UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN - West Africa Update 98-97, 12/5/97

IRIN - West Africa Update 98-97, 12/5/97


U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated
Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 21-63-35
Fax: +225 21-63-35
e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci

IRIN-WA Update 98-97 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 5 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.]

NIGERIA: Election run-up sparks communal violence

Scores of houses were set on fire or damaged in south-west Nigeria on Thursday as increased tension sparked communal violence in the run-up to Saturday's parliamentary elections, media sources said. The fighting took place between the Ife and Modakeke communities in the troubled south-west of the country. It is not known if any casualties resulted. About 100 people have been killed in the area since August when the decision to move a local government headquarters from one town to the other first sparked renewed violence between two rival ethnic groups. Both parties reportedly feared the move would alter the previous delicate balance of power between them. One local resident told AFP not even riot police were able to quell the new fighting. "It is like a full-scale war," he said. According to AFP, the electoral officer in charge of the south-west region was also shot at during clashes in Modakeke but was not wounded.

Government announces security clampdown

The Nigerian federal government announced restrictions on Thursday on all non-essential travel during Saturday's elections, media sources said. According to an official statement all movement unconnected to the parliamentary elections would be banned from 8.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. State radio said the restriction was to ensure "smooth and orderly polling". Only organising officials will be exempted. According to AFP, some 140,000 police will also be specially deployed to maintain order during the polls. Some 8,000 police alone will be on duty in Lagos, which was described as a "hotbed of opposition" by the news agency. Five officially registered parties will contend Saturday's polls.

A Nigeria analyst told IRIN on Friday that the outcome of these elections is possibly less important than how they are conducted. "The Nigerian government traditionally uses the threat of ethnic clashes to justify strong central control," he said.

Abacha meets Abiola

Nigerian head of state General Sani Abacha has held a series of meetings with detained opposition leader Chief Moshood Abiola, according to a top government official on Thursday quoted by AFP. Chairman of the National Reconciliation Committee Chief Alex Akinyele told reporters that meetings between the two men could have culminated in the release of the politician, but failed because of pressure "from some quarters."No further details were given. Abiola, who has been detained since 1994 and is Nigeria's most important prisoner according to opposition groups, is widely believed to have won presidential elections in 1993 annulled by Abacha. The general said recently that political detainees who did not "threaten national security" would be released as part of the promised transition to civilian rule in October 1998.

LIBERIA: Dokie murder shocks and alarms Liberia

Opposition and human rights groups have condemned the murder of Samuel Dokie and three others missing since their arrest by security men in Gbarnga on Sunday, according to media sources in Monrovia. Dokie, a leading opposition member and one-time ally of Liberia's President Charles Taylor, later attempted to oust Taylor from the leadership of the former National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL) faction. It was Taylor himself, however, who confirmed the hunt for Dokie had ended in the "gruesome"discovery of four bodies in Bong County. According to independent Star Radio, the Liberian Council of Churches on Friday described the murder as an evil act which endangered peace and security. It called on the Taylor government to identify those responsible. The opposition Liberian People's Party directly accused the government of the killing.The Press Union of Liberia also claimed the murder would adversely affect the peace and reconciliation process, while the Nimba University Students Association warned the government against "acts of witch-hunting and political terrorism". Dokie was Nimba representative in the Liberia National Assembly.

A local source in Monrovia told IRIN on Friday that the murder had alarmed all other members of the opposition. "It is a clear warning Monrovia may be safe, but where (the West African peacekeeping force) ECOMOG and the international community is not looking, then anything can happen," he said."This does not augur well for human rights and the rule of law in Liberia."

Taylor threatens Malu

Taylor threatened on Thursday to kick out ECOMOG Force Commander Major General Victor Malu from Liberia if he does not show greater respect, AFP reported. Malu and Taylor have repeatedly clashed in recent weeks over the future of ECOMOG which is mandated to restructure the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) as the last part of the Abuja accords, which ended Liberia's seven-year civil conflict. Taylor maintains this role is his constitutional prerogative and sent 1,000 armed troops to the border with Sierra Leone against ECOMOG wishes. "I am the authority in Liberia and I will not accept any insubordination from anybody," Taylor told reporters. The Liberian president claimed the matter had been discussed in camera with the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Secretary-General and Nigerian Head of State General Sani Abacha during recent talks in Abuja.

Civil war spread AIDS

The civil war in Liberia dramatically increased spreading of the HIV virus, according to Liberian health workers, AFP reported. Listing examples of sexual abuse of women, rape, forced marriages and population displacement, AFP said the breakdown of infrastructure in Liberia also made AIDS awareness promotion difficult. "It is unfortunately sad that many people in Liberia do not believe that the HIV virus exist(s) in Liberia, and the disease is spreading rapidly," one health ministry worker said.

SIERRA LEONE: Kabbah steps up pressure on AFRC

Ousted Sierra Leone civilian president Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah told clandestine radio in Freetown on Friday that he has taken action to block state funds, AFP reported. Kabbah said legal action had been taken in Britain against a company responsible for printing Sierra Leone bank notes. This would block access by the ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to money held by the printer for the Sierra Leone government. The AFRC had tried to withdraw the money, Kabbah claimed. AFRC spokesman Allieu Kamara told AFP that the Kabbah government-in-exile has continued to wage diplomatic war on the AFRC, adding that foreign governments also blocked Sierra Leone funds in other countries.

GABON: State regulator clamps down on private media

The Gabonese Conseil National de la Communication (CNC) threatened to withdraw a private radio station's licence on Thursday, according to AFP. The state regulator accused Radio Soleil, one of only five private stations in the country, of tribalism and "inciting public disorder". According to a communique from CNC director Pierre Marie Dong, Radio Soleil criticised head of state Omar Bongo personally and accused him of supplying weapons to parties to the conflict in Congo. CNC also suspended three newspapers for publishing articles "stimulating discontent among citizens and disturbing public peace and order."

Abidjan, 5 Deecember 1997 19:30 gmt

[ends]

[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: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 19:50:06 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN - West Africa Update 98-97, 97.12.5 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971205194658.24702A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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