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IRIN-WA Update 255 of Events in West Africa, (Tuesday) 21 1998
NIGERIA: Leader maps out return to democratic rule
The Nigerian military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, announced in an address to the nation on Monday that power would be handed back to a civilian government at the end of May 1999.
Abubakar in a nationally televised broadcast, said: "After all necessary consultations: government has decided that the election of a civilian president would be held in the first quarter of 1999. The new elected president will be sworn into office in May 1999." Calling for a new start, the Nigerian ruler said it was important to admit that mistakes have been made by the previous military regime adding that "our most recent attempt at democratisation was marred by manoeuvring and manipulation of political institutions, structures and actors." He however ruled out the formation of a government of national unity, whose composition would be "undemocratic," adding he would not "substitute one undemocratic institution for another."
Opposition groups had demanded as an interim measure the formation of a transitional government. Abubakar's speech was received with caution by world leaders, while in Nigeria the reaction was mixed.
Abacha parties to be disbanded
The Nigerian leader said the five discredited political parties established under his predecessor, General Sani Abacha, would be abolished. The government would also replace the National Electoral Commission with "a new independent electoral body." Abubakar also cited a new law and the "necessary funds" for the conduct of free and fair elections " to be monitored by the United Nations and Commonwealth. Under the new dispensation, Abubakar said every Nigerian would have equal opportunity to form or join any political party of his or her choice and that political parties would no longer be funded by the state.
Abubakar called for parties to have a broad appeal and said: " Otherwise our diversity, if allowed to manifest itself in the proliferation of political parties with parochial orientation may lead to disunity and instability." He also said he would publish the draft constitution drawn up at a constitutional conference in 1994 and 1995. But he ruled out the possibility of holding a sovereign national conference to discuss the country's constitution and structure as demanded by the opposition.
On the economic front, Abubakar announced measures to increase funding for the ailing oil industry and the abolition of state monopolies, while scrapping a dual exchange rate
Key opposition disappointed
Gani Fawehinmi, leader of the opposition Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON), qualified Abubakar's statement as "disastrous" saying that his promises were "old wine in new bottles", news organisations reported on Tuesday. In an interview with the BBC, Fawehinmi announced that JACON would not participate in the forthcoming elections. Meanwhile, chairman of the human rights group, Constitutional Rights Group, Clement Nwanko conceded that there seemed to be "good intentions" although one had to wait and see the implementation of the programme, Reuters said. Former Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo also gave Abubakar's speech a guarded welcome.
Cautious welcome by world leaders
The Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku welcomed the announcement of elections in 1999, but said Nigeria could only be readmitted to the Commonwealth once it had returned to a democratic form of government, the BBC reported.
The French aid minister Charles Josselin who held talks with Abubakar hours before his broadcast said he was pushing European Union (EU) partners to lift sanctions imposed on Nigeria "progressively". Meanwhile, the British Foreign Office Minister Tony Lloyd, quoted by AFP said: "The time has now come to re-establish dialogue between Nigeria and Britain, and the wider international community." A Foreign Office spokeswoman said any easing of sanctions would have to be looked at very carefully. Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth after the execution of the eight human rights activists in 1995. The EU and the Commonwealth have imposed limited sanctions.
Meanwhile, the US State Department spokesman, James Rubin, said the moves were a step towards a credible transition to democratic rule. President Nelson Mandela of South Africa in a statement said the South African government supported the "new initiatives" and urged all Nigerians to seize this "window of opportunity." AFP reported.
GUINEA BISSAU: Diplomatic efforts take another blow
Efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Guinea Bissau's civil war were further complicated on Tuesday when the Portuguese embassy, one of the last diplomatic missions still open in the capital, Bissau, was hit by a shell, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported.
The shell destroyed the residence of the charge d'affaires some 20 minutes after he had left the house. Several shells also reportedly exploded around government buildings. It said there were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Diplomatic sources in neighbouring Senegal's capital, Dakar, told IRIN on Tuesday the resumption of shelling in Bissau was a "bad omen". According to one source attempts to mediate between President Joao Bernardo Vieira, backed by some 1,500 Senegalese and Guinean troops, and his former chief-of-staff Ansumane Mane, who still commands most of Guinea Bissau's army, were getting "nowhere".
"It is a tug-of-war," another source said. "Negotiations are making no progress, meanwhile the crisis just drags on."
SIERRA LEONE: Paramount chief calls for assistance
A member of Sierra Leone's parliament has appealed for urgent humanitarian assistance to the eastern town of Masingbi, AFP reported on Monday. According to Paramount Chief Bai Kuru Kanagabaro, people in the local area were dying of disease and malnutrition every day. "I am appealing to members of parliament and the entire public to hurriedly come to the aid of this desperately needly people," AFP quoted him as saying.
Humanitarian sources in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, confirmed to IRIN on Tuesday that conditions in Masingbi were "desperate". According to one source the number of people who had already died had not yet been verified, but was "certainly very high". "There has also been a measles problem," the source said.
A UN official told IRIN, however, that agencies had already delivered some medical and food aid to the area last week. But operations had been hampered by an "unpredictable" security situation.
LIBERIA: Kabbah visits Liberia
Liberian President Charles Taylor has pledged to do "everything within" his power to end hostilities in neighbouring Sierra Leone, AFP reported on Monday. His remarks were made after a daylong visit to Monrovia by Sierra Leone's President Alhaji Tejan Kabbah.
"After experiencing our own terrible war, we are even more aware of the pains and sufferings of the people of Sierra Leone," said Taylor, whose
December 1989 rebellion ignited seven years of civil conflict in Liberia."We would like to do everything within our powers to get the cessation of the hostilities in Sierra Leone, that the peoples in Sierra Leone and Liberia can move back into economic development, and improve the welfare of their peoples," he said.
CHAD: Parliamentarian imprisoned
A member of parliament in Chad was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison and ordered to pay CFA 500,000 (FFr 50,000) for defamation following accusations of bribery against a collegue, AFP reported. According to media reports, Yorongar, the only parliamentary representative for the opposition Federation d'Action pour la Republique (FAR), had earlier been deprived of his parliamentary immunity.
The action stems from a newspaper interview nearly a year ago in which Yorongar accused the assembly president, Wadal Abdelkader, of receiving the quivalent of FFr 15 million from the French oil giant, ELF. The editor of the newspaper, 'Observateur' and a reporter who carried an interview with Yorongar were fined CFA one million (FFr 100,000) for "complicity" and given suspended sentences of two years each.
The three have 10 days to appeal the sentences, AFP reported.
GABON: Opposition splits
Gabon's main opposition party, the Rassemblement National de Bucherons (RNB), has split into two factions ahead of presidential elections in December, media reports said on Monday. According to the BBC, the division became apparent at the weekend when a dissident group met to endorse the sacked first secretary, Pierra Andre Kombila, as the party's candidate for the poll.
The gathering also described the RNB's leader, Father Paul Mba Abessole, as a "dictator", who was guilty of high treason.Father Abassole, who founded the party in 1990, has dismissed the rival gathering, the BBC reported. His supporters were due to nominate him next weekend as the TNB challenger to President Omar Bongo.
WEST AFRICA: Mali extradites Rwandan accused of genocide
Mali has extradited a Rwandan accused of genocide to the UN international criminal tribunal in Arusha in Tanzania, AFP reported on Monday.
According to a Malian official quoted by the news agency, Mathieu Ngiroumpatse, a former head of Rwanda's ruling party at the time of the 1994 genocide was arrested in Mali's capital, Bamako, last month and flown out by special plane to Arusha.
Mali has reportedly insisted it will not harbour any of some 20 other Rwandans implicated in the killings believed to be in Bamako. However, extradition procdures would be strictly followed, AFP quoted the government as saying.
Abidjan, 21 July 1998, 1815 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: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 14:32:09 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 255, 98.7.21 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980722142658.15933A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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