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IRIN-WA Update 211 of Events in West Africa, 20 May 1998
SIERRA LEONE: Refugee flight continues
The UNHCR reported on Tuesday that up to 300 people were crossing daily into Guinea from Sierra Leone to escape rebel forces of the ousted military regime. The number of refugees in Guinea and Liberia had now been swelled to over half a million, it said.
The report also cited high levels of malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoea among the refugees, especially children. "The new arrivals reported that thousands of Sierra Leoneans were hiding in the bush in the eastern part of their country for fear of being caught, tortured and maimed by rebels," it said, adding that up to 50,000 more people might be fleeing towards the Guinean border.
Rebels killed in weekend battle
About 50 supporters of the ousted military regime were killed in northern Sierra Leone at the weekend when they were attacked by a civilian militia group, AFP reported on Tuesday. In a dispatch quoting journalists, it said the fighters were killed in an attack on their base in the Mandaha Forest, some 50 km from the town of Makeni. It also quoted missionary sources as saying that fleeing junta supporters then attacked the nearby villages of Kassassi and Mabuya "mutilating" some 17 civilians, including mothers and children. Ten homes were also set alight.
The incident marked the latest in what it called a "campaign of mutilation" blamed on junta supporters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Radio France Internationale said that while the West African ECOMOG intervention force had secured the Liberian border areas, the RUF had regrouped in the north of the country near the Guinea border: "For one month now, attacks have been reported near Port Loko, around the main road linking Freetown to Guinea. To remind people clearly of their presence on the ground, the rebels are now pursuing a policy of terror, even a policy of absolute horror Ö continuing the amputations of hands, ears, breasts and genitals."
Humanitarian assessment
Meanwhile, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) sent a mission led by Elizabeth Lwanga, the humanitarian coordinator for Sierra Leone, to check the situation in three areas near the frontline towns of Daru and Segbwema in the southeast of the country. Humanitarian sources told IRIN on Wednesday that they had found fewer internally displaced persons than expected, with fewer than 500 near Segbwema, and between 1 and 2,000 in Daru, where a large number of unaccompanied children were reported.
Former military regime officials held
Meanwhile, AFP reported on Wednesday that 48 officers of the ousted military regime and civilian collaborators had arrived by boat in Freetown under ECOMOG escort and sent to detention centres. The 48, who had been extradited from Guinea, included the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) secretary general, Colonel Abdul Sesay, and its transport minister, Cecil Williams. In a separate incident, the AFRC attorney general, Claude Campbell, collapsed in the dock at the start of his trial on treason charges on Tuesday when the court denied his request to be tried without a jury. AFP said he had argued that a jury would be influenced by media reports of AFRC wrongdoing.
BURKINA FASO: Government denies involvement in Sierra Leone
The government of Burkina Faso has rejected accusations by refugees that it was supporting rebel forces in Sierra Leone, AFP reported on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Ablasse Ouedraogo was quoted as saying his government lacked the means to get involved in a country as far away as Sierra Leone.
NIGERIA: National unity prayers
Five days of prayers for national unity sponsored by the Nigerian government were scheduled to start on Wednesday in the capital, Abuja, according to media reports. The government appealed to all 36 states in the country to send Muslims and Christians for three days of prayers at the Abuja Mosque and two days of Christian rites at the parade ground. However, some religious groups called for a boycott of the prayers, saying they formed part of General Sani Abacha's strategy to remain in power.
African American leaders seek tougher stance on Nigeria
A coalition of African American leaders has sent a letter to President Bill Clinton urging him toughen his policy towards General Abacha's government, introduce oil sanctions and abandon his policy of "constructive engagement". They also urged him to reject publicly the current transition to civilian rule as "fatally flawed and illegitimate", to choose sides and increase support for democratic movements, as it did in eastern Europe. The signatories included the Congressional Black Caucus Chair Maxine Waters, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Kweisi Mfume, the former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, Congresswomen Carolyn Kilpatrick and Cynthia McKinney, and Wyatt Tee Walker, president of the American Committee on Africa.
"There is growing evidence that the White House is tilting towards an accommodation with the dictatorship, an accommodation that is a betrayal of the Nigerian people and an abandonment of principle in U.S. policy towards Africa," Walker said. "The African American community cannot and will not stand idly by while our sisters and brothers in Nigeria are marching and dying for freedom. We support their struggle. The Clinton Administration should do the same."
LIBERIA: Road to be repaired
The World Food Programme will repair a 30 km stretch of road linking Pleebo near the capital Monrovia to Grand Kru, independent Star Radio reported on Wednesday. A WFP representative told Star Radio that about 1,500 labourers were being employed for the job and that the road should be open for traffic in about two months.
GAMBIA: Politician, Muslim leader detained
A former opposition presidential candidate, Ousainou Darbo, was detained on Wednesday, AFP reported quoting sources of his United Democratic Party (UDP). The dispatch, which did not carry government confirmation of the action, said no reason had been given for his arrest.
It followed the detention on Tuesday of a prominent Muslim leader and eight opposition activists for public order offences. News organisations quoted the Gambian interior ministry as saying Alhaji Karamo Touray, a Muslim leader in Birkama, near the capital Banjul, had ordered his supporters to destroy a rival mosque. It was not clear whether the other eight others detained were also held in connection with the alleged attack.
TOGO: Six presidential candidates confirmed
The Constitutional Court in Togo has confirmed the applications of six opposition candidates to run in the first round of the presidential election on 14 June, AFP reported on Wednesday. The current head of state, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, has been in power since 1967.
Those running against him include Gilchrist Olympio, the son of Togo's first president who was assassinated in 1963, and president of the Union des Forces de Changement (UFC). The others are: Leopold Gnininvi, president of the Convention Democratique des Peuples Africains (CDPA); Zarifou Ayeva, president of the Parti DÈmocratique pour le Renouveau (PDR); and Jacques Amouzou, president of the Union des Liberaux Independants (ULI).
Abidjan, 20 May 1998, 19:00 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]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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