UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Update 404 for 1999.2.17

IRIN-West Africa Update 404 for 1999.2.17


U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 21 73 54 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org

IRIN-WA Update 404 of Events in West Africa (Wednesday 17 February)

SIERRA LEONE: Fleeing refugees arrive in Liberia

Small numbers of exhausted refugees are arriving in Vahun, northern Liberia, fleeing rebel attacks in the Kenema area of Sierra Leone, a UNHCR spoksman told a press briefing yesterday (Tuesday). Ten new arrivals this week said they had been walking for four days and nights through the bush after escaping a rebel attack on the town of Segbewema. The town was previously under the control of the Kamajor traditional warriors who support President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

UNHCR cited the refugees as saying hundreds more people remained scattered in the forest. Over 1,000 people in the nearby town of Bomalu, 15 km from the Liberian border, are reportedly trying to break away from rebel control and flee. "This is just a little trickle, but we're probably seeing the tip of an iceberg of displacement", spokesman Kris Janowski said.

Bonino pledges cooperation when situation normalises

EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Emma Bonino, held talks with President Kabbah in Freetown yesterday and urged the authorities to facilitate access for humanitarian workers, news organisations reported. "Development cooperation on a long- and short-term basis will be undertaken in Sierra Leone when the situation normalises," she told the president.

Kabbah replied that the war was not a totally internal affair "but has a wider international dimension, as is evident in the arrest of foreign nationals in the war front". He called on the EU to "provide assistance in terms of logistics to help maintain and protect democracy".

ECOMOG hands over child soldiers

Meanwhile the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, has handed over 33 child soldiers to UNICEF in Freetown, news reports said. The children aged from five to 14, include three girls, and were captured by ECOMOG when rebels launched their attack on Freetown last month. One of the children was quoted as saying the rebels had abducted them, armed them and taught them how to fight.

LIBERIA: Britain told to prove claims of support for Sierra Leone rebels

The Liberian Senate has called on Britain to provide evidence of its claims that Liberia is supporting rebels in Sierra Leone, Star Radio reported today (Wednesday). The call was made by Senate President Charles Brumskine during a meeting with visiting British envoy Haydon Warren-Dash. Brumskine said the accusations against Liberia were "becoming an embarassment". The British envoy replied that "continuous denials" by the Liberian government were not enough to prove its innocence, the radio said. He added that Liberia "must stop feeding rebels through its borders".

NIGERIA: Former US, Niger presidents to lead election monitors

Former USPresident Jimmy Carter said yesterday that he and Mahamane Ousmane, Niger's former president, will head a 60-member delegation monitoring the presidential election on 27 February.

"We are honoured that the Independent National Electoral Commission and the major parties invited us to participate in this crucial moment in Nigeria's history," Carter said in a press release from the Carter Center received by IRIN today.

Carter, who was in the country last month to assess developments in the transition programme, added: "We are here to support and strengthen Nigerians' desire for democracy, evaluate the electoral process and learn from it."

A member of the US delegation told the independent 'Guardian' newspaper that the team would be on a "tight schedule" while in the country. The delegation, deployed by the Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), is expected to be sent to 24 states of the federation where talks will take place with local INEC officials and party representatives before the voting.

The press release said that on election day, delegates will visit as many polling booths as possible in their areas to witness poll openings, voter accreditation, vote counting and ballot box delivery. They will also talk with citizens and officials about the electoral process The release added that after the election, observers will reconvene in Abuja to discuss their findings and issue a preliminary statement.

Meanwhile, a 100-member EU team is expected to be deployed to various parts of the country on Thursday, agencies said.

Obasanjo chooses northerner as running mate

General Olusegun Obasanjo, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate from the southwest of Nigeria, has named northerner Abubukar Atiki as his running mate, news organisations reported today.

A top PDP source told the 'Guardian' that the choice of the Atiku was based on his perceived image as "someone who can reach out to all interest groups within the party". Atiki, who was elected as governor of northeastern Adamawa State in elections last month, is a member of a younger generation of politicians from Hausa-speaking northern Nigeria.

Obasanjo pledges to withdraw troops from Sierra Leone

Obasanjo vowed yesterday that if elected, he would pull Nigerian ECOMOG troops out of Sierra Leone, AFP reported.

Speaking in Abuja, he described Nigeria's involvement in Sierra Leone as a "waste of resources." Nigeria makes up the bulk of the 15,000 ECOMOG troops fighting to keep Kabbah's beleaguered government in power.

Last month, Nigeria's military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubukar said he hoped peace would be restored in Sierra Leone so that troops could be withdrawn in time for Nigeria's transition from military to civilian rule on 29 May.

Cracks appear in AD/APP alliance

Meanwhile, cracks have appeared in the already-fragile alliance between the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People's Party (APP) as APP presidential nominee Ogbonnaya Onu yesterday denied he had stepped down, the 'Guardian' reported. Onu was said to have bowed out after the alliance chose AD member Samuel Olu Falae as its candidate.

Under electoral rules, only one presidential candidate under one party logo can be nominated from the alliance. However Onu said in a statement in Abuja: "I remain the duly-elected presidential candidate of the APP, and will never surrender a mandate given to me by the party convention".

Onu, a little-known former governor from eastern Nigeria, was described as "a compromise candidate" after his election on Sunday, agencies said.

GUINEA BISSAU: National unity government to be sworn in as planned, Mane says

Rebel leader General Ansumane Mane has said all the conditions are in place for swearing in a government of national unity, AFP reported. Speaking in the Togolese capital Lome yesterday, where he met his rival President Joao Bernardo Vieira, Mane said: "I think on our return [to Bissau], we will go ahead with the swearing in of this government on 20 February." The two men were due to return to Bissau today after also meeting Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, the current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The Togolese commander of ECOMOG forces in Guinea Bissau, Colonel Gnakoude Berena, said loyalist and rebel soldiers would have to remove mines laid around the capital Bissau before returning to barracks. He told AFP about 3,000 mines had been placed by both sides in the course of the eight-month rebellion.

MALI: First ever accord signed to accept Rwanda genocide convicts

Mali has agreed to accommodate genocide convicts from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in its prisons, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported. According to an ICTR press release, agreement was signed last Friday between the Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, and the Malian government. Mali is the first country to sign a formal accord to this effect, and negotiations are under way with other countries such as Senegal and South Africa, Hirondelle said.

Abidjan, 17 February 1999, 16:45 gmt

[ENDS]

Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 16:47:35 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 404 for 1999.2.17

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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