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IRIN-WA Update 194 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 24 April 1998
NIGERIA: Pre-election apathy
Movement in all major cities will be restricted on Saturday as Nigerians vote in the bi-cameral national assembly elections, local media sources told IRIN. All commercial activity will be banned and restrictions will apply from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., effectively meaning that anyone not going to vote must be off the streets.
Thousands of riot police have already been deployed. "We are battle-ready and the state government has given us the support to ensure a hitch-free election," Reuters quoted Lagos Police Commissioner Abubakar Tsav as saying on Thursday. That same day, the opposition coalition, United Action for Democracy (UAD), called for a boycott of the polls, but sources told IRIN no concrete measures had been annouced so far. Adding to the apathetic mood, Reuters said, was the fact that the government's electoral commission only released the names of those given security clearance to contest the elections at the last minute.
According to local media sources, the ordinary Nigerian was indifferent to the electoral process and was not prepared to go the poll. Reuters said polls were likely to be the only chance Nigerians would have to vote for national representation under the army's plan to restore democracy, as military ruler Sani Abacha now has a clear run for the presidency.
Local media sources told IRIN there had been no campaigning to speak of: aspiring senators and deputies have placed advertisements in the various media describing themselves and their parties, but have not really ventured to explain their platforms. Those running for the most part were "lightweights" with little power, influence or connections, the sources said. There were posters, vans with loudspeakers and the press carried stories, but on the whole the mood was one of general apathy. The sources added that those with power and money and who are well-known in their own right, had largely shied away from participating for fear of harassment or for lack of a real contest.
The National Assembly has an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the House of Representatives. The Senate will have three representatives from each of the 36 states plus one for Abuja; and the House of Representatives 360 deputies.
Abacha candidacy challenged
A lawsuit was filed with the constitutional court Thursday
against the decision by all five registered political
parties to adopt General Sani Abacha as their candidate
for president, the BBC reported. The suit was filed
by one of the prospective candidates for the opposition
Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), Tunje Braithwaite,
after his party also adopted the military ruler as
its candidate.
The BBC said although the court action is unlikely to succeed, it is part of a growing number of protests against the government's decision earlier this week to call off August's presidential elections. The government says there is only a need for a referendum since all parties have adopted the same candidate.
US "will not destabilise" Nigeria
The United States will not destabilise Nigeria in its efforts to restore democracy, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, President Bill Clinton's Special Envoy on Democracy in Africa, said. In an interview with the Atlanta-based CNN television network, Jackson said the US would rather engage Nigeria in dialogue. He underscored Nigeria's role in ending the civil war in Liberia and restoring democracy in Sierra Leone, saying that the "destabilisation of Nigeria could have awful consequences for the whole region".
Blast claims fourth victim
Wednesday evening's blast in a popular area of Lagos claimed a fourth victim, AFP reported Friday, quoting local media reports. The media confirmed the explosion had injured several other people. Residents said that police who arrived on the scene found an explosive device which had not gone off. However, Lagos State police chief Aboubakar Tsav was unable to say whether the explosion itself was due to a bomb. The government has accused the opposition of being behind the blast, but so far nobody has claimed responsibility, AFP added.
WEST AFRICA: Leaders meet over Senegal river scheme
The presidents of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal are meeting Saturday to discuss the restructuring of the three-nation Organisation pour la mise en valeur du bassin du Senegal (OMVS), PANA news agency reported. Presidents Abdou Diouf of Senegal and Maouya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya of Mauritania are expected in the Malian capital, Bamako, Friday for the 12th OMVS summit, to be chaired by Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare. The leaders will discuss the restructuring of the Dakar-based institution, which jointly manages the Senegal river basin. They will also examine a report prepared by a ministerial meeting which ended on Tuesday in Nouackchott, Mauritania.
PANA added that since its creation in 1972, OMVS projects included the construction of dams at Diama and Manatali in Senegal and Mali, respectively. The dams are used for irrigation and hydro-electric power generation. They also regulate the river's water flow to improve navigation between Saint-Louis in Senegal and Kayes in Mali.
SENEGAL: Red Cross feeds internally displaced
The regional committee of the Red Cross in Casamance Thursday said it distributed some 80 tonnes of food to 15,000 internally displaced people earlier this month. The recipients had previously been registered by the National Society. The distribution took place at Ziguinchor, southern Casamance, from 15 to 21 April under cooperation programmes set up between the ICRC and the Senegalese Red Cross Society.
Since mid-1997, the southern region of Casamance has been the scene of renewed clashes between the Senegalese armed forces and the separatist Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC).
In early March, the ICRC provided the regional hospital at Ziguinchor with one tonne of medicines to build up emergency stocks for the treatment of people wounded in the fighting. It also visited 235 persons arrested in connection with the events.
Previous distributions of food and medical supplies had been carried out by the Senegalese Red Cross and the ICRC respectively during the second half of 1997 and in early 1998.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Creditors cancel Ivorian debt
Cote d'Ivoire Friday won cancellation of 80 per cent of its public debt service in a deal with the Paris Club of governmental creditors, AFP reported. The agreement involves payment of principal and interest due between this month and March 2001, and bears on debt amounting to US$ 1.4 billion. Under the arrangement, in three years, Cote d'Ivoire will be able to obtain definitive treatment of its whole debt, allowing 80 per cent of it to be cancelled, AFP quoted French Treasury chief Francis Mayer as saying.
With the deal, AFP added, Cote d'Ivoire was taking advantage of the debt reduction provisions agreed at the 1996 Group of Seven summit meeting in Lyons, France, in 1996 in connection with highly-indebted poor countries.
Abidjan, 24 April 1998, 17:00 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: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 17:52:49 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 194, 98.4.24 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980424175142.17532A-p://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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