UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-WA Update 241 of Events in West Africa, 01 Jul 1998

IRIN-WA Update 241 of Events in West Africa, 01 Jul 1998


UNITED NATIONS Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

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

GUINEA BISSAU: Stalled talks resume

Representatives of the government and army mutineers in Guinea Bissau resumed ceasefire talks on Wednesday aboard a Portuguese navy vessel, news organisations reported. As progress on the talks was awaited, Western diplomats monitoring the situation from Dakar, Senegal, told IRIN that Senegalese troops backing the government had been unable to make major progress in nearly a month of fighting.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres reiterated in a Portuguese radio interview that despite the deadlock, Lisbon had no intention of intervening militarily in its former colony where the capital, Bissau, has been devastated by artillery shelling. The artillery battles started on 7 June, when General Ansumane Mane was sacked as defence chief by President Joao Bernardo Viera. His government forces, backed by Senegalese troops, however, have been unable to dislodge Mane's forces from the strategic Bra barracks over looking the city, or the international airport. Wednesday's talks, media reports said, were between Mane and Guinea Bissau's premier, Carlos Correia.

Catholic Church fears an epidemic

Such has been the scale of the shelling in attacks and counter-attacks that international relief agencies said a quarter of a million people had fled Bissau city. "Through the country as a whole," said the Vatican's Missionary News Agency (MISNA) on Wednesday, "there are now more than 400,000 people roaming about, abandoned, without shelter." The agency, citing the Catholic network of some 800 missionaries around the country, said there were now fears of cholera and malaria epidemics.

Senegal criticised

Following mediation attempts by the Catholic Bishop of Bissau, Settimio Ferrazzetta, the MISNA agency, said: "The real problem would appear to be the presence of the Senegalese military contingent, which is more and more determined to resolve the crisis by force. The only solution would be to establish, as soon as possible, an international intervention force." The Portuguese daily, 'Publico', noted that Gambian President Yayha Jammeh had described Dakar's intervention as being directly related to the separatist rebellion in Senegal's southern province of Casamance. It borders Guinea Bissau and Mane's forces have been accused of assisting the separatists.

In Dakar, diplomats told IRIN on Wednesday the Senegalese intervention was "floundering" even though Dakar had told Vieira it could end the revolt in a couple of days. "We now estimate 90 percent of the Guinea Bissau military is on Mane's side," one diplomat said. "Most of the population regard the Senegalese troops as an occupying force."

ECOMOG intervention under discussion

Meanwhile, the idea of an intervention was already under discussion Wednesday at a special meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. Officials said ECOWAS countries were weighing deployment of a Sierra-Leone style intervention by the Nigerian-led ECOMOG force.

But a senior Western diplomat described such an intervention as "secondary", saying Mane and Vieira first had to reach their own accord. ECOMOG could only be used to help stabilise the country once this was achieved. "Western donors will not fund the kind of logistics a meaningful intervention requires," the source added.

SAO TOME E PRINCIPE: Military also "unhappy"

In the other nearby former Portuguese colony of Sao Tome e Principe, the military has also said it was "unhappy" with the government. Portuguese Antena 1 radio said on Wednesday that officers had given Prime Minister Raul Braganca 10 days, until 11th July, to resolve their situation.

It quoted a statement by the officers saying that the government had not "kept its promises" to recently demobilised officers. "The document warns that the situation in Sao Tome is similar to that in Guinea-Bissau," the radio report said. Sao Tomean Defence Minister Joao Bexigas said, however, the situation would be resolved and that there was "no possible" comparison with Guinea-Bissau.

NIGERIA: Traditional leaders call for poll delay

The Nigerian traditional rulers' consultative counci called at a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday for presidential elections in Nigeria to be postponed to 1 January 1999, a UN spokesman said. This would allow more time for full democratic participation, including Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled 1993 polls. The traditional rulers also called for the release of all politicial prisoners and said the country's five registered political parties should not be disbanded.

Under the previous transition programme pledged by the late general Sani Abacha, presidential and governorship elections were scheduled for 1 August.

Meanwhile, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan had urged the new Nigerian leader, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, in a meeting on Tuesday to free Abiola. An unidentified UN source, quoted by AFP, said on Tuesday negotiations were continuing in "the background" between Abubakar and Annan on the release of Abiola, and were still at a "delicate" stage. Nothing could be taken for granted, the source added.

Amnesty welcomes release of prisoners

Meanwhile, the human rights NGO, Amnesty International, welcomed the release of 17 more political prisoners by Abubakar last week. An Amnesty statement urged the new Nigerian leader to go further and release the dozens of prisoners of conscience still held, including Abiola.

New security adviser appointed

In further changes three weeks after taking office, Abubakar appointed a new national security adviser on Tuesday and dismissed three Abacha-era political counsellors, news organisations reported. Quoting a presidential statement, Nigerian radio said Abubakar had appointed Major General Abdullah Muhammed as his new security adviser with "immediate effect" replacing Ismail Gwarzo. The three dismissed political officers were Wole Oyelese, Linus Onaugu and Wada Nas. According to AFP, all considered close to Abacha.

WEST AFRICA: Mini-summit on regional security in Abuja

Abubakar on Wednesday invited the President of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, and Liberia's President Charles Taylor to a mini-summit to discuss West African security issues, news organisations reported. A UN spokesman announced that Annan was to meet each leader separately ahead of the mini-summit scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. According to a Nigerian official quoted by Reuters, the meeting would discuss "the next moves to take in terms of regional security". Nigeria has dominated the peace process in Liberia and Sierra Leone, in its role as the main financial and logistical contributor to ECOMOG. Earlier, Annan commended Nigeria's leadership role in the region.

Beye laid to rest

Alioune Blondin Beye, Special Representative of the United Nations in Angola, who died in a plane crash at the weekend, was buried on Tuesday in Bamako. Media reports said his funeral in the Malian capital was presided by President Alpha Oumar Konare with delgations from Angola and the UN assistant Secretary-General, Bernard Mounier.

Beye, 59, a barrister and former Malian foreign minister, was killed on Friday when the light aircraft in which he was travelling crashed in thick bush late on Friday outside Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. In a special tribute, Ivorian foreign minister, Amara Essy, and Malian Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita called Beye a "worthy son of Africa, a fearless soldier of peace".

International Court gives border dispute deadline

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has given Nigeria nine months to present written arguments on its border dispute with Cameroon over the disputed Bakassi peninsula. An ICJ press release said it had thrown out Nigeria's claim in June that it did not have jurisdiction to rule in the dispute. The Bakassi peninsula, which straddles the border between Nigeria and Cameroon, has been the scene of sporadic fighting.

Abidjan, 1 July 1998, 19:30 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/ 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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