UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-West Africa Weekly Roundup 36, 98.2.20

IRIN-West Africa Weekly Roundup 36, 98.2.20


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

IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 36 of Main Events in West Africa covering the period (Friday-Thursday) 13-19 February 1998

SIERRA LEONE: Junta ousted as ECOMOG consolidates control, UN returns

The Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, this week gained control of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, and ousted the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which seized power in a coup last May. The moved paved the way for the return of the country's elected president, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Kabbah, who has been in exile in Conakry, capital of neighbouring Guinea, said he planned to return to Freetown "within the next few days".

The United Nations Special Envoy, Francis Okelo, said after an assessment mission to Freetown on Wednesday that he, too, planned to transfer from Conakry to Freetown. He told IRIN that his visit marked the formal return of the UN to Sierra Leone. He said the country's key requirements were food, medicine and immediate shelter for those who had lost their homes during the ECOMOG take-over of Freetown.

Skirmishes in the countryside continue

As ECOMOG consolidated its hold over the capital, skirmishes were reported in the countryside as AFRC fighters and their allies of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacked villages, torched houses and stole livestock in the west of the country. News organisations reported that the districts under attack included Port Loko, Kambia, Masiaka, Rogbere Junction and Bamoi Junction. Sporadic clashes were also reported in areas less than 100 km north of Freetown.

In the country's second city, Bo, 150 km south of Freetown, the French NGO, Action Contre la Faim (ACF), reported food shortages similar to those in the capital, and said the situation was "alarming". Buildings where aid workers had taken refuge were ransacked during the week in a series of AFRC counter-attacks. The Liberia-based ECOMOG Force Commander, Major General Timothy Shelpidi, meanwhile, called on AFRC soldiers in the countryside to surrender their arms and ammunition.

Aid workers abducted

Two representatives of the NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), in Sierra Leone were reported abducted on Tuesday, bringing to seven the number of Western aid workers kidnapped by retreating AFRC soldiers. AFP quoted MSF's office in Paris as saying that Jean Bernard, a French logistician, and Milton Tectonidis, a Canadian doctor, were on an assessment mission north of Freetown when they disappeared on Saturday afternoon. Church workers earlier told Reuters three Spaniards, an Italian, an Austrian, a Cameroonian and a Sierra Leonean, all missionaries, were being held at Lunsar, 60 km northeast of Freetown.

Senior AFRC men arrested

Meanwhile, two senior officers of the ousted AFRC were arrested on the Guinean border this week, AFP reported on Thursday. They were identified as army chief of staff Colonel Samuel Williams and former minister of works Colonel Saaba.

Refugee boats capsize

At least 140 people who had fled Freetown by sea were reported on Thursday to have drowned after their boat capsized. An AFP report quoting Sierra Leone radio also said 60 others were believed to have drowned in a similar accident at the weekend near Conakry Dee, 10 km from Freetown.

ECOMOG reinforcements

The Nigerian foreign minister, Tom Ikimi, who also visited Freetown this week at the head of a delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said he expected reinforcements from other nations in the region to help bolster the ECOMOG contingent in Sierra Leone. According to the opposition Kudirat radio, some 150 Nigerian troops seriously wounded in the battle for Freetown were evacuated to Lagos at the weekend for medical treatment. Although no official casualty figures were given, unofficial sources quoted by the radio station said some 300 ECOMOG troops had been killed and 500 wounded.

LIBERIA: Dispute over AFRC arrest in Monrovia

In Monrovia, Shelpidi met Liberian President Charles Taylor to discuss the arrests earlier in the week of AFRC officials who fled to the Liberian capital. Taylor said that his government would protest to ECOWAS and the United Nations because he considered the arrests a violation of the Liberian sovereignty. But Liberian opposition parliamentarians advised the government to reject any asylum requests from the AFRC. Granting asylum to AFRC representatives, they said, could compromise Liberia's neutrality.

Resettlement plans for displaced people

The Liberian government, meanwhile, announced a US$ 5 million resettlement plan for an estimated 220,000 internally displaced people, Star Radio reported. The Liberian Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, with the support of the UNHCR and the European Union, said it would provide transportation, food, temporary shelters, seeds and farming tools to those returning home. The resettlement operation was scheduled to begin at the end of the month.

Rival faction leader accuses Taylor

In a separate development, a one-time rival of President Taylor during the country's seven-year civil war accused Taylor of staffing Liberia's new security exclusively with members of his own former faction. The former rival, Roosevelt Johnson, who was appointed minister for rural development after Taylor's presidential election victory last July, said Taylor was "packing the army with his own men" from the former National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NPFL). "There is no one in the ministry of defence who is not a former NPFL member," Johnson was quoted as saying.

Johnson rejected claims by Taylor at the weekend that he was re-arming his own fighters. "We just want to promote peace and national stability," Johnson said.

Last month, Taylor retired over 2,500 soldiers from the Liberian army. Most were from Johnson's Krahn ethnic group, media reports said. A Liberia analyst in Monrovia told IRIN there had been increasing signs of tension between the former Liberian factions.

NIGERIA: Detained leaders appear before military tribunal

Twenty-six people went on trial in Nigeria this week on charges of plotting to overthrow General Sani Abacha's military government. If found guilty the suspects could face execution by firing squad. The main defendant, General Oladipo Diya, Abacha's former deputy, said he had been "set up" by people "high up" in the government. Diya said he was "surprised that the chief of army staff, who is the mastermind [General Ishaya Bamayi], is not here". His remarks were made when the trial opened before a military tribunal on Saturday.

The tribunal's chairman, Major General Victor Malu, said that the trial would be "fair", adding that the suspects would have unrestricted access to documents and information they needed to defend themselves. Some of the defendants had complained earlier that they had not been allowed their reading glassses or adequate lighting to prepare a defence. The defendants would be allowed military lawyers of their choice approved by the tribunal.

Although the opening session was public, the remainder of the trial expected to last a month, would be held behind closed doors. The government, however, said people wishing to attend as "observers" could seek written permission from the tribunal. Besides Diya, those in the dock include 15 other army officers. Ten civilians, among them former government ministers, security officers, policemen, Diya's political adviser, a newspaper editor and a secretary make up the remainder.

Western countries and local human rights groups have demanded a fair and transparent hearing for the alleged plotters.

Jailed journalist awarded UNESCO prize

UNESCO Director-General Frederico Mayor this week awarded the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom prize to the jailed Nigerian journalist, Christina Anyanwu. The president of UNESCO's advisory group for press freedom, Claude Moisy, told AFP said that "Anyanwu had been suffering under extremely harsh prison conditions in a country where the independent press and freedom of information have almost disappeared". She was reportedly suffering from typhoid, malaria and high blood pressure.

Anyanwu, publisher and editor of Lagos-based 'Sunday Magazine', was arrested after publishing an article about an alleged 1995 coup attempt against Abacha. She was sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal after a secret trial the same year.

SENEGAL: Amnesty reports "massive" human rights violations

The London-based human rights group, Amnesty International, this week said the government of Senegal and separatist rebels had seriously violated human rights in the southern province of Casamance. Amnesty said security forces routinely used torture against people accused of collaborating with the rebels, at times electrocuting or savagely beating suspects. Many arrested people had simply disappeared. It said the main rebel group, the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC), had continued to kill villagers who refused to give them food or money, or those suspected of collaborating with the government.

Separatists kill seven

On Tuesday, suspected MFDC rebels killed seven people in a fishing village in northern Casamance. News dispatches said an estimated 20 attackers also looted shops in Saloulou village, stealing food and money. The same night, another person was killed and one injured in a separate attack on another nearby village.

Separatists vow not to use land mines

The separatists, meanwhile, pledged to stop using anti-personnel mines in their fight against the government, AFP reported. It said the pledge had been made after the International Federation of Human Rights (IFHR) had blamed the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) for planting mines which had maimed and killed many people.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Amnesty concerns on rights violations

Amnesty International also said this week it was concerned at the treatment of suspects rounded up by the Equatorial Guinea authorities following separatist attacks in Bioko island last month. The human rights group said at least four people had died in detention after being tortured.

Amnesty said one of the victims, Carmelo Yeck Bohopo, 60, had been arrested after a church service and had died in custody on 9 February, three days after a "severe beating". "Scores of other people have been arrested following attacks on the military barracks on 21 January and Amnesty has received reports that many of them have been tortured," it said. "At least three other people are also reported to have died as a result."

Most of those held were members of the minority Bubi ethnic group native to Bioko. The authorities have blamed the attacks on the separatist Movimiento para la Autodeterminacion de la Isla de Bioko (MAIB).

GUINEA: Mutiny trial adjourned

Ninety-six soldiers, including former defence minister Colonel Abdourahmane Diallo, went on trial on Friday in connection with a mutiny, which turned into an attempted coup d'etat in 1996. The trial was adjourned to 26 February at the request of the defence lawyers, who said they had not had access to their clients for the last three months. The soldiers have been charged with compromising national security, murder, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy.

The presidential palace was partially destroyed and shops looted in the Guinean capital, Conakry, during the two-day 1996 rebellion over low pay. Some 50 people were killed and 300 injured during the mutiny.

Opposition demands president's resignation

Opposition leaders in Guinea, however, called for the resignation of President Lansana Conte. Mamadou Ba, president of the Coordination de l'Opposition Democratique (CODEM), said the mutiny signalled a rejection of Conte. "He should take the wise decision to resign, even just out of pride," Ba said.

CHAD: Journalists sentenced for libelling president

Two Chadian journalists were given two-year suspended sentences on charges of libelling President Idriss Deby of Chad in an article which appeared in the weekly 'N'Djamena Hebdo'. The newspaper publisher, Begoto Oulatar, told IRIN that his paper had been under government scrutiny since 1995. Oulatar said the paper's latest problems had stemmed from an article accusing Deby of pandering to the northerners, while neglecting the south. Oulatar's defence lawyers said they would appeal against the court's decision.

BENIN: Civil servants strike

Civil servants in in Benin backed by five trade unions went on strike this week to press for pay increases agreed in 1996. Trade union sources in the capital, Cotonou, told IRIN that the strike had brought stoppages to government-run services, including education establishments and broadcasting.

As negotations dragged on during the week, post and telecommunications workers on Thursday called for a 24-hour stoppage in support of the civil service strike. They said the government's budget did not address the problems of poverty.

CAMEROON: Fuel train disaster claims 150 lives

The Cameroonian government has set up a commission of inquiry into the fuel train disaster which killed 150 people. The deaths occured when taxi drivers and local people rushed to the scene of a derailment following a collision between two trains. The authorities said the massive explosion was sparked by a lighted cigarette as people scooped highly volatile fuel in any containers they could carry. At least 100 people were being treated for severe burns by a team of specialists flown out from France.

WEST AFRICA: Nigerian finance minister says monetary union on course

Nigeria's Finance Minister, Anthony Ani, announced that West African monetary union was still on course despite the cancellation of a summit on Monday to discuss a single currency. According to Ani, West African finance ministers had reached consensus on a single monetary zone. He did not elaborate further.

A West African economist told IRIN most observers were concerned that differences between English and French-speaking states had exacerbated the problem. "The Francophone countries will want to keep their existing common currency because it is backed by France not Nigeria," the source said.

Abidjan, 20 February 13:15 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: Sun, 22 Feb 1998 15:03:34 +0300 (GMT+0300) Subject: IRIN-West Africa Weekly Roundup 36, 98.2.20 Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.980222150120.32379A-100000@dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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