UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Update 272, 98.8.13

IRIN-West Africa Update 272, 98.8.13


U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Co-ordination 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

IRIN-WA Update 272 of Events in West Africa, (Thursday) 13 August 1998

NIGERIA: Abiola's death due natural causes say Western experts

An international team of doctors confirmed on Wednesday that the Nigerian opposition leader, Moshood Abiola, died of natural causes on 7 July, news organisations reported. Abiola died of a heart attack while he was in detention. Some family members and opposition groups had accused the Nigerian military government of engineering Abiola's death and demanded an independent autopsy.

News reports quoted Dr James Young, the Canadian leader of the team, as saying they had found "narrowed arteries and an enlarged heart, which are signs of long-term heart disease of the kind which can cause sudden death". According to the BBC, Young said: "At this time our final opinion is that death was due to natural causes as a result of his long-standing heart disease". He added that toxicology tests indicated the presence of anti-malaria and anti-inflammatory drugs, but no other drugs or poisons were detected. Pathologists carried out tests for 220 drugs and poisons.

Young declined to comment on whether prison conditions could have directly caused Abiola's death, saying this was not something the team had been asked to probe. However, he added: "We continue to believe that these concerns are understandable and deserve further consideration. Further comment on these issues is beyond the scope of the investigation we were asked to undertake."

An initial post-mortem indicated death by natural causes. Pathologists from Canada, the US and Britain spent a month carrying out more detailed tests in western Europe and north America. Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential elections, was detained in 1994 for having declared himself president.

ILO welcomes repeal of anti-union laws

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Wednesday welcomed the repeal of three anti-union laws by the Nigerian government, but called for all repressive labour laws to be withdrawn, AFP reported. The dispatch quoted Cynthia Yinusa, ILO programme director, as saying that while the repeal of the anti-union laws was "gladdening" to the labour movement, other decrees restricting the freedom of association were still in place. These laws violated the ILO convention to which Nigeria is a signatory, she added. The Nigerian government lifted bans on trade union activity on Tuesday.

GUINEA BISSAU: Peace talks postponed

News reports said on Thursday representatives of the Guinea Bissau government and army rebels would not hold peace talks scheduled 18 August in neighbouring Cape Verde.

The foreign minister of Cape Verde, Jose Luis de Jesus, said the postponement had been decided in Cote d'Ivoire's commercial capital, Abidjan, where mediation teams from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) had met on Tuesday to "harmonise" their efforts to find a solution to the crisis.

According to the Portuguese daily 'Publico', Luis de Jesus said the ECOWAS had a "different vision" of the Lusophone mediation and wanted a "bigger role" in the peace process. He added that the CPLP was not "competing with anybody" and noted the CPLP contribution to negotiating ceasefire on 26 July, ending two months conflict.

A new date for peace was not announced. But 'Publico' quoted the ECOWAS spokesman, Cote d'Ivoire Foreign Minister Amara Essy, as saying the talks had been postponed in an effort to "join forces" and avoid "parallel" mediation attempts. A Lusa correspondent quoted by the Portuguese 'Diario de Noticias' also said the differences in Abidjan "could be the result of pressure by Senegal and Guinea (Conakry) which have military contingents in Guinea Bissau and fear that their countries' interests could be overlooked by the CPLP mediation."

Senegal and Guinea sent troops into Guinea Bissau to back President Joao Bernardo Vieira. The mutiny broke out on 7 June after Vieira sacked his armed forces chief of staff, General Ansumane Mane.

Fighting could resume, politician warns

Meanwhile, Helder Vaz, leader of Guinea Bissau's main opposition party, the Bafata Movement, has warned that the postponement could lead to renewed fighting. He told Portuguese RDP radio on Wednesday: " We believe that the indefinite postponement of the negotiations is in effect either an invitation to a return to war or a way of giving the president more time to resume the fighting."

Humanitarian aid

An UN inter-agency mission, which visited the capital, Bissau, earlier in August, reported extensive damage in the city, noting the lack of water and electricity in most neighbourhoods. It said in a report that the downtown market area and all embassies except the Portuguese embassy had been destroyed. FAO and UNICEF offices had been looted, while a newly built UN complex had been hit by a bomb.

A WFP report said heavy rains had made it difficult to transport food aid by road from Senegal and that it had been unable to transport some 175 mt of relief supplies for the past week.. WFP in Conakry, meanwhile, said it would dispatch two convoys weekly each carrying 250 mt of supplies.each to Guinea Bissau in an effort to respond to the humanitarian food needs in the country.

GUINEA: Court completes mutiny cross examination

A special court in Guinea has completed the cross-examination of some 88 officers and men implicated in the 1996 failed coup attempt against President Lansana Conte's government, AFP reported on Wednesday. Some 60 people were killed and 300 injured in the two days of fighting, which started as an army mutiny over pay and conditions.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Ministerial "image" tour

Equatorial Guinea's foreign minister has been touring neighbouring West African states this week to counter what he has described as a "systematic campaign" against his government's international image, AFP reported on Wednesday.

Speaking to AFP from the Togolese capital, Lome, Miguel Oyono said he would be briefing Benin, Togo and Ghana on the "actual situation" in the country to put an end to the "one-sided" view portrayed by "certain media".

The government has repeatedly asked Madrid to close its 'Radio Exterior' broadcasting service, which media reports say is the only means by which the outlawed opposition can air its views. The Spanish authorities have repeatedly refused to accede to any such demand.

In recent months, Equatorial Guinea's government has drawn criticism from Amnesty International and European governments for the conduct of a treason trial arising out of alleged separatist attacks in the main island of Bioko in January.

BENIN: Japanese development aid

Japan has granted Benin some 250 million yen (FFr 16 million) in development aid, AFP reported on Wednesday. It quoted Japan's ambassador to Benin as saying the funds would be used to support government attempts to improve its balance of payments by reducing agricultural imports through improving the country's food ability to feed itself. Japan has given nearly FFr 840 million in bilateral aid to Benin since 1980.

Abidjan, 13 August 1998, 19:20 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@ocha.unon..org> - mailing list: irin-wa-updates]

Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 19:19:56 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 272, 98.8.13 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980813191515.6329A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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