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IRIN-WA Update 228 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 12 June 1998
NIGERIA: Police break up opposition demonstrations,
arrest leader
In the first public protests since the death of Nigerian
Head of State General Sani Abacha earlier this week,
police fired teargas into a crowd of several hundred
demonstrators on Friday in the commercial capital,
Lagos, media reports said.
An unknown number of people were also arrested. Among
them was leading opposition figure Gani Fawehinmi,
who had collapsed from the effects of the gas, AFP
reported. It was not known where he was taken.
According to news agencies, several hundred activists
had gathered in the opposition-dominated Yaba area
of Lagos to protest against the annulled 1993 presidential
elections, and to pressure the government to release
the detained presumed winner, Chief Moshood Abiola.
Media reports said there were chaotic scenes as police,
who had earlier cordoned off the area, fired the teargas
into the crowded market area to disperse the protestors.
According to AFP, security forces also fired warning
shots over the heads of demonstrators.
Earlier, opposition groups had vowed they would defy
a government ban and go ahead with protests against
the four-day-old rule of the new military leader, General
Abdulsalam Abubakar. They insisted they did not need
to apply for permission to exercise their right to
freedom of expression and said they would defy police
efforts to prevent rallies, the BBC said.
Opposition bolder
News agencies said Abacha's unexpected death has made
the opposition bolder as it has seen an opportunity
to capitalise on shifting political circumstances.
The BBC said Abacha's death raised expectations that
the new government would release political prisoners
and make other gestures of reconciliation to reduce
tensions in the country.
So far Western governments have given Abubakar the benefit
of the doubt, media reports say. But his maiden speech
on Tuesday made no mention of prisoner releases, Reuters
reported. Instead the general committed himself to
following his predecessor's discredited plan to hand
over power to a civilian government by October, and
made no mention of other reform.
GUINEA BISSAU: Situation confused
The situation remained confused in Guinea Bissau on
Friday with no end in sight to a week-long stand-off
between army rebels and forces loyal to President Joao
Bernardo Vieira, news agencies said.
As Portuguese radio reported that Vieira appeared ready
to accept mediation to avoid an all-out military confrontation,
AFP said sporadic fighting broke out again on Friday
morning in the Bra district of the capital, Bissau,
where rebels controlled two army bases and the international
airport.
The tensions resumed less than 24 hours after nearly
2,000 foreigners had fled the city aboard a Portuguese
merchant vessel. During the evacuation, rebel shells
fell just a few hundred metres from the ship, Portuguese
television said. The evacuation was seen as clearing
the way for a final reckoning between the loyalist
troops, backed by soldiers from neighbouring Senegal
and Guinea, and the rebels, news reports said.
The departure of the foreign nationals was followed
by the cutting of all international telephone links
to the country, media reports said Friday.
A proposed mediation group of Muslim and Roman Catholic
Church officials, who were joined by a senior parliamentarian,
said they were now waiting for a reply from rebel commander
Ansumane Mane, whose firing as army chief of staff
triggered the revolt last Sunday.
They said they were proposing a ceasefire to be followed
by talks on "neutral territory", which could
be a Western embassy in Bissau, AFP reported.
However, Vieira had stopped a similar negotiation effort
going ahead at the last minute on Wednesday, media
reports said. According to diplomats quoted by news
agencies, it was thus not immediately clear if Vieira
would now favour a military or negotiated solution
to the crisis.
Security Council condemns coup attempt
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council condemned the attempted
coup at a meeting late on Thursday. According to AFP,
Council President Antonio Monteiro of Portugal said
members also praised Guinea Bissau authorities for
protecting civilian lives. "These disputes should
only be settled in compliance with democratic principle,"
he said.
SIERRA LEONE: EU releases aid
The European Union (EU) has approved an aid package
for Sierra Leone worth US$ 1.1 million, AFP reported
on Friday. According to an EU spokesman, the funds
would be targeted to victims of the civil conflict
through emergency programmes run by European Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGOs) including, Medecins Sans Frontieres,
Action Contre la Faim and Handicap International.
Rains threaten camp access
UNHCR told IRIN on Friday it was concerned at deteriorating
conditions for Sierra Leonean refugees in northern
Liberia. It said the inaccessibility of camps near
Vahun in Lofa country was making assistance operations
extremely difficult and roads would only worsen once
heavy seasonal rains set in next month. "The area
is almost completely cut off," a UNHCR spokesman
said. "Trucks just cannot get through properly."
According to media reports, up to 45,000 refugees are
in the makeshift camps close to Sierra Leone's border
with Liberia.
But the spokesman added plans were already under way
to offer an alternative site with better access, some
50 km away in Kolahun. As many as 8,000 people had
already chosen to move, he said.
LIBERIA: Mosque burning is religious hatred
Liberia's president, Charles Taylor, has blamed a spate
of mosque burnings in northern Liberia this week on
"religious hatred", independent Star Radio
reported on Thursday. According to the Monrovia-based
station, Taylor told Muslim leaders that security services
had been ordered to conduct a thorough investigation
into the matter. Star Radio said Taylor's meeting with
Muslims also discussed "growing tensions"
in Lofa and Nimba counties between ethnic Muslim Mandingoes
and their non-Muslim neighbours. Taylor reportedly
assured the Muslim community that anyone involved in
mosque attacks would "face justice".
A humanitarian source in Monrovia told IRIN on Friday
that tension between Mandingoes and other ethnic groups
in northern Liberia went beyond religious differences.
The source said other Liberians often perceived Mandingoes
as foreigners because the group also spanned the border
into neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone. "They
also backed one of the losing sides in the civil war,"
the source said.
ECOMOG agreement signed
The controversy over the future role of the West African
ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Liberia appeared resolved
on Friday, when the Liberian government signed a long-awaited
"status of forces" agreement with the regional
political body, ECOWAS, Star Radio reported.
Liberian Foreign Minister Monie Captan was quoted as
saying the agreement signed at the OAU conference in
Burkina Faso officially placed ECOMOG under the authority
of ECOWAS heads of state. Captan said the agreement
would also bar the peacekeeping force from getting
involved in civil disputes and commercial activities.
However, the agreement did accord some immunities and
privileges to ECOMOG personnel, Star Radio said, while
also requiring troops to obey Liberian laws. Both parties
to the accord were urged in the final text to "collaborate
mutually".
A local source in Monrovia told IRIN on Friday that
ECOMOG had earlier repeatedly clashed with Taylor's
government over restructuring security forces following
the end of Liberia's seven-year civil war. According
to the source, ECOMOG said a 1996 peace accord required
it to retrain the police and army. But Taylor said
his election in July 1997 superseded the agreement.
The dispute was unofficially shelved when ECOMOG's
previous tough-talking commander was replaced by a
new general with orders to drop the issue, the source
said.
TOGO: Ministers warn against provoking army
Togo's ministers of defence and the interior have told
candidates in this month's presidential race to stop
criticising the army, Radio France Internationale (RFI)
reported on Thursday. RFI quoted the ministers as saying
certain candidates had attacked slandered and insulted
the security forces, which were in any case "neutral
in the political game".
But AFP reported the biggest problem for all six candidates
in the 21 June run-off was competing for voters' attention
during the football World Cup in France.
Togo's current president since 1967, General Gnassingbe
Eyadema, is Africa's longest-ruling head of state.
MAURITANIA: New agreement supports private investment
Mauritania and France signed a new partnership accord
on Thursday which emphasised the role of private investment
in future international development programmes, AFP
reported. Mauritania's minister for foreign affairs,
Mohammed El Hacen Ould Lebbatt, said the new agreement
was "unique" in highlighting private investment
as a development factor.
WEST AFRICA: World Court will rule on Bakassi
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Thursday
that it does have jurisdiction to hear a 1994 case
brought by Cameroon over its territorial dispute with
neighbouring Nigeria over the Bakassi Peninsula, media
reports said. During preliminary hearings in The Hague
in March, Nigeria had argued that the two countries
should resolve the dispute themselves.
Although no date was set for the hearing to start, the
BBC said a ruling is nevertheless likely to take several
years. Nigeria's delegation to the Court reportedly
refused to comment on the decision, which was welcomed
by Cameroon. A Cameroon government paper, the 'Cameroun
Tribune', was quoted by AFP as saying on Friday that
the ruling was a "first victory".
Nigeria and Cameroon have reportedly clashed several
times over the 1,000 square km peninsula, which is
thought to be rich in oil and fish reserves.
The dispute between the two countries dates back more
than 100 years, when the former ruling colonial powers,
Britain and Germany, failed to define the boundary
between the two counties, AFP said.
Abidjan, 12 June, 18:15 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]
From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 228, 98.6.12
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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