UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup no 70 for 1998.10.16

IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup no 70 for 1998.10.16


U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

tel: +225 21 73 54 fax: +22521 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa africaonline.co.ci

IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup of Main Events for West Africa covering the period (Friday-Thursday) 9 - 15 October 1998

NIGERIA: Exiled Soyinka returns to tumultuous welcome

Thousands of chanting and dancing supporters gave Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka an enthusiastic welcome home on Wednesday after four years of exile. "His coming will help define direction for political groups," Akin Akingbulu, head of Nigeria's Independent Journalism Centre in Lagos, told IRIN.

Soyinka has called for a national conference to discuss Nigeria's future. However, military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar has already rejected that idea, saying the military would hand over power to an elected civilian president on 29 May 1999. Akingbulu said he expected Soyinka "to focus on transparency and consistency of the military so that they don't plant mines in this transition".

Soyinka fled in 1994 after Abacha banned him from travelling. General Abdulsalami Abubakar met Soyinka recently in New York and obtained an undertaking from the 1986 Nobel prize winner that he would return. Abubakar has dropped all treason charges against Soyinka and other exiles, freed political prisoners, set a timetable for the return to civil rule by May 1999.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth foreign ministers meeting in London last Friday said Nigeria should participate in its activities to "facilitate its early return" to the body. Media reports said the eight-nation Ministerial Action Group also recommended that individual Commonwealth members, which had imposed sanctions against Nigeria, "begin forthwith to lift them".

Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth in 1995 Abacha executed nine minority rights activists.

Shell regains three of 15 flow stations seized

The Anglo-Dutch oil company, Shell, said on Tuesday it had regained control of three of its 15 flow stations seized by Ijaw youths last week, but 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude were still locked in.

A senior company official in London told IRIN that the facilities were reoccupied after the intervention of the Niger Delta military administrator. The Shell official also said that staff returned to their posts at Forcados on Friday evening. The official said there were at least 30 different cases of its facilities being occupied or threatened with occupation.

Shell said there had been no systematic pull-out of foreign staff following an ultimatum which expired on Monday. The ultimatum was issued by the Federated Niger Delta Izon Communities without specifying what action would be taken.

Ijaw youths seized Shell's Forcados and Bonny terminals in the Niger Delta area on Friday, demanding the Nigerian government provide Ijaws with a local government. They also demanded more of the nation's oil money for the Delta.

Meanwhile, other news reports said youths seized two Chevron flow stations at Abiteye and Olero Creek on Monday, bringing production at these facilities to a halt. Both facilities pump oil to the Escravos terminal in the delta.

Rights group to sue Chevron over deaths

Lawyers for human rights activists plan to sue US oil giant Chevron for their alleged complicity in the deaths of two protesters on an offshore oil rig in May 1997, Reuters reported on Monday. The agency said a New York law firm, The Centre for Constitutional Rights, was reviewing the case for the concerned families, "with a view to filing suit".

Reuters reported that the dispute arose over the occupation of Chevron's Parabe offshore rig in the southeastern Niger Delta late in May by some 100 demonstrators. The complainants claim that two youths were shot dead by military and police personnel while the protestors were in negotiations with Chevron officials over compensation for environmental damage.

Three nations in joint operations against Chadian rebels

Chad, Niger and Nigeria are conducting joint military operations to flush out Chadian rebels from their suspected bases in the Lake Chad region of northern Nigeria, state radio reported on Wednesday quoting military spokesman Lieutenant Colonet Sam Tella in Abuja. He said that the rebels had crossed into Nigeria following problems in Chad.

SIERRA LEONE: Security a source of heightened concern

Political analysts told IRIN that the security situation in Sierra Leone was tense and a cause of concern within the international community. The sources mentioned reports of Liberian fighters moving "en masse" into the Kailahun district in Sierra Leone in an alleged bid to bolster the remnants of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and its ally, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), against the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, and the Sierra Leonean army. Government troops and ECOMOG have been trying to flush out the rebels from eastern and northern Sierra Leone.

Analysts say the rebels continue to carry out a campaign of terror on the civilian population by maiming, raping and looting. One source estimated that at least 5,000 fighters had crossed the border into Sierra Leone.

Sankoh calls Kabbah as defence witness

The leader of Sierra Leone's rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has called President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah as a defence witness in his treason trial, media reports said yesterday. The BBC quoted Foday Sankoh as saying Kabbah and two of his ministers, Dr Julius Spencer and Shirley Gbujama, had vital documents relevant to his case.

Sankoh reportedly rejected judge Justice Samuel Ademsu's proposal that Kabbah could tender the documents without appearing in person. Sankoh also stated his intention to call the chairman of Sierra Leone's former military junta, Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Paul Koroma, who is wanted by the civilian government for joining the RUF in a May 1997 military coup.

A Western legal expert told IRIN that Sankoh must have access to defence witnesses for his trial to meet international judicial standards. "If Kabbah refuses to come to court and there is no way to get hold of Koroma, Sankoh may have a case that he has not been given a fair trial. At the very least, he could demand a lengthy adjournment or show grounds for appeal," he said.

Child soldier registration starts

Child protection agencies in Sierra Leone have started registering hundreds of child soldiers in preparation for the launch of a demobilisation programme brokered earlier this month during the visit of UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy to the region, humanitarian sources told IRIN.

UNICEF in Sierra Leone said that it had implemented a programme in partnership with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs to register as many of Sierra Leone's child soldiers as possible based on a set of principles agreed between Bellamy and President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

A spokesperson said the demobilisation programme was not moving as quickly as anticipated, with less than 100 children so far demobilised.

Camp distributions completed

CARE International completed distribution earlier this week of an expanded vulnerable group feeding (VGF) cycle for over 41,000 displaced and local people in the Masingbi area of northern Sierra Leone.

CARE told IRIN on Wednesday that at least 690 mt of bulgar wheat, lentils and oil had been successfully delivered to beneficiaries. However, CARE had already started a second supplementary distribution of corn-soya-blend (CSB) biscuits to ensure people could stagger consumption of its main food basket throughout the month.

CARE's Acting Country Director Nick Webber said the agency's main office in Freetown that he had expected to help some 38,000 beneficiaries. He added the agency had also had to include local people in the distribution, whose coping capacities had been strained by hosting such a large displaced population.

Amnesty International appeals death sentences

The London-based human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has appealed against death sentences passed this week on 34 members of Sierra Leone's former Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC). Amnesty told IRIN on Tuesday that the soldiers, who included a former armed forces chiefs of staff and the brother of AFRC chairman Johnny Paul Koroma, could face the firing squad "imminently".

However, Amnesty said the court martial sentences on the 33 men and one woman had fallen short of international judicial standards because they had no legal right of appeal.

Humanitarian sources in Freetown told IRIN they believed President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah would have little public support for clemency. ECOMOG declares northern and eastern regions unsafe.

LIBERIA: Thirty-two people charged with treason

The Liberian government has formally charged 32 people with treason and conspiring to overthrow the government of President Charles Taylor, media reports said on Friday. The 32, many of whom were charged in absentia, include the ethnic Krahn leader and wartime rival of Taylor, Roosevelt Johnson.

Johnson took refuge in the US embassy after government forces raided the Krahn stronghold in central Monrovia 18 September and was subsequently flown out of the country. Those indicted are accused of "recruiting and training dissidents" and meeting to discuss plans to overthrow the government.

On Friday, the government said it regretted a shooting incident at the US embassy in Monrovia in which two US citizens were wounded after Johnson hid in the embassy.

In a statement received by IRIN last Friday the national chairman of the All Liberian Conference of North America, James Kaye, thanked the US government for facilitating Johnson's departure. He alleged government security forces had subjected ethnic Krahns in Monrovia to a "witch hunt and secret killings".

On Thursday, Liberia's leading human rights group, the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), told IRIN that it "totally rejected" ministry of information accusations earlier in the week that it has "incited the people" against President Charles Taylor's government. The quarrel broke out following September's fighting in the capital, Monrovia. The JPC issued a statement calling on the government to investigate the origins of the conflict and demonstrate there had been no subsequent campaign of reprisals against Johnson's ethnic Krahn group.

MSF close hospital

Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) told IRIN on Wednesday it had agreed with Liberia's ministry of health to shut down its main emergency hospital in the capital, Monrovia. MSF's head of mission in Liberia Edwin Vandenburg said the international medical agency had been looking for a more permanent solution to central Monrovia's hospital needs since October last year, but had not found a satisfactory alternative.

He said Liberia's government had favoured rehabilitating Monrovia's main John F. Kennedy Memorial hospital, but the work needed was beyond available resources. Use of a former children's hospital, located near the MSF-run Swederelief facility, was also ruled out when the ministry took over the building to use as offices, MSF said. The only remaining sustainable option, Vandenburg said, was to support the ministry's Redemption Hospital, also on Bushrod Island, but with only 50 beds it was the capacity of that of Swederelief.

GUINEA BISSAU: UN says people return to capital

A UN Inter-agency mission that visited Guinea Bissau recently found that "a significant number" of people had returned to the capital, Bissau. WFP said in its latest weekly report that about 60-70 percent of internally displaced people had returned to Bissau from the Bafata region.

However, it said the mission could not confirm the current number of people in Bissau, estimated at 200,000 by the Swedish Embassy. The mission said small businesses had reopened and that telephones, electricity and water supplies were functioning. The mission was composed of OCHA, WFP, WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR and UNDP. They visited Bafata, Gabu, Canchungo, Jolmete, Mansoa and Bissau from 28 September to 2 October.

UNITED NATIONS: WFP says food crises are on the rise

WFP said on Wednesday that food crises round the world were increasing, with many more people suffering from malnutrition and hunger now than a year ago.

WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini said, in the statement, the UN agency had increased its food aid to millions of people because of the impact of natural disasters, economic emergencies and man-made catastrophes on their lives. She said the El Nino phenomenon had exacerbated drought and flooding in Africa and other parts of the world.

CHAD-SUDAN: Governments deny report that Chadian soldiers are in Sudan

Chad and Sudan denied a report that Chadian troops were sent last week to Juba in southern Sudan to bolster Sudanese government troops in their battle against the rebels, AFP reported on Tuesday. The dispatch quoted Chadian Information Minister Bessane Sekimbaye as saying that the report on the airlift of Chadian troops to southern Sudan was "baseless" and "a string of lies".

A statement issued on Sunday by the secretary-general of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Moubarak al-Mahdi, claimed that the Chadian government had dispatched 1,000 soldiers to southern Sudan last week. According to Voice of Sudan radio, al-Mahdi condemned the Sudanese government for using a foreign force to support the civil war and called on Chadian President Idriss Deby to "stop the aggression against the Sudanese people."

Chad has sent some 1,000 troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in support of government troops battling rebels in parts of the country.

CAMEROON: Journalist leaves prison after presidential pardon

Pius Njawe, a well-known Cameroonian newspaper editor, was released from prison on Monday after a presidential pardon cut short his one-year jail term on charges of publishing "false information" on the health of Cameroon president Paul Biya, news agencies reported.

AFP quoted Njawe upon his release from the Douala prison as saying: "These ten months of detention have been an occasion to discover living standards in Cameroonian prisons and the disfunctioning of justice which more often than not, causes injustice". He added that he had not asked for a "pardon" and was "indifferent" to Biya's decision.

GHANA: Severe water shortage around Accra

Ghana's National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) said yesterday it was battling to ease a severe water shortage in the areas around Accra, the nation's capital. Grass and shrublands have been mainly affected after natural water sources and hand-dug well dried up, AFP reported quoting NADMO. Now, people and cattle have just "meagre supplies available". NADMO has already spent 400 million cedis (US $250,000) to transport water to areas where piped water is unavailable. Heavy rains have caused serious flooding this year in Sahelian regions of West Africa but rainfall has been scarce in the coastal areas.

MALI: Former Malian president goes on trial

Former Malian President Moussa Traore, and his wife Miriam, appeared in court on Monday on charges of economic crimes, including the embezzlement of some US $4 million. Traore, 62, a former army general who ruled for 23 years, has been in prison since his overthrow in a 1992 which paved the way for democratic elections.

GUINEA BISSAU: City quiet following weekend shooting

Humanitarian sources in Guinea Bissau's capital told IRIN on Monday that the city was quiet following renewed shooting at the weekend between army rebels and government troops backed by an intervention force from neighbouring Senegal.

The three-month conflict ended with a truce in July. However, media reports said fighting had broken out again near Bissau's main airport following an alleged attempt by rebels to infiltrate government-held areas to the north of the city. According to one source, President Joao Bernardo Vieira appealed to his troops to cease all offensive activities on Saturday, but his move came was too late to stop hundreds of people fleeing affected parts of the city.

Abidjan 16 October 1998 19:00 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-weekly]

Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 19:20:27 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup no 70 for 1998.10.16 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.981016191935.8120A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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