UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-WA Daily Media Update 41-97, 9/4/97

IRIN-WA Daily Media Update 41-97, 9/4/97


U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Department of Humanitarian Affairs

Integrated Regional Information Network

for West Africa

Tel: +225 21-63-35

Fax: +225 21-63-35

e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci

IRIN-WA Daily Media Update 41-97 of Events in West Africa, 4 September 1997

SIERRA LEONE: Peacekeepers shell market

At least 15 people were killed yesterday (Thursday) in Freetown when stray shells fired by Nigerian soldiers from the West African peacekeeping force (ECOMOG) hit a crowded dockside market in the capital. Local sources say the death toll is around 50, with 17 people wounded. Nigerian gunners, based across the estuary at Lungi, were aiming at two container ships violating an embargo against the country's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Some of the artillery rounds in the hour-long barrage slammed into the market early yesterday morning. The ECOMOG commander in Sierra Leone, Colonel Max Khobe, denied responsibility for the casualties. He said his men had only fired warning shots at the vessels - at least one of them Ukrainian-registered - to prevent them from berthing. He accused the AFRC of 'scapegoating' ECOMOG troops who are based next to the international airport at Lungi, 15 kms from Freetown. The two freighters were carrying food, reported AFP. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) last week decided to reinforce a blockade on Sierra Leone to force the AFRC to hand power back to ousted President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Other vessels have allegedly been fired on. On Tuesday, the Nigerian contingent reportedly shot at two fishing trawlers returning from Ghana. The AFRC claimed that Nigerian shells also fell on the residential area of Aberdeen. According to one local analyst, ECOMOG's intention is to scare vessels away rather than to sink them. That position could change if the UN Security Council approves the ECOWAS blockade. On Wednesday, ECOMOG commander General Victor Malu, warned foreign nationals still in Sierra Leone to leave the country. "We are going to enforce an embargo, failing which there will be military action," he said in Lagos before leaving for his headquarters in Liberia. Defying international opposition to its May coup,the AFRC says it will stay in power until the year 2001. Source: AFP, PANA & local sources.

SIERRA LEONE: Koroma calls for Guinean mediation

AFRC chairman Major Johnny Paul Koroma Tuesday said his government counts on the cooperation of neighbouring Guinean President Lansana Conte to find a peaceful solution to Sierra Leone's "political problems". He stressed that military intervention was not the solution. Source: Sierra Leone radio via BBC.

SIERRA LEONE: Three AFRC leaders killed in accident

Three "top members" of Sierra Leone's AFRC were killed in a car crash in the south of the country, near the town of Bo, on Tuesday. Reports said the men were travelling to negotiate with the Kamajor, local militia groups fighting to restore ousted President Kabbah. Meanwhile, the Kamajors are believed to be planning another attack on Bo, the country's third-largest town. This week they succeeded in cutting the highway after being driven back from Bo by AFRC forces. According to witnesses, they decapitated four travellers on the road, who were suspected of having links with the AFRC. Source: United Nations.

LIBERIA: Concern over health priorities

Humanitarian agencies are concerned over the health sector priorities of the Liberian government. The government is apparently placing less emphasis on primary health care than the humanitarian community would recommend. The key goals of the health ministry are the refurbishment of county hospitals by NGOs and the rehabilitation of the JFK hospital in Monrovia. The thrust of the health policy may be at odds with government efforts to resettle, provide basic services and stabilise returning rural populations who require more decentralised services, sources suggest. Meanwhile, humanitarian activities have essentially come to a halt in the southeast region due to the onset of the rains and the poor conditions of roads and bridges in the area. Source: Liberian Humanitarian Situation Report.

NIGERIA: Sabotage blamed for pipeline blaze

Vandals are blamed for a fire on a pipeline that carries fuel to Lagos and southwest Nigeria. The blaze began at the weekend at Isiwo, in southwestern Ogun State, and as of Tuesday, firefighters were still trying to extinguish it. Alhaji Haruna Abubakar, the managing director of the affiliate of the government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that owns the pipeline, said, the fire was ignited by "some vandals" trying to steal fuel. He said the incident would not affect fuel supplies to the country's commercial capital, Lagos. Since April, most parts of the country have been facing fuel shortages. The situation is particularly acute in the north. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Dutch oil company, Shell, announced last month that it has lost more than 36,000 barrels of oil in 41 separate "sabotage incidents". The volume accounts for 81 percent of all oil spilled from the company's facilities this year. Source: AFP.

MAURITANIA: Rebels condemn Chirac visit

The Mauritanian rebel group, Les Forces de Liberation Africaines de Mauritanie (FLAM), has criticised the planned official visit on Friday by French President Jacques Chirac. In a statement Wednesday, FLAM said Chirac's two-day visit to the Sahelian country was "inopportune". The African-Mauritanian rebel group said Chirac's arrival would provide moral support to the "racist regime" in Nouakchott, the capital. The statement accused the government of "championing the violation of human rights". Mauritania straddles a racial divide, encompassing both Arab and African populations. Chirac said Wednesday in Paris that he will be offering the government assistance in the areas of agriculture and water resources. Mauritania has been affected by drought this year. Source: AFP.

GAMBIA: Preparations for regional anti-drought conference

Gambia is preparing to host a two-day summit of the nine-nation Inter-State Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) next week. A three-day preliminary meeting of experts began Monday to review this year's poor climatic and crop situation in the region. Gambia's Secretary of State for Agriculture, Sambou Kinteh, said, although CILSS member states had managed to pull the region out of an emergency situation, prevailing conditions demonstrated the fragility of the 24-year-old organisation's achievements. Gambian President Yahya Jammeh will assume the chairmanship of CILSS for the next three-years at the 11-12 September meeting. Kinteh will become the organisation's coordinating minister. Source: PANA.

Abidjan, September 4 1997

[ENDS]

[Via the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa (IRIN-WA) Reports mailing list. The material contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the UN or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts from this report should be attributed to the original sources where appropriate. For further information: e-mail irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci, Tel: +225 217367 Fax: +225 216335.]

Message-Id: <199709050701.KAA12978@dha.unon.org> Date: Fri, 05 Sep 1997 09:53:46 +0300 From: UN DHA IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci> Subject: IRIN-WA Daily Media Update 41-97, 4 September 1997 97.9.4

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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