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IRIN-WA Update 231 of Events in West Africa, (Wednesday) 17 June 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: Conflict spreads
As The Gambia launched a regional bid on Wednesday to mediate between forces loyal to the government and army rebels in Guinea Bissau, media reports said the bitter 10-day conflict had now spread to the border with neighbouring Senegal.
The Portuguese daily 'Publico' said Bissau was rocked on Tuesday in the heaviest shelling so far when Senegalese troops launched a major offensive against the rebel-held Bra garrison overlooking the city. It quoted independent sources as saying General Ansumane Mane's rebellion had suffered a "serious setback".
Guinea Bissau's Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff, Afonso Te, was quoted by the Portuguese news agency Lusa as saying the rebel forces had started to retreat and he was confident that they would be "flushed out soon".
According to AFP, Gambian foreign minister, Mohammed Lamin Sedat Jobe, arrived in the capital, Bissau, on board a French warship on Wednesday afternoon. "I will first ask for a ceasefire," Reuters quoted Jobe as saying, before he set off to an unknown location to meet Gambian-born rebel leader General Ansumane Mane, whose sacking as armed forces chief of staff last Saturday sparked the revolt. Jobe later met President Joao Bernardo Vieira, the Portuguese daily 'Jornal de Noticias' reported on Wednesday evening. It said he also planned to broadcast a radio message to the rebels.
NIGERIA: Prisoner releases win cautious praise
Nigeria's new military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, won cautious praise from critics on Tuesday for releasing nine political prisoners earlier this week, news reports said. Reuters described the detainee releases, which included former head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo, as a "big step" towards regaining international credibility after years of isolation for human rights abuses and lack of democracy.
The UN, US and EU all sent messages welcoming the development and urging a quick transition to civilian rule.
In a statement read out in New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the development as a "positive step" towards peaceful political dialogue in Nigeria, while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, also strongly welcomed Abubakar's decision. But Robinson also called for the early release of other prisoners, including Nigeria's most important opposition leader, Chief Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential elections annulled by the military.
In a statement on behalf of the EU, Britain's Junior Foreign Office Minister, Tony Lloyd, said the military government's moves were "an important first step" in the process of reconciliation and development. Lloyd also hoped Abubakar would now move swiftly to release Abiola and other remaining detainees. "We remain ready to help and support that process," he added.
Taking an even stronger line, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice reportedly described Abiola's release as a "fundamental" step. "More need be taken for Nigeria to earn its rightful place," she said.
However, news agencies said setting Abiola free could be problematic because of his claim to the presidency. This could disrupt the democracy transition plan set up by Abubakar's predecessor, General Sani Abacha, who died from a heart attack last week, Reuters said.
It also said Abiola's release could exacerbate tensions in the army just when Abubakar had to persuade army commanders to relinquish the power they have held for all but 10 years since independence from Britain in 1960.
Meanwhile, media reports say Nigerian opposition groups have vowed to keep up the pressure for Abiola to head Nigeria's next government.
SIERRA LEONE: Rebels encouraged to surrender
Soldiers from Sierra Leone's deposed Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) have been giving themselves up this week in the run-up to the end of a presidential amnesty for crimes committed by the AFRC after last year's coup, AFP reported on Tuesday. According to a spokesman for the Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, both AFRC followers and their allies from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) took advantage of President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's offer and handed themselves in at ECOMOG bases in north and east Sierra Leone. "They came in slowly at first, then their numbers started to increase," AFP quoted the spokesman as saying.
Humanitarian sources in Freetown told IRIN on Wednesday they could not corroborate ECOMOG claims that some 1,500 rebels had surrendered, but it was possible large numbers of former AFRC members had chosen to surrender.
According to one source, Kabala, some 220 km north of the capital, Freetown, had been a particular focus for troops deserting the AFRC. "But few RUF have surrendered," the source added. Other sources said they believed many more AFRC troops wanted to turn themselves in, but feared reprisals from local people and their own side. According to media reports, civilian mobs in Sierra Leone frequently sought revenge on suspected former AFRC fighters.
ECOMOG will train new army
ECOMOG officers have screened some 5,000 volunteers for places in the new Sierra Leonean army, AFP reported on Wednesday. The news agency quoted ECOMOG's commander in Sierra Leone, Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe, as saying the men would form the "core" of a new defence force. The former national army was disbanded when ECOMOG ousted Sierra Leone's military government last February.
Khobe said the soldiers were picked for their ability to learn the "rights and responsibilities" of a patriotic army. "People will be surprised how these soldiers will be completely different after undergoing the present training," he added.
The new soldiers also included some members of the AFRC who had surrendered to ECOMOG. They will be based near Lungi international airport, outside of Freetown, AFP said.
LIBERIA: Suspected cholera outbreak
A suspected outbreak of cholera in northern Liberia has killed some 17 people, most of them children, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Quoting state radio in the capital, Monrovia, Reuters said a hospital spokesman in Sanniquellie linked the outbreak to heavy rains, which have cut off the surrounding area.
However, UNICEF's medical co-ordinator in Liberia told IRIN on Wednesday it had not yet been confirmed cholera was to blame. He said samples of watery diarrhoea collected from patients were now being analysed to establish the cause of infection.
Northern Liberia last suffered a similar outbreak of suspected cholera some two years ago, UNICEF said.
TOGO: Opposition blocked
Togo's opposition complained on Tuesday that state media has blocked attempts to promote its candidates in Sunday's presidential election, Gabonese Africa No 1 radio reported. According to Africa No 1, the first national secretary of the opposition Comite d'action pour la renouvellement (CAR), Wouenou Madija Akpan, said state media's editing of its candidate's speech had amounted to "censorship". Speaking to a news conference in the capital, Lome, Akpan said "two essential" elements of Yavovi Agboyigbor's address to the nation last Friday were unfairly removed by state television. They were, however, included in radio coverage of the event, he said.
The CAR spokesman also complained it had been prevented from campaigning effectively in the north of Togo, where Agboyigbor had been banned from holding a rally on the grounds that it coincided with a government one. Africa No 1 quoted CAR as saying tension was "high".
Eyadema calls for unity
Meanwhile, President Gnassingbe Eyadema called for national unity ahead of Sunday's poll, AFP reported. Speaking in the northern town of Kara, Eyadema said claims of a north-south divide in Togo were a "false problem". Eyadema called on the 10,000 strong crowd to "stick together".
According to AFP, Eyadema is running against four other candidates, who all come from the south of the country. This is the first time there has been more than one candidate in a Togolese presidential election since Eyadema came to power in 1967, the news agency reported.
Abidjan, 17 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]
From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980617201525.29630B-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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