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 21-73-54 Fax: +225 21-63-35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup of Main Events 67 for West Africa covering the period (Friday-Thursday) 18 - 24 September 1998
LIBERIA: A week of tension
A week of tension in the Liberian capital Monrovia eased as the United States government and the administration of President Charles Taylor agreed that a Liberian faction leader who sought refuge in the US embassy could be flown out. News reports said that Roosevelt Johnson, who took refuge in the embassy with two of his sons and two aides, would probably be flown out to neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Johnson, a rival of Taylor during the seven-year civil war which ended with Taylor's election victory last year, pushed his way into the embassy on Saturday after government forces routed his heavily armed ethnic Krahn stronghold in central Monrovia. In the ensuing gun battles, news reports said at least 47 people had been killed.
As the two countries negotiated a solution, the US, British and German governments warned their citizens to leave Liberia, and the United States flew extra marines to protect the Monrovia embassy. A number of aid agencies also evacuated international staff in what they told IRIN were "precautionary" measures. There were fears of a further outbreak of violence if a demonstration demanding Johnson be handed over went ahead. But in radio broadcasts, the government warned people not to demonstrate, and security was tightened throughout the city by West African ECOMOG peacekeepers.
Johnson charged with treason
Information Minister Joe Mulbah accused Johnson in a radio broadcast of training a force to overthrow the government and said that he should be arrested. Johnson, he added, was among 22 people who had been charged with treason following the weekend clash.
A "grim reminder"
A Western analyst told IRIN that the incident "served as a grim reminder to us all that the tension is still just below the surface in Liberia". According to accounts by media reports, diplomats and aid workers, the clashes broke out in the central Camp Johnson Road Krahn stronghold last Friday night as the authorities sought to remove "illegal" residents from a house in the city centre near Johnson's own home. They said the fighting with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons had been confined to the Camp Johnson road district, about 2 km from the US embassy compound.
Aid workers and news reports cited a series of reprisal killings after the clashes by roving "anti-Roosevelt" gangs. An aid worker also said members of Taylor's Special Security Service (SSS) had raided the premises of a British NGO and stolen some equipment and personal possessions. Travel documents stolen from the staff were later returned by the interior ministry.
NIGERIA: Abubakar reassured that sanctions will be eased
Nigeria's new military leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar spent the week on a key fence-mending visit to Europe and the United States aimed at ending years of isolation over human rights violations under the regime of his hardline predecessor, General Sani Abacha.
In the first meeting with a Nigerian head of state since 1995, when sanctions were imposed and Nigeria was expelled from the Commonwealth after the execution of the Ogoni rights campaigner and writer, Ken Saro Wiwa, and eight other activists, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would recommend that the European Union (EU) lift sanctions.
News agencies quoted Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku as saying after he received Abubakar that Nigeria would be re-admitted once an elected government was in place. In Washington later during the week, when he met President Bill Clinton, a White House statement referred to a "friendly and open discussion" and said Washington would consider lifting sanctions once progress had been made on Abubakar's pledged transition to elections and democratic, civilian rule.
Meanwhile, two human rights groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Article 19, said they were concerned about the repressive decrees still in place. They said not all political prisoners had been released and urged Western leaders to make any easing of sanctions conditional on resolving these issues.
Treason charges against exiles dropped
In a related development, Nigerian police dropped treason charges against exiled Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka and 14 other opponents accused by the Abacha regime of carrying out a terrorist campaign.
At least 23 killed in southern Nigerian land clash
Clashes between ethnic rivals in southern Nigeria over land believed to contain oil have killed at least 23 people. News reports said the clashes between Ijaws and Ilajes were concentrated in the Apata district on the fringe of Nigeria's oil-rich region where more than two million barrels of crude per day are produced. Analysts recalled that ownership of oil-rich lands ensured the wealth of local inhabitants through royalties and other pay-outs by the big oil companies.
Belgium minister will not resign over death of Nigerian
Belgium's interior minister this week accepted responsibility for the death of a Nigerian woman in police custody but said he would not resign over the incident. The woman, Semira Adamu, 20, died on Tuesday after police sought to muffle her screams with a cushion as she was dragged aboard a Nigerian-bound flight in handcuffs and leg-irons. The incident sparked anti-government protests. Adamu had been ordered deported after an application for asylum in Belgium was turned down.
Nigeria may revoke oil contract
The Nigerian government said it will consider revoking a US$ 200-million contract awarded to the French oil company, Total, news reports said on Thursday. The managing director of the northern Kaduna refinery, Morrison Tamuno, recommended the action, citing dissatisfaction about the quality of repairs being carried out by Total. The contract was awarded under the Abacha regime without consulting refinery officials, Tamuno said.
GUINEA BISSAU: Ceasefire holds
News reports on Guinea Bissau in recent days have said that the ceasefire between government forces and army rebels has held as both sides prepare for a fresh round of peace talks. The Portuguese news agency, Lusa, said that President Joao Bernardo Vieira had reiterated that a final settlement had to be handled by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). "A political solution is difficult, and a military solution is not a solution," Vieira said. The latest round of peace talks in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, last week failed to resolve the issue. The talks, held under the auspices of ECOWAS and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), only reached consensus on sending a small ECOWAS/CPLP observer team to Guinea Bissau.
The next round of peace talks is scheduled for 18 October at a location still to be announced. The fighting in Guinea Bissau started on 7 June after the former armed forces chief, Ansumane Mane, seized a military base in the capital and took control of the international airport after he was fired by Vieira.
Portugal sends more aid
The Portuguese government announced last Friday that it would be shipping a further 140 mt of aid to Guinea Bissau. Portugal's secretary of state for foreign affairs, Luis Amado, said the aid, which included some 116 mt of food and 11 mt of medicines, was expected to reach Guinea Bissau at the weekend. Portugal has already provided 600 mt of aid to its former colony.
SIERRA LEONE: More than 50 killed in fresh clashes
Heavy fighting near the town of Joru, in eastern Sierra Leone, between the West African ECOMOG intervention force and rebels has claimed more than 50 lives in recent days. News reports quoted ECOMOG information officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Jimoh Okunlola, as saying the fighting was at its heaviest on Saturday. He declined to comment on whether the recapture of Joru was the start of a major push by ECOMOG forces and Kamajor allies of the Sierra Leone government to clear rebels from the Kailahun district, which borders Guinea and Liberia.
In a related development, AFP quoted missionary sources as saying rebels of the ousted military junta had attacked Kabala in the north last Friday, setting the town on fire and massacring about 20 civilians. "According to one missionary, fighting continued until Saturday morning, when the rebels were repelled," it said.
For months, ECOMOG troops and Sierra Leonean soldiers have been hunting down forces of the junta which was ousted in February.
Camp deaths rise
The Sierra Leone ministry of health said this week it was concerned at civilian deaths at Masingbi refugee camp in northern Sierra Leone. Humanitarian sources in the capital, Freetown, told IRIN on Thursday that although the mortality rate among some 30,000 people in the camp had dropped steadily in June, July and August, it had now started to rise again. Aid agencies told IRIN they had encountered "significant difficulties" in delivering supplies to the camp.
CAMEROON: Presidency warns against corruption
The office of President Paul Biya of Cameroon has warned that it will keep vigilant against corrupt officials who have "tarnished the good image" of the country's administration. The presidential cabinet director, Edgar Alain Mebe, was quoted in news reports as saying: "Some high officials of this country are often duped by people claiming they are acting on behalf of the highest state authorities." He said officials had to check the credentials of people claiming they have the authority of the presidency.
Mebe's statement follows the publication this week of the annual report of the corruption watchdog, Transparency International, which listed Cameroon as the most corrupt country in the world this year ahead of Paraguay and Honduras. Transparency International, which recently participated in a UNDP-OECD conference on corruption around the world, said Cameroon had replaced Nigeria, the nation topping the list last year as the "corruption world champion".
Editor's sentence upheld
The Supreme Court in Cameroon has rejected the appeal of a newspaper editor against the year-long jail term served on him for a report in March this year that President Paul Biya might have heart problems. The one-year sentence and a fine of CFA 300,000 (Ffr 3,000) had been upheld at a hearing against Pius Njawe, editor of 'Le Messager'. After he was sentenced in April, Amnesty International, press freedom groups and some European politicians appealed for Njawe's release, citing his deteriorating health.
BENIN: International help sought after floods
At least five people died this week in the north and northwest of Benin following floods brought on by torrential rains. Government officials said more than 2,500 people had been left homeless and that 20,000 tonnes grain had been destroyed, according to news reports. At least three of the victims had succumbed to cholera and two of them, both children, had drowned. Rural Development Minister Saka Saley, in a meeting with ambassadors from donor nations and UN agencies, appealed for assistance. The areas worst hit included Banikoara and Kandi, some 500 km northwest of the capital, Cotonou.
MALI: National democracy forum
President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali has announced the establishment of a national democracy forum "to find the ways and means of consolidating Malian democracy". In a speech marking the country's 38th independence anniversary on Tuesday, Konare said the forum would look into opposition concerns about the country's electoral procedures, seek national reconciliation, and fight poverty, corruption and insecurity. AFP said the move was interpreted as a fresh overture of opposition parties which boycotted the last elections.
BURKINA FASO: President promises "transparent" elections
In neighbouring Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaore also made fresh pledges on democracy this week. He said the national electoral commission would provide guarantees for free and fair presidential elections scheduled in November. Earlier, a coalition of nine opposition parties, the Groupe du 14 Fevrier, had called for elections to be postponed and a revision of the commission's mandate claiming it was too closely tied to the government.
WEST AFRICA: Chad reportedly sends troops to DRC
Local media sources in N'Djamena told IRIN this week that there was evidence that the Chadian government had provided military assistance to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to bolster President Laurent-Desire Kabila. A Chadian journalist, Sie Kongo, of the bi-monthly newspaper, 'L'Observateur', said between 1,000 and 1,500 soldiers had been sent discreetly to the DRC at the behest of Libya. Kongo said Libya was paying for the deployment of the Chadian troops to protect its strong economic interests in the DRC. This policy was part of a new rapprochement between Chad and Libya, he added.
DRC summit meeting
Meanwhile, a central African summit, organised by Gabonese President Omar Bongo, to discuss "peace mechanisms" for resolving the DRC conflict was held in Libreville this week. The meeting was attended by Kabila and the presidents of Chad, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea. Cameroon, Angola and Namibia were also represented at the talks.
The summit expressed support for Kabila and condemned "aggression against the DRC".
UN early-warning, peacekeeping aid for OAU
The United Nations Security Council has recommended the establishment of an office within the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to boost early warning and peacekeeping cooperation in Africa. A Security Council statement said it had unanimously adopted Resolution 1197 (1998) for the establishment of the new programme at the recommendation of a proposal by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
It added that it also welcomed an ECOWAS proposal to establish a "council of elders" within its mechanism for the prevention, management, resolution of conflict, peacekeeping and security to facilitate mediation efforts. It said it would help establish the council to ensure its success.
The full text of this document can be found on the Internet at: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1998/19980918.sc6575.html
Abidjan, 25 September, 1998 16:30 gmt
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci for more information or subscription. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the Web at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha..unon.org. Mailing list: irin-wa-weekly]
distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org appeal fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - West Africa - http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/wafrica