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IRIN-WA Update 281 of Events in West Africa, (Wednesday) 26 August 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: Ceasefire accord
The government of Guinea Bissau and representatives of army rebels signed an accord today (Wednesday) reaffirming a ceasefire agreement reached last month, news organisations reported. "Guinea Bissau is on the way to peace," the Portuguese RDP radio station said.
The new accord provided for the reopening of the international airport in the capital, Bissau, so as to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and also allow for the return of people who fled the country and those who were internally displaced by the three-month conflict. AFP said the two sides also "reaffirmed public recognition of democratic and legal institutions". Sources in Cape Verde said the composition of a peacekeeping force and a ceasefire monitoring group would be discussed shortly.
The agreement came after a long day of talks yesterday under the auspices of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The rebellion broke out on 7 June after President Joao Bernardo Vieira sacked his armed forces chief of staff, General Ansumane Mane, for alleged gun running to separatists in Senegal's troubled neighbouring province of Casamance. In fighting that ensued until the 26 July ceasefire, the UN said an estimated 350,000 people had fled their homes.
Nigeria ready to help peacekeeping efforts
The Nigerian Army, meanwhile, said it was ready to send forces as part of an ECOMOG contingent if ECOWAS decided such an intervention was necessary, AFP said quoting a Nigerian army spokesman.
WEST AFRICA: FAO food cites regional food problems
A UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report released yesterday said several West African nations were facing "exceptional food emergencies" as conflict, adverse weather and poor harvests took their toll. It said the countries worst affected included Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone, the FAO said the food situation had, however, improved in the capital, Freetown, and in central areas where security had prevailed. But fighting between rebels loyal to the ousted junta and ECOMOG forces in the east and the north of the country had resulted in people being forced to flee their homes at the height of the cropping season. In Guinea Bissau, the conflict broke out at the start of the growing season with fighting seriously disrupting farming.
In the Sahelian countries, it said localised food production shortfalls in some countries last year would probably result in food supply difficulties in parts of Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
SIERRA LEONE: High court passes death sentences
Sierra Leone's high court has passed death sentences on 16 civilians convicted earlier this week of collaborating with the ousted military government, media reports said today.
The BBC reported that the 16 included a former spokesman for Sierra Leone's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Allieu Kamara, and several journalists - among them a former presenter on the BBC's Africa Service, Hilton Fyle, and the former head of state radio, Gipu Felix-George.
Media reports said that there was uproar in court after the sentences were handed down.
The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association had also earlier appealed on the journalists' behalf for leniency saying the verdicts were a major setback for media freedom.
However, Sierra Leone observers in the capital, Freetown, told IRIN it was not clear whether President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah would be able to commute the sentences easily.
They said Kabbah was under domestic political pressure to demonstrate a tough line against the AFRC and its allies from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who ruled Sierra Leone from May 1997 until they were forcibly ousted by ECOMOG in February this year.
"Ordinary Sierra Leoneans want to see justice for atrocities committed under the military government," one source said. "Kabbah may also be tempted to worry more about domestic opinion than his international audience - it is at home that he is most vulnerable," she added.
The defendants have three weeks to appeal against the verdicts.
Abidjan, 26 August 1998 18:00 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, 27 Aug 1998 08:47:16 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN West-Africa Update 281, 98.8.26 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980827084252.651A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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