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IRIN-WA Update 127 of Events in West Africa, (Tuesday) 20 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.]
LIBERIA: ECOMOG to stay after deadline
The executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Lansana Kouyate on Monday said the West African peacekeeping force ECOMOG would remain in Liberia beyond a 2 February deadline, AFP reported. He said ECOMOG would assist in training the Liberian armed forces, and that a new withdrawal date would be decided at an ECOWAS heads of states' summit later this year.
Explaining the decision, ECOMOG's new commander in Liberia, Major General Timothy Shelpidi, told IRIN the February deadline had been set merely to review ECOMOG's mandate, and was not the date for a complete withdrawal. There had, however, been a gradual reduction in troops.
SIERRA LEONE: Over 100 die in battle for diamond town
The governing Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in Sierra Leone on Tuesday said at least 130 people had died at the weekend when it pushed Kamajor militias out of the Tongo Fields diamond mining town, AFP reported. AFRC spokesman Allieu Kamara, releasing the first toll after the fighting, said at least half of those who died were Kamajors. The Kamajors are loyal to ousted president Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
Although no further details were given, a state radio report quoted by AFP blamed Nigeria for helping the Kamajor forces who briefly held the town 200 km northeast of the capital, Freetown, on Saturday after a two-week siege.
The Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, has maintained a sanctions blockade on Sierra Leone as part of international efforts to return the country to civilian rule.
"The fighting in Tongo Fields has been perpetrated by the Nigerians who are aiding and abetting the Kamajors," said Lieutenant Colonel John Milton, another AFRC spokesman.
In a new development, refugees from Sierra Leone in neighbouring Guinea said they had created a movement to back the Kamajors, AFP reported. The new Civil Defence Force (CDF) said it hoped to recruit other refugees to help drive the AFRC out. The emergence of the CDF followed an appeal by Kabbah at the weekend for an armed uprising against the AFRC.
NIGERIA: Mobil apologises, promises compensation for oil spill
US oil giant Mobil on Tuesday publicly apologised for last week's oil spill off the coast of southern Nigeria, news reports said. Mobil also said it would pay undisclosed compensation for losses incurred after the slick lapped onto beaches near the Pennington River mouth.
In a statement published in several Nigerian newspapers, Mobil offered a formal apology to affected communities in southern Nigeria. Managing Director Paul Caldwell said the company would pay compensation to individuals "who incurred legimitate damage as a result of the oil spill". Caldwell said that the company would monitor the path of the offshore oil slick while measures were being taken tackle the slick.
In what was described as one of the biggest oil spills off the Nigerian coast in recent history, the slick has been drifting near the Nigerian coast for a week since 40,000 barrels of light crude leaked from a ruptured pipeline.
MAURITANIA: Protests over anti-slavery arrests
A group of lawyers in Mauritania have said they will stop working for the day on Wednesday in protest at the arrest of colleague held with two anti-slavery activists, AFP reported Tuesday. The chairman of Mauritanian legal society, Mafouah Ould Bettah demanded the immediate release of the lawyer, Brahim Ould Ebetti, and two others arrested with him on Saturday, Boubacar Messaoud, president of the anti-slavery society SOS Esclavage, and Cheikh Saad Bouh Camara, president of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association. The government said the three would face charges of disseminating "false information" following the broadcast of a French television documentary on slavery in Mauritania. Slavery was abolished in Mauritania in 1980.
NIGER: Students demonstrate as teachers resume strike
Teachers in Niger started a five day strike for unpaid wages on Monday in what marked their first protest after a year of upheaval at primary, secondary and higher education institutions, news reports said. The teachers were demanding at least two months pay of seven months they claim are owed. Their strike coincided with a demonstration in the capital Niamey by university students demanding unpaid grants.
GHANA: Four killed in religious clash
Four people were killed and 26 wounded on Friday in a clash between two rival Muslim sects at Wenchi, 425 km northwest of Accra, news reports said on Monday. The dispute was over ownership of the Wenchi cemetery. Sources said police made at least 60 arrests after members of the orthodox Tijaniiya Moslem group attacked Sunni revivalists with guns and machetes. According to the Ghanaian news agency, a car and two houses were set alight.
Abidjan, 20 January 1998 17:40 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, 20 Jan 1998 17:42:55 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 127, 98.1.20 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980120173945.9045A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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