U N I T E D N A T I O N S Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa
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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 27-97 of Main Events in West Africa covering the period (Friday) 12 December - (Thursday) 18 December 1997
[The weekly round-ups are based on relevant information from UN agencies, NGOs, governments, donors and media. IRIN issues these reports for the benefit of the humanitarian community but accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy of the original source.]
SIERRA LEONE: A week of new tensions
Sierra Leone's ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) blamed the Nigerian-led ECOMOG peacekeeping force for the deaths of scores of people in two air raids near the Liberian border, some 300 km southeast of the capital Freetown. ECOMOG Chief of Staff Brigadier General Abdul One Mohammed said the first raid last Thursday was in retaliation at groundfire aimed at a Nigerian jet. Major-General Victor Malu, the Nigerian commander of ECOMOG, said subsequent weekend raids were aimed at destroying an AFRC landing facility. "It was our duty to stop them," he said.
ECOMOG has a mandate to enforce sanctions by the UN and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the AFRC which overthrew President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May.
Hostilities near Kenema
In Kenema, not far from the area hit in the air raids, at least 26 people were killed in clashes between the AFRC and Kamajor hunter militias allied to Kabbah.
However, sources in Kenema told IRIN the town itself was calm, and that aid operations were going on as usual. "There has been activity in the area recently, but it seems stable at the moment," said one source. The view was echoed by General JA Kwateng, the ECOMOG Deputy Force Commander in Monrovia.
UN approves first step to observer mission
The UN Security Council this week said it would send a technical survey mission to Sierra Leone as the first step towards the deployment of a fully fledged UN observer mission. A UN liaison office, headed by Special Envoy Francis Okello, was expected to be operational early next month.
Nigerian warning
After a warning from the Nigerian government, the AFRC called off plans to send a delegation to the summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Lome, Togo. Nigerian Foreign Minister Tom Ikimi said any AFRC delegates who turned up would be arrested.
"They are not allowed to leave their country without the express permission of ECOWAS," Ikimi said. He reiterated that ECOWAS regarded Kabbah as "the only legal representative of Sierra Leone and, as such, our only interlocutor."
SENEGAL: Casamance peace talks imminent
The authorities in Senegal said this week that they are ready to go to the negotiating table with Casamance separatists in a new bid to end fighting which has plagued the region since 1982. Senegalese Prime Minister Habib Thiam said negotiations with the separatist Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) were now imminent, and President Abdou Diouf also expressed his readiness to negotiate an end to the conflict.
Thiam said pressure from the Church and the government's military campaign had persuaded the MFDC to reconsider negotiations. The last peace talks two years ago saw the MFDC split into a moderate and militant factions. The latter resumed its guerrilla war in July. However, Thiam was confident that, this time, negotiations based on a "new focus on regionalism" recognising the "unique character" of Casamance would prove productive.
Refugees reluctant to move
Plans to relocate some estimated 15,000 Casamance refugees towards the interior of Guinea-Bissau away from the Senegal border have not been fully realised, a UNHCR official told IRIN. Guinea-Bissau had agreed in October to the relocation after complaints by Senegal of collusion with the MFDC. Two weeks ago, Guinea-Bissau established a National Committee on Refugees to register them prior to relocation to a new camp at Nhala, 380 km to the south.
The refugees' shared ethnicity with local people and proximity to their homes across the border had encouraged easy integration and many did not want to move. Although humanitarian assistance was initially provided for resettlement, ongoing assistance is only available to those living in camps.
NIGERIA: Oil workers freed after being held hostage
A group of five Westerners and nine Nigerians working for an American oil exploration company, Western Geophysical, were released by their captors after almost a week of tense negotiations.
The men were detained on Saturday aboard a boat in Nigeria's southwest Ondo State by people in dispute with the oil firm over the return of benefits from oil exploration to the community. There have been several similar cases of hostage-taking in the oil-rich Niger delta involving various oil companies.
New concern over Abacha's health
The Nigerian leader, General Sani Abacha, did not join West African heads of state at Wednesday's ECOWAS summit in Lome, Togo because of illness, raising fresh concerns about his state of health. At least two leaders at the summit, Gnassingbe Eyadema, the Togolese president and Senegalese President Abdou Diouf, who chaired it, told their collegues that Abacha had excused himself at the last minute for health reasons.
The Nigerian government declined to elaborate beyond a statement by Ikimi that Abacha had been unable to attend due to "circumstances beyond his control".
Second detainee dies
A second Nigerian gaoled for plotting a coup against Abacha died behind bars this week. Sergeant Patrick Usikekpo died in Uyo prison in the southeast of the country. He was part of a group of six led by former head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo sentenced to lengthy prison terms by a military court for the failed 1995 coup. Local press reports said he might have died in a typhoid outbreak at the prison, which had also claimed inmates. But there was no official word on Usikekpo's death.
The Nigerian authorities have yet to comment officially on the circumstances behind the death of Obasanjo's former deputy, General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, who died in prison last week.
New cabinet announced
In another development, Abacha, this week announced a new cabinet of 33 ministers. Their ranks included eight army officers and three women. Sixteen members of the previous government retained their posts. Among those staying are the ministers of finance, foreign affairs and petroleum. Abacha dissolved his previous government last month to mark the fourth anniversary of the coup which brought him to power. He said the move was intended to free politicians who wanted to run for the elections promised for 1998.
LIBERIA: International airport reopens
Liberia's international airport re-opened for commercial flights this week, seven years after its closure at the outset of the country's civil war. Roberts International Airport, 70 km east of the capital Monrovia, was re-opened by Vice President Enoch Dogolea, who deputised for President Charles Taylor. Officials said over US $ 3.5 million would be required to get the airport fully operational again.
Journalists cautioned
A group of Liberian journalists were reprimanded at the weekend over the publication of a story about the disappearance of a police officer allegedly detained by members of President Charles Taylor's State Security Service (SSS). A group of SSS officers entered the newsroom of 'The Inquirer', and took seven reporters to the Executive Mansion. There, SSS officer Kenny Wolo told them: "Some of you will die before you press can behave yourselves." The seven were released when Joe Mulbah, the information minister, interevened.
Journalists said Mulbah appeared "very upset" at the incident - mainly out of concern about negative publicity. However, he too warned them against publishing similar stories in the future.
Taylor says rights organisations free to speak out
Taylor, meanwhile, said that human rights organisation were free to speak out about the ills in Liberian society. Objective pronouncements, he added, would help guide the government in its performance.
Sixty feared dead in boat accident
Nearly 60 people fleeing recent fighting in Sierra Leone were feared drowned this week when a boat ferrying them across the Mano River capsized.
New UN envoy
In New York this week, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced the appointment of Felix Downes-Thomas as his Representative in Liberia and Head of the UN Peace-Building Support Office in Monrovia. Downes, a national of The Gambia, is a Director in the Complex Emergency Division of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs.
MAURITANIA: Landslide victory for Taya in presidential election
President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania was returned to power this week after taking 90.25 percent of the vote in a presidential election. The results, released by the interior ministry, showed a turnout of 74.72 percent despite a boycott called by the opposition. The closest of his four rivals, Mohamed Lamine Ch'Bih Ould Cheikh Melainine, an economist who had broken away from the governing Parti Republicaine Democratique et Social (PRDS) to run as an independent, took 6.97 percent of the vote. Mamadou Moctar Kane, the first black candidate to contest a presidential election, came in last with 0.38 percent. A spokesman for Melainine called the election a "massive fraud".
WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS summit agrees to boost regional security
West African leaders voiced strong support at the fourth extraordinary ECOWAS summit this week for plans to improve the regional peacekeeping force, ECOMOG. The forces, made up 10,000 men from 10 of the 16 ECOWAS nations, drew praise for operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
A joint statement after the meeting said: "The heads of state have decided to use the experience acquired for the putting in place of a mechanism of prevention, management and settlement of conflicts and of peacekeeping in West Africa." They also called on the UN and the international community to support ECOWAS in its aim to secure peace, security and stability in the region. They renewed their support for the Committee of Five on Sierra Leone and welcomed ECOMOG's "positive" role in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Several countries expressed support for the idea of contributing more troops to ECOMOG
West African nations high on Unicef list
UNICEF's "State of the World's Children" report ranked West African nations rank among the highest in the world for the number of children who die before the age of five. Niger has the highest infant mortality rate in the world with 320 deaths per thousand.
Other countries in the region according to the world rankings of their under-five infant mortality rates are as follows:
3-Sierra Leone 284 per thousand; 5-Liberia 235; 6-Guinea Bissau 223; 7-Mali 220; 11-Guinea 210; 14-Nigeria 191; 15-Mauritania 183; 18-Equatorial Guinea 173; 23-Burkina Faso 158; 25-Cote d'Ivoire 150; 27-Chad 149; 28-Gabon 145; 31-Benin 140; 38-Togo 125; 47-Ghana 110; 49-The Gambia 107; 51-Cameroon 102; 57-Sao Tome & Principe 80; 65-Cape Verde 73.
Abidjan, 19 December 1997, 14:30 gmt
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