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
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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup of Main Events 53 for West Africa covering the period (Friday-Thursday) 12 June - 18 June 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: Government and rebels fight to control capital Troops loyal to Guinea Bissau's President Joao Bernardo Vieira battled army rebels for the second week, leaving much of the capital, Bissau, in ruins and tens of thousands of inhabitants fleeing for safety, news organisations reported.
The revolt in the former Portuguese colony started on 7 June after the replacement of former armed forces chief of staff General Absumane Mane. He had been suspended after several military officers were arrested for allegedly smuggling weapons to separatist rebels in neighbouring Senegal's southern province of Casamance.
International relief agencies confirmed that a quarter of a million people had fled Bissau. About 200 people drowned last weekend after setting off in small boats in a bid to flee the fighting. The majority of foreigners and UN staff or dependants were evacuated from the country.
News reports gave conflicting accounts of efforts by government troops to retake control of the sprawling Bra military complex overlooking the city from rebels. The Vatican and two humanitarian reports said the harbour remained the only point of access to the country because the airport was still in rebel hands.
On Thursday, the ICRC reported a further outbreak of sporadic shelling in Bissau despite efforts by Gambia's Foreign Minister, Lamine Sedat Jobe, to meet Mane to seek a settlement between the two sides.
In related developments, news organisations reported an upsurge in clashes between separatist guerrillas and Senegalese government forces across the border in Casamance. Humanitarian crisis looms
In one of the first independent accounts of the showdown, Red Cross officials told IRIN that local volunteers had taken advantage of a lull in fighting during mediation efforts on Wednesday to evacuate wounded, collect bodies and bury the dead.
Since the fighting started, the city's main hospital has been destroyed. The Red Cross said it feared that a combination of water shortages and heat could trigger a cholera epidemic, and that it was also taking measures to provide cholera prevention kits and other emergency medical supplies for people displaced by the fighting. The Vatican news service said missionaries, too, feared a cholera outbreak. "The situation in Guinea Bissau is no longer an emergency, but a catastrophe," said a dispatch by the Vatican Missionary Service News Agency (MISNA) on Thursday.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had been assessing the situation in Bissau and the countryside, where people have sought refuge.
NIGERIA: New leader releases detainees
Nigeria's new military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, freed nine prominent political prisoners, including former head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday, winning cautious praise from critics, news reports said. A presidential statement, quoted by Radio Nigeria, said the move was intended "to facilitate the process of national reconciliation, reconstruction and the successful completion of the socio-political transition programme".
Abubakar, who came to power after the sudden death on 8 June of military ruler General Sani Abacha, also said he hoped the freed detainees would "reciprocate this gesture" by cooperating with the government to carry the political transition programme to a logical conclusion. The cases of other political detainees and prisoners would be given "due consideration from time to time", he added.
Abubakar made no mention of Nigeria's best known prisoner, Moshood Abiola, who claims to have won a presidential election in 1993 which was halted in mid-count by a previous military government. He has been detained since 1994.
The other released detainees were Christine Anyanwu, a well known journalist, and Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, a human rights activist. Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, deposed Sultan of Sokoto, was also released from detention but restricted to the north-central city of Kaduna. Chief Olabiyi Durojayi and Chief Bola Ige of the opposition pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Frank Kokori and Nelson Dabidi, both officials of a Nigerian oil workers' union, and Owen Udah were also released.
Release wins cautious praise
The US, the UN and European Union all sent messages welcoming the release of detainees and urging a quick transition to civilian rule. White House spokesman P.J. Crowley added that the releases were viewed as a very "positive development". US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice reportedly called for Abiola's release, terming this a "fundamental" step. However, news agencies said setting Abiola free could be problematic because of his claim to the presidency. This could disrupt the democracy transition plan initiated by Abubakar's predecessor.
In a statement read out in New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the development as a "positive step" towards peaceful political dialogue in Nigeria, while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, also strongly welcomed Abubakar's decision. But Robinson also called for the early release of other prisoners, including Abiola.
Local reaction to release
Several Nigeria pro-democracy activists also called on the Nigerian military government to release all political detainees, including Abiola. Nike Ransome-Kuti, a pro-democracy activist in her own right, told IRIN that short of releasing Abiola and handing over the government to him, opposition groups would remain "dissatisfied".
Meanwhile, a coalition of 50 pro-democracy and human rights groups campaigning for the release of Abiola and other political prisoners have called for a "freedom day" protest rally next Tuesday, AFP reported. The idea, said the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), was to hold a public reception for those already released. The 23 June date marks the fifth anniversary of the decree scrapping the 1993 elections.
New leader meets party chiefs
Leaders of four of Nigeria's five officially registered political parties told Abubakar that the military government should remain in power for up to 12 months longer than planned so as to ensure a properly organised election and a smooth return to civilian democracy, news reports said Thursday. Only the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) opposed the move, saying the military government should abide by the October deadline.
A presidential statement said it would study the request for a delay before deciding the issue, AFP reported. SIERRA LEONE: UN Aid Coordinator concerned UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said last Saturday he was concerned at the influx of Sierra Leonean refugees to Liberia and Guinea. Speaking in Freetown at the end of a four-day assessment mission, de Mello also condemned atrocities committed against civilians by former soldiers loyal to Sierra Leone's ousted military junta and their allies from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement. According to de Mello, donors expected the government of Sierra Leone to present a co-ordinated strategy for recovery. "Donor fatigue" was a world-wide syndrome, he said. Therefore the donor community had to be persuaded of the need to support humanitarian assistance activities and longer term initiatives in Sierra Leone.
UN to organise conference
US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Julia Taft, quoted by AFP, said a New York meeting on Sierra Leone was planned so that authorities and concerned governments can focus attention on needs in the country. She said "the biggest challenge remains the issue of forgiveness and reconciliation."
Taft said the US would spend some US$53 million on assistance programmes in Sierra Leone this year of which most would go to USAID's Food for Peace programme. Meanwhile, the European Union has approved an aid package for Sierra Leone worth US$1.1 million, AFP reported.
UK government restricted humanitarian aid, agency says
The London-based international charity, Action Aid, told a British parliamentary select committee that the UK government restricted humanitarian aid to Sierra Leone earlier this year for its own political purposes.
Action Aid told IRIN on Thursday it informed Parliament the restoration of Sierra Leone's democratically elected government was undoubtedly in the country's long-term interests. But aid must be free from "political conditions", it said. Action Aid charged Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) with "de facto restricting aid" to Sierra Leone following last year's coup, when there was clearly a great need for humanitarian aid.
Situation was assessed
However, a DFID spokeswoman told IRIN aid to Sierra Leone's military regime would have been "inappropriate". DFID said it had carried out an assessment of the situation, but there was no humanitarian crisis. "We supported the democratically elected government of Sierra Leone, and we had a bilateral partnership with them," she said.
ECOMOG will train new army
The West African intervention force, ECOMOG, has screened some 5,000 volunteers for places in the new Sierra Leonean army, AFP reported on Wednesday. The news agency quoted ECOMOG's commander in Sierra Leone, Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe, as saying the men would form the "core" of a new defence force. The former national army was disbanded when ECOMOG ousted Sierra Leone's military government last February.
TOGO: Opposition blocked by state media In the last few days of campaigning for Sunday's presidential elections, a Paris-based press rights group, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), and an official of the opposition Comite d'action pour la renouvellement (CAR), Wouenou Madija Akpan, have accused Togo's state media of bias towards the ruling party in its coverage of the presidential campaign, according news agencies. RSF was quoted as saying Togo's state media was "totally" biased in favour of President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who is running for a last term in office. RSF said some candidates were "properly treated", however others were "practically ignored". LIBERIA: ECOMOG agreement signed The controversy over the future role of the West African ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Liberia appeared resolved last Friday, when the Liberian government signed a long-awaited "status of forces" agreement with the regional political body, ECOWAS, Star Radio reported. Liberian Foreign Minister Monie Captan was quoted as saying the agreement signed at the OAU conference in Burkina Faso officially placed ECOMOG under the authority of ECOWAS heads of state. Captan said the agreement would also bar the peacekeeping force from getting involved in civil disputes and commercial activities. Six missing, feared dead Six members of an officially disbanded Liberian faction were missing feared dead on Monday, media reports said. According to AFP, the former fighters were from the Krahn wing of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO-J), a civil war rival of President Charles Taylor's winning National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL). Relatives of the six told newspapers in the capital, Monrovia, they had not been seen since 7 June.
WEST AFRICA: Humanitarian community supports International Criminal Court
A statement by the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) said it supported the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The IASC strongly believed that "wilful denial of humanitarian assistance, direct attacks against civilians, forceful deportations" or other serious violations of international humanitarian law should be included in the jurisdiction of the ICC. The establishment of the ICC is currently being discussed in Rome, Italy.
The IASC is a UN inter-agency body represented by heads of humanitarian agencies which discusses and designs humanitarian policies.
Abidjan, 19 June 1998, 17:30 gmt
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