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IRIN-WA Update 117 of Events in West Africa, (Tuesday) 6 January 1998
[Note: Due to a numbering error please note that the last two editions of the IRIN-WA report 01-98 and 02-98 have been rectified in our archives as 115 and 116.]
[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.]
LIBERIA: ECOMOG commander Malu is replaced
Major General Victor Malu, commander of the West African ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Liberia since September 1996, will be replaced by another Nigerian general later this week. Confirming a Nigerian television announcement, Malu told IRIN Tuesday that Major General Timothy Shelpidi will assume the ECOMOG command Thursday. Shelpidi, currently the head of armed forces training in Nigeria, becomes the seventh ECOMOG force commander appointed. Malu said he would move to a command post in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria. The peacekeeping force, which successfully supervised elections in Liberia in July, is due to withdraw from Liberia on 2 February.
Malu also said he was disappointed to leave Liberia without completing the disarmament of the Liberian factions. Liberia's President Charles Taylor clashed with him repeatedly last year over ECOMOG demands that it restructure the Armed Forces of Liberia as the final part the mandate to end the seven-year Liberian civil war. Taylor maintained the defence of Liberia was his sole prerogative as elected president.
Malu told the BBC that an additional 10,000 ECOMOG troops would be sent to join the 5,000-strong contingent already serving in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Government closes down newspaper, radio station
The Liberian government ordered Monrovia's only printing press to stop production of the bi-weekly 'Heritage' on Monday, AFP reported. The newspaper's editor, Charles Jackson, said the printer had shown him an official letter stopping production of the paper until "certain problems between the paper and the government were solved." Last week, 'Heritage' published an article criticising ECOMOG's withdrawal from Liberia.
Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that President Taylor had ordered the closure of his own radio station, Kiss FM, because of "inefficiency." It said security guards were posted at the station in Monrovia's Congotown suburb, and that it would remain closed "indefinitely." Kiss FM was part of the Liberia Communications Network, a Taylor-controlled media company. Taylor personally paid his staff salaries in US dollars, the report said.
SIERRA LEONE: AFRC denies BBC report on Bo fighting
The ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) on Tuesday condemned a BBC report of heavy fighting in the Bo district between AFRC troops and Kamajor militias, according to Sierra Leone Radio. Secretary of State (South) Major AF Kamara said a description of the situation in Bo, Sierra Leone's second city, was unfounded and misleading.
However, a source in Kenema told IRIN on Tuesday that fighting had taken place in Bo over the weekend. "It was very heavy, although no one knows how many casualties there were," he said.
Kamara said the AFRC was committed to the Conakry peace plan for a return to civilian rule in April. It was also committed, he said, to reconciliation with the Kamajors, who are loyal to ousted civilian president Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
MALI: Lack of funding contributes to growing conflicts
Confrontations between two Malien Tuareg communities killed five people late last week, authorities told AFP on 5 January. Fighting erupted in Daousaks and Fourgoumisset, northeast Mali, over the management of a shared oasis - one of the few sources of water and fertile land in the area. Only two weeks ago, a similar conflict between Peuhls and Tuareg ethnic groups over water rights also resulted in a death.
The former Tuareg rebel leader, Rhissa AG Sidi Mohamed, warned that the government must assure the development of the region "if they do not want northern Mali to explode again".Without development projects there could be no durable peace in the area, he said. Tuareg refugees only recently returned to the area following the end of the Tuareg regional rebellion.
Most have resettled in an inaccessible area of desert with only limited economic and environmental potential. In October 1997, Refugees International warned that chronic under-funding of regional development programmes by the international community threatened the refugee reintegration programme. A UNHCR official told IRIN on Tuesday the funding problem had not been resolved. The lack of assistance and this year's drought conditions pose serious threats to regional stability.
SENEGAL: Guinea-Bissau troops kill 10 Casamance rebels
Guinea-Bissau border troops killed 10 people and took 40 prisoners in an operation against separatists of the southern Senegalese province of Casamance, AFP reported Tuesday. Quoting military sources, the dispatch described it as the first intervention by Guinea-Bissau soldiers against rebels of the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC). The report, which was not independently confirmed, said the rebels were suspected of hiding in refugee camps south of the border on Guinea-Bissau territory near the towns of Babonda and Suzana.
NIGERIA: Last budget
Presenting Nigeria's last budget before the return of democracy scheduled for later this year, Head of State General Sani Abacha agreed to privatisation moves aimed at opening up the economy - moves long demanded by international lending institutions, news organisations reported.
Termed a "Budget of Transition" the plan presented on 4 January targets several key state industries for privatisation within the first quarter: electricity, telecommunications, petroleum refining, petrochemicals, coal and bitumen production, and tourism development. Abacha further promised to liquidate all "distressed banks" within three months.
Grenade explosion deemed accident
Nigerian police have upheld the original findings of "accidental discharge"in last month's grenade explosion at Abuja international airport. The explosion killed a security officer and endangered the life of Nigeria's deputy leader Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya. Along with several others, Diya has since been arrested on charges of conspiring to plot a coup.
TOGO: Press restrictions eased
New press laws passed in Togo on 5 January allow for the creation of private radio and television stations, AFP reported. Despite provisions for a reduction in jail terms and fines in the new laws, journalists still face a possible three-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of US$ 1,660 to 3,320 or both for "insulting or defaming" the president. Previously, journalists faced sentences of up to five years.
Abidjan, 6 January 1998 18:50 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: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 18:53:57 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 117, 98.1.6
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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