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IRIN-WA Update 460 of events in West Africa (Monday 10 May)
GUINEA BISSAU: Deposed president granted asylum
Portugal granted political asylum on Sunday to Guinea Bissau's ousted president, Joao Bernardo Vieira, but it was not immediately clear whether his opponents would allow him to leave the Portuguese Embassy in Bissau where he and his family have taken refuge, news reports said.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres announced
the asylum offer on arrival in Greece for an official
visit, AFP reported.
Although Guinea Bissau Prime Minister Francisco Fadul
said that Vieira, who came to power in a 1980 coup,
would be allowed to live in exile, Zamora Induta, spokesman
for the Military Junta in Bissau, demanded that Vieira
stand trial for treason, AFP reported.
AFP also quoted sources as saying that Vieira loyalists, whom the Junta arrested and handed over to the West African peace monitoring group, ECOMOG, would be tried in court for illegally selling arms to separatists in the Casamance region in southern Senegal.
Accusations and counter accusations on gun-running to the Senegalese separatists - and Vieira's consequent dismissal of Mane as armed forces chief of staff - sparked a military rebellion that the former chief of staff launched on 6 June. However, a parliamentary investigation found other government officials culpable in the affair and implicated Vieira of indirect involvement.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the national assembly, Malam Sanha, has been appointed acting president of Guinea Bissau, Africa No. 1 radio reported at the weekend.
Junta condemned
ECOWAS and France have condemned the Junta for overthrowing
Vieira, saying it was a violation of a peace deal signed
between him and Mane, news reports said. That agreement
committed both leaders to avoiding conflict and moving
the country toward general elections, still slated
for 28 November.
Senegal's Foreign Minister Jacques Baudin told Africa
No 1 radio on Friday his nation regretted what was
happening in Guinea Bissau.
Despite the condemnations, Guterres praised Fadul and
the Junta for their moderation and their pledge for
a democratic order despite Vieira's political demise.
WEST AFRICA: Special humanitarian assistance organ proposed
ABIDJAN, 10 May (IRIN) - Military and civilian officials from the 16 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have called for the creation of a special organ within ECOWAS to coordinate responses to emergencies in the region.
The call capped a seminar on the 'Coordinated Use of International Military and Civil Defence Assets in Emergency Management', held on 2-7 May in Yamassoukro, Cote d'Ivoire.
[See separate item issued earlier today by IRIN West Africa]
SIERRA LEONE: Last churchmen freed by rebels
Two church representatives, Irish missionary Brother Noel Bradshaw of the Order of Christian Brothers and Sierra Leonean priest Father Dominic Kargbo, were freed last Thursday by rebels, according to the Rome-based Missionary News Agency (MISNA).
The two priests had been trapped in Makeni, Northern Province, since the end of last year when the city was taken by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. Their release was reportedly negotiated by a Muslim 'military chaplain' who accompanies the rebel forces. He also lent his vehicle to allow for their transport to the Guinean border, according to MISNA.
ECOMOG repels rebel attack on Port Loko
A rebel attack last Friday on the town of Port Loko, some 58km northeast of Freetown, was "immediately repelled" by soldiers of ECOMOG, the West African force's spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Olukulade, confirmed to IRIN on Monday.
News reports quoted western diplomats on Sunday as saying there were heavy casualties on both sides. Olukulade said ECOMOG had suffered "a few casualties" but could not give any estimates of civilian or rebel wounded or fatalities. "A number of civilians from nearby villages were rounded up, some were abducted and some amputations took place," he added.
[See separate item issued earlier today by IRIN West Africa]
BURKINA FASO: Protests follow report on journalist's death
Students staged protests in Ouagadougou on Monday following the publication of a report naming members of the presidential guard as suspects in the December murder of an independent journalist, a media source told IRIN.
The protesters, who were prevented by police and gendarmes from reaching the city centre, called for the arrest of the suspects, the source said.
He added that the Burkinabe cabinet of ministers began meeting on Monday to discuss the report, produced by an independent commission, which also called on the authorities to conduct an investigation into all unexplained disappearances and murders in the country.
The 11-member commission was set up to look into the death of independent journalist Norbert Zongo, found dead in his car along with three other men on 13 December 1998. In its final report, issued on Friday, it found that Zongo "was murdered for purely political reasons ..."
[See separate item issued earlier today by IRIN West Africa]
TOGO: Tentative agenda for talks between government, opposition
Representatives of Togo's government and opposition have agreed to hold negotiations in Lome, according to a team of facilitators who visited Lome last week to help find ways to defuse the ongoing political crisis there.
In a final statement read out on 6 May on Togolese radio, the facilitators said they were able to meet the main representatives of opposition parties and the presidential bloc as well as President Gnassingbe Eyadema and that there was a "unanimous desire" by all parties to resume dialogue.
The dispute between the opposition and the presidential bloc has to do with presidential elections held in June 1998 and won, according to the official results, by Eyadema. The opposition maintains that the results of the polls were rigged.
According to Togolese radio, the two sides also agreed last week to meet in Paris to discuss the security of persons participating in the negotiations. That meeting is "to be organized at the initiative of the facilitators", ran the statement, which mentioned no dates.
Abidjan, 10 May 1999, 17:37 GMT [ENDS]
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 17:40:26 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 460 for 10 May [19990510]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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