UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Update 104-97, 12/15/97

IRIN-West Africa Update 104-97, 12/15/97


U N I T E D N A T I O N S Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 21-63-35 Fax: +225 21-63-35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci

IRIN-WA Update 104-97 of Events in West Africa, (Saturday-Monday) 13-15 December 1997

[As a supplement to its weekly round-ups of main events in West Africa, IRIN-WA will produce a daily synopsis of reports on the region. 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: Many reported dead in ECOMOG air raids

Sierra Leone's ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) blamed the Nigerian-led ECOMOG peace-keeping force for the deaths of an estimated 80 people in an air raid on Friday, AFP reported on Monday. AFP quoted army chief of staff Colonel Samuel Williams as saying the raid had occurred near Zimmi, a town near the Liberian border, 250 km southeast of the capital Freetown. Reuters at the weekend reported the deaths of 20 people during the Zimmi raid. They said no further details were disclosed.

The Reuters report also quoted an AFRC spokesman as saying there had been an earlier attack on Thursday in which a number of houses were destroyed. It quoted Sierra Leone sources as saying the raid had apparently intended to hit a barracks at Daru, 370 km east of Freetown. However the aircraft had missed the target and strafed the nearby town of Bendamu, 2.5 km away. Both agencies quoted ECOMOG officials as confirming the raid on Thursday had been conducted after one of its planes had been fired on from the ground. But there was no ECOMOG confirmation of Friday's raid.

Humanitarian agencies issue clarification

Press reports in Sierra Leone that 20 people had died of starvation, cholera and measles at a camp for displaced people in Kenema, 240 km east of Freetown, were inaccurate, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Monday. An ICRC official stressed that although there had been "the odd case of cholera and measles, there is no epidemic". The Sierra Leone Red Cross also discounted reports of starvation at the camp as inaccurate. An official told IRIN that although there had been periodic shortages, regular deliveries of food provided by WFP and the ICRC continued normally.

AFRC delegation to ECOWAS summit

The AFRC said it was sending a three-member delegation to the Lome summit of ECOWAS leaders, AFP reported Monday. The delegation to the summit starting on Tuesday will be led by the AFRC foreign minister, Paolo Bangura. Earlier, reports by news media said that Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, the civilian president ousted by the AFRC in May, would also attend the summit.

NIGERIA: Foreign oilmen taken hostage

At least five Western oil workers have been held hostage on a boat off the coast of Nigeria's south-western Ondo state since Saturday, international news reports said Monday. The reports said they included at least two Britons and one or more Americans working for the American oil surveying company Western Geographical.

The company has declined to comment on the cause of the reported incident. But news agencies said there had been similar cases of hostage-taking in the past in the oil-rich Niger delta area, where local workers sometimes demanded big pay-offs at the end of a contract. Both AFP and Reuters quoted diplomats as saying negotiations were under way, but that no details of the demands or the identity of the captors were known.

Protest march in northern Nigeria

Hundreds of youths in northern Nigeria staged a peaceful protest against the government of General Sani Abacha, Reuters reported on Monday. Chanting support for the former vice president, Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, who died last week while serving a lengthy jail term, the protestors marched through the streets of Yar'Adua's birthplace, Katsina. Yar'Adua, 54, was among several people, including ex-military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo, who were sentenced to death in 1995 for plotting a coup against Abacha.

In a related development, AFP reported on Monday that Obasanjo and Nigeria's other leading political prisoner, Moshood Abiola, were unlikely to benefit from any amnesty. Paul Nwokedi, chairman of the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission, said in a television interview his commission could not review cases already decided by the courts. Abiola, in detention since 1994, faces treason charges over his claim to have won the 1993 presidential election. Abacha pledged in November to amnesty some detainees, but none have been released so far.

UK condemns Abacha's on human rights.

The British Foreign Office, Minister Tony Lloyd, was quoted by media at the weekend as condemning Nigeria's "appalling" human rights record. His statement was made after meeting in London with Ken Wiwa, son of executed Ogoni leader and author Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Grenade explosion in Abuja

An explosion at the international airport in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Saturday killed one security officer and seriously wounded another, news agencies said. Although the incident was under investigation, PANA quoted Abuja Police Commissioner Mustapha Ismail as saying the explosion had been accident. The two were travelling in car when a grenade exploded.

New American ambassador

William Twaddell, the new US ambassador, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to replace Walter Carrington, who left in October, the media reported. Twaddell, 56, was principal deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department's African Bureau.

LIBERIA: Journalists cautioned

Some journalists in Liberia would die before the press learns to behave, members of President Charles Taylor's State Security Service (SSS) warned, AFP reported. The report last week, confirmed to IRIN on Monday, said SSS men had entered the offices of 'The Inquirer' on Thursday and taken seven reporters to the Executive Mansion. SSS officer Kenny Wolo was quoted by AFP as saying: "Some of you will die before you press can behave yourselves." The report in question dealt with the disappearance of a police officer allegedly detained by the SSS. The seven were released on Friday when Joe Mulbah, the information minister, interevened.

Journalists in Monrovia told IRIN Mulbah appeared "very upset" at the incident - mainly out of concern about negative publicity. He also 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, Star Radio reported on Monday. Objective pronouncements, he added, would help guide the government in its performance. The report added: "President Taylor, however, advised human rights organisations to be cautious in public pronouncements that tend to cause trouble in society."

Sixty feared dead in boat accident

Nearly 60 people were feared drowned when a boat ferrying them across the Mano River border from Sierra Leone capsized, the BBC reported on Monday. The passengers were reportedly fleeing recent fighting in Sierra Leone between the AFRC and Kamajor militiamen loyal to Kabbah. The report, which was not independently confirmed, did not say when the accident happened.

SENEGAL: Government ready to negotiate with Casamance separatists

President Abdou Diouf has said that he is ready to negotiate with separatists of the southern Casamance province, AFP reported. It said that Diouf made the offer on his return from the Islamic Conference in Tehran on Friday. "I am read to receive and talk to anyone who wants to talk," he was quoted as saying. "It takes two sides to negotiate."

The report also quoted the US State Department as saying it would like to see such negotiations between the government and the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) "while respecting the principle of Senegal's territorial integrity".

MAURITANIA: Landslide victory for incumbent in presidential election

President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania was returned to power after taking 90.25 percent of the vote in Friday's presidential election, news organisations reported. The results, released by the interior ministry, and due to be gazetted on Wednesday, 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 was quoted by AFP as calling the election a "massive fraud". Meanwhile, a report by international observers is still awaited. Barring a small demonstration in the capital Nouakchott on Friday night, the election passed off peacefully.

WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS summit

Heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are to hold a summit meeting in Lome, Togo, starting Tuesday. The meeting is expected to discuss developments in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Lome summit will be preceded by a meeting on Tuesday of ECOWAS foreign ministers.

Abidjan, 15 December 1997, 20:15 gmt

[ends]

[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-updates]

Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 20:26:32 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 104-97, 97.12.15 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971215202420.9697A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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