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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup of Main Events 56 for West Africa covering the period (Friday-Thursday) 3 July - 9 July 1998
NIGERIA: Abiola, key political prisoner dies
Nigeria's most prominent political prisoner, Moshood Abiola, died of a heart attack on Tuesday. Media reports quoting a government announcement said Abiola, 60, had "taken ill during a meeting" with the country's new military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, and the visiting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Pickering. Abiola's death, according to state radio, was apparently the result of a heart attack. It occurred hours before he was due to be released after nearly four years in jail.
"With the consent of his family, the federal government ordered a full post-mortem examination to ascertain the actual cause of death with the full participation of his personal physicians," the statement said. An international team of pathologists was expected in Lagos at the end of the week to help establish exactly how the man widely believed to have been the winner of the 1993 presidential elections had died.
Analysts said hopes for a major reduction in political tension in Nigeria were pinned on Abiola's impending release which was announced during a high profile visit last week by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Abiola was the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential elections which were annulled by the then military government.
Abubakar, who took power on 9 June, hours after the death of his predecessor, General Sani Abacha, has since released around 30 political prisoners and engaged in talks with opposition leaders.
Opposition suspects foul play
Although Pickering said he did not suspect foul play, Nigeria's opposition blamed the military government for his death. A representative of the Nigerian Medical Association -- which had already demanded Abiola's release on health grounds -- said it held the junta "responsible" for his death even if it had not directly killed him, AFP reported.
His daughter, Hafsat, told CNN news: "We have been trying for 18 months to get my father access to his doctor," she said. "He died either because medical neglect brought on a heart attack or because they poisoned him."
Pickering was the highest ranking American official to visit the country since sanctions were imposed in 1995 following the execution of nine human rights activist including, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
World leaders react
South Africa's President Nelson Mandela and Annan expressed their sorrow at Abiola's death, urging Nigeria to speed up the process of democratic reform. Meanwhile, US President Bill Clinton said he had been encouraged by steps taken towards democracy following Abacha's death. But White House Spokesman Mike McCurry said Abiola's untimely death had given rise "to uncertainty about the conditions for the political transition back to the democracy that the United States and the world community so anxiously desires."
Meanwhile, South African deputy President Thabo Mbeki flew to Nigeria on Thursday. The 'Mail and Guardian' in Johannesburg said Mbeki would "advise Abubakar on ways to guide the country towards democracy". He would also meet Abiola's family and opposition figures.
Abubakar moves to stem backlash
Abubakar, sacked his entire cabinet on Wednesday in a bid to calm violent unrest sparked by Abiola's death, news agencies reported. At least 19 people died in clashes with police late on Tuesday and Wednesday as news of his death spread. Although calm returned to Lagos, where youths went on the rampage in the heaviest rioting, by Wednesday evening, news agencies said the situation on the streets of many cities in Abiola's native south-west remained tense. A dusk-to dawn curfew was imposed on Wednesday in Abeokuta in the southwest Yoruba heartland. Disturbances were also reported in the country's second city, Ibadan.
In a tribute to Abiola broadcast nationwide on Wednesday evening, Abubakar said: "For me personally and for the whole of the nation, this must be one of the saddest moments of our lives." Abubakar added that Nigeria would give him a "dignified burial" to Abiola.
GUINEA BISSAU: Peace efforts "stalled"
Diplomats in Senegal's capital, Dakar, told IRIN on Thursday they were concerned efforts to find a peaceful solution to the five-week army revolt in neighbouring Guinea Bissau had "stalled". One senior Western diplomat said rival Portuguese and regional mediation efforts had lost their momentum, while more and more effort was now going into defeating the rebels by military means alone.
According to the source, conditions for a settlement laid down by beleaguered President Joao Bernardo Vieira were "impossibly hard" for rebel leader General Ansumane Mane to accept. "He is being asked to lay down his weapons with nothing guaranteed in return," the source said. The rebellion started on 7 June when Mane, accused of running weapons to separatists in Senegal's troubled Casamance province across the border, was dismissed as army chief.
Senegalese "occupation force"
Humanitarian sources, diplomats and the Vatican's Missionary News Agency, MISNA, gave separate accounts of looting by Senegalese soldiers, some of whom had gone on the rampage. Portuguese radio also quoted refugees fleeing the fighting as saying Senegalese troops were "behaving like an occupation force". According to one refugee, women had been raped and sexually abused during searches. "We do not see national troops on the government's side," the refugee added.
In an urgent appeal to the outside world, the Bishop of Bissau, Settimio Ferrazzetta, said people in Bissau were now calling for the withdrawal of Senegalese forces.
Bissau offensive continues
Meanwhile, a week-long offensive by Senegalese troops to re-capture Bissau's international airport to the north of the city continued to make slow progress, media reports said on Thursday. According to Reuters, Senegalese troops were advancing "methodically" on rebel positions in spite of stiff resistance.
But sources in Bissau told IRIN it was too early to say if the Senegalese offensive was making progress. One humanitarian aid worker told IRIN intense fighting had continued unabated almost all week. "It is too dangerous to go out to find out what is going on," he said.
ECOWAS to intervene if mediation fails
In an effort to end the showdown between army mutineers and Senegalese-backed government forces, defence and foreign ministers of the 16-member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed last weekend to use force if necessary. In a communique issued after three days of talks in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire news reports said the ministers had agreed to extend the mandate of the regional peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, to Guinea Bissau. They also appealed to both sides to end the fighting, which devastated Bissau and sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing. The statement recommended a three-pronged course of action - dialogue and negotiations, sanctions, and only then military force. However, the statement referred the matter to the UN Security Council.
Intervention exacerbates the crisis, agencies
Meanwhile, European NGOs meeting in Brussels on Tuesday also said intervention by foreign troops in Guinea Bissau had worsened the crisis. In a press release issued at the end of the meeting, which was also attended by the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Emma Bonino, NGOs said the war in Guinea Bissau now risked becoming a prolonged conflict. They called for an immediate ceasefire, the opening of humanitarian corridors into Guinea Bissau, and the urgent establishment of a mission to monitor human rights in the country.
SIERRA LEONE: Concern for refugees
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, at the weekende asked the government of Guinea for immediate access to camps housing more than 150,000 Sierra Leonean refugees, whom it said had been cut off from humanitarian aid for almost three weeks. In a letter to President Lansana Conte of Guinea, Ogata requested the authorities to re-open roads to refugee sites near the border with Sierra Leone so that aid agencies can deliver desperately needed food, water and medical care.
War crimes
Humanitarian Affairs commissioner Bonino warned this week that if the proposed International Criminal Court were already in existence, Sierra Leone would provide it with plenty of work. In an article published on Wednesday in the 'International Herald Tribune', Bonino said: "Unspeakable crimes against humanity are occurring in Sierra Leone today. The international community seems largely unaware of what is going on."
Bonino said the atrocities were "the result of an orchestrated strategy to terrorise civilians, carried out by troops trained in such barbarous techniques." Delegates at the founding conference in Rome of the new court felt it should be empowered to act on crimes like those in Sierra Leone whether or not any peace treaties were signed.
American aid for amputees
Meanwhile, the U.S. charge d'affaires in Freetown, Anne Wright, this week Handed over half a million dollars' worth of medical supplies and equipment to the International Committee of the Red Cross to benefit amputees, media reports said. The reports said there were are currently 300 registered amputees camped in Waterloo, Freetown, and other major towns.
Amnesty for children
The government of Sierra Leone has said it will grant an amnesty to the estimated 4,000 child fighters attached to various armed groups in the country, AFP reported on Thursday. The dispatch, quoting Vice President Albert Demby, did not give details of the offer other than say children who were members of armed groups during the country's eight years of armed conflict would not be prosecuted. Since February, about 1,000 children have been demobilised from the Sierra Leone army. Assistance for amputees
LIBERIA: President accuses world of turning back on Liberia
President Charles Taylor has accused the international community of turning its back on Liberia, Star Radio reported. Speaking on his return from Nigeria and Burkina Faso on Saturday, Taylor accused non-African countries of only giving Liberia "promises", adding that they wanted to see the country "torn apart again". He claimed that countries recovering from war, like Mozambique, were fully funded by the international community. A donors' conference in Paris in April pledged US$ 230 million to Liberia.
Call to Liberian fighters in Sierra Leone to come back home
The Liberian government has urged its nationals involved in the Sierra Leone conflict to return home, Star Radio reported on Sunday. The appeal by Taylor followed an agreement in Abuja, Nigeria with his Sierra Leone counterpart, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in which they agreed to stop supporting each other's rivals.
Human rights
Benedict Sannoh, Executive Director of Liberia's Centre for Law and Human Rights, has warned the government of President Charles Taylor that if it did not do more to ensure the protection of human and civil rights, it would lose international credibility. Sannoh, speaking in an interview with independent Star Radio on Thursday, said the government had to investigate recent violations before a 19 July national conference.
He cited the unresolved murder last November of the opposition politician Samuel Dokie and his wife Janet, and the disappearance of six Liberians who reportedly boarded a flight out of the country.
SENEGAL: New government announced
The government of Senegal this week announced a new cabinet led by Mamadou Lamine Loum, a 46-year-old former economics and finance minister in the outgoing government of Habib Thiam, which resigned last Friday.
WEST AFRICA: Leaders travel to Libya for Muslim prayers
Presidents Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, Alpha Konare of Mali and Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone visited Libya this week to participate in a Muslim prayer meeting organised by Libyan leader Muhammad al-Khaddafi. Some of the leaders travelled by air despite a UN embargo banning flights to the north African nation. Last month, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) called for the international isolation of Libya to be eased.
Air Afrique
The troubled West African regional carrier, Air Afrique, this week handed four airbuses over to creditors, according to news organisations. The company said that the surrender of the four aircraft would meet part of the estimated 31 billion CFA francs (600 CFA = US$ 1) Air Afrique is said to owe creditors. Air Afrique is owned by eleven Francophone countries in west and central Africa.
Abidjan, 10 July 1998 17:35 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, 10 Jul 1998 17:34:29 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup no 56, 98.7.10 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980710172555.26038A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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