UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Weekly Round-up 6-99 for 1999.2.12

IRIN-West Africa Weekly Round-up 6-99 for 1999.2.12


U N I T E D N A T I O N S

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

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

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-Up 6 of Main Events for West Africa covering the period 5-11 February 1999

SIERRA LEONE: Tens of thousands of people flee Kenema

Some 60,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), fleeing rebel attacks in the eastern town of Kenema, were stopped from entering the nearby city of Bo, at the Jembeh checkpoint manned by the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, 23 kilometres away, aid officials told IRIN on Thursday. "These people are now stranded there in the bush," Wagdi Othman, WFP regional information officer, said. An estimated 200,000 people are stranded between Bo and Kenema.

However, a Guinea-based aid worker also told IRIN that ECOMOG was trying to persuade the IDPs to return to Kenema, reportedly retaken by ECOMOG. The force has been blocking the mass movement of civilians into towns because anti-government rebels have, in the past, disguised themselves as IDPs to infiltrate urban areas.

WFP said it had no access to its food warehouses in Kenema nor fuel to transport the IDPs to another site. The agency is feeding 5,000 people in Bo, 60 km to the west, but does not have enough food in this town to take care of the IDPs at Jembeh, Othman said.

Kabbah's peace initiative unaffected by rebel attacks - spokesman

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Thursday that despite the rebel attack on Kenema, this week, President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's offer of a peace dialogue was "very sincere". Rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) spokesman Omrie Golley said his group were awaiting government proposals on how to proceed. Third parties, such as the OAU and Commonwealth Secretariat, were involved in contacts between the two sides, Kaikai said but added he was unaware a venue had yet been picked for meetings. However, AFP reported that Togo, which chairs the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), had offered to host the talks.

UN Special Representative for Sierra Leone Francis Okelo described Kabbah's initiative as a "positive step" and said it was important for the rebels to "respond positively".

The dust settles in Freetown

In Freetown, where bloody battles were fought early January, life was "approaching normality", Kaikai said. The Freetown correspondent of Monrovia-based Star Radio said calm was also returning to the devastated eastern suburb of Wellington and residents were rebuilding makeshift homes. However, other residents are still fleeing. Last week 400 arrived in Conakry, capital of neighbouring Guinea.

US sends war crimes investigator to Freetown

US State Department announced on Wednesday that the US War Crimes investigator, David Scheffer, was in Sierra Leone looking into issues related to the conflict there. A spokesman said Washington considered the rebel attacks as "totally indefensible". Acknowledging that the Nigerians had "paid a heavy price for their commitment to peace" in the country, the US government said it would seek congressional approval for an additional US $4 million for communications equipment, spare parts and trucks for ECOMOG.

GUINEA BISSAU: Date set for withdrawal of foreign troops

Guinean and Senegalese troops backing beleaguered President Joao Bernardo Vieira are to ship out of Guinea Bissau beginning on Sunday and thus paving the way along the rocky road to peace.

The pullout agreement was reached at a meeting of Guinea Bissau's Joint Military Commission comprising the loyalists, anti-Vieira forces and representatives of the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG; the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, said on Wednesday.

Under the deal, 1,200 of the estimated 3,000 Guinean and Senegalese would go first and the remainder will have left by 28 February. Then, the disarmament of loyalist and anti-government troops would get underway. The withdrawals of Guineans and Senegalese were conditions set by the self-styled Military Junta, for the functioning of a government of national unity formed nearly one month ago. The pullouts and the arrival of ECOMOG were also part of a peace pact signed in November 1998 by rival forces.

In a related issue Germany's development cooperation minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said on Tuesday that African and European countries needed to follow the French example and help fund ECOMOG's operations in Guinea Bissau. She was speaking in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, where she was attending trade negotiations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.

Radio war over as rivals urge reconciliation

Rebel and state radio stations in Guinea Bissau have ceased warlike broadcasts and have, instead, been calling for national reconciliation after last week's fighting in the capital, AFP reported. Earlier this week the protagonists in the conflict, Vieira and sacked Armed Forces Chief of Staff Ansumane Mane, expressed a desire to meet each other as a confidence-building measure to bolster the fragile peace process.

Bissau's isolation lifted as major road reopens

Cut off by weeks of fierce fighting, Bissau emerged from its isolation on Wednesday as the the country's Joint Military Verification and Control Commission ordered the reopening of the main highway northward out of the besieged capital, AFP reported. The Military Junta spokesman, Major Zamora Induta, said on junta Radio Bombolom that politicians and other citizens could now move freely across battle lines separating government and junta troops, AFP reported.

Portugal flies in 10 mt of emergency aid

A Portuguese air force C-130 Hercules transport plane left Lisbon for Guinea Bissau on Wednesday with 10 mt of emergency medical and food aid, Lusa said, citing ministry of defence officials. The consignment, provided by Portuguese aid organisations, includes medicines, surgical equipment, baby food and mineral water. However, reports the day before said Bissau residents continued to flee in response to appeals by the junta and despite a lull in the fighting.

During this period, local radio stations warned of the possibility of epidemics due to people drinking polluted water, the missionary news agency, MISNA, reported on Monday. An insufficient number of wells has meant people have been drinking directly from rice paddies where corpses have been abandoned. A WFP plane flew 20,000 doses of meningitis vaccine on Monday to Bafata, the country's second city, to halt the epidemic.

Last of ECOMOG troops leave for Bissau

A company of 140 Gambian ECOMOG soldiers arrived at Bissau port on Wednesday and were due to take up positions on land Friday, news reports said. They will be joining some 460 other peacekeepers from Benin, Niger and Togo. However Nigeria, which has been the main contributor to ECOMOG in Sierra Leone and Liberia, said it would not send men to Guinea Bissau, PANA reported on Saturday. Nigerian leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar told the agency in Dakar "Nigeria's hands are full" but said it would help with logistics and make other facilities available.

GUINEA: UNHCR begins refugee census

UNHCR on Wednesday began a long-awaited census of refugees living in the forest region of Guinea, according to a news release from the agency. The exercise was due to take place in December but was postponed because of presidential elections. There are an estimated 431,000 refugees, mostly in the Gueckedou region. Of these, some 333,260 are Sierra Leoneans and 98,440 are Liberians.

UNHCR says the week-long census is important for several reasons, one of which is that it would allow the Guinean government, UNHCR and its partners to determine their areas of origin of the refugees in the event of future voluntary repatriation and reintegration.

NIGERIA: Key fuel refinery resumes operations

The Kaduna fuel refinery in northern Nigeria has resumed operations, pumping some 1.5 million litres of fuel a day to a depot in the region, the plant's manager told AFP last Friday. The restoration of the refinery is a step to ending the chronic fuel crisis in Nigeria, caused five years ago when three of the four refineries slowed or stopped working.

In a related development, Royal Dutch/Shell announced on Wednesday a restructuring of its Nigerian oil production unit, the independent Lagos daily, The Guardian', reported. In a statement, Shell said the measure was "in response to the emerging challenges in the oil and gas industry worldwide", and would mean the shedding of some 700 employees.

Shell also said it was still trying to fine-tune an international investment of US $8.5 billion for integrated oil and gas projects in Nigeria announced this week, AFP reported. Shell's proposal, a spokesman said, were being worked out with the government.

INEC extends presidency nomination date

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended by three days to Monday, the presidential candidate nomination date. Following this announcement the largest party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), postponed its national convention until this weekend. So far, only one of the country's three political parties, the southwest-based Alliance for Democracy (AD), has picked its candidate for the 27 February presidential elections.

Government officials meet party leaders to "calm tensions"

President Abdulsalami Abubukar did not attend a planned meeting on Monday with leaders of the country's three political parties following his decision to attend the funeral of King Hussein of Jordan, the BBC reported. However, the meeting, called in an apparent effort to "calm tensions" over the selection of presidential candidates went ahead with government officials and Abubakar was represented by his deputy, Vice Admiral Okhai Akhigbe, the BBC said.

Government inaugurates committee to oversee handover to civilian rule

The terms of a proposed alliance between the All People's Party and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), in a bid to win the upcoming legislative and presidential elections are illegal, the Independent National Electoral Commission said last Friday.

The alliance was created in a bid to defeat Nigerian's largest party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), in elections later this month. The PDP earlier threatened to pull out of the elections if INEC approved the alliance, Nigeria Radio reported.

Ex-Botswanan president to head Commonwealth observer team

The former president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire, will lead a 23-member Commonwealth observer team to oversee national assembly and presidential elections this month, the Commonwealth secretariat announced on Monday in London, PANA reported. Electoral arrangements leading to civilian rule began with local elections in December, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly elections in January.

NIGER: Some disturbances in "landmark poll"

In Niger, the first local elections since independence in 1960 went ahead on 7 February, although some disturbances were reported leading to a re-run in several areas including the capital Niamey, news organisations said. They said the poll was a political landmark in Niger's history as previously all municipal officials were nominated by the central government. The elections were the last phase in the country's restoration of democratic institutions after a military coup in 1996 which brought President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara to power.

GHANA: Four coup plotters sentenced to death

Four civilians were sentenced to death on Wednesday for plotting to overthrow the Ghanaian government in 1994, news organisations reported. A fifth defendant was acquitted. AFP said that according to the public prosecutor, the four had been living in Britain before coming to Ghana to recruit mercenaries and buy arms and ammunition. They were arrested only hours before the planned overthrow of President Jerry Rawlings, AFP said.

Abidjan, 12 February 1999, 15:40 gmt

[ENDS]

Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 15:55:02 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Weekly Round-up 6-99 for 1999.2.12

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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