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IRIN-WA Update 165 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 13 March 1998
WEST AFRICA: Consensus prevails over peace-keeping force
Consensus eventually prevailed as West African ministers meeting at Yamoussoukro agreed on Friday to make ECOMOG the backbone of a sub-regional peace-keeping force, various media reported. After two days of what AFP called "sometimes acrimonious" talks in the Ivorian political capital, foreign, defence and interior ministers from the 16 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed that they would base their future joint peace-keeping force on ECOMOG. The extent of the Nigerian-led force's future role was a major bone of contention in the talks.
Earlier in the meeting, Cote d'Ivoire Foreign Minister Essy Amara said his country was ready to contribute troops. ECOWAS ministers have asked experts to redefine the legal status of a joint force, its composition and the decision process governing its use. Main practical issues revolve around the national or international nature of the staff, financing and political supervision of the joint force. Experts must also lay down the conditions for its deployment, the handling of crises, training and the structure of command. They will put proposals to a ministerial meeting ahead of the next ECOWAS summit in July, AFP said.
Call for sub-regional "monitoring body"
ECOWAS ministers meeting at Yamoussoukro on Friday called for the creation of a "monitoring body" for peace and security in West Africa, AFP reported. The ministers asked the Nigerian-based ECOWAS secretariat to work out a mechanism based on ECOMOG as soon as possible. Under the agreed plan, the joint intervention force would operate as the armed wing of a wider sub-regional scheme for the prevention and management of conflicts. The new body would monitor, analyse and deal with symptoms of a worsening situation between or within member countries. Though the decision only activates enabling clauses in an annex to the 1975 ECOWAS treaty, Senegalese Foreign Minister Essy Amara dubbed the move "a giant step" for Africa. Preventive diplomacy, the circulation of arms and trans-border crime were also discussed at the ECOWAS meeting.
ECOMOG mandate in Sierra Leone extended
The ECOWAS foreign ministers also agreed to extend the mandate of ECOMOG in Sierra Leone, AFP reported. In a final communique the ministers said that "general concerns over security in the country require sustained attention and continued monitoring" of the situation in Sierra Leone. They lavished praise on ECOMOG and thanked Nigeria for providing most of the force's staff, troops and weaponry. ECOWAS ministers described ECOMOG's success in Liberia and Sierra Leone as "a model of peace-keeping for the rest of Africa."
SIERRA LEONE: Coups "not to be tolerated", says OAU
Military coups in Africa will no longer be tolerated, Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), said on Thursday, according to Liberia's independent Star radio. The operation of governments on the continent must be based on the free will of the people, he said. Speaking in Freetown, Salim said the restoration of democracy in Sierra Leone came as a warning to potential coup makers.
Food convoy ready to go, says WFP
A WFP truck convoy and airlift are only awaiting final security clearance to ferry much-needed food supplies to the eastern part of the country, a World Food Programme (WFP) official told IRIN-WA on Friday. The official said several trucks were loaded and ready to move as soon as ECOMOG provided assurances that they could travel safely to Bo, the country's second largest town, and neighbouring Kenema. Hopes were that the trucks could leave in the next 48 hours, the WFP official added.
NIGERIA: US warns against military president
The US government on Thursday warned against the election of a military candidate in the forthcoming presidential poll and held forth the prospect of further sanctions. In what AFP described as a veiled warning to Nigeria's military ruler General Sani Abacha, US Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice said the victory of "any military candidate" in the August presidential elections "would be unacceptable." The US held General Abacha to his promise to return Nigeria to democratic rule and civil liberties this year, and did not want "another military regime dressed in civilian clothes." Rice added that Nigeria was "one of the worst abusers of human rights on the continent". The US government would consult with Congress and other countries "about what steps we think make sense in response to various possible outcomes."
LIBERIA: Refugees leave Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea
More than 70,000 Liberian refugees have returned home from neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea in the past few months, according to a senior UNHCR official quoted on Friday by Liberia's independent Star radio. Abet Alain Peters, Director for Africa at the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said the repatriation of 480,000 Liberian refugees remained the challenge for UNHCR in the area. Peters is in Monrovia for discussions with Liberian authorities and aid donors. A local source confirmed to IRIN-WA that refugees had crossed the Ivorian border but their number would remain "unknown" until monitors filed final reports. The refugees, mainly women and children, repatriated spontaneously, the source added. In a recent report the independent Justice and Peace Commission in Liberia estimated the refugee rate of spontaneous return at 25 to 50 a week.
Abidjan, 13 March 1998, 17.06 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, 13 Mar 1998 17:26:06 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 165, 98.3.13 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980313171345.18253A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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