: The Special Court - one of many tool for a lasting peace
GUINEA: Prime Minister Diallo sacked in possible power struggle
BURKINA FASO: Bird flu confirmed but country unprepared
BENIN: President Mathieu Kerekou leaves after 29 years
COTE D'IVOIRE: Disarmament talks on track at last
LIBERIA: EU turning on the taps for Monrovia


SIERRA LEONE: Taylor pleads not guilty to crimes in sister republic

Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes
against humanity on Monday at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, but
said he did not recognise the Court's jurisdiction.

"Most definitely, your honour, I did not and could not have committed
these acts against the sister republic of Sierra Leone," said Taylor in
his first appearance before the court.

The ex Liberian president, dressed in a dark suit with white shirt and
red tie, added, "I think that this is an attempt to continue to divide
and rule the people of Liberia and Sierra Leone and so most definitely I
am not guilty."

The Court spent over 30 minutes reading the indictment, which includes
responsibility for murder, mass rape and sexual slavery, mutilation and
use of child soldiers in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 war. During the
reading of the charges, a sombre-faced Taylor shifted around in his
seat, repeatedly clasping his hands.

In a statement on Monday Chief Prosecutor Desmond de Silva said, "The
people of Sierra Leone have been waiting patiently for three years to
see the accused finally face the trial chamber."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52597&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SIERRA_LEONE

SIERRA LEONE: Transcript of Charles Taylor's plea on first court
appearance
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52607&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SIERRA_LEONE

LIBERIA-SIERRA LEONE: Taylor trial could go to Europe
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52525&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=LIBERIA-SIERRA_LEONE


SIERRA LEONE: The Special Court - one of many tool for a lasting peace

After a decade of war 1991-2002, Sierra Leoneans asked the world for
help in bringing to justice those responsible for crimes during the
fighting, says a document explaining the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
"The international community answered that call because they believed
that only by holding people accountable will Sierra Leone truly know
lasting peace."

The UN-backed Court, set up in 2002, marked the first time a war crimes
tribunal was to be held in the country where the atrocities were
committed. In this case such crimes included systematic murder, rape and
sexual slavery, and mutilation - namely the hacking off of limbs.

Also unique was that the Court operated simultaneously with a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, which wrapped up its work in 2004, handing a
series of recommendations to the Sierra Leone government. Debate lingers
over whether running the two institutions parallel is the best approach
to post-war peace and justice.

Another key distinction was the Court's "hybrid" nature, with judges and
staff from both in and outside Sierra Leone trying violations of both
local and international law. Its 11 judges are appointed by both the
United Nations and the Sierra Leone government. The current UN-appointed
chief prosecutor is Desmond de Silva, a 67-year-old British lawyer who
had been nominated by the Sierra Leone government in 2002 as deputy
prosecutor.

Seated in the capital Freetown in its own specially built premises, the
Special Court was created in 2002 by an agreement between the UN and the
Sierra Leonean government. In 2000, while the country was still in the
throes of war, the Sierra Leonean government had asked the UN to
establish a war crimes tribunal and the UN had passed a resolution
authorising this in August 2000.

The Special Court has been at work on three trials, concerning the three
parties to the conflict - the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), a militia
fighting alongside the Sierra Leone army; the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) rebels; and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) rebels.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52591&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SIERRA_LEONE


GUINEA: Prime Minister Diallo sacked in possible power struggle

In a sign of high-level institutional infighting in Guinea, ailing
President Lansana Conte sacked reformist Prime Minister Cellou Dalein
Diallo on Wednedsay, hours after overturning a decree which would have
increased Diallo's influence.

Diallo was appointed to head the government only 17 months ago and was
highly regarded by international donors and financial institutions.

State radio announced twice on Tuesday evening that under a decree
signed by Conte himself, Diallo would take control of key ministerial
portfolios including the economy, finance, international cooperation and
planning. Under the sweeping government reshuffle, seven of his allies
would be appointed to the cabinet and 12 ministers were set to leave the
government.

But at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, state radio announced the decree
had been withdrawn until further notice. "The government is maintained
as it was before 4th April," the radio said.

Less than three hours later, the Prime Minister's top advisor Aboubacar
Sidiki Coulibaly told IRIN that Diallo had been removed from government.

"The president decrees that prime minister Diallo is dismissed from his
position for serious misconduct," state radio said.

The ruckus appeared to be due to infighting between two camps in the
government, according to reliable sources in Conakry.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52631&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA


BURKINA FASO: Bird flu confirmed by country unprepared

Burkina Faso has confirmed an outbreak of the killer H5N1 avian
influenza virus, but international experts warn that the government is
ill prepared to contain the crisis, posing a risk of further outbreak in
the region.

The Burkina Faso Minister of Animal Resources Toemoko Konate confirmed
in a radio address late on Monday that three cases of the bird flu
strain H5N1 have been identified on a poultry farm in the Saaba
department of Kadiogo province, just 10 km from the capital Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso officially notified the World Health Organisation (WHO) and
the Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Tuesday morning.

For an epidemic to be contained control measures including disinfection,
movement controls and widespread culling of poultry and wild birds
should be enacted within 48 hours of the outbreak. Yet the stricken
Kadiogo province alone covers roughly 3,000 square kilometres, and has 1
million inhabitants.

And veterinary officials in neighbouring Ghana have also been put on
alert following the discovery of the deadly virus in Burkina Faso.

"The disease is a real threat. Before the threat was at our borders, now
it is within the country. We must continue to be watchful both inside
and at the borders," said Minister Konate.

The government has ordered a three km isolation zone around the farm
concerned and a cull of its poultry. Officially the poultry population
of Burkina Faso numbers 32 million birds, 24 per cent of them from
large-scale farms and 76 per cent reared traditionally.

Konate also reported that although widespread poultry and wild bird
deaths were recorded in February, specimens were only sent to WHO and
FAO labs in Padua, Italy on 13 March 2006.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52614&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BURKINA_FASO

BURKINA FASO: Bird sales plummet but bird flu awareness poor
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52656&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BURKINA_FASO


BENIN: President Mathieu Kerekou leaves after 29 years

Bucking a regional trend towards constitutional revision and chaotic
political successions, Benin's long-serving ruler Mathieu Kerekou at
midnight on Wednesday observed the constitutional age limit and ceded
the presidency to Boni Yayi, in a bow to democracy.

Since first seizing power in a military coup in 1972, Mathieu amassed 29
years as ruler of Benin. He converted first his military dictatorship
into a one-party Leninist-Marxist state in 1975, but in 1990 pulled off
Africa's first successful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

After losing an election and standing down in 1991, he won a free and
fair presidential ballot in 1996, and was awarded a second term in 2001.

Fittingly for a man who ran his country through different ideologies,
Kerekou's motto was "the stick cannot break in the arms of a chameleon".
His trademark swagger stick was emblazoned with a chameleon.

Kerekou's adherence to the constitution and his successful engineering
of a peaceful succession is made all the more remarkable given the often
less than democratic norm in the region.

"General Kerekou has not given in to temptation, which is remarkable in
Africa," said a Cameroonian newspaper, referring to the fact that he
actually stood down. "This action has planted Benin firmly in the club
of democracies and also opened the voice of political rejuvenation and
perhaps even the style of governance".

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52665&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BENIN

BENIN: President-to-be pledges change "with God's blessing"
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52571&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BENIN


COTE D'IVOIRE: Disarmament talks on track at last

Rebel and army chiefs completed a first full round of working talks on
Tuesday in Cote d'Ivoire's rebel stronghold of Bouake in what was
described by the government as a sign of progress in efforts to reach an
agreement over disarmament.

"The talks were fruitful and focused on the concerns of both forces and
the establishment of a structural framework," said a joint statement
issued by Ivorian chief of staff Philippe Mangou and rebel military
leader Soumaila Bakayoko.

"The atmosphere was so joyful that it was difficult to imagine that
there have been disagreements between the two forces," Ivorian Defence
Minister Rene Aphing said after the talks. "We have clearly turned the
page."

The five key political players of the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire agreed
in March that regular talks between loyalist and rebel forces should
resume as part of a new peace deal designed to reunite the war-divided
nation and prepare for presidential elections planned for October.

Analysts say that trust between both forces must be restored before the
long-awaited disarmament process can begin. There has been no fighting
since Ivorian planes broke the cease-fire agreement and bombed rebel
targets in 2004, but neither has there been reconciliation.

42,000 ex combatants of the New Forces movement, 5000 members of the
regular army, and 12,000 militia members loyal to President Laurent
Gbagbo in the west of the country must all be disarmed.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52621&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE

COTE D'IVOIRE: Rebel, loyalist military chiefs resume talks
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52593&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE


LIBERIA: EU turning on the taps for Monrovia

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's government is on track to
deliver piped water to some of the capital's one million residents
within months, the European Union said this week, fulfilling a major
election promise to rebuild essential services.

After more than a decade of dry taps, the head of the EU office Geoffrey
Rudd said work to restore piped water had begun. "We hope in the next
few months - within the 150 days deliverables agenda of the government -
you will see water supply in Monrovia," he said.

"We have started repair works on the White Plains Water Treatment Plant
already and the 16-inch pipe that was used to pump water from the plant
into Monrovia," Rudd added on Tuesday.

Liberia's 14-year war knocked out utilities such as water and power,
leaving even the capital Monrovia without mains electricity or running
water.

Residents currently rely on water trucked to distribution tanks dotted
around the city, which were built by the EU. From there, unemployed
youths lug jerry cans across the bridge into town to sell to residents.

They sell a five-gallon (20 litre) jerry can for five Liberian dollars
(10 US cents). Since each cart carries about 20 jerry-cans, this means a
water carrier can make about US $2 per day.

Johnson-Sirleaf has made the restoration of power and water a priority
for her new government, pledging to supply mains electricity and piped
water to parts of Monrovia by July under a quick impact programme known
as "the 150 days deliverables".

The EU, which is also helping restore power, hoped that "in up to three
to four years, water would be supplied through stand pumps in most parts
of Monrovia that would serve the various communities," Rudd said.

Liberia's power system was knocked out in 1990, shortly after the
conflict began. Two years later, battle damage stopped the flow of water
from the city's taps as well, leaving most of Monrovia's inhabitants
dependent on polluted wells, purified water delivered by tanker truck,
or jerry-cans of water sold from handcarts in the street.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52651&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=LIBERIA


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