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IRIN-WA Update 172 of Events in West Africa, (Tuesday) 24 March 1998
SIERRA LEONE: Annan calls for UN help in disarmament
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a report to the
Security Council on Friday, called on the UN to send
up to 10 military liaison officers to Sierra Leone
to help the West African ECOMOG peacekeeping force
design a disarmament plan for the country and to assist
in reconciliation. Annan had already recommended the
deployment in early February. He also said he wanted
to strengthen the office of his Special Envoy in Freetown
and was looking at the possibility of deploying human
rights observers to the country. In the meantime, the
UN was sending a human rights officer to Freetown.
Annan also urged the international community to "maintain
its vigilance and support" by providing aid to
the country.
WEST AFRICA: France claims leading peacekeeping role
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told ministers from about 40 African countries meeting Tuesday in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, that despite cuts in its military presence, France would play a leading role in a future African mechanism to prevent and resolve conflicts, AFP reported. Vedrine said France would also participate in an intervention force manned by African troops although it was cutting its own troops in Africa from 8,000 to 6,000.
Vedrine told the meeting cooperation between African and French soldiers would be broadly re-oriented towards training for peace-keeping to help prevent new crises like those in Sierra Leone or Liberia. Training was already under way for an African intervention force to operate under the aegis of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the UN, sponsored by Britain, France and the United States. French officials also urged the participation of regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the plans for a conflict-resolution mechanism, AFP added. Vedrine noted that some 20 percent of France's military cooperation with Africa had already been re-oriented towards peacekeeping. In October, France is to help set up a peacekeeping center in Zambakro, Ivory Coast, he said.
Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Ablasse Ouedraogo said Africans must "put in place the means to prevent and manage conflicts in a regional, sub-regional or continental framework. There are too many flashpoints which crush the development of our continent," he said.
The ministerial meeting is to pave the way for the next Franco-African summit to be held November 26-28 in Paris. The ministers are also expected to assess progress since the 1996 Franco-African summit, discuss French reforms to its aid programmes in Africa and renewal of the Lome Convention, the trade pact between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations, in light of the creation of a single European currency.
LIBERIA: Minister warns of renewed fighting
Rural Development Minister and former faction leader, Roosevelt Johnson, on Tuesday warned of renewed fighting in Liberia after presidential guards attacked his home on Monday night, AP news agency reported. In the dawn attack, the the third in a series, Johnson was beaten by members of the Presidential Guard who abducted one of his aides and stole valuables, a local source told IRIN. Two officers of the president's special security unit were arrested by ECOMOG, which dispatched troops to guard Johnson's compound. Johnson said he had lodged a formal complaint, but according to AP, there had been no official reaction to the incident.
Johnson was head of the Krahn faction of the rebel United Liberation Movement (ULIMO-J).
Law-makers brand ECOMOG "occupational force"
In a resolution authorising President Charles Taylor to negotiate the status of the West African ECOMOG peacekeeping force, Liberia's law-makers on Monday branded ECOMOG "an occupational force", independent Star Radio reported. Liberia's two legislative chambers noted that ECOMOG and its mainly Nigerian troops were still in the country despite expiry of its mandate last month and Nigeria's stated intention to withdraw by then. ECOMOG could not stay in Liberia without the government's consent, they stressed. The two chambers also called on the government to seek military assistance from friendly governments.
Editors meet over media guidelines
Liberian editors Tuesday discussed stiff new government media guidelines before tomorrow's (Wednesday) meeting with the Information Ministry, Star Radio said. The guidelines issued last week will become effective at the end of this month. Liberia's Press Union (PU) has rejected them as "unacceptable", saying they undermined press freedom and survival of the media. PU said it had invited the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) to the meeting. According to the radio, JPC has labelled the guidelines unconstitutional and was expected to discuss the guidelines with the ministry on Tuesday. The Publishers' Association, meanwhile, denied Information Ministry claims that it helped draft the new guidelines, the radio added. The ministry has described the PU's rejections of the guidelines as a "breach of confidence".
NIGERIA: Pope rounds off pastoral visit
Pope John Paul II Monday wrapped up his three-day visit to Nigeria by urging bishops to be "instruments of salvation" and to show "bold and decisive leadership" ahead of the new millennium, news agencies reported. The pontiff also repeated earlier calls for mutual cooperation between Christians, of which Nigeria has the largest constituency in sub-Saharan Africa, and Muslims, who are a majority in the country and include President Sani Abacha. AP news agency said Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, welcomed the pope's call for tolerance on Saturday but warned "Nigeria as a sovereign country has the right to chart her course as she considers fit." The pope also repeated the calls in favour of human rights he had made earlier Monday outside Abuja at an open-air Mass attended by an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 people.
In his farewell address, PANA news agency reported, Abacha said his government "has a burden of history to discharge" before adding: "We shall appreciate the prayers and blessings of Your Holiness in this arduous task." He made no mention of the country's political detainees or the confidential list of 60 detainees the Vatican wants freed, news media said. AP news agency noted the pontiff had left Nigerians with "inspiring words" but "no indication of change from the military government that keeps a tight hold on the country".
Lagos police on alert over fuel shortages
Meanwhile AFX news agency, quoting the 'Daily Times', said the state military administrator in Lagos placed hundreds of police on full alert on Monday and ordered filling stations to remain open 24 hours a day. The move came after motorists reportedly assaulted troops sent to quell mounting frustration at fuel shortages as some drivers had spent days and nights waiting to buy fuel. With Nigeria's four oil refineries too inefficient to meet local needs, fuel had to be imported at high cost over the past several months, AFX added.
GUINEA: More die in clashes
Government and parliament held emergency meetings Monday following clashes with security forces which left six dead and several people seriously wounded near Conakey, AFP reported. The news agency said the situation was still tense Monday night at Kaporo, a shanty town north of the capital, after the morning's clashes. Security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets as thousands of residents refused to move out to allow the area to be cleared and rebuilt. Though the clash lasted only one hour, medical sources told AFP the bodies of four people had been brought to the morgue and an undetermined number of seriously wounded were taken to hospital.
According to AFP, the government held an emergency meeting with National Assembly speaker El-Hadj Boubacar Biro Barry and the heads of security and defence. An emergency meeting of the Assembly's sitting committee followed late afternoon. AFP quoted reliable sources as saying the committee might consider lifting immunity for several Assembly members suspected of having instigated the riot.
CHAD: Controversy over remaining hostage
A rebel group Tuesday claimed the abduction of eight hostages in northern Chad and warned that troop concentrations in the area were "complicating" the liberation of the last remaining hostage, AFP reported, quoting a communique by the group. In the communique, issued in Angers in west-central France, Ahmat Yacoub, secretary-general of the Front National du Tchad Renove (FNTR), said the group had decided on Monday to free its last hostage, one in a group of six French and two Italian tourists. The eight were abducted in the Tibesti area on Sunday and all but one, believed to be Italian, were freed by the army within hours. Yacoub called on Chadian President Idriss Deby to "think twice" before he launched forces into what he called "an adventurous undertaking."
In a separate development, the Chadian justice minister on Sunday issued arrest warrants against two rebel leaders in connection with the abduction of four French tourists in southern Chad last February, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported. The two are Laokein Barde, leader of the Forces Armees pour la Republique Federale (FARF) and Dr Nawal who is suspected of masterminding the abductions. The four tourists were subsequently released.
Abidjan, 24 March 1998, 19:45 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]
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 19:55:45 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Daily Update 172, 98.3.24 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980324194353.20869A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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