UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Update 145, 98.2.13

IRIN-West Africa Update 145, 98.2.13


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 145 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 13 February 1998

SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG captures fleeing AFRC officers

The Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, captured 25 members of Sierra Leone's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) on Friday as they attempted to escape by helicopter from Sierra Leone's besieged capital, Freetown, to neighbouring Liberia, diplomatic and military sources told IRIN. It was not clear, however, if AFRC chairman Major Johnny Paul Koroma had also been arrested.

ECOMOG force commander Major General Timothy Shelpidi, who told IRIN on Friday he did not have Koroma in his custody, however confirmed two AFRC helicopters earlier landed in Liberia's capital Monrovia. Security sources in Monrovia told IRIN a Nigerian jet intercepted the helicopters as they flew from Freetown and forced them to land at the city's airport. According to the sources, a heavily armed ECOMOG escort then took AFRC officers from the helicopters to ECOMOG's base near Monrovia port.

Liberia's foreign minister Monie Captan complained the arrests violated Liberian sovereignty, AFP reported. "This is an infringement on our territory," he said. According to Captan, Liberia had now recalled its ambassador to Nigeria for consultations over the incident. A local source in Monrovia told IRIN on Friday that rumours in the city suggested AFRC members were trying to seek political asylum in Liberia. It was not clear, however, if this was at Liberia's invitation.

Fighting continues in Freetown

Meanwhile in Freetown, media reports said sporadic fighting continued in parts of the city. On Thursday, Nigerian forces reportedly captured AFRC headquarters at State House. However, some AFRC units still resisted the ECOMOG advance on Friday, AFP reported. AFRC Information Minister Andrew Kamara told the news organisations the AFRC would not give up. "This is just the beginning of the battle," he said. According to Kamara, "setbacks" in Freetown did not mean the AFRC had lost control of the whole of Sierra Leone. Humanitarian sources were unable to give IRIN confirmed casualty figures on Friday, but AFP reported at least one hundred people were known to have been killed in the past week, including 50 who drowned while attempting to flee.

Humanitarian situation "catastrophic"

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva described the situation in Freetown on Friday as "catastrophic", AFP reported. Paris-based Action Contre La Faim (ACF) also warned on Thursday that insecurity and looting meant humanitarian agencies could no longer supply urgently needed relief. ACF estimated half a million persons were trapped by the fighting in the city. WFP estimated some 500,000 people throughout Sierra Leone also faced serious food shortages. The number of people in need could increase by the tens of thousands if fighting continued, WFP said.

However, Shelpidi told AFP on Thursday he would only allow aid workers into Freetown once his forces had complete control of the city. "I cannot guarantee their safety at the moment, so it is better for agencies to wait," the news agency quoted him as saying.

International reaction

The UN Special Envoy for Sierra Leone Ambassador Francis Okelo told IRIN on Friday he was encouraged by developments in Sierra Leone, although humanitarian conditions in Freetown concerned him. Okelo said the efforts of ECOMOG and the international community should be commended. "I urge the remaining members of the AFRC hand over power peacefully," he said. According to Okelo, Sierra Leone's ousted civilian president Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah might now return to Freetown "within days". Okelo said humanitarian assistance should also start to flow in to Sierra Leone as soon as possible. "We want to get operations under way on an emergency basis," Okelo said.

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Chairman, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, also commended ECOMOG for its capture of Freetown. "ECOMOG will remain in Sierra Leone until they are certain that all resistance is gone," he said.

NIGERIA: Coup plotters' trial to open on Saturday

The trial of 26 soldiers and civilians on charges of involvement in an alleged plot in December to overthrow Nigerian leader General Sani Abacha will commence on Saturday, news organisations reported. A ministry of defense statement quoted by AFP, said that a special military tribunal consisting of seven senior officers would hear the case in Jos, 850 km north of Lagos. Major General Victor Malu, former ECOMOG force commander in Liberia, has been appointed as the tribunal's chairman. Reporters have been invited to the opening session at which full charges will be disclosed along with the list of defendants.

According to opposition Radio Kudirat, the Nigerian human rights NGO Constitutional Rights Project (CRP) said the tribunal was not part of the judicial system and its chairman was part of the armed forces. It would be unable to meet the requirements of judicial fairness, the radio added.

GUINEA: Mutiny trial adjourned

Ninety-six soldiers, including former defence minister Colonel Abdourahmane Diallo, went on trial on Friday in connection with a mutiny, which turned into an attempted coup d'etat in 1996, news organisations reported. The trial was adjourned to 26 February at the request of the defence lawyers. They claimed they had not had access to their clients in the last three months. The soldiers have been charged with compromising national security, murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy.

The presidential palace was partially destroyed and shops looted in the Guinean capital, Conakry, during the two-day 1996 rebellion over low pay.

CHAD: Journalists sentenced for libelling president

Two Chadian journalists have been given two-year suspended sentences after being convicted of libelling President Idriss Deby of Chad in an article which appeared in the weekly 'N'Djamena Hebdo', news organisations reported. The newspaper publisher, Begoto Oulatar, told IRIN that his paper had been under government scrutiny since 1995. Oulatar said the paper's latest problems had stemmed from an article accusing Deby of pandering to the northerners, while neglecting the south. Oulatar's defence lawyers said they would appeal against the court's decision.

MAURITANIA: Anti-slavery activists jailed for 13 months

Four anti-slavery activists were sentenced to 13 months in jail and a fine on Thursday in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, AFP reported. Defence lawyers said that they would appeal against the sentences imposed on the anti-slavery activists accused of belonging to an unauthorised group and spreading false allegations in a French television documentary on slavery. The defendants were Boubacar Ould Messaoud, leader of SOS Slavery, Cheikh Saad Bouh Camara, president of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association, and lawyers Brahim Ould Ebetti and Fatima M'Baye. A fifth defendant, Abdel Nasser Ould Yessa, who lives in Paris, was tried in his absence and received a similar sentence. Slavery in Mauritania was officially abolished in 1983.

Abidjan, 13 February 1998, 18:45 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]

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Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 18:55:02 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 145, 98.2.13 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980213185321.1446A-p://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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