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IRIN-WA Update 315 of Events in West Africa (Tuesday 13 October 1998)
NIGERIA: Shell regains three of 15 flow stations seized
The Anglo-Dutch oil company, Shell, said today (Tuesday) it had regained control of three of its 15 flow stations seized by Ijaw youths last week, but 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude were still locked in. A senior company official in London told IRIN that the facilities were reoccupied after the intervention of the Niger Delta military administrator.
The Shell official also said that staff returned to their posts at Forcados on Friday evening. The Shell official said there were at least 30 different cases of its facilities being occupied or threatened with occupation.
Shell said there had been no systematic pull-out of foreign staff following an ultimatum which expired yesterday (Monday). The ultimatum was issued by the Federated Niger Delta Izon Communities without specifying what action would be taken.
Irate Ijaw youths seized Shell's Forcados and Bonny terminals in the Niger Delta area on Friday, demanding the Nigerian government provide Ijaws with a local government. They also demanded more of the nation's oil money for the Delta.
Shell is the largest oil producer in Nigeria with daily output of some 850,000 barrels under normal circumstances. The United States oil giants Chevron, Mobil , Texaco and Italy's ENI are all active in Nigeria's oil producing area.
Government, unions move to end public sector strikes
The government and public sector unions have agreed to end strikes over the non-payment of recently promised salary increases, media reports said today.
"The government now wants to address this wage matter in all its ramifications before it gets out of hand," a senior government official was quoted as telling Reuters in the capital, Abuja.
Employment Minister Emmanuel Udogwe met leaders of 29 trade unions yesterday and agreed to discuss the increases with the National Public Service Negotiating Council, the reports said.
The federal government agreed in September to triple wages of some 800,000 federal civil servants. Unrest was triggered when many of the 36 state governments said their budgets could not cover the new salary levels this year.
Economists fear that, if implemented, the 300 percent salary increase could fuel inflation. Under General Sani Abacha, the late predecessor to the General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the minimum wage was set at 800 naira (US $9.30). Abacha cut government spending, holding inflation to single digit figures this year compared to some 80 percent in 1995.
CHAD-SUDAN: Governments deny report that Chadian soldiers are in Sudan
Both governments of Chad and Sudan denied a report that Chadian troops were sent last week to Juba in southern Sudan to bolster Sudanese government troops in their battle against the rebels, AFP reported. The dispatch quoted Chadian Information Minister Bessane Sekimbaye as saying that the report on the airlift of Chadian troops to southern Sudan was "baseless" and " a string of lies". Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Sudanese army also said the report was a "pure lie".
A statement issued on Sunday by the secretary general
of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Moubarak
al-Mahdi, claimed that the Chadian government had dispatched
1,000 soldiers to southern Sudan last week. According
to Voice of Sudan radio, al-Mahdi condemned the Sudanese
government for using a foreign force to support the
civil war and called on Chadian President Idriss Deby
to "stop the aggression against the Sudanese people."
The NDA groups together both northern and southern
opponents of the Khartoum government and has close
links with the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
The editor-in-chief of the weekly 'N'djamena Hebdo',
Begoto Oulator, in N'djamena told IRIN today that it
seemed very unlikely that the Chadian government would
send troop reinforcements to the Sudan in view of its
earlier commitment of troops to the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC). Oulator said the Chadian army could
not afford to be on several battlefronts at the same
time. In September, the Chadian government sent 1,000
soldiers to the DRC to support the Congolese president
Laurent-Desire Kabila.
MALI: Former president in court for second day
Former Malian President Moussa Traore, his wife Mariam and four close associates, appeared in Court of Assizes again today to answer charges of economic crimes and embezzlement.
The court went into recess shortly after the trial started yesterday to allow judges time to consider a request by the defence for the proceedings to be broadcast live on state radio. The court ruled it was unauthorised to grant the request, prompting defence lawyers to leave the court.
In court today, the Mrs Troare heard accusations of how she used her influence as first lady to the couple's financial advantage, a source told IRIN. Traore and his wife are accused of haveing stolen two billion francs CFA (20 million Ffr). The source said defence attorneys withdrew from court again today and if they did not return, the state would have to provide new lawyers for the accused.
Traore, 62, ruled Mali for 23 years before being overthrown in 1991 coup. He is being held in the Gendarmerie School. His four associates - Abraham Douah Cissoko, brother-in-law Tiena Coulibaly, Sekou Ly and Moussa Kone - are being held in different facilities in the capital.
SIERRA LEONE: Amnesty International appeals death sentences
The London-based human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has appealed against death sentences passed yesterday on 34 members of Sierra Leone's former Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC).
Amnesty told IRIN today that the soldiers, who included a former armed forces chiefs of staff and the brother of AFRC chairman Johnny Paul Koroma, could face the firing squad "imminently".
However, Amnesty said the court martial sentences on the 33 men and one woman had fallen short of international judicial standards because they had no legal right of appeal.
"The head of state is now the only available recourse," Amnesty said.
But humanitarian sources in Freetown told IRIN they believed President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah would have little public support for clemency.
One source said: "The only debate in Freetown is whether people should have to pay any money to watch sentence passed. One group is proposing revenues from a public execution should go to the families of AFRC victims."
Yesterday, a regional analyst told IRIN he also believed Sierra Leone's government was likely to go ahead with sentences against military personnel. But afterwards Kabbah should be more able to show leniency against another 16 civilians convicted in August of treason. Individual appeals against these sentences are now being heard.
Nevertheless, local media has reported another three treason trials - including that of rebel leader Foday Sankoh - are still under way, raising speculation more people will join Sierra Leone's death row.
ECOMOG declares northern and eastern regions unsafe
The Nigerian-led West African intervention force in Sierra Leone, ECOMOG, declared four districts in the north and east of the country unsafe today, AFP reported.
AFP quoted ECOMOG as saying Kailahun, Kenema, Daru and Kono districts were effectively off-limits because of attacks by members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
According to independent media reports, however, sporadic fighting between ECOMOG and the RUF has also spread in recent weeks to areas around Port Loko on Sierra Leone's western border with Guinea and the town of Mange, some 50 km from the capital, Freetown.
Nevertheless, one security analyst told IRIN that an ECOMOG offensive against the RUF in the east of the country could succeed in improving ECOMOG's position by driving a wedge between rebels in the Gola Hills area and the Liberian border.
He said Sierra Leonean Kamajor hunter-militia had already achieved local successes against the RUF, while ECOMOG was also bringing in additional armoured vehicles to support the operation. "ECOMOG is trying to cut off access to support from Liberia, but they have yet to actually take any RUF stronghold," he cautioned.
CAMEROON: Journalist leaves prison after presidential pardon
Pius Njawe, a well-known Cameroonian newspaper editor, was released from prison yesterday after a presidential pardon cut short his one-year jail term on charges of publishing "false information" on the health of Cameroon president Paul Biya, news agencies reported. AFP quoted Njawe upon his release from the Douala prison as saying: "These ten months of detention have been an occasion to discover living standards in Cameroonian prisons and the disfunctioning of justice which more often than not, causes injustice". He added that he had not asked for a "pardon" and was "indifferent" to Biya's decision.
A journalist with 'Le Messager' told IRIN today that the entire team was "very happy" with Njawe's release. The source added that Njawe seemed to be inflicted with a number of ailments for which he would seek medical treatment, but had not doubt that he would soon bounce back. He added that the paper would continue to fight for the freedom of the press and report on the ills of Cameroonian society.
Njawe was taken to court after his paper in December 1997 suggested that Biya had suffered a heart attack. Despite a retraction of the story, Njawe was sentenced to two years in jail, which was cut down to one year after an appeal. The harsh sentence attracted criticism of international human rights groups and international press watchdogs groups.
Abidjan 13 October 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: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 18:18:16 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 315 for 1998.10.13 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981013181725.19761A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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