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IRIN-WA Update 94-97 of Events in West Africa, Saturday-Monday 28 November - 1 December 1997
[As a supplement to its weekly round-ups of main events in West Africa, IRIN-WA will produce a daily synopsis of reports on the region. IRIN issues these reports for the benefit of the humanitarian community but accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy of the original source.]
NIGER: Government signs peace deal with rebels
Niger's government signed a fresh peace deal with rebels in Algiers on Friday. According to Algerian television, the agreement with the Tuareg Union des Forces de la Resistance Armee (UFRA) and the Toubou Forces Armees Revolutionnaires du Sahara (FARS) followed two weeks of Algerian-sponsored negotiations. The sides agreed to an immediate ceasefire, prisoner of war exchange, de-mining operations and rebel disarmament from the end of the year. The three parties will meet again in the Niger capital Niamey on an unspecified date to finalise details of the plan. Some 6,000 rebels should then join the regular army or return to civilian life.
Radio France Internationale reported new rebel clashes on Friday, however. According to the report, one Tuareg was killed, a second wounded and a third captured in Tahoua in northern Niger. Fighting followed a security force intervention in the area when Tuaregs attacked travellers, Niger authorities claimed. A 1995 government and Tuareg peace deal which ended five years of clashes in the north of the country was broken by UFRA in September. Tuaregs accused the government of failing to implement terms of the treaty. Some 60 people have been killed since the renewal of hostilities.
GUINEA: Tension on Liberia border
Some 28 Liberians from the Alhaji Kromah wing of the former United Liberation Front for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO-K) have been arrested in Guinea recently. According to Gabon radio, Guinea security forces captured the ULIMO-K fighters between 16 and 21 November in Bonomoa, Yossono and Dicke, near the border with Liberia. Some ULIMO-K fighters were wounded during the operation, which also uncovered "arms caches in the region." Alhaji Kromah denied any ULIMO-K involvement according to the news report. Guinea's President Lansana Conte told Gabon radio he believed there were some problems in southern Guinea "because of Sierra Leone and Liberia" but these would be brought under control through ECOWAS assistance.
LIBERIA: Taylor visits Guinea
Liberia's President Charles Taylor left Monrovia for a one-day working visit to Guinea on Monday. According to AFP, Taylor is expected to discuss regional security with Lansana Conte and revitalise the former Mano River Union, an economic group comprising Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Taylor, who celebrated his first 100 days in government on Monday, recently returned from Morocco where he also signed co-operation agreements with the Moroccan government.
Former Taylor ally arrested
Liberian authorities arrested a former Taylor ally for "security reasons" on Saturday, family sources told AFP. Samuel Dokie, and his wife were detained in Gbarnga, 160 km from the capital, Monrovia. According to the couple's daughter, two other family members and a bodyguard were also arrested. "We have contacted all the security headquarters in Monrovia, but my parents are not there and no one can tells us anything about their arrest," Victoria Maxs said. Dokie, a former Transitional National Assembly Speaker, fell out with Taylor when he attempted to oust Taylor as leader of the National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL). Dokie joined ranks with the Unity Party for the July 1997 elections in which Taylor became president.
SIERRA LEONE: Foday Sankoh release could endanger peace process
Releasing Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh could endanger the peace process in Sierra Leone, according to Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Executive Secretary Lansana Kouyate. "There is no need to press for his return," Kouyate told Guinea television on Saturday. "It might disturb the political situation in the country."Sankoh's release from detention in Nigeria is a primary Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) condition for abiding by the Conakry peace accords. The peace plan signed in October is designed to restore ousted civilian president Alhaji Tejan Kabbah to power in April 1998.
NIGERIA: Main political party launches elections manifesto
A Nigerian political party launched its election manifesto on Saturday. According to AFP, the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP)'s "Charter for a Prosperous Nigeria" promised to respect constitutional rights and freedoms if it wins presidential elections scheduled for August 1998. Municipal elections in March saw the UNCP win 48 percent of all seats, according to party chairman Alhaji Isa Mohammed. The party has still not decided on a presidential candidate. Out of the main registered parties, only the Democratic Party of Nigeria has asked the present head of state, General Sani Abacha, to run on its behalf. Abacha says the decision on whether he should run in elections or not is "in the hands of God." Parliamentary elections are also scheduled in Nigeria for Saturday.
Abacha to head economic think-tank
The new National Council of Nigerian Vision was inaugurated by Abacha on Friday. The council is designed to act as an economic planning group well past the planned handover to civilian rule in October 1998. Opposition groups, quoted in the Nigerian press on Saturday, claimed this was further evidence that the general would not give up power. "If Abacha intend[s] to quit office next year he will not make himself chairman of a plan that is meant to take Nigeria into the next century," one analyst commented.
WEST AFRICA: Customs union postponed
The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) postponed a customs deal on Friday. Ministers from the eight mainly Francophone countries put back to January 2000 measures designed to establish a common import tariff of 20 percent. The meeting was sometimes "heated", according to AFP. "There are many problems, we are aware of that," Ivory Coast's Finance Minister and meeting chairman Ngoran Niamien told reporters. He added, however, that the political will still existed to make the union work. Countries agreed to cap import tariffs at a maximum of 20 percent, down from as high as 65.5 percent in some UEMOA countries. A fund will compensate countries losing taxation revenue, but provides no assistance to counties such as Benin and Togo which attract imports by having lower rates. Both countries are ports of entry for landlocked countries. Under the new proposals, duties will also only be payable at their final destination.
Abidjan, 1 December 1997 20:30GMT
[end]
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci for more information or subscription. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the Web at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha.unon.org . Mailing list: irin-wa-updates]
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 20:40:46 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-WA Update 94-97 of Events in West Africa, 1 Dec 1997,97.12.01 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971201203209.19765A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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