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IRIN-WA Update 173 of Events in West Africa, (Wednesday) 25 March 1998
LIBERIA: Monrovia tense
Monrovia remained tense on Wednesday as West African ECOMOG peacekeeping troops and armoured vehicles patrolled the streets and guarded the home of Rural Development Minister Roosevelt Johnson, news agencies reported. The tension followed Monday night's attack by presidential guards on the home of Johnson, a former faction leader. AP reported shooting and loud explosions late Tuesday and early Wednesday near Johnson's home and a barracks housing former fighters loyal to him. Local residents fled, but it was unclear whether any fighting occurred or if there were any casualties, AP added. AFP said students were advised to stay home. Johnson supporters set up temporary road-blocks on a main street, reportedly damaging cars with sticks and stones, AFP also said. It added that officers of the Presidential Guard were seen toting automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades outside various important sites. Reuters said Johnson's bodyguards stationed around his home were armed with sticks and knives. Some reportedly carried rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns, despite the ECOMOG disarmament programme before last year's elections, Reuters added.
According to Reuters, an official statement quoted Justice Minister Eddington Varmah as telling a cabinet meeting there was no cause for alarm and authorities were investigating Monday night's incident.
CORRECTION: In Daily Update 172 of 24 March, IRIN-WA reported that Johnson was beaten by members of the Presidential Guard. This was an error. A local source told IRIN one of Johnson's guards was beaten by members of the Presidential Guard. IRIN-WA regrets any misunderstandings this may have caused.
Press regulations scrapped
Following an ultimatum from President Charles Taylor,
Information Minister Joe Mulbah Wednesday dropped stiff
media regulations, AFP reported. A set of guidelines
was issued last week for implementation later this
month, rousing loud protests from the media. The move
came after Taylor's Tuesday warning that the minister
resolve the row or he himself would intervene. Requirements
for a minimum US$ 10,000 bank balance, a circulation
of at least 4,OOO for newspapers as well as academic
qualifications for editors, were all scrapped, AFP
said. A 5,000 Liberian dollar (US$ 125) registration
fee would be halved.
SIERRA LEONE: Rebels putting up fierce stand in east
Supporters of the ousted junta are putting up a fierce last stand in their diamond-rich eastern Kono district stronghold, Reuters reported Wednesday, quoting church sources. The sources said 100 people were killed and more than 200 buildings burnt in and around Koidu. Rebel commanders were quoted as telling traditional chiefs they would fight to the last to retain control of Koidu. Witnesses quoted by AFP said the towns in Kono district, especially Koidu, had been turned into "killing grounds" by the junta forces.
The ousted junta leader, Johnny Paul Koroma, was in hiding in Koindu, AFP reported, quoting fleeing civilians. His chief minister Solomon Musa was reportedly in the neighbouring town of Koyeima. Revolutionary United Front (RUF) deputy leader Sam Bockari was in Gandorhun, to the south, after he reportedly overran Bunumbu and Pajewa near Kailahun, AFP added.
Meanwhile, according to AFP, ECOMOG was poised to move on Kono as well as the Kailahun district in the extreme east of the country, which is an RUF stronghold. ECOMOG Commander, Major-General Timothy Shelpidi, began a five-day tour of the country on Tuesday, AFP reported.
In a related development, AFP reported, some 36 people, including former pro-democratic minister Bockari Massaquoi, were found Monday in a makeshift grave near Kenema, east of Freetown. AFP said pro-junta forces have been blamed for killing Massaquoi.
Parliament meets
Members of parliament met on Wednesday for the first time since the military coup last May, the BBC reported. A cross-party parliamentary committee met the attorney general to discuss the state of emergency declared last week by President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. According to the BBC, committee members said they were aware of the public wish for change and were determined to avoid the tension that marked parliament's relations with the president at the start of his term in 1996.
Ministry bans more papers
The Ministry of Information Tuesday banned five more newspapers for lack of formal registration, media organisations reported. Meanwhile, state radio told all newspaper owners who published without proper government registration to stop or face prosecution. Earlier this week, the government banned 11 newspapers for failing to register. The newspapers had also continued to publish under junta rule.
UNICEF challenges
Cholera prevention and rehabilitation of child combatants are among the major challenges facing the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Sierra Leone, Anthony Bloomberg, UNICEF Representative in Sierra Leone, told a press conference on Tuesday at UN headquarters in New York. He said UNICEF would Wednesday hold a workshop to sensitise ECOMOG, government officials and civil defence units on the need to protect RUF child combatants. He said most of the RUF's 3,000 child combatants had retreated with the defeated rebels and were thought to be in the east of the country.
Bloomberg also stressed the need to prepare for cholera prevention over the next few months, as the risk was highest during the June-October rainy season. He recalled the inter-agency US$ 11 million appeal, US$ 4 million of which was for UNICEF nutrition, health, water and sanitation, education and child protection programmes over the next three months. In its planning for the next three months UNICEF estimated that it could reach 1.5 million people out of a total population of 4.5 million, Bloomberg said.
GHANA: Americans, Belgians to train emergency force
The US Defence Department said Tuesday US commandos and Belgian officers would help Ghana set up a rapid deployment peace-keeping force, AFP reported. The Pentagon said about 70 US Green Berets would join 15 former Belgian UN peacekeepers early next month to train a Ghanaian battalion. The mission comes under the African Crisis Response Initiative, a US scheme to prepare African troops for emergency peacekeeping or humanitarian duties. Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali and Ethiopia also are taking part in the programme.
US power plant deal
Ghana and a US consortium signed an agreement to develop
a US$ 200 million gas-fired power plant agreement Monday
in Accra. Under the deal, a 220 Megawatt plant will
be built, owned and operated by KMR Power Consortium
of the US, EPDL of the US, and Marubeni Corporation
of Japan.
This was the second such deal signed between the two
countries during President Bill Clinton's visit to
Ghana which is currently facing a power crisis due
to the low level of water in the Akosombo Dam.
MAURITANIA: Human rights militants pardoned
Four of five human rights militants sentenced to 13
months in prison and fined for involvement in a French
television documentary on slavery were pardoned by
presidential decree on Tuesday, news media reported.
A Nouakchott court had earlier that day rejected an
appeal by the five.
CHAD: Confusion over hostage claims
Interior and Defence Ministers Tuesday went to the Tibesti
area where rebels abducted eight European tourists
last weekend, AFP reported. Rebels still hold one remaining
hostage in this northern area after the army freed
the others within hours on Sunday. Quoting "reliable
sources", AFP said Interior Minister Abdramane
Salah and Defence Minister Oumar Kadjalami might negotiate
with the six kidnappers, three of whom are soldiers.
Communication Minister Haroune Abadi on Tuesday branded claims of responsibility issued from Nigeria and France on Monday by exiled leaders of the rebel Front National du Tchad Renove (FNTR) "a bad joke", AFP reported. Abadi said the kidnappings were carried out by "elements we know well and which do not belong to FNTR". Reliable sources told AFP the FNTR operates in eastern rather than northern Chad.
Meanwhile Yacoub Ahmat, exiled FNTR secretary general re-affirmed Tuesday to IRIN his group's responsibility for the kidnappings. They were "not to the group's honour", he said, adding they hoped for a quick solution. He said the group had recently moved to the north. They did not trust negotiations as the authorities had used them in the past to set up the rebels, Ahmat claimed.
Abidjan, 25 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: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 20:04:10 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Daily Update 173, 98.3.25 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980325195123.28225A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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