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IRIN-WA Update 323 of Events in West Africa (Friday) 23 October 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: Rebels gains control over more territory
Sporadic fire from light weapons and rocket propelled grenades was heard today (Friday) in the outskirts of Bissau, the capital of Guinea Bissau, while rebels made clear gains in the interior, media agencies reported. Rebel soldiers fighting government loyalists yesterday (Thursday) took the towns of Fulacunda, Piche and Gabu after the second largest town, Bafata, had fallen on Wednesday. Gabu is Guinea Bissau's third largest town and an important garrison for troops from Guinea (Conakry), the Portuguese daily, 'Publico' said.
Humanitarian sources in Dakar told IRIN that rebel forces also controlled 70 to 80 percent of Bissau, including the airport, and had also cut off access to the only road leading in and out of Bissau. They also said Guinea had withdrawn its contingent from the country yesterday.
A Western diplomat quoted by AFP said that for rebels to gain complete control of Bissau, they would have to flush out the loyalists and Senegalese soldiers stationed in the centre of Bissau. An estimated 2,000 Senegalese troops are in Bissau. The source added that Senegal was sending troop reinforcements and munitions to bolster its troops.
Senegalese casualty figures
Meanwhile, a Senegalese army communique issued on Thursday said it had fought a bloody battle against mutinous soldiers and rebel allies in Bissau over the past few days. "Waves of attacks by columns of mutineers and the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) rebels were repulsed by our troops who inflicted losses on them," Reuters reported, quoting the statement. It said at least six Senegalese had been killed in the fighting and more were missing or wounded. It added that mutineers and rebels had lost 40 fighters bringing the death toll to 100.
The MFDC is a separatist movement in Casamance. There was no independent confirmation of the casualty figures or allegations that MFDC separatists are fighting alongside the rebels.
Senegal and Guinea sent over 2,000 troops to bolster the Guinea Bissau government after a mutiny erupted on 7 June, when Vieira sacked his former armed forces chief of staff, General Ansumane Mane, on charges of gun trafficking to Casamance in Senegal. A ceasefire was negotiated on 27 August under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP).
Mane suspicious of truce
The rebel leader, Mane, told the Portuguese ambassador to Guinea Bissau, Henriques da Silva, yesterday that he needed time to consult with his fellow commanders in the field before responding to Vieira's offer of direct talks with him, news agencies reported. Vieira declared a unilateral ceasefire on Wednesday and offered direct talks with Mane.
Da Silva said Mane was highly suspicious of the unilateral ceasefire, arguing that on previous occasions government forces had used the opportunity to regroup and arm. Mane warned the government that if a "single munition" arrived in the port of Bissau, he would launch a "destructive offensive".
The French, Swedish and Portuguese diplomats met Mane yesterday in an attempt to persuade him to return to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, a rebel spokesman, Zamora Induta, quoted today by the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, said that the withdrawal of Senegalese troops from Guinea Bissau was fundamental to solving the crisis. The rebels said they wanted more concessions than the government's offer of a unilateral ceasefire before they would enter further peace talks, the agency added. However, the Portuguese daily 'Diario de Noticias', quoted Induta as saying the rebels had "no political ambitions" and would "return to the barracks" once the conflict was over.
CPLP "very apprehensive" about situation
The CPLP executive secretary, Marcolino Moco, said in Lisbon yesterday that he was "very apprehensive" about the military situation in the country, news agencies reported. He added that the CPLP would continue its efforts to assist the warring sides in Guinea Bissau to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. Moco also called on ECOWAS to continue with its own efforts to restore peace.
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) appealed yesterday in Brussels for an immediate ceasefire and urged the warring parties to find a peaceful solution.
Portuguese official denies asylum preparations for Vieira
Meanwhile, a Portuguese government official denied press reports today that Lisbon was preparing to grant asylum to Vieira, Lusa reported. It said Assistant Secretary of State for Communities Jose Lello had described local press reports that Lisbon and Paris were preparing asylum for Vieira as "false".
Lello, who is responsible for Portuguese emigrant communities, also said there were no immediate plans to evacuate some 150 remaining Portuguese nationals from Bissau. He added that none had asked to be evacuated.
Fleeing population seeks refuge
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) told IRIN that said some 25,000 people who had fled fighting had taken refuge in churches and Catholic missions in and around Bissau. Some were crammed into the Notre Dame de Fatima church, while others had sought refuge in the Catholic mission in Cumura, 12 km from Bissau. WFP also reported that civilians had looted a WFP warehouse in Bafata shortly before the town fell.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its work was being hampered by the fighting and called on both sides of the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, AFP reported. It added that at least 70 seriously wounded civilians had been admitted to Bissau's main hospital since the renewed fighting broke out. The ICRC has offices in Bafata and Bissau.
NIGERIA: Fresh ethnic clashes in southwest
Armed youths from rival communities went on the rampage yesterday in the southeastern town of Warri in Nigeria burning down houses and attacking oil company employees, media agencies reported. Buses carrying some 100 employees of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell, were seized by youths and the employees were briefly taken hostage, but were later released. A village of 3,000 people nearby was torched. The Nigerian army deployed hundreds of soldiers in the area to restore peace.
Members of the two ethnic groups, the Ijaw and the Itsekiri, have been locked in a dispute over the location of a local government headquarters for more than two years. The BBC said the dispute is really over which community should control the town and its vast oil resources.
Members of an Ijaw movement are in control of a number of oil installations preventing the production of almost 400,000 barrels of oil a day in a direct challenge to the Nigerian government, the BBC said.
LIBERIA: Government increases casualty estimate
Liberia's government increased the official toll from 15 to 52 yesterday of those killed in fighting last month between troops loyal to President Charles Taylor and supporters of a rival former faction leader, media reports said.
The fighting broke out on 18 September after police moved in to evict alleged squatters from a part of central Monrovia dominated by Roosevelt Johnson's Krahn ethnic group. According to statements by Liberia's defence minister then, some 15 people were killed in heavy fighting between civil war veterans and Taylor forces.
Nevertheless, AFP quoted Justice Minister Eddington Varmah yesterday as saying a total of 50 Johnson supporters and two other people had in fact died, while 32 others were also wounded in the fighting.
Prominent Liberian analysts told IRIN today, however, that the statement was unlikely to satisfy concerns among human rights organisations that the actual number of dead could be substantially higher.
They said many people in Monrovia believed reprisal killings against ethnic Krahns had followed the fighting, and only a full public investigation would set the matter to rest.
Johnson himself was able to escape to the US embassy, from where he was later evacuated by helicopter in a deal between the Liberian and US governments.
Justice minister dismisses Internet ban
Meanwhile, Varmah also declared illegal a government ban on local papers and radio stations posting Internet editions, AFP reported yesterday.
Minister of Information Joe Mulbah issued the writ last week, accusing Liberian papers and a radio station of "operating news agencies on the Internet" without permission and running "unauthenticated newspaper articles and gossip columns".
However, in what Liberian sources told IRIN was a sign of increasing splits between hardline and more moderate members of Taylor's government, Varmah said his ministry could not uphold the ban because the Internet "is a global communication network everyone is allowed to use".
"It seems clear there is a power struggle going on between Taylor's war-time loyalists and newer more moderate ministers," one source said. Another source commented: "Whether there is a winner will be key to Liberia's hopes for post-war reconciliation. But hardliners will certainly fight hard to capitalise on what they see as their de facto military victory last year over the other factions in July's presidential elections."
Liberia was only connected to the Internet last month, but at least five Monrovia papers have started publishing regular Web editions.
GUINEA: Ruling party suspends parliamentary speaker
Guinea's ruling Parti d'unite et du progres (PUP) has suspended the Speaker of the National Assembly, Boubacar Biro Diallo, for attacking the country's human rights situation, AFP reported today.
The news agency quoted a PUP statement as saying it disassociated itself from Diallo's appeal last week to President Lansana Conte to do something about conditions in a military camp, where he said torture had been used to extract confessions from officers implicated in a 1996 coup attempt.
The PUP said Diallo had made "serious and tendentious allegations of a nature to tarnish the country's image nationally and internationally".
As a consequence, Diallo had been suspended from all party activities until further notice. There was no indication whether he would continue in office.
The PUP also dismissed alleged splits in the party reported by Radio France Internationale. "The only dissident is M. Diallo," the statement said.
Abidjan, 23 October 1998, 19:00 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: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 19:11:34 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update No 323, 98.10.23 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981023190756.27123A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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