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IRIN-WA Update 264 of Events in West Africa, (Saturday-Monday) 1-3 August 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: Brazil may send peacekeepers
Brazil announced on Sunday that it was considering sending peacekeeping troops to Guinea Bissau as part of a Lusophone military observer group, media reports said.
According to AFP, Brazilian defence chiefs had already sent an advance team to Guinea Bissau to see if its soldiers could participate with other peacekeepers of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) in implementing the ceasefire agreed last week between President Joao Bernardo Vieira, backed by some 3,000 Senegalese troops, and army rebels led by his former chief-of-staff, General Ansumane Mane.
However, RFI said on Saturday that a CPLP meeting in Cape Verde had agreed that any force would be limited to an observation mission of 100 men and not a full intervention.
RFI said the CPLP observers would monitor the ceasefire as part of a first phase of a wider peace plan, which would continue this week with direct negotiations between government delegates and Mane's forces.
Meanwhile, Reuters quoted a diplomat in the capital, Bissau, as saying the city was quiet in advance of the mediation mission's arrival as early as Tuesday.
SENEGAL: Rebel attack kills three
An attack by separatist rebels in Senegal's southern province of Casamance has killed three civilians, AFP reported on Friday.
The news agency quoted Senegalese officials as saying several rebels were also killed and at least a dozen people injured last week when up to 50 armed men attacked a bush taxi travelling between the provincial capital, Ziguinchor, and Kolda to the east.
A Senegalese security patrol, which chanced on the scene, reportedly killed several rebels in the ensuing shoot-out.
AFP said it was the first attack by the Mouvement des Forces Separatistes de Casamance (MFDC) since the start of the Guinea Bissau conflict. The MFDC was believed to have suspended activities in Casamance to support Mane's rebellion.
LIBERIA: Defence minister accuses Guinea of coup plot
Liberia's defence minister, Daniel Chea, has accused neighbouring Guinea of plotting to overthrow President Charles Taylor's government, AFP reported on Monday.
According to the news agency, several independent papers in the capital, Monrovia, quoted Chea as saying Liberian security agents had confirmed "reports from Guinea" that some 800 individuals were being trained to infiltrate Liberia and topple the government.
Chea said the force planned to use the cover of the West African peacekeeping force in Liberia and Sierra Leone, ECOMOG, to enter the country. But Chea reportedly vowed: "There will be no additional ECOMOG troops, especially from Guinea. Anything to the contrary will be met by force."
Media reports said relations between Guinea and Liberia have been strained ever since forces from Taylor's National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL) killed a number of Guinean traders they said supported the rival United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO) during the civil war.
In June, Taylor also failed to appear at a mini-summit called by President Lansana Conte in Guinea's capital, Conakry, citing domestic security concerns.
But humanitarian sources in Monrovia told IRIN on Monday they believed the Liberia government's quarrel included all ECOMOG. According to one source, Chea complained before the weekend that Liberia no longer needed ECOMOG now the civil war was over. However, the source believed Liberians had seen little or no improvement in security.
"What the government really wants is a free hand to do as it pleases without the regional watchdog interfering," he said. "Talk of invasion plots is designed to popularise this position," he added.
Unity conference criticises judiciary
Speakers at Liberia's ongoing national unity conference have criticised the judiciary on as "rotten and ineffective", according to weekend news reports. Prominent lawyer Varney Sherman told delegates "no one trusts us lawyers and judges", adding legal personnel were not qualified, had poor character, and lacked "moral rectitude".
Another lawyer, Tiawon Gongloe, identified the main failing of the judiciary as the "strong influence of the executive". Chief Justice Gloria Scott also reportedly complained of executive influence, noting only seven percent of the 1998 fiscal budget was allotted to the judiciary, against some 89 percent for the executive arm of government.
NIGER: Government and opposition sign accord
Niger's government and 11 opposition parties signed a 10-point accord on key political changes on Friday aimed at breaking two years of political deadlock between the two sides, AFP reported.
The accord signed in the capital Niamey after three days of talks revised electoral procedures and institutions and also set safeguards for appointing officials to bodies such as the supreme court.
According to AFP, both parties have also agreed that all political groups should have equal access to state media and that the right to demonstrate be respected.
For its part, the government undertook to ensure the neutrality of the army, traditional leaders and "foreign diplomats". The opposition has now agreed to stand in local and municipal elections scheduled for November, AFP reported.
Rains leave hundreds homeless
Hundreds of people lost their homes in the capital Niamey after heavy rains on Friday night caused extensive damage to most of the city, media reports said. According to Reuters, water supplies were also disrupted as ducts broke when an estimated 100 mm of rain fell. Rainfall in Niger has been below average since the start of this year.
Tree planting campaign
Meanwhile, plans were going ahead for a national tree planting campaign next week, AFP reported on Friday. The news agency said some seven million trees were to distributed free of charge from government nurseries for planting to celebrate the country's 34th year of independence and help stop desertification.
The Sahara has already claimed two-thirds of Niger's 2.7 million sq. km and continues to conquer another 200,000 hectares a year, AFP reported.
SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG commander appeals for support
ECOMOG's commander has appealed for greater international support to defeat Sierra Leone's ousted military junta, PANA reported on Sunday.
Speaking in an interview in New York where he had been attending a UN-sponsored conference on Sierra Leone, Major General Timothy Shelpidi said ECOMOG needed more logistic support and troops to crush the remnants of the former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and its allies from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
But Shelpidi said he was optimistic that donor governments would soon allocate the resources he needed. "The international community is very sympathetic," PANA quoted him as saying.
Nevertheless, Shelpidi also warned that "illegal supplies" to the rebels would have to stop. He said ECOMOG had "ample evidence" that former fighters from the NPFL were fighting alongside the RUF in northern Sierra Leone.
Responding last month to ECOMOG's accusations, Taylor
told Sierra Leone's restored civilian president, Alhaji
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, he would do "everything within"
his power to end hostilities in neighbouring Sierra
Leone, AFP reported.
NIGERIA: Ongoing negotiations to free oil company workers
US oil giant Texaco has been holding talks to secure
the release of expatriate and Nigerian oil workers
taken hostage on 14 July by members of fishing communities
in south-western Nigeria over a compensation dispute,
according to new reports at the weekend.
It is unclear how many hostages are being held. Quoting a Nigerian daily 'The Punch,' AFP said representatives of six fishing towns in the south-western state of Bayelsa were angered that Texaco was dealing with the local authorities rather than with the affected population on payment of compensation after an oil spill in July. The report added that in the past similar negotiations had led Texaco to pay local authorities, which in turn had not compensated the affected communities.
A Texaco spokesman, quoted by Reuters, said the youths
who had snatched the oil workers were "demanding
large sums of money before agreeing to talks."
The spokesman said the demands were unacceptable to
Texaco.
AFP reported that the July oil spill had affected the
coastline of six communities, killing fish, and poisoning
local wells and creeks. Oil spills by multinationals
are fairly frequent in Nigeria's oil-producing area.
Thousands homeless after rains
About 7,000 people were left homeless after heavy rains
flooded two Nigerian towns in the northern state of
Jigawa, news reports said on Monday, quoting state-run
'Daily Times.' The Jigawa commissioner for land and
housing. Harlan Gins, blamed the flooding on the region's
poor drainage system. He added that tens of thousands
of dollars would be needed to lodge those who had lost
their home. They were currently living in mosques and
schools.
CAMEROON: Fears for jailed editor
International press freedom watchdogs have expressed renewed concern for the plight of Pius Njawe, a Cameroon neswspaper editor jailed in April for an article indicating President Paul Biya might have a had heart ailment.
Reporters sans Frontieres and the Canadian-based International Freedom of Exchange said in a joint statement at the weekend, that Njawe, who was sentenced to a year in jail, had recently informed RSF of his concern for his own safety and that of his family.
"Last April, sources which Njawe considers reliable, are said to have made him aware of the apparent displeasure brought about by the publication, in the 6 and 8 July issues of "Le Messager", of an unofficial report, drawn up by western diplomats, on the governing of Cameroon.
"According to the same sources, the physical elimination of the journalist or of members of his family has allegedly been contemplated. In fact, Njawe's family received frequent anonymous threats over the telephone last month," the statement said.
Abidjan, 3 August 1998 18:15 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/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org . Mailing list: irin-wa-updates]
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 18:20:36 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 264, 98.8.3 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980803181048.19859A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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