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IRIN-WA Update 477 of events in West Africa (Wednesday 2 June)
NIGERIA: Dozens feared dead in ethnic clashes
Close to 200 people have died in weekend fighting between Ijaw and Itsekiri youths in Nigeria's oil-rich delta area, news organisations reported.
Hundreds more have fled the fighting around the Escravos River, just south of the town of Warri, according to AFP. 'The Guardian' newspaper of Lagos quoted an official of Chevron - a US oil company - as saying that Western and Nigerian oil firms have been evacuating people by helicopter from the area.
Months of intermittent fighting between Ijaws and Itsekiris resumed on Sunday when Ijaw militants attacked the Itsekiri village of Arunton, Reuters reported. The site lies near Chevron's Escravos oil export terminal.
Now, Warri sea port has been closed, `The Guardian said, "as the Itsekiri youths are reported to be invading and chasing out their Ijaw counterparts in retaliation of the Ijaw's attack on Arunton".
A company of 150 soldiers from the army's 20 Amphibious Battalion, based at Effurun in Delta State, have been sent to the troubled area. However, the atmosphere in Warri remains tense, especially in the riverine areas where residents fear youths are primed for retaliatory attacks, the newspaper reported.
[See separate item titled "Dozens feared dead in ethnic clashes"]
Obasanjo appoints contract review panel
Following up on a campaign promise to clean up Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo has named a seven-member panel headed by Christopher Kolade to review contracts and appointments he suspended on Monday. Kolade is the former managing director of Cadbury Nigeria.
The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) reported on Tuesday that the panel will scrutinize contracts and licenses approved this year by the previous military government to see whether they conform to existing regulations and to determine their relevance.
The panel will also decide whether senior federal appointments were made according to existing procedures, NTA said.
Obasanjo retires 99 customs officials
Obasanjo also approved the retirement of 99 officers from the Customs service, considered one of the most corrupt government departments, news reports said.
He reconfirmed the appointment of Ahmed Ali Moustapha as the comptroller-general of Customs, promoted six other officials from comptroller to deputy controller-general and appointed 16 assistant comptrollers-general.
Obasanjo also approved the promotion of Bukar Ali to the post of deputy inspector-general of police and retired four assistant inspectors general, NTA reported.
BURKINA FASO: Committee of elders to investigate impunity
President Blaise Compaore has set up a committee of elders to look into unpunished political crimes committed since independence nearly four decades ago in Burkina Faso, news organisations reported.
The appointment came in the wake of a report released on 7 May by an independent commission which found that independent journalist Norbert Zongo had been the victim of a political killing. The commission named six presidential guards as suspects.
Zongo's body was found along with three others in his car on 13 December in Sapouy, about 100 km from the capital, Ouagadougou. The release of the commission's report was followed by protests by people calling for the trial of his suspected killers.
Last Friday, a coalition of opposition and human rights groups formed in reaction to the killings repeated an earlier call for a general strike on 8 June to pressure the state into taking action against the suspects, PANA reported.
On Tuesday, Compaore announced the formation of the committee of elders, which includes ex-presidents Sangoule Lamizana (1966-1980), Saye Zerbo (1980-1982) and Jean-Baptiste Ouedraogo (1982-1983).
Their brief is to propose "the treatment to be reserved for all unpunished crimes and homicides resulting or presumed to have resulted from political violence for the period stretching from 1960 to date," according to an official communique.
The elders, who also include eight traditional and religious leaders as well as five resource persons, have 45 days to submit their report.
SIERRA LEONE: Government, rebels agree in principle to disarm
Sierra Leone's government and rebels have agreed on the principle of assembling, disarming and demobilising troops and reorganising and reunifying the army, Foreign Minister Joseph Koffigoh of Togo told a news conference on Tuesday, news organisations reported.
Koffigoh, who has been mediating the peace talks in Lome between the Sierra Leonean government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), said the modalities of the accord still had to be worked out and discussions would be held in the next few days, according to the reports.
The talks, launched last week under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have still not yet addressed in any detail the issue of a four-year transitional government.
However, the government has agreed in principle to the release of the rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, currently under sentence of death for treason.
Rebel road block removed
Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, the rebels have removed a road block they had set up on the main road to Masiaka, some 50km east of Freetown, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukulade told IRIN.
"It was removed on Monday," Olukulade said. "However we are concerned that there are further checkpoints in other areas."
The ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Peace Monitoring Group) force commander had warned that unless the road block was removed, he would have to force his way through.
SENEGAL: Rebel positions destroyed, army claims
Senegal's army has launched a "mopping-up operation" near Ziguinchor, the main southern town in the Casamance area, following recent rebel attacks on government forces there, the Armed Forces Ministry in Dakar said on Monday in a press statement.
It said the operation allowed government forces to locate and destroy firing positions considered a threat to the local population, intercept columns of armed rebels and secure tourist routes leading to Cap Skirring, some 60 km southwest of Ziguinchor.
The statement gave no indication of casualties on either side.
Casamance's separatist movement, the Mouvement des forces
democratiques de Casamance (MFDC), took up arms in
1982 to fight for independence for the area.
GHANA: Japan donates US $16.5 million
Japan's government has donated US $16.5 million to Ghana to support its structural adjustment programme, according to news organisations. The money will reportedly be used by Ghana to import machinery, spare parts and industrial materials.
The agreement was announced during a three-day official
visit to Ghana by Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japan's former
prime minister, who arrived on Monday.
Fuel prices up by 15 percent
Fuel prices in Ghana have been increased by 15 percent, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) radio announced on Tuesday.
GBC said the new prices, which took effect immediately, were announced on Tuesday at a news conference by the general manager of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited, Kwabena Donkoh. He linked the hike to higher import prices.
The new prices -per litre- are premium petrol, 855.56 cedis; diesel, 822.23 cedis and kerosene, 600 cedis. Liquid petroleum gas now sells at 920 cedis per kilogramme.
The cedi's exchange value is about 2,500 to the dollar.
Abidjan, 2 June 1999, 17:45 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-948
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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