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IRIN-WA Update 203 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 8 May 1998
SIERRA LEONE: Refugees in Guinea
The UNHCR office in Conakry told IRIN on Friday that some 148,000 Sierra Leonean refugees had fled to Guinea since last year's coup d'etat. Some 70,000 to 90,000 had arrived following recent fighting between the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, and remnants of the ousted military junta in eastern Sierra Leone. Many have sought refuge in Korobiko and Foronkonia, southeastern Guinea. UNHCR said it was transferring the refugees to former Liberian refugee camps in Kissidougou and Guekedou. WFP said collective kitchens have been established in Kobikoro, the site of the main refugee influx, where more than 3,000 refugees receive a daily meal and a one-month food ration upon transfer to a camp. UNHCR confirmed that there were a few amputees among the refugees.
WFP, in a press release on Friday, announced it had stepped up food deliveries to the town of Gueckedou to cope with the refugee influx. WFP said it had delivered 3,000 mt of food covering the needs of some 250,000 people for one month. Efforts were under way to bring in further shipments from the Guinean capital, Conakry, and neighbouring Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire before the start of the rainy season, when roads become impassable.
WFP further warned that more than ten months of instability and conflict have disrupted farming and food processing activities, causing food shortages in many parts of Sierra Leone.
Eighteen reported killed in northeast
According to reports reaching the capital, Freetown, on Friday, some 18 people were killed in attacks in the northeast by junta remnants, AFP reported. Some 30 people who suffered amputations in the attacks have been admitted to the government hospital in Makeni, 140 kms northeast of Freetown. Most were from the nearby villages of Ndaraya, Worodala and Karina, AFP quoted a Catholic priest as saying.
In a related development, the state-owned 'Daily Mail' on Friday reported that the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commander Sam Bockari had been seriously wounded in Daru, Kailahun district, but had escaped to Gbehu, near Kailahun town, AFP added.
Amnesty International condemns atrocities
The international human rights NGO, Amnesty International, in a statement on Friday, condemned the brutal killings and mutilation of civilians by the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the RUF. It said there was an urgent need to protect civilians and called on the international community to establish a human rights presence to independently monitor human rights violations.
NIGERIA & CAMEROON: Renewed accusations in Bakassi dispute
Nigerian defence spokesman Godwin Ugbo, in a communique Thursday, accused neighbouring Cameroon of trying to provoke war over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea, news agencies reported. Nigeria accused Cameroon of sending 2,000 reinforcements to bolster its forces on the border. The communique also charged that Cameroonian forces had attacked the area occupied by Nigerian troops on three occasions in April, leaving at least one civilian dead. Thursday's communique said Nigeria still sought a peaceful solution to the border conflict and called on the international community to press Cameroon to halt hostile activity, Reuters said.
The two countries have clashed several times since 1994 over the peninsula. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in March 1998 ordered both sides to refrain from all military activities on the disputed border pending a ruling on the status of the territory. Its final ruling is not expected until July 1998.
NIGERIA: Opposition unimpressed by amnesty
Nigeria's opposition said on Thursday they were unimpressed by the government's amnesty for 142 detainees, AFP reported. Apart from four journalists and two army officers, the bulk of those benefitting from the amnesty were largely unknown, they said. "From the list of detainees said to have been released, it is clear that the regime is deceiving the public. It is also clear that the regime does not want to release real political detainees," Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, told AFP.
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), in a statement quoted by AFP, described the list of detainees as a "grand deceit" and a "ruse by the junta aimed at laying claim to a humanitarian benevolence". The CDHR said that at least 154 political prisoners and detainees remain behind bars.
Newspaper editor arrested
Femi Adeoti, the editor of the 'Sunday Tribune', was arrested and detained on Wednesday by agents of the State Security Service (SSS) in Ibadan, the capital of south-western Oyo state, AFP reported on Friday. The privately-owned paper quoted the SSS as saying that Adeoti was being detained in connection with last Sunday's article "Genesis of Ibadan bloodbath" on the May Day clashes. Paul Ogundipe, the author of the article, is also being sought.
Fear of ill-treatment, Amnesty
Amnesty International (AI), in an alert released on Thursday, raised concerns over the possible ill-treatment of seven pro-democracy and human rights activists and politicians recently detained by Nigerian police. The seven were detained in connection with recent anti-government protests. No reasons were given for the arrests, nor have the detainees been charged or tried, AI said.
The seven include: Chief Bola Ige, a leading member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO); Chief Ayo Opadokun, NADECO Secretary General; Olusegun Maiyegun, a leading member of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; Ola Oni, social critic and human rights activist; Dr Usman Bugaji, a traditional leader from northern Nigeria; former Senator Alhaji Lam Adesina; and former Deputy Speaker of Osun State Assembly Chief Niyi Owolade.
Meanwhile, Oyo State military administrator Colonel Ahmed Usman said on Friday opposition leaders arrested in Ibadan following the violent May Day protests would be treated as "prisoners of war", AFP reported, quoting local press sources.
CHAD: Peace accord signed
The Chadian government announced the signing of a peace
deal on Thursday with the southern-based Forces armees
pour la republique federale (FARF) rebels, AFP reported.
The accord calls for a ceasefire, a general amnesty
and the transformation of FARF into a political party.
FARF is the largest armed political group in southern
Chad. A local media source confirmed to IRIN the signing
of the accord, which builds upon an unimplemented peace
agreement signed in April 1997. The spokeman for the
Front national du Tchad renove (FNTR) also confirmed
the accord but cautioned that the Chadian government
had failed to follow through previous accords. Clashes
in October between the army and the FARF in Moundou
region left more than 100 people dead. One reason given
by the FARF for the renewed violence was the failure
to implement the April accord, AFP added.
Under the terms of the accord, the national guard and
nomad security forces will be withdrawn from the south
and FARF soldiers integrated into the regular armed
forces and civil service.
SENEGAL: Students announce 48-hour strike
University students in Senegal's second largest city Saint Louis announced a 48-hour strike on Friday to protest against Tuesday's violent suppression of a student protest over power cuts at the campus, AFP reported. Ten people, including a policeman, were injured during the clash.
GUINEA: Two more officers to appear in mutiny hearing
Two Guinean officers were summoned on Wednesday before
the special court trying those charged with orchestrating
an army mutiny in February 1996, AFP reported. Although
they have not been arrested, Commander Lansana Camara
and Lieutenant-Colonel Soriba Kaba, who were considered
close associates of President Lansana Conte, have been
implicated by several of the 96 defendants appearing
before the court. Camara was commander of the Presidential
Guard until last April. A local media source told IRIN
that both men had been retired as a result of being
implicated by the defendants.
Colonels Oumar Soumah, former army chief of staff, Abdourahmane
Kaba, former head of the national gendarmerie, and
Mohamed Lamine Tracer, former head of national defence,
were among those arrested and charged with murder and
destruction of public property.
BURKINA FASO: New election body
Burkina Faso's legislature passed a law on Thursday establishing an independent electoral commission (CENI) in time for the November presidential elections, AFP reported. All 93 members of the ruling Congres pour la democratie et le progres (CDP) voted for the CENI while the 10 opposition members rejected the bill.
Abidjan, April 8 1998, 17:20 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, 8 May 1998 17:37:53 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> ubject: IRIN West Africa Update 203, 98.5.8 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980508173600.7620C-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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