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IRIN-WA Update 120 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 9 January 1998
[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.]
NIGER: Last opposition leader released
The last and most prominent of Niger's opposition leaders detained for conspiring to assassinate President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara has been released, news agencies reported Friday. Hama Amadou, the former premier and leader of the party Mouvement National pour la Societe de Developpement (MNSD), was released on bail and will face charges of setting up a para-military organisation. A conviction would carry a maximum jail term of five years. "I at least have the satisfaction of knowing that the object of my arrest is no longer a plot," he said afterwards.
Meanwhile, Justice and Human Rights Minister Issoufou Abba Moussa said the government had referred the case to the criminal court instead of opting for a state security trial.
SIERRA LEONE: Peace accord timetable in doubt
Sierra Leone's ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) has again questioned the feasibility of 22 April as the deadline for the restoration of civilian rule, Reuters reported on Friday. "We need to revisit the entire timing of the peace plan," AFRC spokesman Amadou Bailoh Bah was quoted as saying. The AFRC has also raised doubts over the leading role of Nigeria in the regional peacekeeping force, ECOMOG.
Meanwhile, further fighting was reported on 8 January between the AFRC and Kamajor militia forces near Bo, 170 kms east of Freetown. Clashes were reported by IRIN sources throughout the week with both sides claiming victories.
LIBERIA: Former presidential ally killed
Liberian police on Friday shot and killed a former faction commander and his bodyguard during an alleged armed robbery, AFP reported. It said General Mannah Zekay of the defunct ethnic Krahn wing of the United Liberation Movement (ULIMO-J) and his bodyguard had died in an exchange of gunfire with police in Loagan Town, a suburb of the capital Monrovia.
Their bodies were later placed on public display at
police headquarters, each with a rusty rifle placed
on his chest. Zekay's command of ULIMO-J forces in
the western Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties during
Liberia's seven-year civil war led to accusations of
atrocities and massacres of civilians.
GABON: Mayor wants UN-supervised election
A leading political opponment of Gabonese President El Haji Omar Bongo has said that presidential elections scheduled later this year could not go ahead without UN supervision, AFP reported Friday. The polician, Father Mba Abessole, is mayor of the capital, Libreville, and leader of the opposition Rassemblement National des Bucherons (RNB). He said the country was not capable of organising elections and that a UN intervention was necessary "to avoid a civil war". The dispatch said, however, that Bongo had rejected the idea at a meeting with diplomats.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Key defections from opposition
Severo Moto, exiled leader of Equatorial Guinea's main opposition Party for Progress (PP), appealed in a radio broadcast from Spain on Friday for what he called a "true democracy", AFP reported. It said he also appealed to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema to "stop corrupting" members of the opposition. The PP was dealt a serious blow earlier in the week when its first and second deputy chairmen defected to the ruling Democratic Party of Guinea Equatorial (PDGE).
GAMBIA: Exiles should return home
Gambian Head of State Yahya Jammeh has appealed to prominent Gambian exiles, including former President Dawda Jawara, to return home and participate in the reconstruction of the country, news agencies reported Friday. "Jawara can return as a private citizen but I cannot guarantee his personal security in the country," he was quoted as saying. Jammeh overthrew Jawara's government in a 1994 coup and was elected president in 1996.
BENIN: PM criticises government
Prime Minister Adrien Houngbedji of Benin has criticised his government's lack of cohesion, AFP reported on Friday. He told a news conference he had not been consulted on any of the annual budgets since 1996. However, his office told IRIN he had not criticised the government, but had appealed for improved dialogue and cooperation.
President Mathieu Kerekou nominated Houngbedji to the premiership for his support during the election two years ago. Houngbedji said he had hoped that his party, Parti du Renouveau Democratique (PRD), would be associated in all major decisions affecting the country.
GUINEA: Journalist expelled
Guinea has expelled a former correspondent of Reuters and BBC to his native Sierra Leone, the BBC reported Friday. Foday Fofanah had been held for three months without charges following an article in which he implicated Liberia and the son of a former Guinean head of state in a coup plot.
Abidjan, 9 January 1998, 18:00 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: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 18:09:25 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 120, 98.1.9 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980109180648.16484A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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