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IRIN-WA Update 432 of events in West Africa (Monday 29 March)
BENIN: Nearly 3,000 seek seats in parliament
Voters in Benin go to the polls on Tuesday to choose 85 legislators from among 2,905 candidates in the third parliamentary election since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy there in 1990.
Of the 35 parties and political alliances registered for the election, around 20 are from the Mouvance presidentielle, the alliance that supports President Matthieu Kerekou.
Kerekou, a former military ruler who lost presidential polls in 1991 but was voted back in in 1996, has no party of his own.
The main rivals of the Mouvance presidentielle are the Renaissance du Benin (RB), led by ex-president Nicephore Soglo, and the Parti du Renouveau democratique (PRD), headed by Adrien Houngbedji, a former prime minister.
No party has a majority in the outgoing parliament.
GHANA: Rawlings promises to step down, calls for debt relief
President Gerry Rawlings has said that he will abide by the constitution of Ghana and step down when his term of office ends in the year 2000, Ghanaian radio reported on Friday.
Rawlings, who was addressing students at Bordeaux University
in France, described as "baseless" the suggestion
that he will step down only for his wife to succeed
him.
Rawlings was in Bordeaux as part of a four-day official
visit to France, which ended on Saturday.
Addressing a news conference at the end of his visit, he said an inititative by Europe to reduce Africa's debt could give the continent a "great deal of breathing space". He added that if Africa failed to develop afterwards "we will not put any blame on you", PANA reported.
Opposition retains parliamentary seat
Meanwhile Ghana's opposition New Patriotic Party retained its parliamentary seat in Accra on in a by-election on Friday, thus preventing the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) from obtaining a two-thirds majority in parliament, PANA reported.
Such a majority in the 200-member parliament would have given the NDC the power to amend sections of the constitution, PANA said.
LIBERIA: Information Minister reacts to US criticism
The Liberian Information Minister, Joe Mulbah, has said he is "taken aback" by comments by Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Star Radio reported on Friday.
Rice warned Liberia last week to stop supporting the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)in Sierra Leone and said the United States was considering a wide range of measures against Liberia if it continued to support the rebels.
Mulbah said the United States had failed to show the facts of Liberia's support to the rebels and he repeated the government's denial that it supports the RUF, according to Star Radio.
Other members of the international community, including the United Nations and Britain, have also accused Liberia of supporting the RUF.
MAURITANIA: Diamond deposits discovered
Geologists have discovered diamond deposits in northern
Mauritania, PANA reported the country's minister of
communication, Rachid Ould Saleh, as saying.
Saleh said during a news briefing in Nouakchott on Wednesday last that the find was being assessed to see "whether the quantity discovered is marketable", according to PANA.
Several mining companies, spurred by reports that Mauritania has deposits of precious metals, are working with its Geological Exploration Board (OMRG) in search of diamonds.
Abidjan, 29 March 1999, 18:55 GMT
[ENDS]
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 18:50:45 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 432 for 29 March [19990330]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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