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IRIN-WA Update 178 of Events in West Africa, (Wednesday) 1 April 1998
SIERRA LEONE: Commonwealth delegation meets president
A high-level Commonwealth delegation arrived in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, on Monday for talks with President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, media organisations reported. The five-member Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) led by Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mundenge also included Ghanaian Foreign Minister Victor Gbeho, Malaysian prime ministerial envoy Tan Sri Dato Musa Hitman, British Foreign Office Minister Tony Lloyd and Canadian Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa David Kilgoup.
Talks on Tuesday focused on national reconstruction and how to ensure lasting peace. Lloyd said the Commonwealth would be working with the international community to meet the country's most urgent needs, including humanitarian and relief items, disarmament of combatants and reconstruction, PANA reported. In a statement, Mundenge said he would urge member states to contribute to a UN Trust Fund set up for Sierra Leone. Kabbah appealed for the Commonwealth to provide judges and lawyers to help his government ensure fair trials for junta collaborators. He also said his scaled-down cabinet was designed to foster national reconciliation, cooperation and unity. According to Ghanaian state radio, Ghanian President Jerry Rawlings had asked the CMAG to impress on Kabbah the need "to open his doors to dialogue in order to consolidate his return to power."
ECOMOG claims to control 90 percent of country
Kabbah also told the Commonwealth delegation the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, had cleared junta forces from 90 percent of Sierra Leone, news agencies reported. Kabbah said ECOMOG had given assurances that the remaining 10 percent would be cleared within the next 10 days, AFP reported.
But a humanitarian source in Sierra Leone told IRIN ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) forces in Kono and Kailahun districts, in eastern Sierra Leone, probably numbered around 20,000 at a conservative estimate. They reportedly had anti-aircraft weapons on mobile platforms, land mines, artillery and, more importantly, had a command-and-control structure. They were desperate with nowhere to go. "They are reportedly conducting a 'no-living-thing' operation in Kailahun, killing all the people, goats and chickens," he said. The situation could not be compared to the protracted guerrilla war fought against the poorly trained, equipped and disciplined Revolutionary United Front (RUF) prior to the May 1997 coup.
Reports of atrocities increase
There are increasing media reports of junta atrocities. Ten civilians with amputated limbs were flown to Freetown's main hospital by ECOMOG on Wednesday, AFP reported. One of the victims claimed junta forces entered Jaiama Sewafe town and ordered civilians to gather in the town hall, promising food and supplies. They "systematically hacked" their limbs, he said, adding dozens of other civilians were badly beaten. A humanitarian source told IRIN the atrocity of amputating limbs was not new and had become a pattern adopted by some AFRC, RUF and Kamajor combatants.
According to unconfirmed reports, junta members also killed eighteen youths over the weekend in Kayima village, in the diamond-rich Kono area, when they refused to be conscripted, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, AFP reported a senior police official telling journalists Tuesday that some 33 police officers had been killed since mid-February in Kenema and Bo, east of the capital, by fleeing junta forces as well as Kamajor militias loyal to Kabbah. He did not know if the police had been deliberately targeted.
LIBERIA: ECOMOG tells Senate to refer to ECOWAS
ECOMOG told Liberian legislators to direct future matters concerning the force to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Star Radio reported on Wednesday. The communication referred to the Liberian Senate's request that ECOMOG Commander Major-General Timothy Shelpidi appear before it to discuss the security situation. ECOMOG said security matters were discussed through the appropriate Defence Ministry committee.
Meanwhile, speaking before the Senate public hearing investigating the attack on former Rural Development Minister Roosevelt Johnson's home on 23 March, Special Security acting director Andy Taylor said ECOMOG and his service were collaborating on matters of state security, Star Radio reported. Taylor denied the two men arrested by ECOMOG were current members of his force. He said the two had been recruited during the transitional period, but had left the service with their identity cards. Agents had since been issued with new cards to avoid forgery, he added.
Taylor appoints Johnson successor
Liberian President Charles Taylor named retired General Hezekiah Bowen as successor to former Rural Development Minister Roosevelt Johnson following Tuesday's cabinet reshuffle, news agencies reported. Like Johnson, Bowen is also from the Krahn ethnic group, Reuters added.
Taylor later ordered the finance ministry to release sufficient funds for medical treatment abroad for Johnson, a former opponent, news agencies reported. Johnson is expected to travel to the US for medical treatment soon. Johnson's family told AFP he was suffering from stress, but diplomatic and news sources told IRIN he had suffered a mild heart attack some weeks ago.
Coup trial extended
The military trial of General Oladipo Diya, military ruler General Sani Abacha's former deputy, and 25 other people for treason is not over, news organisations reported. The trial of 16 officers and 10 civilians, which opened 14 February, was to end on 14 March. Military spokesman Colonel Godwin Ugbo, on Tuesday, refused to comment on why the trial had been extended, Nigerian state television reported. General Victor Malu, the commander of the Second Mechanised Division and former ECOMOG commander, heads the tribunal.
The local press has remained silent on the proceedings following repeated warnings. Four journalists are currently serving 15-year jail sentences for reporting on a previous trial of alleged coup plotters in 1995. Journalist were only allowed to attend the trial opening, when Diya claimed he had been framed.
The defendants are charged with having allegedly plotted to overthrow Abacha on 21 December 1997 and face possible death sentences. No appeal will be allowed once the verdicts are announced. The sole recourse for the accused, if found guilty, will be an appeal for clemency from the Provisional Council, Nigeria's highest court, comprised entirely of army officers. In a similar trial of alleged 1995 coup plotters, former head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo and 42 military and civilians were convicted in camera by a military tribunal. They are currently serving various jail terms. Several initially received death sentences which were later commuted to life imprisonment
NIGERIA: Parliamentary election details announced
Nigeria's National Electoral Commission (NECON) Tuesday released details on the elections for the country's new parliament scheduled for 25 April, AFP reported. Nigerians will vote for a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate will have three representatives from each of the 36 states and one representative from the capital Abuja. NECON did not give the total number of seats to be contested for the House of Representatives but deputies will be elected for 360 federal constituencies.
Candidates to the Senate and lower house will pay running fees equivalent to US$ 375 and US$ 250 respectively. All candidates must have a secondary education, a clean criminal record and not belong to a secret society. The age limits for Senate and lower house candidates are 35 and 30 respectively.
Parliamentary elections will be followed by presidential elections on 1 August, culminating in the promised hand-over to civilian rule on 1 October.
Fuel shortage continues
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Alhaji Umaru Dimbo said adequate supplies of petrol had been delivered to petrol stations nationwide but shortages persisted because of panic-buying, Nigerian Radio reported. He warned that the government would deal ruthlessly with anyone sabotaging efforts to ease the shortage. According to the radio, a number of people were arrested for attempting to buy petrol in jerry cans.
One of the world's largest oil producers, Nigeria has been plagued throughout the 1990s by repeat shortages linked to hoarding, black market speculation and refinery problems. Nigeria's four refineries have a production capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, nearly twice the country's needs, but are barely functioning because of corruption and lack of investment, the 'Washington Post' reported Tuesday. Nigeria has budgeted US$ 600 million to import refined oil products from January to September. Quoting Nigeria's Oil and Gas Monthly, the 'Washington Post' said less than half that amount would breathe life into two of the four refineries.
Quoting analysts and foreign diplomats, the paper claimed the subsidised petrol at US 52 cents a gallon was kept impractically low, partly as a "sop to public opinion but largely because that lets corrupt officials and their business partners resell Nigeria's gasoline abroad, or on the black market, where it fetches about US$ 5.70 a gallon."
Major shareholders pressure Mobil on Nigeria
The campaign to pressure the Nigerian government to release two union leaders received support from two major Mobil Oil Corporation shareholders on Monday, a press release from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) said. Two institutional shareholders said they would move a resolution for the Mobil board of directors to review and develop guidelines for company investments in countries with a record of human rights violations, illegitimate governments or where Mobil's long-term financial performance might be potentially threatened by international criticism, economic sanctions and boycotts. The resolution claimed all these factors applied to Nigeria, ICEM said.
The resolution also noted that the International Labour Union had demanded the release of the two Nigerian trade union leaders, Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi. The president of one of the shareholders, Service Employees International Union, Andrew Stern, said there were reports that the union leaders were very sick and could die in jail. He said Mobil had "a grave responsibility to use its influence with the Nigerian government to seek the release of the duly elected leaders of its Nigerian employees."
A US Department of Energy report says Mobil was set to become Nigeria's second largest crude producer at the end of 1997. ICEM, which represents 20 million workers in 115 countries, said it had called for a global embargo on Nigerian oil exports to protest the imprisonment.
SENEGAL: Clinton's final stop
US President Bill Clinton arrived Tuesday in Senegal, the only francophone country on the itinerary of his six-nation Africa tour and his last stop, news agencies reported. Before his arrival, Clinton spoke briefly by phone to French President Jacque Chirac, news agencies reported. A Senior White House official said the call was to avert any sense of US-French rivalry over Africa, Reuters said. Senegal is a former French colony and a major recipient of French aid.
Senegal's main opposition leader, Abdoulaye Wade of the Parti Democratique Senegalais (PDS), boycotted Wednesday's reception for Clinton, as promised. He wanted to avoid giving a false impression of national unity, Reuters reported. Wade, who recently resigned from President Abdou Diouf's unity government, also wrote an open letter to Clinton criticising Diouf's unpopular IMF-guided economic policies.
African NGOs in Senegal were preparing to lobby Clinton on African environmental concerns, especially desertification, PANA reported. Earlier, Clinton pledged US$ 80 million to help protect Africa's environment, BBC reported. He said he would also urge the US Senate to support a UN convention on desertification. The UN Environment Programme estimates that in the next 10 years at least 135 million people, especially from the Sahel region, could be forced to migrate from their areas of origins because of desertification, PANA reported.
CHAD: Government says journalist's detention "isolated act"
The Chadian government, in an official communique Wednesday, deplored the the detention and beating last Sunday of Dieudonne Djonabaye, editor and chief of the Chadian weekly 'N'Djamena Hebdo' weekly, AFP reported. Describing the incident as an "isolated act", the government said the editor was free to lodge a judicial complaint.
Abidjan, 1 April 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: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 20:08:30 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Daily Update 178, 98.4.1 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980401195205.12835A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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