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 04-98 of Main Events in West Africa covering the period (Friday) 16 January to (Thursday) 22 January 1998
SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG seeks a force of 15,000 men West African leaders are seeking to deploy a 15,000-strong peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone. The announcement by Lansana Kouyate, executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) followed several days of fighting this week in and around Tongo Fields, a diamond mining town 200 km northeast of the capital Freetown. The ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) put the death toll at 130.
Kouyate said consultations had already begun among regional leaders to find troops for the West African ECOMOG peace-keeping force: "If our experience in Liberia is anything to go by, only those who contributed to ECOMOG in that country might contribute to the latest effort," Kouyate said.
Nigeria dominated the 18,000-strong ECOMOG force set up to intervene in Liberia's civil war in 1990. Most of the ECOMOG soldiers already in Sierra Leone are Nigerians.
Concern for civilians caught in fighting
Meanwhile, relief workers in Sierra Leone said the Tongo Fields clashes this week between forces of the AFRC and Kamajor militias loyal to ousted president Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah had forced thousands to flee their homes. The AFRC said it had regained control of Tongo Fields on Sunday after a two-week Kamajor siege and that sporadic clashes had ensued through the week in what it called "mopping-up" operations.
Diplomatic initiatives
On the diplomatic front, Nigeria's foreign minister, Tom Ikimi, spent the week discussing the crisis with other West African leaders in his role as chairman of the ECOWAS Committee of Five on Sierra Leone. Earlier, United Nations Special Envoy for Sierra Leone Francis Okelo met the AFRC leadership last week for what he called a "vigorous and frank" exchange of views. He said he hoped the ECOWAS committee would also meet AFRC leaders. Okelo said the AFRC had assured him they remained committed to Kabbah's return to power in April, as stipulated by the Conakry accords. Last Friday, Kouyate said he was concerned about "obstacles" in the application of the accords which were signed by parties to the conflict last October.
LIBERIA: ECOMOG to remain in Liberia beyond February deadline
President Charles Taylor of Liberia announced this week he agreed that ECOMOG should remain in Liberia beyond a deadline originally set for 2 February. His announcement followed a statement by Kouyate earlier that ECOMOG would help train the Liberian army and that a new withdrawal date would be decided by ECOWAS heads of state at a summit later this year.
The decision to keep ECOMOG forces in Liberia signalled an end to differences on the issue between Taylor and General Victor Malu, the ECOMOG commander replaced this month by General Timothy Shelpidi. Taylor said: "I have said it before and let me say it again that ECOMOG is not going anywhere. ECOMOG will remain here until this government deems it necessary to request its departure."
Taylor also called for ECOMOG involvement in "capacity-building" and training of Liberia's security forces.
Liberian radio reopens In a separate development, the independent Liberian radio station, Radio Monrovia, resumed broadcasts at the weekend after paying a US$ 2,500 fine for allocating two of its frequencies to another independent station, Star Radio. Radio Monrovia had been closed for a week. Meanwhile, Star Radio, which is run by the Swiss-based Fondation Hirondelle, was also closed.
George Bennett, Star Radio's manager, told IRIN that negotiations were continuing with the government and he hoped that programmes would resume soon. Star Radio provides radio news and programmes in 17 languages.
NIGERIA: Mobil apologises for biggest oil spill in recent memory
US oil giant Mobil publicly apologised this week for an oil spill off the coast of southern Nigeria described as one the biggest in recent memory. Mobil also said it would pay undisclosed compensation for losses incurred after a slick from a ruptured pipeline lapped onto beaches near the Pennington River mouth.
In a statement published in several Nigerian newspapers, Mobil offered a formal apology to affected communities in southern Nigeria. Managing Director Paul Caldwell said the company would pay compensation to individuals "who incurred legimitate damage as a result of the oil spill". The slick, estimated at 40,000 barrels, had drifted near the Nigerian coast before it hit the shores. The company brought in overseas experts to help control the spillage and clean the area.
Government closes 26 banks; naira devalued
The Nigerian government announced the closure this week of 26 banks in what it described as a first step towards "cleaning up" the banking sector. The move was also aimed at promoting investor confidence and at streamlining what was called a bloated and inefficient banking system. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Central Bank fixed the exchange rate of the naira at 81 to the American dollar, effectively devaluing the currency by 7.5 percent. The previous exchange rate was 75 naira to the dollar.
More than 50 questioned in coup investigation
The Nigerian authorities said they had questioned more than 50 people so far in their investigation of last month's alleged plot to overthrow the Nigerian leader, General Sani Abacha. Army spokesman Colonel Godwin Ugbo, however, declined to identify any of those held for questioning. The announcement marked the first time the authorities had given an estimate of the number of people held in last month's alleged coup plot. Although details of the allegations have been shrouded in secrecy, select groups of Nigerians and diplomats have been shown taped "confessions" by some of those detained.
Government in image-building exercise
Meanwhile, a British-based public relations consultant, Max Clifford Associates, has been approached by the Nigerian government to help improve its image. Clifford told IRIN he was determined not to misrepresent the situation in Nigeria. He said he would thus ensure that the media had the freedom to check and verify issues in Nigeria. The Nigerian government, he added, had so far agreed to his conditions.
Managing director of Nigeria Airways arrested
The managing director of Nigeria Airways, Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, was detained after a news conference this week at which he criticised management failures airline. He had told journalists that the airline, popularly dubbed "Nigeria Air Waste", suffered under the weight of huge foreign and local debts, mismanagement, unreliability and insufficient planes. His arrest was not immediatly confirmed by the government.
Jailed activist ill
One of Nigeria's most prominent jailed human rights activists, Beko Ransome-Kuti, was reported this week to be suffering from an ulcer and heart problems. Radio Kudirat Nigeria, which broadcasts from outside the country, quoted his family as saying his health was failing. Ransome-Kuti, leader of the Campaign for Democracy, has been behind bars since 1995.
MAURITANIA: Protests over anti-slavery arrests
A group of lawyers in Mauritania stopped work for the day on Wednesday in protest at the arrest of a colleague held with two anti-slavery activists. The chairman of the Mauritanian Legal Society, Mafouah Ould Bettah, demanded the immediate release of the lawyer, Brahim Ould Ebetti, and two others arrested with him at the weekend, Boubacar Messaoud, president of the anti-slavery society SOS Esclavage, and Cheikh Saad Bouh Camara, president of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association. The three appeared in court and were remanded in custody on charges of "creating or belonging to illegal organisations". They were held following the broadcast of a French television documentary on slavery in Mauritania. Slavery was abolished in Mauritania in 1980.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Four die in separatist attack on Bioko island
Members of the separatist Bioko island independence movement, MAIB, killed four members of Equatorial Guinea's security forces on 21 January in their first armed attack. Deputy Defence Minister Milanio Ekondong Nsomo said armed forces had been placed on maximum alert and all but one of the assailants had been captured. Bioko, an island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, has long resented the domination of their ethnic Bubi community by the mainland Fang. Tensions have been exacerbated by the discovery of oil off Bioko.
NIGER: Students demonstrate as teachers resume strike
Teachers in Niger staged a five-day strike this week for unpaid wages in what marked their first protest after a year of upheaval at primary, secondary and higher education institutions.
Opposition and government talks
On the political front, the country was still waiting to see whether the government would reach a compromise with its opponents over allegations of a plot to assassinate President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara. Niger's opposition Mouvement National pour la Societe de Developpement (MNSD) last week called for the release of 11 supporters implicated in the plot.
Mainassara held talks last week with Mahamane Ousmane, the former president he overthrew in a coup two years ago. Ousmane, leader of the eight-party opposition coalition Front pour la Restauration et la Defense de la Democratie (FRDD) had reportedly agonised for some days before going ahead with the meeting. The MNSD, a dissenting member of the coalition, however dismissed the talks as aimed at "cajoling" donors. It said the meeting added no new proposals towards resolving the political crisis which has persisted since the opposition boycott of the November 1996 legislative elections.
WEST AFRICA: New AIDS awareness campaign launched
Ivorian health minister Maurice Guikahue has launched an AIDS awareness campaign targetted mainly at lorry drivers on the road from Cote d'Ivoire to Burkina Faso. For the past week, condom-vending machines and promotion posters, have lined roads from the capital, Abidjan, to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital.
Guikahue said drivers were particularly vulnerable because they travelled for long periods away from home in "tempting environments". The campaign also aims at young female vendors, who sell refreshments at various stops along the road. The new campaign is intended to reduce current infection rates which stand at 11 percent of the Ivorian population, and seven percent in Burkina Faso. In coming weeks the campaign will be extended to Mali
Abidjan, 23 January 1998, 15:00 gmt
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