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IRIN-WA Update 161 of Events in West Africa, (Saturday-Monday) 7-9 March 1998
SIERRA LEONE: Further ECOMOG advances
The West African intervention force, ECOMOG, secured control of Daru, 270 kms east of Freetown, and Kabala, 250 kms northeast of Freetown, news organisations reported over the weekend.
ECOMOG Commander Max Khobe on Sunday said ECOMOG troops had seized Daru from the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and its allies, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), AFP reported. Independent sources quoted by AFP said that AFRC soldiers in Daru had surrendered without much resistance to ECOMOG. However, fierce fighting had broken out earlier between the AFRC and the RUF over the decision by some AFRC soldiers to surrender to ECOMOG. Some 40 AFRC soldiers were said to have been killed by RUF fighters. RUF number two, Samuel Bokari, who was leading the fighting, was keen on holding out. The ECOMOG take-over of Daru is considered a major victory since it is the largest military base in eastern Sierra Leone, AFP reported.
In northern Sierra Leone, AFRC and RUF fighters killed 50 civilians in Kabala, 250 kms northeast of Freetown, as they were chased out by ECOMOG troops, news reports said on Friday. A Roman Catholic priest, Michael Conteh, quoted by AFP, said retreating troops had fired indiscriminately at residents and raped several teenage girls. They also looted a church, two Catholic schools and a school for the blind.
ECOMOG also announced it had taken control of the RUF camp at Mile 91, 145 km east of Freetown, according to AFP on Friday.
ECOMOG calls on retreating AFRC and allies to surrender
Khobe urged AFRC soldiers and allies to surrender "without delay", AFP reported on Friday. He said it was in their own interest to do so now, as there would remain "no room for rebels" in the country. A "good portion" of Sierra Leone had been liberated, he said. Khobe called on Sierra Leoneans to inform the police or ECOMOG of anything "suspicious", adding that ECOMOG's security was in "top gear" for the return of elected President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah slated for Tuesday 10 March. He said the welcome ceremony for Kabbah had to be a "success".
Key roads open
ECOMOG announced on Saturday that two key roads were now open to civilian traffic, news organisations reported. The BBC said on Sunday that the opening of the road from Freetown to Makeni, 140 kms northeast of Freetown, was a sign the AFRC has lost its hold in many parts of the country. The second road to be secured links the Guinean border city of Pamalap to Kambia, 120 kms southwest of Freetown, AFP reported.
UN to open soup kitchens in Freetown
WFP told IRIN on Monday that it would set up soup kitchens in Freetown to feed the neediest people, but had no plans for general food distribution. Commercial shipment of food commodities had commenced and should be able to handle the needs of the rest of the population, the source added. The WFP representative in Conakry, Patrick Buckley, quoted by Reuters, said security still posed the main problem in reaching cities in the interior. However, UN security assessments would be carried out this week in the eastern city of Bo and other cities to determine how safe those areas were. Buckley added 40 mt of food a day would be airlifted to Bo and Kenema as soon as security permitted. Meanwhile, service stations in Freetown began selling diesel at the weekend, Reuters reported.
300 orphans come out of hiding
More than 300 orphans, aged between five and 12, were found by ECOMOG on Sunday in Makeni after two weeks in hiding, news organisations reported. The children from an orphanage run by Help A Needy Child International (HANCI) had fled fighting between ECOMOG and the AFRC.
In a related development, 14 girls abducted in northern Sierra Leone by retreating AFRC soldiers were released by ECOMOG in Port Loko, 80 km northeast of Freetown, AFP reported on Saturday.
Press watchdog's concerns over journalists
A Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) statement on Monday expressed concern over the plight of detained and missing journalists in Sierra Leone. RSF said seven journalists had been detained, five others had gone into hiding and three newspapers had been closed down since ECOMOG entered Freetown on 12 February. RSF claimed some of the journalists were arrested by ECOMOG, while others had turned themselves in for protection.
NIGERIA: Catholic bishops call for release of political detainees
The Catholic bishops called on the Nigerian government to release all political prisoners in a move towards reconciliation, news sources said on Saturday. A statement issued at the end of the bishops' conference in eastern Nigeria said they hoped the pontiff's visit to Nigeria, scheduled for 21 to 23 March, would promote reconciliation in the country. Such a process was "urgent" in a "critically ill" country. The bishops also called for a wise use of votes in the presidential elections scheduled for August.
Meanwhile, the Concerned Nigerian Organisation, an umbrella organisation of 15 pro-democracy groups, called on Pope John Paul II last week to exert pressure on Nigerian authorities to free political prisoners. In an open letter, the CNO called on the Pope to examine the "grave abuses of authority by a military dictatorship that had driven civilians from power and prevented them from regaining it." Human right groups believe that there are more than a hundred political prisoners in the country.
Opposition threatens to make Nigeria "ungovernable"
Nigerian opposition groups on Sunday said they were planning strikes and demonstrations to make the country "ungovernable" because of lack of faith in the transition programme to civilian rule, news organisations reported. The leader of United Action for Democracy (UAD), a coalition of 26 opposition groups, Olisa Agbakoba, said the UAD, in consultation with other opponents to military ruler, would work out a programme of strikes and demonstrations, and called for an interim government of national unity to address people's grievances.
An anti-Abacha rally organised by the UAD last Tuesday, 3 March, was broken up by police.
Police disrupts meeting of political detainees' wives
A human rights group said armed police and security forces disrupted a meeting in Lagos of some 12 wives of political detainees, AFP reported on Sunday. About 40 security agents cordoned off the workshop venue organised for wives of political detainees and prisoners. A statement by the Free Beko Ransome-Kuti Campaign (International) Committee, quoted by AFP, condemned the disruption of the workshop organised on International Women's Day. The statement was signed by Nike Ransome-Kuti, the daughter of gaoled human rights activist, Beko Ransome Kuti, who was allegedly involved in a March 1995 failed coup d'etat.
Opposition groups in anti-Abacha pact
The National Democratic Coalition of Nigeria (NADECO)
and the United Democratic Front of Nigeria (UDFN) established
a Joint Action Commission (JACOM) on Friday, according
to a JACOM press release. The two opposition groups
said they would plan, coordinate and implement actions
to advance "the demise" of Nigerian leader
General Sani Abacha's military rule and restore full
democratic rule in Nigeria.
SENEGAL: Government claims 50 rebels killed
Government troops said they killed some 50 rebels on Friday in Senegal's separatist southern province, Casamance, AFP reported, quoting "authoritative" sources. The clash occurred near Baghagha, about 25 km east of the provincial capital, Ziguinchor. An official told Reuters there were no army casualties.
Friday's clash is the most serious outbreak of fighting since the MFDC leader, Augustin Diamacoune, called for an end to the conflict in January.
GUINEA: Police disperse women's march
Police in the Guinean capital, Conakry, used batons and tear gas to break up an opposition-led International Women's Day march on Sunday, media reports said. At least 12 people were reportedly arrested. According to AFP, conflict flared after the governor of Conakry revoked a permit to march, which local municipal authorities had earlier granted.
A spokesman for the opposition Coordination de L'Opposition Democratique (CODEM) said he was shocked at the "irresponsible" behaviour of the city's governor. According to CODEM, Guinean security minister Koureissy Conde had promised to look into the matter.
Journalist arrested
However, the security minister also banned all outside contact on Sunday with the detained editor-in-chief of the Guinean weekly 'L'Independent', Aboubacar Conde, media reports said. The journalist was reportedly arrested by plainclothes police at his home in Conakry on Friday. No reason was given. According to AFP, the security minister said he would be taking "personal charge" of Conde's case.
LIBERIA: Taylor meets US assessment team
Liberia's President Charles Taylor told a US assessment team in the capital, Monrovia, that Liberia would remain open to "international scrutiny", independent Star Radio said on Saturday. Speaking to Ambassador Howard Jeter, Taylor said Liberia would strive to improve all forms of democratic government to gain acceptance and aid from the international community. Earlier, Defence Minister Daniel Chea told Reuters Liberia would also seek US assistance in re-training the army.
TOGO: World Bank approves loan
The World Bank approved a US$ 30 million loan to Togo on Friday, PANA reported. The news agency quoted the World Bank as saying the loan would help in the privatisation and restructuring of state enterprises, including the reform of the country's postal, telecommunications and finance sectors.
WEST AFRICA: Nigeria claims troops massing
Nigeria claimed on Friday that Cameroon had deployed at least 5,000 troops, heavy weapons and vehicles along the disputed Bakassi peninsula border between the two countries, media reports said. A statement issued by the acting director of defence information, Colonel Godwin Ugbo, said the military build-up indicated Cameroon was "preparing to attack and occupy settlements in the area". The statement said Nigeria viewed the troop concentration as an "affront", but was "committed to an amicable solution" to the Bakassi issue.
However, Cameroon's foreign minister, in a communique quoted by RFI, denied the claim, saying Nigeria was attempting to manipulate the international community's opinion on the dispute.
Cameroon took the dispute over the peninsula, thought to have significant oil and fish stocks, to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Nigeria disputed the court's jurisdiction court over the issue on the first day of hearings last Monday.
Abidjan, 9 March 1998, 20:00 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: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 20:21:25 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 161, 98.3.9 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980309200857.20483A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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