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IRIN-WA Update 400 of Events in West Africa (Thursday 11 February)
SIERRA LEONE: Tens of thousands of people flee Kenema
Tens of thousands of people fleeing rebel attacks this week on Kenema, an eastern diamond mining town in Sierra Leone, have been stopped from entering the second largest city of Bo, aid officials told IRIN today (Thursday).
WFP Regional Information Officer Wagdi Othman said 60,000
internally displaced people (IDPs) were stopped at
the Jambeh checkpoint manned by the West African intervention
force, ECOMOG, just outside Bo.
"These people are now stranded there in the bush,"
he said.
ECOMOG has been reluctant to allow the mass movement of civilians into towns because anti-government rebels have, in the past, disguised themselves as IDPs to infiltrate urban areas.
A Guinea-based aid worker also told IRIN that ECOMOG was trying to persuade the IDPs to return to Kenema, which had reportedly reverted to ECOMOG control.
WFP said it had no access to its food warehouses in Kenema nor fuel to transport the IDPs to another site. WFP is feeding 5,000 people in Bo, 60 km to the west, but does not have enough food in this town to take care of the IDPs at Jembeh, Othman said.
Kabbah's peace initiative unaffected by rebel attacks, spokesman says
Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai confirmed to IRIN that rebels had attacked Kenema over the past two days, but said they were repelled and, according to information he had received, ECOMOG troops were in control of the town. He said President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's offer of a peace dialogue was "very sincere" and would not be affected by the latest attacks. However the rebels' intentions should be questioned "as they wouldn't be doing such things if they were sincere".
Kaikai added that third parties, such as the OAU and Commonwealth Secretariat, were involved in contacts between the two sides, but he was not aware a venue had yet been decided for the meetings. Kabbah has said he is prepared to talk to the rebels, as well as permitting jailed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh to meet his rebel commanders in a bid to reach a peace settlement.
The situation in Freetown, Kaikai told IRIN, was "approaching normality" and people were trying to resume their daily activities. The Freetown correspondent of Star Radio said calm was returning to the devastated eastern suburb of Wellington and residents were rebuilding makeshift homes.
US sends war crimes investigator to Freetown
The US State Department yesterday (Wednesday) announced the US War Crimes investigator, David Scheffer, was in Sierra Leone looking into issues related to the conflict there. A spokesman told a news briefing the visit had been authorised by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. He added the US considered the rebel attacks as "totally indefensible". Acknowledging that ECOMOG's work was "no easy task", he said the Nigerians had "paid a heavy price for their commitment to peace".
With congressional approval, the US intended to provide an additional US $4 million on the commercial logistics side which included communications equipment, spare parts and trucks. The spokesman recalled that a US medical assessment team was deployed to Nigeria recently to treat wounded Nigerian troops. "We do hope that Nigeria, despite the difficulty, will continue to play a considerable role in Sierra Leone," he stressed. The uncertainty over the future of the Nigerian contingent "makes it even more urgent that the international community increase its support for the ECOMOG forces", the spokesman said.
NIGERIA: Shell announces restructuring and job losses
Royal Dutch/Shell announced a restructuring of its Nigerian oil producing unit yesterday and said 700 staff had been notified, the independent 'Guardian' reported today. A statement by the company said the exercise was "in response to the emerging challenges in the oil and gas industry worldwide". According to the 'Guardian', it said the restructuring "involves reduction in staff, especially in the areas of administrative and support services".
Industry analysts in Nigeria had predicted that Shell would have to reduce its workforce to improve efficiency even before the drop in world oil prices.
Meanwhile Shell announced today it was still trying to fine-tune an international investment of US $8.5 billion for integrated oil and gas projects in Nigeria announced three days ago, AFP reported. "These are proposals that are currently being worked out with the Nigerian government," a Shell spokesman was quoted as saying.
INEC restates its views on APP/AD alliance
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) told IRIN today that it maintains its stance on the alliance between the All People's Party (APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD). The director of public relations, Steve Osemeke, said that INEC had not ruled out the alliance itself, but it must be legal and abide by electoral guidelines.
The two parties had asked for permission to use a joint logo for the 27 February presidential polls at a meeting last Friday with INEC. The commission responded by saying candidates jointly sponsored by the APP and AD could only use the logo of one of the parties, not a joint logo.
Osemeke also told IRIN that the commission was busy training poll officials for the forthcoming elections and was distributing "sensitive materials" such as ballot papers and "non-sensitive materials" such as boxes and paper throughout the country.
PDP and APP to hold conventions
Nigeria's largest party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) are both holding conventions this weekend to nominate their presidential candidates. According to AFP, most attention is likely to focus on the two-day PDP convention due to the growing rivalry between two of their front-runner candidates, former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo and former vice-presidential candidate Alex Ekwueme.
Police chiefs meet on security arrangements for elections
The inspector-general of police, Ibrahim Coomasie, warned troublemakers to keep away from the forthcoming elections after holding talks with senior police officers in Abuja yesterday, the 'Guardian' reported. The talks focused on security arrangements for the elections and according to the 'Guardian', Coomasie told his men to arrest and prosecute anyone violating electoral laws.
Akhigbe calls for end to violence in Niger Delta
The federal government has renewed its appeal to the people of the Niger Delta area to concentrate on development and stop the campaign of violence, Nigerian radio said yesterday, monitored by the BBC.
The chief of general staff, Vice Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe, was speaking at a meeting in Abuja yesterday, attended by a delegation of the Bini, Ilajes and Itsekiri ethnic groups as well as government representatives. The leader of the delegation from the Niger Delta region, Allison Ayida, called on the government to take "appropriate measures" to stop the campaign of violence against the Bini, Ilaje and Itsekiri groups, Nigerian radio said.
GHANA: Four coup plotters sentenced to death
Four civilians were sentenced to death yesterday for plotting to overthrow the Ghanaian government in 1994, news organisations reported. A fifth defendant was acquitted. AFP said that according to the public prosecutor, the four Ghanaians had been living in Britain before coming to Ghana to recruit mercenaries and buy arms and ammunition. They were arrested only hours before the planned overthrow of President Jerry Rawlings, AFP said.
Abidjan, 11 Feburary 1999, 17:30 gmt
[ENDS]
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 17:35:16 +0000 (GMT) From: UN
IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org>
Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 400 for 1999.2.11
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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