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IRIN-WA Update 130 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 23 January 1998
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Country reported tense
Equatorial Guinea was reported to be tense on Friday after the government announced a separatist attack by the Bioko island independence movement, MAIB, in which four soldiers were killed. News reports said troops were stationed in front of the main buildings in the island's capital, Malabo, and that a maximum alert had been ordered after the attack on Wednesday.
Bioko, an island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea, has long resented the domination of their ethnic Bubi community by the mainland Fang. The conflict intensified when oil was discovered off Bioko.
SENEGAL: Government welcomes peace call
The Senegalese government welcomed recent calls for peace in its troubled southern region Casamance, AFP reported Friday. The secretary general of the separatist Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de la Casamance (MFDC), Father Augustin Diamacoune Senghor, on Tuesday reiterated his call for an end to hostilities. He said he was ready to stop demanding independence for asamance.
The minister of information, Serigne Diop, said the government was "open to any peace initiative" whether it came from neighbouring Guinea-Bissau and Gambia, or the MFDC itself: "The hope of the Senegalese authorities is to find an epilogue to the Casamance problem as soon as possible without violence."
However, there was no indication that militant factions in the separatist movement would agree to lay down their arms or accept Senghor's leadership.
NIGERIA: UNCP clinches majority in state elections
The National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) announced that the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) had won the majority of seats in last month's state assembly elections, AFP reported Friday.
UNCP candidates won a total of 637 of the 970 seats in the country's 36 state assemblies. The runner-up was the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) with 199 seats, followed by the Congress for National Consensus (CNC) with 61. The commission said by-elections were still to be held in 20 constituencies, but no timetable was announced. The elections were held under the government's planned transition to civilian rule.
TOGO: Students ignore government call to end strike
Togolese students have ignored a government call to end a strike at the University of Benin in the capital Lome, AFP reported Friday. The strike was called to protest the way police had broken up a demonstration over student grants at the campus on Monday.
The government said in a statement it had taken pains to ensure regular payments of scholarships and other financial grants despite reductions in public spending.
GHANA: Suspects to appear in court
A court in northwest Ghana on Thursday remanded 48 people in custody following weekend clashes between Moslem which claimed four lives. An AFP dispatch, quoting police, said the Sunyani high court, 300 km northwest of the capital, Accra, had agreed that further inquiries had to be made before charges could be brought. Four members of the fundamentalist Al-Sunni Moslem sect clashed with the Tijaniya during the over rights to burial grounds. A further 22 people have also been detained in connection with the incident.
Polytechnic students strike over diploma row
Thousands of polytechnic students in Ghana on Friday boycotted classes for the second day running in a bid to pressure the government to honour its commitment to establish parity between a polytechnic diploma and a university degree, AFP reported. Student leaders said that they would continue the strike until the matter was resolved.
GUINEA: Hundreds of homes destroyed in fire
More than 350 homes were destroyed and at least 1,000 people were left homeless after a huge blaze swept through a village near Faranah, 400 km east of the Guinean capital, Conakry, AFP reported Friday. In a report quoting a national radio broadcast, it said there had been no casualties in the village of Bontala. The blaze, however, destroyed grain stores and fruit trees prompting the authorities to appeal for emergency supplies.
MAURITANIA: New call for release of anti-slavery activists
The Mouvement contre le Racisim et Amitie entre les Peuple (MRAP) in France, on Thursday, appealed to the Mauritanian government to release two human rights activists and a lawyer who were detained following the broadcast of a French television documentary on slavery.
MRAP called on the government to initiate reforms and programmes to eradicate slavery, saying its attitude served to protect slavery. The lawyer, Brahim Ould Ebetti, Boubacar Messaoud, president of the anti-slavery society SOS Esclavage, and Cheikh Saad Bouh Camara, president of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association, appeared in court this week. They were remanded in custody on charges of "creating or belonging to illegal organisations".
Although outlawed in the 1980s, slavery remains a source of embarrassment to the government. Despite steps taken to eradicate slavery, recent press reports indicate that the traffic in children continues, albeit clandestinely. Human rights groups have repeatedly accused many Beydanes, ethnic Moors, of having retained their slaves, mainly black Mauritanians.
Abidjan, 23 January, 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: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 20:25:10 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 130, 98.1.23 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980123202313.19455B-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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