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IRIN-WA Update 222 of Events in West Africa, (Thursday) 4 June 1998
NIGERIA: American diplomatic visit cancelled
The United States has cancelled a planned diplomatic mission to Nigeria aimed at promoting the transition to democracy and civilian government which was scheduled for mid-June, news organisations reported on Thursday. The reason, said a State Department spokesman, was that Nigerian authorities had set unacceptable preconditions.
These included a demand for the lifting of visa restrictions imposed by Washington on senior officials of Nigeria's military government. The State Department said the delegation had wanted to discuss the decision by the country's five approved political parties, which nominated the country's leader, General Sani Abacha, as the sole presidential candidate for the 1 August presidential election.
Ghana mission
In what international media reports widely perceived as an attempt to mend relations with President Gerry Rawlings, Abacha sent an emissary to Ghana's capital Accra on Thursday to explain Nigerian claims foreign governments were involved in a plot to destabilise the country. According to AFP, National Security Advisor Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo went to discuss Nigeria's allegations that Ghana, together with the European Union, the United States, and South Africa were helping Nigerian opposition groups.
Washington, Pretoria and Accra have all vehemently denied the accusations, which Ghana's state-owned Daily Graphic described on Wednesday as "unfortunate".
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Clemency appeal
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Equatorial Guinea added his voice on Tuesday to international appeals for clemency for 15 people sentenced to death earlier this week by a military court in the capital, Malabo, AFP reported. In a letter to President Obiang Nguema Mbagoso, Alejandro Artucio said he had "serious reservations" about the trial, which had failed to adhere to international standards of justice. The 15 were among 113 charged for their alleged part in separatist attacks in the island of Bioko last January, in which 10 people died. Prison sentences ranging from six to 24 years were served on more than 50 of the defendants, the others were acquitted.
Opposition groups in Equatorial Guinea have also criticised the court's verdict. Anakleto Bokesa, leader of the Bubi-minority separatist Movimento para la Autodeterminacion de la Isla de Bioko (MAIB), which was blamed for the attacks, was quoted by Gabonese Africa No 1 radio on Tuesday as calling Equatorial Guinea a "terrorist country".
Media group protests expulsions
The Paris-based media rights group Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has protested the expulsion last Saturday of eight Spanish journalists covering the Bioko trial, AFP reported on Thursday. According to a letter from RSF addressed to Nguema and copied to AFP, the journalists were told to leave for "insulting" the government and the president in articles covering the trial. RSF charged that press freedom in Equatorial Guinea was currently "non-existent".
SENEGAL: Second party to stay in opposition
Senegal's second party, the Parti Democratique Senegalais (PDS), announced on Wednesday it would remain in opposition and not join the new government as was previously speculated, AFP reported. PDS leader Abdoulaye Wade told a press conference in the capital, Dakar, that President Abou Diouf's ruling Parti Socialiste (PS) could govern "with its own prime minister and ministers". Wade's decision follows that of the new PS breakaway Renouveau Democratique (RD) to also stay out of government. Both parties question the validity of the parliamentary election last month, which saw the PS win 93 out of 140 seats.
Diouf also called on opposition politicians to join his government after the last general election. AFP said Wade may chose to stand against Diouf in presidential elections due in two years, thus explaining why he now sought to distance himself from the administration he previously served.
CHAD: Parliamentarian gaoled
A Chadian opposition member of parliament earlier detained for questioning this week was gaoled for defaming a colleague on Wednesday, AFP reported. Ngarledjy Yorongar, the only parliamentary representative of the Federation d'Action pour la Republique (FAR), accused the president of the national assembly in a 1997 newspaper interview of accepting money from an oil company. He was stripped of his parliamentary immunity last month.
MALI: Saudi grant
Saudi Arabia has granted Mali CFA 3.6 billion CFA (FFr 36 million) to finance the third phase of a water and rural development programme in Sahelian countries, PANA reported on Wednesday. Under the Saudi programme, some 1,082 boreholes are expected to be drilled in Mali at a total cost of more than CFA 10 billion (FFr 100 million). According to PANA, Saudi Arabia has already financed other projects to the tune of some CFA 96 billion (FFr 960 million). This latest tranche of money is expected to benefit 55,000 villagers in central Mali's Mopti and Segou regions, and Timbuctu and Gao in the north.
WEST AFRICA: Mines conference
Some 20 human rights organisations from Africa, Europe and America met in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, on Wednesday to encourage African states to ratify the Ottawa accord on the use of anti-personnel mines, AFP reported. According to the news agency, the meeting aimed to take advantage of the opening of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit in Ouagadougou on Monday to pressure African leaders to declare the continent a "mine-free zone".
According to AFP, some 13 African states have still not signed the Ottawa accord. They are: the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comores, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Special Report
This update is accompanied by an IRIN special report looking at the proposed African Court on Human and People's Rights being considered next week at the OAU annual summit meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Subscribers who may not have received this report can request it by e-mail to irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci with "human rights report" in the subject line.
Abidjan, 4 June 1998 18:00 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: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 19:54:44 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 222, 98.06.04 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980604195153.451A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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