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IRIN-WA Update 208 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 15 May 1998
NIGERIA: Oil companies face new pressure on human rights
Representatives of Mobil employees in the United States told IRIN on Friday that they had stepped up a campaign with their company to seek the release of two oil union leaders in Nigeria. They also backed a campaign by the international human rights NGO, Amnesty International, seeking guidelines "for investing in countries where there is a pattern to human rights abuse" or where "Mobil's financial performance might be threatened by international criticism and consumer boycotts".
Carolyn Lauer, spokeswoman for Mobil's 1 million membership Service Employees International Union (SEIU) told IRIN that the resolution seeking new guidlines had been supported by 6.7 percent of the vote on Thursday at Mobil's annual shareholders meeting. "This was a major step forward because the vote garnered enables us to raise the matter at next year's meeting." She said Mobil had to take action on behalf of its two "duly elected Nigerian employees", Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi, both of whom have been imprisoned without trial.
Similar meetings have been held recently at Royal Dutch/Shell Group headquarters in The Netherlands, she said. In a related development, Reuters earlier quoted Amnesty's secretary general, Pierre Sane, as saying he wanted to cooperate with oil companies working in Nigeria, Algeria, Colombia and Burma, but would not hesitate to campaign against them if he thought that would be effective. He wanted to get the oil giants to observe new codes of conduct which would be implemented under independent supervision.
Journalists fired
Three journalists with the Ondo State Television Corporation have been given letters of dismissal by their management "for disloyalty and subversive activities against the government", according to the international press watchdog, IFEX. The three, Rotimi Obamuwagun, Seinde Adeniyi and Ola Basmidele were fired on 11 May.
IFEX said that although the precise nature of the alleged disloyalty was unxplained, their dismissal had been recommended by a local military official.
Taylor apologises to Nigerian journalists
Meanwhile, Liberian President Charles Taylor apologised to the Nigerian government over the reported harassment in March of a group of Nigerian journalists by Liberian security agents in Monrovia, PANA reported on Friday. It said the 19 journalists, led by the Director of Defence Information, Col Godwin Ugbo, had stopped over in the Liberian capital from a reporting assignment in Sierra Leone, when they were reportedly "man-handled" by Liberian security agents.
NIGER: Newspaper crisis eased
President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara has ordered the country's national lottery to bail out 10 private newspapers which were closed during the week for failure to pay their taxes, news reports said on Friday. The decision followed a meeting with newspaper executives at which Mainassara said that the newspapers would carry free advertisements for the Niger National Lottery in exchange for its payments of their tax arrears.
The closure ordered on Wednesday marked an increase in tension between the authorities and independent newspapers with some journalists calling the tax issue a political ploy by the authorities to reign in the press. Africa No 1 Radio said that although the affair had a "happy ending", the measure had been "strongly criticised in media circles in Niger and abroad as a deliberate attempt by the government to put an end to the existence of the independent media, which it accused of being in the pay of the opposition".
LIBERIA: Taylor moves against tribalism
The Liberian president, Charles Taylor, has announced that inciting ethnic divisions will be treated as treason, according to media reports on Friday. In an address marking National Unification Day, Taylor was quoted by Reuters as saying: "It will be a treasonable offence for anyone to incite ethnic division such as identifying people by their tribes." He also said he would seek legislations banning the use of the labels "Congo" to describe the descendants of freed slaves and "Country" to describe those without roots in slavery.
"Ethnic Krahns sould get married to Gios and Mandingos should get married to Lormas," said Taylor who is descended from freed American slaves but who claims Gio roots. "We must get married to the Mandingo too. As the father of the nation, I will take the lead."
US diplomat positive on Liberia
The US ambassador to Liberia, William Milam, has praised developments in the country since Taylor's election last year after seven years of civil war, Star Radio reported on Friday. The ambassador, in an interview with the independent radio station, cited improvements in national reconciliation, press freedom and human rights. He saw the appointment of some opposition figures to government posts as a sign of reconciliation. But, he added that further progress was still to be made.
Insecurity threatens local election
Star Radio reported on Friday that the Liberia National Union (LINU) had threatened to boycott the senate by-election Lofa county near the Sierra Leone border because of insecurity in the region. LINU chairman, Jonathan Weedor, told Star Radio that he was concerned about fighting across the border and a growing influx of refugees from Sierra Leone. He also said that the Elections Commission had yet to say how many people were eligible to vote. Unless these issues were resolved, his party would not participate in the election.
SENEGAL: Man stabbed at election meeting
A man was stabbed to death at an election meeting east of the capital, Dakar, organised by Senegal's governing Socialist Party, news agencies reported on Friday.
The incident occurred in Bembey, 123 km east of Dakar, where rival factions were preparing for a campaign rally ahead of the 24 May parliamentary elections. No further details of the incident were reported.
Senegal targets 25 percent of GDP investment by 2000
President Abdou Diouf, outlining his 1998-2000 economic
policy, has projected growth of six percent a year
and investment of 25 percent of Gross Domestic Product
by the turn of the century, Reuters reported on Friday.
Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 2.9 percent in 1994 and topped an average of five percent from 1995-97. In 1997, real GDP was 5.2 percent. "Given potential that has yet to be exploited, the objective of six percent growth for the coming years is clearly within reach," Diouf said.
BENIN: New cabinet appointed
President Mathieu Kerekou of Benin announced on Thursday a new 18-member cabinet following the resignation last week of Prime Minister Adrien Houngbedji, AFP reported. It quoted a government spokesman as saying the new team included 13 newcomers of whom three had served under an earlier Kerekou government from 1972 to 1989.
MALI: CORRECTION
In the IRIN West Africa Update 207 report on the Japanese aid worth 5 billion CFA francs to Mali, this amount was given as US$ 8.3 billion. The correct figure should have been US$ 8.3 million
Abidjan, 14 May 1998, 16:45 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, 15 May 1998 16:51:14 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 208, 98.5.15 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980515164813.23644A-p://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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