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GUINEA BISSAU: Peace talks suspended
Talks between the government and army mutineers in Guinea Bissau were suspended on Tuesday, international news organisations reported. A Portuguese radio report said the climate between the two sides has worsened because of new military operations by Senegalese troops backing the government.
The talks were to have been held aboard a Portuguese frigate in Bissau harbour, the "Vasco da Gama". At an earlier round of talks, the government of President Joao Bernardo Vieira and the rebel leader, General Ansumane Mane, had both set unacceptable conditions for a ceasefire, Portugese media reports added.
Meanwhile as shelling, which has largely destroyed the capital, Bissau, resumed on Tuesday, media reports said neither side had made any gains. Rebel forces have been holed up at the strategic Bra barracks overlooking Bissau and also hold the international airport. In the intensity of the artillery exchanges, the city has been largely destroyed in recent weeks and a quarter of a million people, according to international relief agencies, have fled.
ECOWAS ministers meet
In Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on Tuesday, defence ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) started talks on the possible deployment of the regional intervention force, ECOMOG. AFP quoted ECOWAS Executive Secretary, Lansana Kouyate, as saying the crisis in Guinea Bissau "threatens the peace, security and stability" of the sub-region. The talks, to continue on Wednesday, were being attended by 10 of the 16 ECOWAS member nations as well as senior officers of the Nigerian-led ECOMOG command.
Vieira had called on ECOMOG last week to intervene to stop the rebellion as it became clear, according to media reports, that Senegalese forces with some help from neighbouring Guinea (Conakry) had failed to quell the rebellion.
Despite fears voiced by diplomatic sources earlier in the week, media reports said there was no indication that the fighting had spread beyond Bissau to other areas of the country. A Portugese radio correspondent in the refugee-crammed second city of Bafata reported no signs of fighting in or near the city and said local troops had frequently reiterated their loyalty to the government.
Senegal's role
Diplomats in Dakar told IRIN on Tuesday that Senegal had now invested so much prestige in restoring Vieira, that it would find a compromise with Mane impossible. "The real fight," said one diplomat, "is now between Senegal and Mane", who has been accused of supporting the separatists in Senegal's troubled southern province of Casamance.
Local military sources in Dakar told IRIN on Tuesday that Senegal had to send trainee soldiers to the Bissau front to reinforce regular troops who were exhausted. A group of soldiers in Dakar said the army was having difficulty finding enough trained men for frontline duity and that it had had to send the 12th Infantry Training Battalion to Bissau with 600 mainly raw recruits. "It will be very hard for the new boys," one of the soldiers said.
NIGERIA: Annan expected to meet Abiola
A United Nations spokesman said on Tuesday that a meeting between UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Nigeria's most prominent political prisoner, Moshood Abiola, should not be "ruled out". His remarks, at a news conference in New York, followed what was described as a "constructive" meeting Annan held with Nigeria's new military ruler, General Abdusalam Abubakar.
Annan arrived in Nigeria on Monday on a visit which marked a breakthrough in Nigerian relations with the international community. Annan and Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku, who is also in the country, are the highest-profile international diplomats to visit Nigeria since the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, provoked widespread outrage by executing playwright and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995.
Annan encouraged at steps towards democracy
The spokesman said Annan also planned to meet several pro-democracy leaders, government officials and opposition activists. AP quoted Ahmad Fawzi, a member of Annan's delegation, as saying he was encouraged by the "rapid steps" taken by the Nigerian general to "affirm a transition to democratic and civilian rule".
Since he came to power following the death of Abacha earlier this month, Abubakar has drawn praise from the international community for releasing 17 key political prisoners and opening new dialogue with opposition groups.
The spokesman said Annan would meet former head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo, who was among those released. No details were given, however, for a possible meeting with Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election annulled by Abacha. Reuters news agency quoted a source as saying Annan would meet Abiola and help negotiate his release. The news agency added Anyaoku, who met Abubakar earlier, would also probably meet Abiola.
The source, Reuters added, reiterated the government's condition for Abiola's release - that he renounce his claim to the presidency. The source said "if he agrees Abiola could be released very soon".
Spouses call for release of journalists
The wives of five "unjustly detained" journalists and media workers in Nigeria called for the release of their spouses at a Lagos press conference, an International Freedom of Expression Community (IFEX) statement said. Seizing the change in the political climate in Nigeria, the wives said they were concerned about their spouses, who were held behind bars in conditions "destructive to their health and general well-being". The detainees are Kunle Ajibade, Bagauda Kaltho, Babafemio Ojudu, Adetokunbo Fakeye and Rafiu Salau.
LIBERIA: Government denies harrassment
The government of President Charles Taylor "categorically" denied reports that security men had visited the home of the chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) and threatened to arrest him on his return from a trip abroad, independent Star Radio reported on Tuesday.
The denial followed a report on Monday that security men had been seen at the home of Koffi Woods, the Catholic-based JPC chairman and fears by the JPC for their security.
Five former fighters reportedly in The Gambia
The Liberian government has produced a letter claiming that five former wartime opponents of Taylor thought to have disappeared recently were in fact in The Gambia, Star Radio reported on Tuesday. The five were described as members of a defunct faction once opposed to Taylor called the United Liberation Movement of Liberia (ULIMO-J).
A presidential spokesman, Reginald Goodridge, Star said, exhibited a letter from the Gambian immigration director stating that the five former fighters had arrived in The Gambia on 6 June. He added that the Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, had assured the Liberian government that the men would be presented to the international media. A UN source confirmed to IRIN on Tuesday that the letter had been published in the press and that it appeared to be genuine.
Mosque investigation
A delegation of the Inter-Faith Council of Liberia this week started an investigation into a spate of mosque burning incidents in northern Nimba county, Star Radio reported. It said the three-day mission, which began on Monday, was expected to consult with local government officials, security personnel and the population on these incidents.
Liberia's predominantly Muslim Mandingo community in Nimba County appealed on 23 June to the government for protection following a series of recent arson attacks on homes, a mosque and attacks on individuals.
NIGER: Cross-border attacks
Fifteen Fulani herdsmen were killed and four injured in Niger in a cross-border attack by ethnic Tuaregs from neighbouring Mali, a Niger state radio report carried by AFP said Tuesday. In the incident on Saturday, it said several Tuaregs, riding camels and armed with rifles, attacked herdsmen camps in the Abbalak region in western Niger, close to the Mali border.
CAMEROON: Police officers jailed for torture
Two senior police officers in Cameroon have been jailed for the death of a young robbery suspect alleged to have died last November as a result of torture inflicted to extract a confession, Radio France Internationale reported on Tuesday.
In a dispatch from Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital, it described the 10 and six-year terms handed down by the Yaounde Criminal Court as a "victory" for human rights.
"The Cameroonian judiciary has just shown that it will not tolerate policemen who use torture to wrest confessions from suspects, especially when this torture results in the suspect's death," the report said.
SIERRA LEONE: Government cautions media
Journalists in Sierra Leone said on Tuesday they were concerned at a government decision last week that local newspapers submit articles on security to the ECOMOG press office for clearance.
A local journalist told IRIN the move on 24 June, coupled with government consideration of a 300 percent increase in "newspaper tax", had been greeted with "howls of protest" by local media. Several journalists feared the closure of their publications if the measures were enforced.
Abidjan, 30 June 1998, 19:15 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/ or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org . Mailing list: irin-wa-updates]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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