IRIN-West Africa Update 229, 98.6.15

Tel: +225 21-73-54 Fax: +225 21-63-35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci

IRIN-WA Update 228 of Events in West Africa, (Saturday-Monday) 13-15 June 1998

GUINEA BISSAU: Government and rebels fight to control capital

As troops loyal to President Joao Bernardo Vieira battled with army rebels for control of Guinea Bissau's capital, Bissau, at the weekend, thousands of civilians fled the city. Media reports said many took small boats to coastal islands, while others fled inland.

Although comprehensive figures were not available in the week since the army rebellion broke out, news reports said about 200 people had drowned at the weekend after setting off in small boats. AFP reported that the bodies of at least 100 people had been seen in the streets after intense shelling left houses ablaze and in ruins.

The heaviest exchanges of fire were reportedly around the Bra district on a hill overlooking the city, where rebels controlled two key army bases and the international airport. All telephone lines to Bissau have been cut, and in the confusion, the reports did not indicate whether government troops backed by units sent in by Senegal and Guinea had recaptured the bases or started to restore order.

News reports said food and medical supplies in the city were now dangerously low.

Coup plot denied

The revolt started last week after General Humberto Gomes was appointed armed forces chief of staff to replace General Absumane Mane. Mane had been suspended after several military officers were arrested for allegedly smuggling weapons to separatist rebels in Senegal's southern province of Casamance. Mane, who declared himself head of a provisional military government on Tuesday, has called for elections in July.

But a rebel spokesman denied on Sunday there was a coup attempt. Major Melciades Gomes Fernandes told Portuguese television rebel leaders were not politicians, news agencies reported. "We do not want to run the country," he was quoted as saying. "But any new government will be less corrupt than the one before," he added.

Fernandes also told the Guinea Bissau government to stop using troops loaned by Senegal and Guinea. "These foreign troops must get out of here," he said. The rebels had more than sufficient firepower to defend themselves against air attacks, he warned.

More foreigners evacuate

The majority of foreign nationals resident in Guinea Bissau had now escaped by boat to neighbouring Senegal, the BBC reported on Monday. This opened the way for escalated military confrontation as parliamentary mediation attempts, which floundered before the weekend, showed little sign of immediate revival, other media reports said.

NIGERIA: Opposition groups could be included in democratic process

The new leader of Nigeria, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, suggested at the weekend that opposition groups not currently recognised by the government could be involved in the transition to civilian rule, the BBC reported. He made the suggestion in a brief statement after lengthy talks with leaders of the five registered political parties and officials of the National Elections Commission (NECON).

The dispatch said this was the first time that General Abubaker had expanded on his initial comments pledging support for the transition programme.

He urged possible contenders to the leadership of the country to reflect on what went wrong and to develop ideas for the future. Most called for a re-run of elections already held, saying they had been manipulated by Abacha's supporters.

But news agencies said the pro-Abacha United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), which won the majority of seats in most of the polls, was opposed to organising fresh elections. UNCP leaders claimed that any re-run would delay the handover and cast further doubt on the process, Reuters reported. All five parties had nominated Abacha as their sole presidential candidate. Abacha died suddenly of a heart attack on 8 June.

The chairman of one of the political parties, the Congress for National Consensus (CNC), Barnabas Gemade, said an extension of the transition process was "acceptable" as long as the military left the political scene in 1998, Reuters added.

According to the BBC, Abubakar also spoke by telephone at the weekend to US President Bill Clinton, who called for a credible and lasting transition to civilian government.

The BBC also reported that the weekend talks ignored the demands of Friday's protests calling for the release of all political detainees. They included Moshood Abiola, presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election annulled by Abacha.

Abiola's son also speaks out

Abiola's eldest son, Abdul Lateef Kola Abiola, called on Sunday for the release of all political detainees and elections to be held within six months, AFP reported, quoting a Nigerian daily, 'This Day'. For the first time, it said, he described his father as the "winner" of the 1993 presidential elections.

In a statement published in 'This Day', Abiola's son called for the 1995 constitution to be adopted without amendment, a merging of the five political parties into two parties and the cancellation of all previous elections held under the Abacha administration. He added that the country's next leadership should be based on "legality with the capacity to create confidence among the populace". The 1995 constitution was drafted by a committee made up of Nigerians from all walks of life.

SIERRA LEONE: British ambassador is made paramount chief

Britain's High Commissioner (ambassador) to Sierra Leone, Peter Penfold, received a hero's welcome when he returned to the capital, Freetown, on Sunday, media reports said. Penfold had been recalled to London to answer questions about the recent arms-for-Sierra Leone scandal, in which Britain allegedly contravened a UN embargo by providing weapons to help overthrow the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) military junta and help restore the elected government to power.

Enthusiastic Sierra Leoneans crowned Penfold "paramount chief" of western Sierra Leone. According to the BBC, ordinary people wanted to show Penfold they were grateful he stood by the civilian government after junior military officers seized power in a bloody coup last year.

The High Commissioner had been cleared in London of all wrong-doing in the arms scandal.

UN Aid Coordinator concerned

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, said on Saturday he was concerned at the influx of Sierra Leonean refugees to Liberia and Guinea. Speaking in Freetown at the end of a four-day assessment mission, de Mello also condemned atrocities committed against the civilian population by the AFRC and its allies from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

De Mello, who visited some victims of recent rebel attacks in Freetown's Connaught Hospital, said the attacks constituted a violation of all international conventions and an "affront to humanity".

According to de Mello, donors expected the government of Sierra Leone to present a co-ordinated strategy for recovery. "Donor fatigue" was a worldwide syndrome, he said. Therefore the donor community had to be persuaded of the need to support humanitarian assistance activities and longer-term initiatives in Sierra Leone.

LIBERIA: Six missing, feared dead

Six members of an officially disbanded Liberian faction were missing feared dead on Monday, media reports said. According to AFP, the former fighters were from the Krahn wing of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO-J), a civil war rival of President Charles Taylor's winning National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL).

Relatives of the six told papers in the capital, Monrovia, they had not been seen since 7 June. AFP said their documents were reportedly seized at Robertsfield International airport when they attempted to leave the country for Senegal and Gambia.

The ULIMO-J leader, Roosevelt Johnson, told the Voice of America on Monday he believed the six had been killed by government security forces.

Defence ministry spokesman Philibert Browne told AFP, however, the government had no information concerning the disappearances.

Ruling party sweeps Lofa seats

Liberia's ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP) has swept all the seats in local elections in the northern county of Lofa, independent Star Radio reported on Saturday. According to the Monrovia-based station, NPP won the one available senatorial seat and all three municipal ballots.

The chairman of Liberia's elections commission, Paul Guah, reportedly described the elections as "peaceful". Losing candidates would have until 19 July to lodge protests, he added.

A local source in Monrovia told IRIN on Monday the elections were a "foregone conclusion" because opposition parties had not been prepared. According to the source, Lofa was a sensitive area because a spate of recent mosque burnings had raised local ethnic tensions.

TOGO: Elections campaign

A Paris-based press rights group, Reporters Sans Froniteres (RSF), has accused Togo's state media of bias towards the ruling party in its coverage of the presidential campaign, AFP reported on Friday. RSF was quoted as saying Togo's state media was "totally" biased in favour of President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who is running for a last term in office on 21 June.

RSF, which is funded by the European Union (EU), said some candidates were "properly treated", however others were "practically ignored". This included prominent opposition member Gilchrist Olympio, who has lived in Ghana since an attempt was made on his life in 1992.

RSF said although there had been some improvement in the balance of coverage during its mission, Togo's national election commission should address this "clearly discriminatory behaviour", AFP reported.

The US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) also said the conditions for a transparent and fair election in Togo were "not yet in place", according to AFP.

Gilchrist addresses rally

Meanwhile, Olympio made a brief trip home to the capital Lome on Sunday to address an election rally. Afterwards, Reuters said he returned immediately to Ghana. Olympio, who is the son of assassinated first president Sylvanus Olympio, told members of his Union des forces de changement (UFC) party he would work for security, social peace and reconstruction if elected. "Once elected, we will begin to install peace and security in our country," he said.

Olympio and four other candidates will compete next week against Eyadema, who has been in power since 1967 and is currently sub-Saharan Africa's longest-serving ruler.

Abidjan, 15 June 1998 20:00 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: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 19:52:41 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 229, 98.6.15 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980615195038.13035B-p://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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