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IRIN-WA Update 441 of events in West Africa (Tuesday 13 April)
NIGER: Army promises withdrawal from politics
The new military leadership in Niger has promised to "withdraw from political life" after a nine-month transition to civilian rule, according to a statement broadcast by government radio on Tuesday.
It said Major Daouda Mallam Wanke, the army leader, had re-appointed Ibrahim Mayake as prime minister. It said the decision had been taken by Wanke's ruling National Reconciliation Council (NRC) in consultation with the country's political parties. News organisations said he had also appointed the former foreign minister, Maman Sambo Sidikou, as his chief aide.
The NRC, it said, had also lifted a ban on the activities of political parties imposed shortly after the assassination last Friday of President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara. He was gunned down by the presidential guard unit of which Wanke was the commander.
Opposition backs transition pledge
After the talks with the NRC, a body entirely comprised of army officers, the country's 11 civilian opposition parties were reported on Tuesday to have urged their supporters to back the pledged transition to civilian rule. Government radio quoted a statement by the opposition alliance saying it "calls on its militants to work for the success of the democratic transition and the holding of free and fair elections".
News organisations reported that the alliance refrained from condemning the army coup and the suspension of constitutional rule. It hoped too the army would manage the transition showing "respect for human rights, basic liberties and democratic values".
The country's human rights league also expressed its support for the NRC saying it hoped the transition to civilian rule would be successful.
AFP reported that Niger's two main trade unions, the Union des syndicats des travailleurs du Niger (USTN) and the Confederation nationale des travailleurs (CNT) had, however, "condemned" Mainassara's assassination.
Analysts said it was too soon to compare the takeover to neighbouring Nigeria's transition to democracy after the death of its military leader last year. Reuters quoted some politicians as saying that the removal of Mainassara, who himself overthrew the country's first democratically elected government, could pave the way for a return to democracy.
France suspends aid
In a related development on Tuesday, France, Niger's main provider of foreign assistance, announced the immediate suspension of all aid, including military and civilian cooperation, AFP reported.
NIGERIA: Indefinite pay strike
Government workers in more than two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states said they would begin an indefinite strike on Tuesday to demand wage increases, news organisations reported.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Adams Oshiomhole, said he instructed his members to strike because "we have exhausted all avenues to let the state governments concerned see reason with us but all have failed," the independent daily, 'The Guardian' reported.
Some states have agreed to pay the increases, but the NLC gave an ultimatum last week that the remaining 28 states should implement the new N3,000 minimum wage (US $32) or face industrial action, the 'The Guardian' said. Lagos State workers backed out of the proposed strike on Monday, saying they believed the state government would pay the minimum wage.
Doctors end four-month strike
Meanwhile, Nigerian doctors who have been on strike for four months over pay and conditions have called off their action after receiving promises of a review, news organisations reported on Monday.
An official at the WHO told IRIN that the Chief of General Staff, Vice-Admiral Mike Akhigbe, had promised "to look into the issues raised by the strike."
At a meeting on Saturday, the leaders of the National Association of Resident Doctors, the main doctor's union in Nigeria, agreed to call their members to work on Wednesday, news reports said. The union said it had not won a pay increase but had reached agreement with top government officials over career structure, retirement pensions and a review in professional allowances and salaries.
Bamaiyi orders military to accept civilian rule
Army commanders in Nigeria have been ordered to immediately begin the reorientation of their troops towards democracy, 'The Guardian' reported. It said the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Ishaya Bamaiyi, had called on all units give total support to the federal government when it hands over to civilian rule on 29 May.
The recent democratic elections won by General Olusegun Obasanjo, ended 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.
CAMEROON: Life returns to normal near volcano
Life was beginning to return to normal for some 100,000
people living in and around the town of Buea, hit by
a series of earth tremors prior to the eruption last
month of Mount Cameroon volcano, AFP reported.
Provincial Governor, Peter Acham-Cho, said on Monday
that although he was still awaiting expert reports
on the eruption "there is practically no risk
of another earthquake. I think everything can start
getting back to normal," AFP reported.
However many residents were not assured by his comments, saying that they thought it could happen again at any moment, AFP said.
Buea, situated on the southern flank of the volcano some 60km west of economic capital, Douala, suffered tremors which damaged houses and left around 600 people homeless, news reports said.
Anglophone leader dies
John Ngu Foncha, the politician who lead anglophone Southern Cameroons into a federation with francophone Cameroon in 1961, died at the weekend at the age of 82, Cameroon state radio said in a report monitored by the BBC.
Foncha called for greater autonomy for Cameroon's English speaking provinces, leading a delegation of the secessionist Southern Cameroon National Council to the United Nations in 1994, it said.
SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG says more troops needed
The commander of the West African ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone has said more troops had to be deployed around the country if it was to contain rebel activities.
According to a report on Tuesday in the Nigerian daily, 'The Guardian', the commander, Major-General Felix Mujakperuo, said at least 5,000 more men would be needed and international support would be required because it was difficult for some West African nations to meet the "enormous" costs involved.
Mujakperuo's remarks were made to reporters on his arrival in the economic capital Lagos for consultations with the Nigerian government.
The capital of Sierra Leone is safe
"Freetown is very safe now," he said explaining that rebels forces had been "flushed" from the city. But he said there were still problems containing rebels elsewhere in the country and that these could only be overcome if there were more troops. He said the rebels had only been able to overrun Freetown last year because of a lack of ECOMOG troops.
LIBERIA: Nine soldiers on trial
Nine Liberian soldiers charged with sedition following a gun battle in the capital Monrovia last September pleaded not guilty when their trial opened before a court martial on Monday, independent 'Star Radio' reported.
The nine, who include a general and three majors, are accused of backing the former faction leader, Roosevelt Johnson, against government forces during fighting in strategic locations of the city on 18 and 19 September last year.
Last week, 13 former government officials found guilty of assisting Johnson at the time, were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
Abidjan, 13 April 1999, 1630 GMT
[ENDS]
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 16:51:32 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 441 for 13 April [19990414]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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