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IRIN-WA Update 174 of Events in West Africa, (Thursday) 26 March 1998
LIBERIA: Moves to defuse tension
Rural Development Minister Roosevelt Johnson Wednesday called on his supporters to remain calm and return to their homes, independent Star Radio reported. After a meeting at his home with Justice Minister Eddington Varmah and Defence Minister Daniel Shea, the former faction leader said he had no intention to bring war to Liberia again. The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) organised the meeting in collaboration with the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA). On Tuesday, Johnson had complained of an overnight attack against his compound by President Charles Taylor's Presidential Guard. Tension ensued in Monrovia, where heavily-armed presidential guards and Johnson supporters roamed the streets.
The meeting agreed all national security personnel be withdrawn from the vicinity of Johnson's residence, where elements of the West African ECOMOG peacekeeping force were to deploy instead. The meeting also agreed that Johnson's supporters return home.
At the meeting, Varmah denied the government wanted to arrest Johnson, Star Radio said. Information Minister Joe Mulbah Wednesday also denied suggestions that presidential guards were behind the attack, the BBC reported. The attack was believed to have been carried out by individuals unrelated to the security forces and Johnson's residence had not been specifically targeted, Mulbah said. The BBC quoted Johnson as saying the identity cards of two of the attackers showed they were Taylor's guards. Johnson's own guard was so badly beaten in the attack that he is now in a coma, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
Fierce factional fighting and looting broke out in Monrovia in April 1996, when Taylor's forces attempted to arrest Johnson.
Minister calls for calm
The defence minister assured Liberians on Wednesday there would be no more fighting or looting in Monrovia, Star Radio reported. Following his meeting at Johnson's home, Chea said security and paramilitary forces would be ordered not to trespass their duties. Tension in the city had been defused, he added, calling on citizens to remain calm and return to their homes.
Local sources told IRIN the situation was calm and was due in large part to the presence of ECOMOG.
The Johnson incident and national security would be the focus of a Senate hearing on Thursday in Monrovia, Star Radio also reported. Chea and Varmah have been cited to appear along with Police Director Joe Tate, Chief of Staff Prince Johnson and Commanding General Daniel Gboveh, the radio said.
Kromah appeals to ECOWAS, supporters
The chairman of the National Reconciliation Commission,
Alhaji Kromah, called on West African states not to
abandon Liberia to its current confusion and insecurity,
Star Radio reported, quoting a statement issued Wednesday
in the US capital. The Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) had an obligation to provide national
security, he stressed. Its ECOMOG peacekeeping force
would continue to guarantee security until government
forces were restructured.
Kromah also warned former members of his disbanded faction, ULIMO, against involvement in criminal activities. He was disturbed by reports they were intimidated into participating in a plot, which the radio said referred to the recent attack against Johnson. Kromah said Liberians were not prepared for another round of war. He called on Taylor to do all he could to prevent war and to provide security for all. Kromah himself said earlier this month he was not returning to Liberia from Washington DC as he had received threats to his life.
In late 1996, fierce fighting between Kromah's and Johnson's respective rebel ULIMO factions resulted in massacres and starvation.
SIERRA LEONE: Refugee "disaster waiting to happen"
Five thousand Sierra Leonean refugees Wednesday crossed the border into Lofa County in Liberia as ECOMOG closed in on rebel strongholds in eastern Sierra Leone, a humanitarian source told IRIN on Thursday. This brought the total in the area to 35,000, of which some 24,000 were recent arrivals. Over the last week arrivals had slowed from 1,500 to 500 a day, the source added. More refugees were expected to seek shelter by the border in an unofficial camp already twice the size of the town of Vahun. Local resources in food, water and sanitation were already under enormous strain, the source said. Access to the remote area was difficult and the upcoming rainy season would make things worse. The source warned that the situation was "a disaster waiting to happen". General security for refugees and NGOs was another major concern. According to the source, there were also fears that retreating rebels might infiltrate camps close to the border or turn them into operations bases. He stressed refugees and humanitarian staff would be at risk. There was concern, he said, that refugees might become a pawn in any ensuing conflict and warned of the need to avert a destabilising situation in eastern Sierra Leone and Liberia comparable to that of the Hutu refugee camps in the former eastern Zaire.
Rebel stronghold taken, ECOMOG claims
ECOMOG Wednesday captured the rebel stronghold of Daru in eastern Sierra Leone, Reuters reported. ECOMOG Commander in Sierra Leone Colonel Maxwell Khobe said the barracks, one of the largest in the country, fell on Tuesday after heavy fighting. The rebels set all neighbouring villages on fire, he added. Reuters said there was no independent confirmation or a death toll but sources close to the ECOMOG force spoke of dead on both sides. Earlier this month, AFP also reported ECOMOG as having secured control of Daru.
According to Reuters, Khobe said ECOMOG was now heading for the border town of Koindu. Once this border area with Liberia and Guinea was secured, the force would encircle the rebels and take the diamond town of Koidu. Junta loyalists and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels were massed there and in nearby Kailahun, Khobe added. Reuters quoted ECOMOG sources and civilians fleeing the Koidu area as saying ECOMOG forces were already in that area.
Press watchdog protests press registration
The government-imposed registration of newspapers constitutes
censorship and violates international covenants, the
London-based press watchdog Article 19 wrote in a letter
sent Wednesday to President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
It noted that some 22 newspapers had been banned by
the current government for lack of formal registration.
Since no newspapers were currently registered, any
ban appeared to discriminate according to editorial
content, Article 19 added. Allowing the authorities
to refuse a right to publish constituted prior censorship
and was particularly inconsistent with the democratic
standards the current government pledged to uphold,
Article 19 stressed.
NIGERIA: Air ban over Bakassi
Nigeria's air force Wednesday warned aircraft not to fly over the southeastern Bakassi peninsula, news agencies reported, quoting the independent 'Guardian' newspaper. In a warning "to all airline operators and the general public", Squadron Leader Eloma Ikona at an airbase in Calabar, Cross River State, said aircraft that flew over the peninsula would be "brought down". AFP added this meant they would be forced to land on Nigerian soil. Reuters said the statement was also sent to the Nigerian oil-producing unit of the US-based Mobil Corporation, which has offshore operations near Bakassi.
Last Friday, Cameroon denied Nigerian claims it had mounted a helicopter attack against the penisula. The two countries have clashed sporadically over the oil-rich peninsula since 1994.
Fuel crisis delays pro-Abacha rally
Fuel shortages Wednesday forced Lagos State police to withdraw permission for a rally in favour of Nigerian head of state Sani Abacha, news reports said. The National Council of Youth Associations of Nigeria (NACYAN) had hoped to mobilise as many as three million people this Saturday to urge Abacha to stand as a civilian candidate in August's presidential election. Police advised NACYAN to shift the date to 4 April or any other Saturday of their choice, news media reported.
State police commissioner Abubakar Tsav said the force lacked the manpower to maintain law and order as all forces were monitoring the orderly distribution and sale of available petrol. Normal supplies had not been re-established, he said. Lagos has been swept by violent protests over mass fuel shortages due to inefficient refineries, distribution problems and corruption. Also on Wednesday the Defence Ministry announced that armed troops would escort tankers from depots to filling stations, AFP said.
GHANA: More power rationing
The Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) Wednesday tightened power rationing further as the energy situation failed to improve, Reuters reported. Power would now be supplied for 12 in every 36 hours, as against 12 hours in every 24 previously. In Accra, cuts and supplies will rotate among three sections, leaving two-thirds of the 1.7 million inhabitants without electricity at any one time. Repairs to the Takoradi thermal plant, in western Ghana, after last week's explosion were expected to take at least a month, Reuters added. Akosombo dam has been badly affected by drought and only three of six turbines are running. According to the plant manager, the level of water is the lowest recorded since the dam was built 32 years ago.
Abidjan, 26 March 1998, 20:15 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: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 20:26:40 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Daily Update 174, 98.3.26 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980326200759.2851A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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