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IRIN-WA Update 126 of Events in West Africa, (Saturday-Monday) 17-19 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.]
SIERRA LEONE: AFRC says it has regained control of diamond town
Sierra Leone's governing Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) said it had regained control at the weekend of the diamond mining town of Tongo Fields, AFP reported. It announced the recapture on Sunday, a day after it was taken by Kamajor militias loyal to ousted President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. There were no immediate casualty figures beyond an unconfirmed report of 30 killed in fighting between the AFRC and militias. But humanitarian sources and news reports said thousands of people had fled the town, some 200 kms northeast of the capital Freetown. Tongo Fields had been under siege for over two weeks. Kamajor forces, estimated at 1,000, were reportedly well armed with modern weapons it claimed had been provided by the Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG.
"We threw in virtually everything we had as the town is strategically important to the army," the dispatch quoted Colonel John Milton, the AFRC information director, as saying. Aid agencies estimated that up to 10,000 people were fleeing the area.
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front Nigeria's foreign minister, Tom Ikimi, has been discussing the crisis with other West African leaders in Guinea and Ghana. Ikimi is chairman of the Committee of Five of the Economic Community of West African Nations (ECOWAS), which was instrumental in negotiating the Conakry accords for a return to civilian rule in Sierra Leone. UN Special Envoy for Sierra Leone Francis Okelo was quoted by news reports as recommending that the Committee of Five meet as soon as possible with the AFRC to discuss the crisis.
LIBERIA: Liberian radio reopens
The independent Liberian radio station, Radio Monrovia,
resumed broadcasts on Saturday after paying a US $2,500
fine for allocating two of its frequencies to another
independent station, Star Radio, news reports said
Monday. Radio Monrovia's closure, just over a week
ago, was followed by the closure of Star Radio, which
is run by the Swiss-based Fondation Hirondelle.
George Bennett, Star Radio's manager, told IRIN on Monday that negotiations were continuing with the government and he hoped that programmes would resume soon. Star Radio provides radio news and programmes in 17 languages. Fondation Hirondelle, in a statement, refuted government claims that it had been allocated the two frequencies illegally. It also denied that US $ 15,000 had been paid separately to Radio Monrovia. It had not only paid the ministry of posts and telecommunications US $ 3,800 for its licence, but said its operations had been given the approval of four different ministries and ECOMOG.
MAURITANIA: Human rights activists arrested over slavery report
Three human rights activists have been arrested for spreading "false information" following the broadcast of a French television documentary on slavery in Mauritania, news reports said Monday. The three were identified as Boubacar Messaoud, president of the anti-slavery society SOS Esclavage, Cheikh Saad Bouh Camara, president of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association, and a lawyer, Brahim Ould Ebetti.
Slavery was outlawed by Mauritania in 1980 and to suggest its existence is an offence. It is also an ethnically charged issue that has remained a source of embarrassment to the government. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused many Beydanes, ethnic Moors, of having retained their slaves, who are mainly black Mauritanians.
NIGERIA: Oil spill reaches Nigerian coast
The U.S. oil giant Mobil Corp said on Monday that an oil slick from a ruptured offshore pipeline had reached the Nigerian coast near the mouth of the Pennington river, news organisations reported.
It said the beach pollution comprised "large patches for about 500 feet (175 m) with small patches extending for about a mile (1.6 km)".
In what was described as one of the biggest oil spills off the Nigerian coast in recent memory, the slick has been drifting near the Nigerian coast for a week since 40,000 barrels (5,700 tonnes) of light crude escaped from a ruptured pipeline. Mobil, meanwhile, dismissed claims by villagers from the southeastern Andoni district that fish had been poisoned and fishing nets destroyed by the crude.
GUINEA: Prison conditions condemned
The African delegation of the International Observatory of Prisons (OIP) has issued a report condemning the state of Guinea's prisons, AFP reported at the weekend. The report cited severe overcrowding, poor sanitation and lighting conditions, and insufficient food and medical care. No official comment was available from the government.
CHAD: Former president could be extradited
The Chadian government has said it will seek the extradition from Senegal of former president Hissene Habre, AFP reported at the weekend. In a brief dispatch, it said President Idriss Deby, who overthrew Habre in a 1990 coup, was seeking the return of US $ 11.6 million with which Habre had allegedly absconded.
Abidjan, 19 January 1998, 21:20 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, 19 Jan 1998 21:33:20 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 126, 98.1.19 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980119213012.2258A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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