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IRIN-WA Update 439 of events in West Africa (Friday 9 April)
Niger: President assassinated
Niger's President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara was assassinated on Friday, news organisations reported. The circumstances surrounding his death remained confused. The Prime Minister, Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, announced on state radio that Mainassara had died in an "unfortunate incident" while diplomats quoted by news organisations said he had been assassinated by members of his security guard. Heavily armed soldiers had taken over the capital, Niamey, soon after the assassination, AFP reported, but it is not clear whether the troops are loyal to the assassinated president.
Radio France Internationale reported that telephone communications with the capital had been cut and the airport closed.
The unrest came one day after the opposition demanded Mainassara's resignation following a Supreme Court decision to order a re-run in most constituencies of local elections held in February. Reuters said vote counting had been disrupted by attacks on polling stations. Other reports had said ballot boxes had been stolen.
Mainassara was a colonel in Niger's army when he seized power in a coup in 1996 overthrowing the country's first democratically elected government. He was elected president later that year but his government has enjoyed little stability.
Meanwhile, a statement by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned "such terrorist acts and any attempt to change the government by force or by other unconstitutional means".
LIBERIA: Thirteen sentenced to 10 years for treason
Liberia's criminal court on Thursday sentenced 13 persons convicted last week of plotting to overthrow President Charles Taylor to 10 years in prison, PANA reported.
The 13 had been charged in connection with fighting in Monrovia on 18 and 19 September between government forces and supporters of former faction leader Roosevelt Johnson. The government claimed the fighting broke out during an attempt to oust Taylor.
According to PANA, the convicted persons belong to Johnson's
Krahn ethnic group. They include a former political
adviser to Taylor, Bai Gbala, ex-senator James Chelly,
and a former minister in the previous transitional
government, Charles Breeze, PANA said.
Teaching humanitarian law to the military
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Liberian Red Cross are working towards increasing Liberians' knowledge of humanitarian law, starting with the security forces, according to the latest issue of the ICRC's newsletter.
Presentations on humanitarian law were given to senior officers of the police and military in late March, after which the forces designated 25 participants for a course given by Liberian teachers, education specialists, jurists and a joint ICRC-National Red Cross team, according to ICRC News. The ICRC has also organised weekly concerts by local musicians stressing the importance of humanitarian law.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Rights situation has worsened, Rapporteur says
The process of democratisation in Equatorial Guinea has stagnated and the state of human rights in the Central African nation has worsened, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea.
The Special Rapporteur, Alejandro Artucio, on Tuesday told the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva that Equatorial Guinea continued to ban opposition newspapers and judicial irregularities still occurred.
People are still being arrested for their political beliefs and ethnic minorities had been harassed, he said, adding that there was an urgent need to put an end to the activities of agents of the state who violated human rights.
The representative of Equatorial Guinea, Maye Nsue Mangue, told the Commission in reply that the country's democracy was not perfect, but any excessive, abrupt changes in society could provoke a chaotic and disastrous situation much more serious than at present. He said his government had called on the international community for technical assistance to strengthen human rights and the establishment of an efficient and transparent judiciary.
SENEGAL: Negotiations over ex-MINURCA soldiers' pay postponed
Negotiations over unpaid allowances to Senegalese soldiers who served in the UN mission in the Central African Republic, MINURCA, have now been postponed to 10 May, PANA reported.
Over 100 angry soldiers blocked a major road out of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on Thursday, demanding the payment of their allowances, amounting to CFA 540,000 (approximately US $ 900) each per month, PANA reported. According to one soldier, they had been assured payment by their superiors on Thursday, but when they arrived they were told to come back in a month's time, PANA said.
The army was waiting for the UN to disburse the allowances, an army spokesman was quoted as saying. According to Radio France Internationale this is the third time in three weeks that Senegalese soldiers have demonstrated to press for the payment of their allowances.
GUINEA BISSAU: Naval chief arrested
The authorities in Guinea Bissau say they have arrested the head of the country's navy, Caetano Fernandes, according to a report on Thursday by the BBC.
He was accused of accepting bribes to allow foreign boats to fish in Guinea Bissau's territorial waters, the BBC said. Two senior officials at the ministry of fisheries have also been detained.
SIERRA LEONE: Rebels free Italian priest
Rebels have freed Father Vittorio Mosele, an Italian priest held in captivity for nearly two months, the missionary news agency, MISNA, reported on Thursday.
Quoting the bishop of Makeni, the agency said that the priest was now on his way to neighbouring Guinea. He was kidnapped from his Kambia mission on 12 February.
NIGERIA: oil block award review likely
Nigerian officials on Thursday said there was likely to be a review of the controversial award of 11 deepwater oil concessions to local firms, some linked to senior military officers, Reuters reported.
Last month's award of blocks in some of the the world's most sought-after exploration territory worried donors, who said privately that it could adversely affect debt relief, Reuters said. The award also infuriated supporters of president elect General Olusegun Obasanjo, who is due to take office on 29 May.
"Obasanjo's people have already told us these blocks could be cancelled as soon as he takes office," Reuters quoted a government official as saying.
The blocks were "quietly" allocated in March to firms in Nigeria, only one of which, Amni International, had previous experience in oil production, Reuters said. The concessions in the Gulf of Guinea lie next to blocks where multinational oil companies have discovered hundreds of millions of barrels of crude. Some of the firms were linked to senior military officers, both retired and within General Abdulsalami Abubakar's outgoing administration, the agency said.
Abidjan, 9 April 1999, 19:00 GMT
[ends]
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 19:03:46 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN Update 439 for 9 April [19990410] From: IRIN - English <editor@ocha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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