UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Update 412 for 1999.3.1

IRIN-West Africa Update 412 for 1999.3.1


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 412 of Events in West Africa (Monday 1 March)

NIGERIA: Obasanjo wins presidential poll

People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Olusegun Obasanjo was returned to power as civilian president in Saturday's elections, 20 years after he resigned as Nigeria's military ruler.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) today (Monday) released the poll results, which gave Obasanjo 62 percent of the total 27,636,929 valid votes cast. His challenger, Olu Falae of the combined Alliance for Democracy/All People's Party (AD/APP), won 38 percent.

"Olusegun Obasanjo is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected," INEC chairman Ephraim Akpata said, according to news reports.

The election ends 15 straight years of military rule, in a country where soldiers have held power for a total of all but 10 years since independence in 1960. The outgoing military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, is due to resign his commission on 29 May, the day Obasanjo assumes office. Obasanjo ruled Nigeria from 1976 to 1997 after the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed.

Falae says polls a charade

The loser, Olu Falae, said today he might take legal and political action, challenging the results which he described as "a farce and a charade", AFP reported.

He told the agency from Abuja, the federal capital, that the worst cases of ballot rigging were in southeast Nigeria and a few areas in the north, such as Kaduna and Bauchi.

"In a number of places there was absolutely no voting. The ballot boxes had already been stuffed," he said, according to AFP.

Monitoring Group notes high level of fraud

Nigeria's Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of 63 human rights and civil society bodies, said that a marked feature of this election was the collusion of many electoral officers with party agents to commit malpractices or to allow the voters to subvert the electoral process.

"There were areas where the incidence of electoral fraud was great enough to completely distort the election result," the TGM said in a report received by IRIN. It added that the presidential polls recorded "a far higher incidence" of electoral malpractice than recent state and local elections.

International observers, commentators say results should stand

However, while acknowledging irregularities, international observers said they were insufficient to warrant cancellation of the entire elections.

"We have no proof, however, that there was a systematic attempt to rig the results at state and national level," the European Union (EU) Observer Mission to Nigeria said in a statement sent to IRIN.

Former US president Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Center and the US National Democratic Institute of International Affairs monitored the polls, said there was a "wide disparity between the number of voters observed at the polling stations and the final result that has been reported from several states".

"Regrettably, therefore, it is not possible for us to make an accurate judgement about the outcome of the presidential election," he said, according to Reuters.

The executive director of the Centre for Responsive Politics, Nimi Walson-Jack, told IRIN today from Port Harcourt, southeastern Nigeria, that the irregularities were not substantial enough to annul the results.

"After 29 years of military government we will have to live with this," he said.

In the troubled Bayelsa State, he said, communities with low populations filled empty ballot papers, more with the intent of attracting federal revenue allocations than supporting a particular candidate. Those bent on cheating, however, took advantage of such a low turnout to stuff ballots. Another problem, he added, was that influential community leaders in remote villages told people who to vote for.

Constitution ready this week

On election day, Abubakar appealed to both presidential candidates to be prepared to accept the electoral verdict "in the spirit of sportsmanship". He also said the country's new constitution, detailing presidential tenure and powers of the national assembly, would be ready this week, AFP reported. Abubakar, who initiated the return to civilian rule, said the "hitches and irregularities" of the election could be attributed to the country's "democratic learning process".

SIERRA LEONE: Kabbah moots Lome or Bamako for rebel meet

President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has agreed to allow jailed rebel leader Foday Sankoh to travel to Togo or Mali for talks with his commanders, news reports said. Speaking over state radio and television yesterday, Kabbah said, however, that after the meeting, Sankoh would have to return Sierra Leone. A statement signed between the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the UN last week called for Sankoh's freedom after the talks. Kabbah said Sankoh's travel to Lome or Bamako was "based on the clear and unequivocal understanding...that he would be returned to Sierra Leone without delay to resume his appeal against conviction for treason".

Waterloo "burnt to the ground"

The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was the first humanitarian agency to visit Waterloo on Friday as part of a goverment assessment team, after rebels earlier fled the town, the NGO told IRIN today. It said more than 7,000 displaced people were returning to a town "which is literally burnt to the ground". CRS said it was providing immediate food assistance in response to an urgent appeal from the government.

Kenema facing grave humanitarian crisis

CRS also said the situation of displaced people in Kenema "is probably the most under-reported humanitarian crisis" in the country. Over 50,000 IDPs were currently in the town and in nearby Blama. "While international agencies flock to Freetown to join in the emergency response there, security and transport constraints have restricted movement to Kenema," it pointed out. Given the vast number of unmet humanitarian needs in the area, CRS was looking to redeploy some Bo office staff.

Fuel shortages affecting food deliveries

In its latest weekly report, WFP says food distribution to some 5,500 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Bo is being delayed by fuel shortages outside the town in Mandu and Jembeh. Some IDPs are reportedly moving from Jembeh towards Blama where food distributions to some 15,000 people are going ahead. The recent commandeering of vehicles by the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) in Bo is causing concern among the humanitarian community, WFPsaid.

Guinea stopping rebel incursions

The Guinean authorities are taking measures to stop Sierra Leone rebels crossing the border into Gbenle and are restricting cross border movement, WFP reported. Consequently, a WFP food monitor in Pamlap, Guinea, has not been able to reach displaced people at Gbalamuya in Sierra Leone for over 10 days. Meanwhile, a UN-chartered helicopter arrived in Conakry last week and was due to deliver humanitarian assistance to Freetown.

Ogata in Sierra Leone, Liberia

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, who ended a two-day visit to Liberia yesterday, toured Sierra Leone refugee camps in Lofa county, Star radio reported. Earlier she was in Freetown where she meet Kabbah. She began her visit in Guinea where, according to a UNHCR spokesman, she was assured by Conakry that it would uphold its open-door policy for refugees fleeing the violence in Sierra Leone.

State Department accuses both sides of abuses

A US State Department report has accused both sides in the Sierra Leone conflict of human rights abuses. According to the Sierra Leone country report on human rights practices for 1998, the rebels were guilty of "numerous egregious abuses, including brutal killings, severe mutilations and deliberate dismemberments, in a widespread campaign of terror agains the civilian population, known as 'Operation No Living Thing' ". But the report also accused the government of interfering with humanitarian relief efforts, arrest and detention without trial under emergency decrees and restrictions on freedom of the press.

Human rights violations "too much to pay for democracy"

A Sierra Leone human rights group also expressed "horror" at the continuing threat to democracy in the country. In a news release received by IRIN today, the National Commission for Democracy and Human Rights (NCDHR) said the "apocalyptic battle" for Freetown in recent weeks "is only the climax of an escalating wave of terror inflicted on hapless, innocent citizens throughout the country". The grave violations of human rights in Sierra Leone were "too high a price for any citizen to pay for embracing democracy", the NCDHR said. It strongly urged support for the peace process underway in Sierra Leone, both internally and from the international community.

Ghanaian military team visits ECOMOG High Command

A Ghanaian military delegation has given assurances that Ghanaian members of ECOMOG will continue to operate in West African peacekeeping missions. According to an ECOMOG press release sent to IRIN, the five-member delegation met ECOMOG Force Commander Major General Timothy Shelpidi on Friday. Shelpidi told the team that ECOMOG operations in Sierra Leone were strictly in compliance with the directives and authority of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Abidjan, 1 March 1999, 17:50 gmt

[ENDS]

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 18:02:37 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 412 for 1999.3.1

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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