UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Update 140, 98.02.06 (fwd)

IRIN-West Africa Update 140, 98.02.06 (fwd)


U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 21-73-54 Fax: +225 21-63-35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci

IRIN-WA Update 140 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 06 February 1998

SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG and RUF clash near Freetown

Troops from a Sierra Leone rebel movement exchanged mortar fire with the West African peacekeeping force ECOMOG near the capital Freetown on Thursday, news agencies reported. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF), now known as the "People's Army", joined Sierra Leone's ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) when junior army officers ousted the civilian government in May. The AFRC has since clashed repeatedly with ECOMOG, which has been mandated to restore the elected president. However, this is the first time RUF troops have acted separately from the AFRC, a local analyst told IRIN on Friday.

According to AFP fighting broke out on Thursday morning and continued through to Friday with only a brief lull on Thursday afternoon. A spokesperson for the AFRC told AFP thousands of people were fleeing what he claimed was a deliberate attack by ECOMOG on Benguema Military Training Centre, and the townships of Waterloo, Wellington, and Regent, all within 40 km of Freetown. "We intercepted a secret message being given to all Nigerian commanders in ECOMOG" for an all-out attack on Freetown, he said.

ECOMOG commander Major General Timothy Shelpidi told IRIN on Friday, however, that he had not issued any order to attack Freetown. "We are abiding strictly by the ceasefire," he said. The general warned however that if attacked, his troops would not "lay down their arms."

A Western military analyst told IRIN the upsurge in fighting outside Freetown was significant. So far four people had been killed in the fighting, Reuters reported.

LIBERIA: Dokie trial date set

The trial of five men arrested in connection with the murder of Liberian opposition politician Samuel Dokie last November will open on Monday, a justice ministry official told reporters on Thursday. Dokie, a former speaker of the national assembly, disappeared after unidentified Liberian security forces arrested him near Gbarnga, a stronghold of President Charles Taylor in central Liberia. Dokie and four others travelling with him were found decapitated in his burned out car four days later. According to media sources, Liberia's Solicitor General Theophilus Gould said Taylor had allocated US$ 75,000 to try the case.

However, a humanitarian source in Monrovia told IRIN on Friday there was little public interest in the case. According to the source, Monrovians widely believed those facing trial were not necessarily acting alone.

Government retires senior officers

The Liberian defence ministry announced on Friday it would retire some 13 senior army officers, media reports said. According to AFP, most the officers were from the ethnic Krahn group, which made up two of the largest factions which fought Taylor during Liberia's seven-year civil war. In January, the ministry demobilised over 2,400 mostly Krahn troops.

A Liberia analyst told IRIN on Friday the removal of Krahn members of the army was part of a wider consolidation of Taylor's power base. According to the analyst, local papers speculated on Thursday that the former leader of one Krahn faction, Roosevelt Johnson, had left Liberia. "The government told the press Johnson was in Ghana for health reasons, but observers suspect Johnson has all but fled the country," the analyst said.

MALI: UNHCR appeals for aid for Mali and Niger refugees

UNHCR appealed on Thursday for over US$ 10 million in aid to help repatriate refugees from Mali and Niger now living in several countries in the region. According to UNHCR, over 120,000 Malian refugees have returned home since 1995. Some 90,000 had received UNHCR repatriation assistance. The new appeal will attempt to facilitate the return of some 3,000 refugees in Algeria and 14,000 in Niger. At least 11,000 of the refugees are expected by UNHCR to repatriate in the coming weeks. The refugees originally fled fighting in Mali in the early 1990s.

Government announces local elections

The Malian government announced delayed local elections would go ahead in April, the BBC reported on Thursday. According to the government, campaigning would start two weeks ahead of the vote. Elections have been postponed twice as a result of continuing political tension over presidential and legislative elections last year, which the opposition claimed was fraudulent. Mali's President Alpha Oumar Konare held a long-expected meeting with the opposition alliance earlier this week, which analysts said paved the way for the elections.

CHAD: Opposition party claims responsibility for kidnap of French nationals

A small Chadian political party has said it kidnapped four French citizens who mysteriously disappeared earlier this week, Radio France Internationale reported on Thursday. Quoting the Chadian communications minister, the radio station said the radical Union des Force Democratiques (UDF) had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

According to the BBC, Chadian radio also reported that French and Chadian soldiers were continuing their search near a forest in the south of the country, where a witness saw the group being kidnapped by five gunmen. Earlier, the French foreign minister, Hubert Vedrine, reportedly said he had reassuring news that the four were still alive.

MAURITANIA: Violence at anti-slavery demonstration

A Mauritanian opposition party said on Friday that police had arrested eight people and injured 20 others before a planned anti-slavery demonstration on Thursday in the capital Nouakchott, AFP reported. The Action pour le Changement (AC) party had called the demonstration to protest the arrests last month of three Mauritanian human right workers who had taken part in a French television documentary on slavery.

Slavery was officially abolished in Mauritania in 1980. However, analysts said social problems still existed because reintegration of former slaves had not received sufficient attention.

THE GAMBIA: Two journalists arrested

Two Gambian journalists working for a private radio station in the capital Banjul were arrested on Thursday, AFP reported. It identified them as Baboucar Gaye, manager of radio 'New Citizen' and Ebrahim Sillah, a station employee. They had allegedly broadcast a report that a National Intelligence Agency official had been dismissed this week for corruption. According to AFP, Gambian authorities were investigating possible sources of the leaked "sensitive" information.

Abidjan, 6 February 1998 17:55 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, 6 Feb 1998 17:59:01 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 140, 98.02.06 (fwd) Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980206175747.8662A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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