| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
tel: +225 21 73 54 fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org
IRIN-WA Update 427 of events in West Africa (Monday 22 March)
SIERRA LEONE: Liberia, Burkina deny helping rebels
The governments of Liberia and Burkina Faso have denied an accusation by the departing ECOMOG commander, General Timothy Shelpidi, that they have been helping rebels in Sierra Leone.
"For several months we have repeatedly said that we have nothing to do with Sierra Leone and have no intention of being involved militarily there," Liberian Deputy Information Minister J.Milton Teahjay told IRIN today (Monday). "Nor do we have any expansionist plans in the sub-region."
"We cannot afford to be provoked by distractions like Shelpidi," he added.
On Friday, Foreign minister Youssouf Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso also denied any involvement by his country in the Sierra Leone conflict, according to Africa No. 1 radio in Libreville.
Shelpidi, the departing commander of the ECOWAS -Economic Community of West African States- Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Sierra Leone, made the accusation on Thursday last on state radio in Freetown. He charged that Presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso were planning to destabilise the entire region, beginning with their support for Sierra Leone's rebels.
(For full story see separate item issued today by IRIN-West Africa)
SIERRA LEONE: Scores die in boat disaster
Some 70 people died when a ship sank in rough seas off the coast of Sierra Leone, news organisations reported on Friday. Survivors told journalists that the boat was overloaded and capsized after being hit by a violent storm.
"I believe our boat would have resisted the storm but because it was overloaded, it capsized and sank," Reuters reported crew member Alimamy Sumba as saying.
The incident happened last Wednesday, after the boat left the southern shore of the Freetown peninsula carrying petrol, kerosene and rice.
According to news reports, the disaster is the latest in a series of shipping accidents in the area this year.
"Unless drastic measures are taken by the government against local boat crews, these sea disasters will not come to a halt," the general manager of the Sierra Leone Port Authority told reporters.
The government imposed a ban on internal shipping following an attack on Freetown by rebels in January. The ban has not yet been lifted but is widely ignored by traders, Reuters said.
BURKINA FASO: Demonstration against 'impunity'
Around 3,000 people took part on Saturday in a peaceful demonstration in Ouagadougou against "unpunished crimes" and the suspicious death of journalist Norbert Zongo, in Ougadougou, news organisations reported.
According to AFP, the head of the human rights movement in Burkina Faso, Halidou Ouedraogo, read out a statement addressed to President Blaise Compaore recalling that the government had promised to investigate unsolved crimes. The statement added that there appeared to be no movement on this promise.
Also on Saturday, two people were wounded when opposition militants tried to prevent the start of a popular cross country race in Kodougou, 100 kilometres west of Ougadougou, Reuters reported. The race was organised by youths of the ruling party, but opposition activists argued that it would "tarnish the memory of Zongo."
Kodougou is the home town of Zongo, former editor of 'The Independent'. He gained a reputation for his investigations, analyses and hard-hitting criticisms of the government and his suspicious death last December led to tension in Burkina Faso.
According to new reports, his burnt body, along with three others, was recovered from a car which apparently showed no signs of fire damage. A report by a commission on his death is expected to be published by early May, AFP said.
WEST AFRICA: IMF support for Nigeria, Burkina
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Michael Camdessus told Nigerians last week the fund was ready to offer their country "full support" in designing and implementing a new strategy for economic growth.
He also told delegates at a conference on Nigeria's economic advancement, held on 18 March in Abuja, what he felt the country needed to do to attain sustainable, high-quality growth, including full participation of all citizens (political forces, the private sector, NGOs, the churches, trade unions) in building a vibrant democracy.
"Democracy and economic progress go well hand in hand," he said.
Moreover, he said, government needed to provide an environment in which Nigerians could feel confident in saving and investing in their own economy. This, in turn, would enable foreigners to feel safe about investing.
"Within this strategy, I see few core elements:
good governance; liberalizing the economy and integrating
it with the rest of the world; and indeed macroeconomics
stabilisation," he said.
(For full story see separate item issued today by IRIN-West
Africa)
MAURITANIA: Court refuses to dismiss case against Ould Daddah
A court in Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, has rejected a defence motion for the dismissal of the charges against opposition leaders Ahmed Ould Daddah and Mohameden Ould Babah, AFP reported.
Defence lawyers had argued that the charges were not based on fact.
The two men were charged of disrupting public order after they accused the government of agreeing to accept Israeli nuclear waste in Mauritania and face up to five years in prison if found guilty.
The two members of the Union des forces democratiques, which Ould Daddah chairs, were initially arrested in December 1998 and held under house arrest in the desert before their release on 17 January.
Abidjan, 22 March 1999, 19:03 GMT
[ENDS]
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 19:06:12 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 427 for 22 March [19990323]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
| Previous Menu | Home Page | What's New | Search | Country Specific |