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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa
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IRIN-WA Weekly Round-Up 7 of Main Events for West Africa covering the period 12-18 February 1999
NIGERIA: Presidential race between Falae and Obasanjo
The presidential election on 27 Feburary will be contested between former finance minister Samuel Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy/All People's Party (AD/APP) and General Olusegun Obasanjo of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Falae was chosen as the AD/APP candidate on Monday, while the PDP nominated Obasanjo at the weekend with over 60 percent of the votes.
Speaking after his nomination, Obasanjo said the "polarisation of society between soldiers and civilians" had come to an end, the BBC reported. For his part, Falae said he was "physically, mentally and spiritually prepared for the race."
Although Falae - who belongs to the AD - will run on the APP platform, he stressed he was not a an APP member but was merely using its logo to contest the elections.
INEC, the body monitoring the elections, has consistently stated that in order for the alliance between the two parties to be legal, only one presidential candidate under one party logo can be nominated.
News organisations noted that the PDP swept recent local and state elections, making it the largest party in Nigeria which puts Obasanjo in a strong position to win the presidential elections.
Obasanjo fails to attend TV debate
A planned television debate on Wednesday between Nigeria's
two presidential candidates turned "farcical"
after Obasanjo failed to turn up, news organisations
reported. The live programme went out anyway, with
his rival Olu Falae taking full advantage of the occasion
to outline his position on various issues.
Falae, like Obasanjo earlier this week, pledged to pull Nigerian troops out of Sierra Leone if elected, a journalist who monitored the broadcast told IRIN. "It's unacceptable to be wasting Nigerian money abroad, while we're starving at home," Falae said. "We will bring our boys home from Sierra Leone within a year after serving notice to our West African partners."
Political analysts in Nigeria told IRIN Obasanjo had "shot himself in the foot" by not showing up for the debate. They described Falae as very articulate who was able to put forward his views unimpeded for an hour of prime time television.
Arrangements finalised for legislative poll
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has completed arrangements for legislative elections, due to be held on Saturday, Nigerian television reported.
INEC Chairman Justice Ephraim Akpata said election materials had been distributed throughout the country. On election day, movement would be restricted and voters should look out for "unscrupulous elements...who may wish to foment trouble".
Meanwhile, the Provisional Ruling Council announced that elected council chairmen and state governors will be sworn in simultaneously with the president on 29 May, the independent 'Guardian' newspaper reported. It quoted Navy Chief Rear Admiral Victor Mbu as saying that, therefore, the military would exit "in one fell swoop".
SIERRA LEONE: Humanitarian catastrophe developing, aid agencies warn
A humanitarian catastrophe is developing in eastern and southern Sierra Leone due the deteriorating situation in and around Kenema, UN and NGO sources told IRIN last Friday.
As more details emerged of last week's rebel attacks on the town, heightened security consciousness in nearby Bo, the country's second city, had limited or completely prevented new influxes of displaced people there. Consequently, some 200,000 people fleeing Kenema were stuck between the two towns, which are 60 km apart, although later reports said they had started returning home, encouraged by an increased security force presence.
The NGO, MERLIN, which has been operating in Kenema for three years, confirmed that a "huge humanitarian crisis" is in the making. The organisation told IRIN that four lactating mothers and their children were killed when rebels launched their attack on the hospital side of the town. The attack came without warning and traumatised the entire population. [ For more details please see IRIN item issued separately, headlined "Humanitarian crisis developing" ]
WFP warns of imminent food crisis in Freetown
WFP last Friday warned that the capital Freetown faced a "large-scale food crisis" in as little as three weeks. In a news release, the UN food agency noted it had previously estimated Freetown residents could face and extensive food crisis within two months.
"But continued insecurity caused by sporadic fighting between rebels and the Nigerian-led ECOMOG security forces has exacerbated food shortages in the city and displaced more people from their homes, leaving them with no food, water or shelter," the statement said.
In a separate press release, WFP announced it had opened four distribution centres in eastern Freetown which was wrecked by the recent fighting. Two-week rations were being distributed to about 32,000 people in the Ferry Junction, Kissy and Wellington areas. However some parts of eastern Freetown were still inaccessible.
Thousands flee rebel attack on Kambia
The missionary news agency MISNA said the situation in the western town of Kambia was critical following a rebel attack last week. It said people were fleeing towards Guinea amid rumours that rebel reinforcements were heading towards Kambia from Makeni. MISNA added that the Catholic mission in Kambia was looted on Friday and a priest was missing.
WFP confirmed the attack on Kambia and said about 18,000 displaced people were moving towards the Guinean border at Gbalamuya. Guinean troops of the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, had reportedly relocated their defences to the Kambia bridge, WFP said in its latest weekly report. There are no WFP stocks in the Kambia warehouse, the UN food agency added.
Government sends peace proposals to rebels
The Sierra Leone government has reportedly delivered a set of peace proposals to rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) via the US embassy in Freetown, according to news organisations. Diplomatic sources were quoted as saying arrangements were being made for the sides to hold talks on board a ship. President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah said he hoped the RUF would "see reason and come to the table for lasting peace".
The UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) is to help with peace talks between the government and rebels, according to news reports. A news release issued by the office of UN Special Envoy Francis Okelo said he had returned to Freetown and had been engaged in negotiations with neighbouring countries.
Fleeing refugees arrive in Liberia
Small numbers of exhausted refugees are arriving in Vahun, northern Liberia, fleeing rebel attacks in the Kenema area of Sierra Leone, a UNHCR spoksman told a press briefing on Tuesday. Ten new arrivals this week said they had been walking for four days and nights through the bush after escaping a rebel attack on the town of Segbewema. The town was previously under the control of the Kamajor traditional warriors who support President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
UNHCR cited the refugees as saying hundreds more people remained scattered in the forest. Over 1,000 people in the nearby town of Bomalu, 15 km from the Liberian border, are reportedly trying to break away from rebel control and flee. "This is just a little trickle, but we're probably seeing the tip of an iceberg of displacement", spokesman Kris Janowski said.
Bonino pledges cooperation when situation normalises
Visiting EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Emma Bonino, held talks with President Kabbah in Freetown on Tuesday and urged the authorities to facilitate access for humanitarian workers, news organisations reported. "Development cooperation on a long- and short-term basis will be undertaken in Sierra Leone when the situation normalises," she told the president.
Kabbah replied that the war was not a totally internal affair "but has a wider international dimension, as is evident in the arrest of foreign nationals in the war front". He called on the EU to "provide assistance in terms of logistics to help maintain and protect democracy".
Earlier, during a visit to Senegal, Bonino warned that instability from Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau could spread throughout West Africa if speedy political solutions were not found.
ECOMOG hands over child soldiers
Meanwhile the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, has handed over 33 child soldiers to UNICEF in Freetown, news reports said. The children aged from five to 14, include three girls, and were captured by ECOMOG when rebels launched their attack on Freetown last month. One of the children was quoted as saying the rebels had abducted them, armed them and taught them how to fight.
ECOMOG rejects allegations of summary executions
The West African intervention force, ECOMOG, has denied allegations in a UN report that it is summarly executing suspected rebels. In a radio broadcast on Saturday, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade said ECOMOG soldiers were "aware of the conventions that operate in war and none of us have been mandated to execute anyone".
A report by the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) on the human rights situation cited eyewitness accounts alleging the summary execution of suspected rebels or their sympathisers by ECOMOG and Civil Defence Forces (CDF). The UN report said, however, an evaluation of the behaviour of ECOMOG and CDF had to take account of the "provocative environment created by the extreme barbarity of the rebel forces".
On Wednesday, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, claimed that ECOMOG had arrested 100 soldiers in connection with the allegations, a charge denied by Olukolade.
Freetown port, airport operating again
The Sierra Leone trade ministry announced on Saturday that Lungi International Airport and the port of Freetown had reopened. "Ship owners, importers and shipping agencies can now resume normal commercial activities, as security is assured," a ministry statement said.
In a news release sent to IRIN, ECOMOG denied claims that Freetown port was unsafe. Spokesman Chris Olukolade said Sierra Leone's territorial waters were under "effective and vigilant patrol" by ECOMOG naval forces and there was "no cause for alarm".
GUINEA BISSAU: Rivals agree not to fight
President Joao Bernardo Vieira and his rival, rebel leader General Ansumane Mane, have pledged never again to resort to arms, AFP reported. At a meeting in Lome on Wednesday, hosted by Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, they discussed issues in an atmosphere of "brotherhood and mutual understanding", a joint statement said. They later left for Bissau on board the same plane. AFP said Mane had reportedly been offered the post of defence minister in a new government of national unity.
Mane led an army mutiny last June after being sacked as armed forces chief, accused of arming Senegalese separatists. Fighting broke out again late last month. Senegalese and Guinean troops, who came in to support Vieira, are due to be withdrawn from Guinea Bissau.
MALI: First ever accord signed to accept Rwanda genocide convicts
Mali has agreed to accommodate genocide convicts from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in its prisons, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported. According to an ICTR press release, agreement was signed last Friday between the Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, and the Malian government. Mali is the first country to sign a formal accord to this effect, and negotiations are under way with other countries such as Senegal and South Africa, Hirondelle said.
NIGER: Violence and vandalism force re-run of some local polls
Local elections are to be re-run in parts of Niger where violence and vandalism impeded vote counting earlier this month, AFP reported on Tuesday, citing electoral officials. The Independent National Election Commission (CENI) said partial polls would be repeated in constituencies where less than 70 percent of the results were declared. It did not name the constituencies.
Provisional results put a coalition of 11 opposition parties in the lead with 512 seats, against 356 for President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara's camp, AFP added.
Abidjan, 19 February 1999, 14:30 gmt
[ENDS]
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 14:55:02 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: Subject: IRIN-West Africa Weekly Round-up 7-99 for 1999.2.19
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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