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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 24-97 of Main Events in West Africa covering the period (Friday) 21 - (Thursday) 27 November 1997
[The weekly round-ups are based on relevant information from UN agencies, NGOs, governments, donors and media. IRIN issues these reports for the benefit of the humanitarian community but accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy of the original source.]
SIERRA LEONE: AFRC talks reach stalemate
UN and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) talks with the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) reached stalemate in Freetown on Thursday. In his first visit to Sierra Leone as UN Special Envoy, Francis Okello stressed all sides to the conflict in Sierra Leone must adhere to the Conakry accords. The peace plan signed in October provides for the restoration of ousted civilian president Alhaji Tejan Kabbah. The AFRC claimed it also fully supported the peace plan. Media reports on Thursday, however, indicated negotiations had reached stalemate over the "dominance of Nigerian troops" in the ECOMOG peacekeeping force, AFRC disarmament and the release of Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh from detention in Nigeria. ECOWAS Director of Information Adrienne Diop told reporters that "the Conakry peace accord remains valid." AFRC spokesman Allieu Kamara said, nothing new had been achieved. "We are faced with the issue of confidence building which has led to a stalemate in the talks," he said. Earlier on Wednesday, the AFRC accused ECOMOG of building up forces hostile to the military government near Freetown. According to an AFRC radio statement, ECOMOG airlifted dozens of Kamajor militia who also strongly support Kabbah's restoration, to its Freetown bases.
Humanitarian assistance delayed
An AFRC government official complained on Tuesday that humanitarian aid was still not getting through to Sierra Leone. According to the BBC, the spokesman said assistance should have started up a week ago under the terms of the Conakry peace plan, but none had appeared. A humanitarian source in Conakry told IRIN on Wednesday that assistance operations in Sierra Leone had never stopped, particularly in the health and medical sectors."Cross-border operations are only designed to reinforce ongoing humanitarian activities," he said. ECOWAS Executive Secretary Lansana Kouyate denied delays represented any slipping of the Conakry timetable.
ECOMOG frees 28 Sierra Leonean prisoners-of-war
ECOMOG released 28 Sierra Leonean prisoners-of-war on Friday. According to AFP, the soldiers were captured during recent clashes between ECOMOG and the AFRC near the capital Freetown. AFRC Director of Defence administration Colonel Sammy Davies said the handover took place aboard a Sierra Leone naval vessel three miles from the airport.
LIBERIA: Will ECOMOG will stay in Liberia?
ECOMOG will stay in Liberia until the end of its mandate in February 1998. Kouyate told reporters on Monday that ECOWAS would terminate the force's presence according to the Abuja accord. Force Commander Major General Victor Malu also told Reuters that his mission is not over as ECOMOG was mandated to continue and restructure the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL). Liberian President Charles Taylor has asked ECOWAS to keep on 5,000 troops but vowed to press on with his own army restructuring. According to independent Star Radio, Defence minister Daniel Chea told local media on Saturday that Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, and Burkina Faso had agreed to position troops in Liberia under the command of the Liberian government. The Nigerian Embassy in Monrovia confirmed to Star Radio that the Nigerian government has received a Liberian government request for troops under a bilateral agreement, but no official Nigerian response had been given. Taylor has already sent 1,000 armed men to the Sierra Leone border against ECOMOG's wishes. ECOWAS Chairman and Nigerian leader General Sani Abacha was holding talks with Taylor "to narrow down differences" on the ECOMOG issue, according to Kouyate. Some 200 Nigerian troops who boarded two ships for home on Tuesday may however signal a gradual ECOMOG pullout from Liberia, according to PANA. "Any soldier saying goodbye is leaving," an ECOMOG officer in Monrovia said.
LIBERIA: More refugees return home
Some 9,000 refugees voluntarily repatriated to Liberia from Guinea since July while another 28,000 Liberians in Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana have registered to return. According to a UNHCR statement on Monday, the process of repatriation accelerated after successful July elections in Liberia and the end of the rainy season. UNHCR believes many more refugees may have gone home spontaneously. Eighteen international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) recently signed a policy paper criticising repatriation plans in Liberia. "Basic community services for everyone are just not enough for people to be able come back," a humanitarian source in Monrovia told IRIN on Tuesday. The US$ 54 million repatriation programme will run to December 1998. According to UNHCR, 480,000 refugees fled Liberia during the seven-year civil war.
NIGERIA:EU maintains sanctions against Nigeria
The European Union (EU) agreed on Friday to prolong sanctions against Nigeria. The EU measures, brought in after the execution of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other minority rights activists in 1995, maintain restrictions on visas for military officers, development assistance, sporting events and high-level visits. According to AFP, special dispensation was made for the Nigerian football team to play in the World Cup in France. The EU said there had been no positive changes in Nigeria either regarding democracy or human rights. Sanctions were extended until after the handover to civilian rule scheduled for October 1998 by Abacha.
Abacha delays release of political prisoners
Local media accused Abacha on Tuesday of delaying the release of political prisoners. According to the South African 'Mail and Guardian', Abacha has "dragged his feet" on fulfilling a promise to free prisoners which he made last Monday during a nation-wide speech to mark the fourth anniversary of his coming to power. Nigerian officials told news sources that the delay may be due to logistical problems in passing documentation to the capital Abuja.The 'Vanguard' has speculated that Chief Moshood Abiola may be on the list of prisoners to be released. Moshood is widely believed to have won annulled 1993 presidential elections,
NIGER: President sacks government
Niger's president sacked the year-old government of Prime Minister Cisse Amadou on Monday. Laying the blame at the door of the government, President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara told radio listeners "the government itself confuses many people, with its wait-and-see attitudes." The opposition General-Secretary of the Union des Forces Populaires pour la Democratie (UFPD) Issoufou Assoumane said the move was an attempt to deceive the international community. General Mainassara should dissolve parliament and hold fair elections instead of portraying the opposition as refusing to take part in government, he said. On Thursday, state radio reported that Mainassara appointed a former foreign minister, Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, to head up a new administration. Mayaki was the former ruling party campaign chief in the 1996 presidential election. After a period in opposition following Mainassara's 1996 military coup, Mayaki then teamed up with the general.
Mainassara announces austerity measures
Mainassara cancelled all "ostentatious" festivals and official events because the country cannot afford them, Niger officials announced on Wednesday. Mainassara also appealed to citizens to use this year's harvest "rationally". The Niger government claims a 152,000 MT grain deficit exposes more than a quarter of the population to famine. Niger has also been troubled by strikes by state workers and renewed clashes with Tuareg and Toubou rebels following the breakdown of a 1995 ceasefire in September.Niger plans to outline its problems to donors in a meeting in Geneva 22-23 January. Relations with the United States have been strained since Mainassara scrapped a national elections commission during the July 1996 presidential race. Mainassara was declared president by a rival commission.
SENEGAL: Fresh violence in Casamance
A mortar attack in Casamance killed a 10-year-old girl and wounded three other people on Friday. According to AFP, the separatist Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) fired the shells. Twenty-seven rebels and one soldier were also killed in dawn clashes between separatists and the army on Tuesday. There has been a significant resurgence in violence in the troubled southern province of Senegal since August when the Senegalese army launched a massive offensive against rebel bases after 25 Senegalese troops were killed in an ambush south of Ziguinchor. The MFDC claims the central Dakar government neglects Casamance, which is cut off from the rest of Senegal by The Gambia.
Disappointing turnout at peace-march
The turnout at an inter-faith march for peace in Casamance on Sunday disappointed many observers. Moslems and Christians numbering only about 2,000-2,500, led by the Bishop of Ziguinchor, walked in silence through the streets of the provincial capital. MAURITANIA: Presidential election campaign starts
Mauritania's presidential campaign started officially on Wednesday. Five candidates are standing in elections scheduled for 12 December. According to AFP, the process is already in crisis because of a boycott by opposition parties. Party leaders claim a transparent vote is impossible while there is no "viable" civil state capable of preventing vote rigging and other fraud. Outgoing president Maaouyia Ould Taya is considered favourite to stay in power. Other candidates are Mohamed Mahmoud ould Mah, an unsuccessful challenger in 1992 elections, and three less well-known politicians including the first ever black presidential candidate, Kane Mamadou Moctar.
CAMEROON: 25 killed in land dispute
Twenty-five people were killed and over 100 injured in a dispute between two communities in western Cameroon. According to the Friday edition of a local newspaper 'Ouest Echos', the violence left some 500 persons homeless.The local gendarmerie told AFP the report was not true, but admitted there had been disturbances in the area. According to the newspaper, the two communities were involved in a similar dispute in May when at least three persons were killed.
Police arrest three Chad rebels
Police put on display three Chad rebels from the Forces Armees Pour la Republique Federale (FARF) on Wednesday, according to the Yaounde 'Generation'. Michel Nguinamba Yebarde, younger brother of FARF leader Laokein Barde is reportedly among those detained. State controlled media made no mention of any arrests. In early November, 42 people were killed in fighting between FARF and Chad government soldiers at Moundou close to the Cameroon border. According to AFP, FARF is protesting conditions set out for its reintegration into the official Chad army as stipulated by peace accords signed with the Chad government in April.
WEST AFRICA: Half of all HIV cases in sub-saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa may account for half of the world's HIV infected cases. According to a UN AIDS Programme (UNAIDS) and WHO report released in Paris on Wednesday, an alarming 7.4 percent of all 15 to 49-year-olds in the region are now thought to be infected with AIDS. UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot claimed, according to PANA, that HIV transmission rates in sub-Saharan Africa have been "grossly underestimated." A major report finding was that nine out of ten people who are HIV positive do not know they are infected because of inadequate voluntary testing and counselling facilities. The theme of Monday's 1997 World AIDS Day is children living in a world with AIDS.
Abidjan, 28 November 1997 15.30 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: Fri, 28 Nov 1997 16:27:07 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 24-97 covering 21 - 27 Nov 1997 97.11.28 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971128161659.21535A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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