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Department of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 11-97 of Main Events in West Africa covering period 26 August - 1 September 1997
[The weekly roundups are based on relevant information from UN agencies, NGOs, governments, donors and the media. IRIN-WA issues these reports for the benefit of the humanitarian community, but accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy of the original source. Please note IRIN-WA's daily round-up for Monday is included in this report.]
SIERRA LEONE: ECOWAS backs sanctions, not military action
West African leaders on Friday approved a tougher blockade against Sierra Leone but drew back from endorsing military intervention. The 16-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, reportedly decided the embargo would be reviewed after a month. However, there was no mention of what measures would be taken should sanctions fail to force Sierra Leone's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to relinquish power. Neither was the contents of the sanctions package spelt out in the final communique.
The Nigerian commander of the ECOWAS Peacekeeping Force (ECOMOG), Maj-Gen Victor Malu, told PANA that the AFRC would "sing a different tune before the review." The two-day summit formally extended ECOMOG's mandate to include Sierra Leone, with the new force known as ECOMOG II under Malu's command. However, the Abuja meeting resisted Nigerian pressure to authorise military action to restore ousted President Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. That decision was greeted with relief by the AFRC whose leader, Major Johnny Paul Koromah, had Friday called for prayers and fasting to influence the ECOWAS meeting. An AFRC spokesman said Saturday that the government was still willing to negotiate over the sanctions "impasse" and called on ECOWAS to send a delegation to Freetown to listen to "our side of the problem."
Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the US, John Leigh, Wednesday told the Voice of America that economic sanctions alone. "As long as there is money" he said, "the goods will flow into Sierra Leone, enough to keep the coup leaders in power." AFP reported that Nigerian troops shelled Freetown harbour Wednesday night in what may have been a show of strength on the eve of the summit. Malu said after the Abuja meeting, "we have not been enforcing an embargo up to now because it was not official ... We know very well how to impose a blockade, and anyone who doubts our will or ability should look at the ports in Liberia we blocked with sunken ships." Foreign ministers of the ECOWAS "Committee of Five on Sierra Leone", to which Liberia is now a member, are expected to travel to New York this week to seek UN Security Council backing for sanctions. It is not clear if the proposed sanctions package includes humanitarian aid. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Wednesday backed ECOWAS' efforts to restore Kabbah "through mediation and the use of sanctions."
SIERRA LEONE: Starvation reportedly claims 15
Fifteen people died of starvation last week in Lungi, across the estuary from the Sierra Leone capital Freetown, according to an AFRC spokesman. Local sources at Lungi, which is under ECOMOG control, told AFP that commodity prices have soared following the government's recent introduction of a curfew and the interdiction of river traffic. The primary source of income in the area was linked to the Lungi airport, which has been closed to commercial flights since the May coup.
SIERRA LEONE: Battle of the airwaves
At least 10 people were detained in Freetown Sunday when an angry crowd attacked the independent 'Voice of the Handicapped' FM station in the capital. The radio, run by a group of blind youths with the help of the BBC, had broadcast a statement suggesting it was opposed to an ECOMOG intervention in Sierra Leone. According to AFP, the service was interrupted when a mob stormed the station. Meanwhile, the AFRC claimed Wednesday to have located the illegal pro-Kabbah radio station FM 98.4. According to the communique, the station is operating under Nigerian protection out of the guesthouse of paramount chief Komkanda II in Lungi. The broadcasts calling for the restoration of President Tejan Kabbah started in late June.
SIERRA LEONE: Teachers strike tested
Striking teachers opposed to the AFRC received a blow Saturday when the leaders of school heads called for a return to work, AFP said. Teachers have been on strike for more than three months in protest over the May coup. The chair of the Head Teachers Council, Ibrahim Kamara-Kargbo, said he is now working with AFRC officials to reopen schools throughout the country on 8 September. According to AFP, a spokesperson for the main teachers union said most teachers would resist ending the strike.
SIERRA LEONE: No German aid
The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation has barred Sierra Leone from receiving government financial aid in 1998. The ministry said Friday that the ban - which applies to 11 other countries - was "on account of their obvious negative and completely insufficient regard for the stipulated conditions" of the assistance. German aid is contingent on respect for human rights, political pluralism and a market economy by recipient states. Nigeria and Liberia are among the countries ruled ineligible. ECOWAS: New executive secretary
Lansana Kouyate took over as new ECOWAS executive secretary today with the expiration of the term of Edouard Benjamin. Kouyate, a Guinean citizen, will hold the post for four years, state-owned Radio Nigeria said. In his final report as executive secretary, Benjamin said that financial contributions from Nigeria, Benin and Cote d'Ivoire in the first half of this year enabled a cash-strapped ECOWAS to implement some of its planned programmes. He noted that irregular payment of dues by other member states had "virtually halted" the execution of the community's programmes, Radio Nigeria reported Wednesday.
LIBERIA: Taylor claims ULIMO plot
Liberian president Charles Taylor yesterday accused members of the Mandingo wing of the United Liberation Movement (ULIMO-K) of plotting to destabilise his new regime, AFP reported. "I see ULIMO's involvement in the Sierra Leonean crisis as a covert operation with attempts to rearm and destabilise the Liberian government," Taylor said in a radio broadcast. He alleged that ULIMO-K was battling alongside the Kamajors, the Sierra Leonean militia opposed to the regime of the AFRC. ULIMO-K was one of several armed groups that fought in Liberia's civil war. Some of the ULIMO-K soldiers who demobilised claimed to be from Sierra Leone. All Liberian factions were officially disbanded earlier this year to pave the way for the July elections. ULIMO-K leader Alhaji Kromah Monday denied Taylor's accusations, AFP said.
LIBERIA: ECOWAS lifts sanctions
ECOMOG has officially lifted a 12-mile embargo zone along the Liberian coast. "The immediate advantage of this action is that a 'War Risk' insurance for charterers or owners of vessels calling at the Liberian ports would no longer be applicable," the National Ports Authority (NPA) said in a statement today. According to AFP, the dilapidated freeport of Monrovia handles less than five percent of its pre-war freight volume. ECOMOG's move to drop the embargo zone follows the decision by West African heads of state meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, to end all sanctions imposed on Liberia during its civil war. At the summit last week President Charles Taylor also requested that ECOMOG extend its stay in Liberia. According to the final ECOWAS communique, the length of the extra period is "to be mutually agreed." ECOMOG force commander Victor Malu has called for a scaled-down presence to help train the Liberian army and police.
SENEGAL - More deaths in Casamance
A father and his four children had their throats slit on 30 August in Senegal's troubled Casamance region. Separatist members of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de Casamance - MFDC) are believed to be responsible for the attack. Five people were also killed and ten injured on 31 August when their bush taxi hit a landmine near the Casamance National Park, a popular tourist attraction. The MFDC had recently warned tourists away from this area. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. A senior member of the MFDC, Sarani Badiane, was kidnapped in Casamance on 23 August and found murdered two days later. Authorities are unsure if the murder was a settling of scores within the movement or retaliation by members of the Senegalese Army for the recent death of 25 soldiers in a rebel ambush. Three close aids to the MFDC leader, Father Diamacoune Senghor, were placed under house arrest following Badiane's disappearance, but have since been released. Diamacoune has been 'quarantined' since May 1995 in the Catholic Service Centre in Ziguinchor, the region's capital.
The president of Guinea Bissau, Joao Bernardo Vieira, said he had discussed the current crisis with Senegalese Prime Minister Habib Thiam and offered his assistance as mediator. Since the beginning of the rebel crisis in 1990, neighbouring Guinea Bissau has hosted peace talks and acted as a mediator between the government and the MFDC. The most recent meeting, in April 1996, was boycotted by the MFDC following joint military manoeuvres between the two countries, which the MFDC said was organised to spy on them. Despite the recent killings, Thiam reaffirmed Senegal's commitment to the current peace talks, which began in December 1995.
SENEGAL - Electoral Agency Bill passed
The National Assembly passed, with a 'crushing majority', the Bill creating the new National Observer Elections Agency (Observatoire Nationale des Elections - ONEL) on 29 August. The ruling Socialist Party, which had initially been against the creation of an independent electoral commission, supported the Bill. Nineteen opposition parties have pushed for its creation, joining forces under a 'Collective' to increase their influence. President Abdou Diouf proposed the ONEL as a compromise on 11 August. Declaring ONEL an opposition victory, Collective spokesperson Iba Der Thiam called on the members to continue their successful association.
MALI - Assembly convenes
President Alpha Oumar Konare' stressed at the opening of the Malian National Assembly on 25 August that the biggest challenge facing his government would be preventing the institution of a single party system. He said it would be "unacceptable and intolerable". Konare's ruling party, the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Alliance pour la Democratie au Mali - ADEMA), took 129 of the 147 seats earlier this year.
However, on 28 August, a group of 'intellectuals' called on the government to release ten radical opposition leaders and renew negotiation efforts in the wake of the recent political crisis surrounding the opposition boycott of the polls. The leaders were arrested in connection with the death of a police officer on 11 August during an opposition rally. The ten called off their week-old hunger strike on 25 August, which had been initiated to protest against their incarceration. Their lawyer said the strike had been called off to show the government that they were still open to a negotiated solution. To date, Konore has refused to intervene in the judicial process. A further 12 members of the opposition were briefly detained last week for questioning.
NIGER - Confusion over drought
Niger's Minister of Agriculture Idrissa Chipkaou has warned that the country is facing a disastrous agricultural situation in which regions in the north, east and west of the country have been adversely affected by poor rainfall. The rainy season, which theoretically begins in May, came to an end with less than a month's rainfall in some areas. According to varying estimates, the shortfall ranged from 29 to 60 mm to as high as 132 mm. In some areas, sandstorms and insects have further decimated crops. The minister said that farmers were reportedly abandoning their villages due to the crisis and the lack of food aid. However, in an interview with a local paper, 'Le Sahel', he was more optimistic stating that despite the poor conditions this year's harvest would be better than last year's, which registered a 200,000 tonne shortfall.
A 20 August report by the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS), said that rains remained relatively widespread over Chad, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, resulting in more favourable growing conditions compared to other Sahelian countries. On 25 August, FEWS reported that with the exception of Senegal and Mauritania where rains continued to be unseasonably low, that other Sahelian countries had received some rainfall. In Niger, the dry spell in July combined with the late rains in many agricultural areas had led to a greatly varied stage of crop development but, in general, "farmers had finished planting and crops were well established." Italy has promised some 3.3 million FF (US$ 550,000) in food aid to Niger.
On 26 August, leading Islamic Imams again called for a collective prayer for rain. Head of State General Ibrahim Bare Mainassara participated in the nationwide prayer session. While farmers are praying for more rain, flash floods in some areas have caused another type of devastation. Several houses in the capital, Niamey, were damaged following a heavy rainfall that lasted four hours on 31 August. Houses in the northwest village of Tegueye collapsed and a nearby bridge was damaged following a rainfall of 209 mm last week.
THE GAMBIA - Crop perspective improves
FAO sources told IRIN that increased rainfall in The Gambia, starting on 14 August, had improved the likelihood of a better 'early millet' crop than previously reported. Cowpeas, findi and sesame should also do well. However, late millet, rice, maize, late sorghum and groundnut crops are still expected to do poorly. In a meeting with the donor community on 14 August, the government had reported a partial crop failure.
NIGERIA - Government stops book launch
Dignitaries and human rights activists who turned up for the book launch on opposition leader Moshood Abiola's were turned back on Saturday by armed policemen and plain-clothed security agents. 'Abiola, Democracy and Rule of Law' written by journalist and human rights activist, Richard Akinola, chronicles Abiola's life since his detention by the Nigerian military regime in June 1994 on treason charges. Akinola condemned the banning of the book launch. Abiola proclaimed himself president in June 1994 following the annulment of the elections of 12 June 1993, which he is widely believed to have won. He turned 60 years old a week ago.
NIGERIA - Obasanjo's lawyer arrested
Plain-clothed security agents arrested Tunji Abayomi, a human rights activist and lawyer of Nigeria's former military head-of-state General Olusegun Obasanjo, on Wednesday. Abayomi, the chairman of Human Rights' Africa, was taken to an unknown destination. No official reason was given for his arrest. Obasanjo, the first Nigerian military leader to voluntarily hand over power to civilian authorities is currently serving a 15-year jail term following his conviction by a controversial special military tribunal of involvement in a failed coup against the military head of state, General Sani Abacha.
NIGERIA - Committee of traditional monarchs to probe clashes
A committee of traditional kings has been constituted to probe clashes between the Ife and Modakeke communities in southwest Nigeria. About 70 people were killed in clashes over an 11-day period. The Osun state council of obas (kings) and chiefs set up a high-powered committee on Monday in Osogbo, the state capital to investigate the causes of the crisis. The seven-member committee is excepted to recommend a permanent solution to the crisis. Members of the Ife and Modakeke communities have engaged in bloody clashes since 15 August over the relocation of the headquarters of a local government common to the two communities.
NIGERIA- Oil industry faces major overhaul
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday replaced 11 of its 21 depot chiefs as part of a nine-point plan to meet a seven-day ultimatum given by the government to normalise fuel supply nation-wide. In an official statement, the Pipelines and Maintenance Corporation, an affiliate of the NNPC, explained that the removal of the depot chiefs was part of the effort to enhance its efficiency in distributing petroleum products. Though the role played by the depot chiefs in the current fuel scarcity is still unclear, the authorities hold them in large part responsible for inefficiency in distributing fuel. Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete said that the government would no longer condone any act of indiscipline in the distribution of petroleum products and warned of stiff measures against "erring" employees. Most parts of Nigeria have been suffering since last April from fuel shortages caused by the poor state of the nation's four refineries, diversion of fuel and hoarding by marketeers who have allegedly colluded with officials.
Etete further announced that the turn around maintenance (TAM) of the nation's refineries would begin in October with the Kaduna Refinery followed by the Port Harcourt facility. The Kaduna refinery has been closed down since early this year because of its state of disrepair. Maintenance of facilities, according to Etete, should be completed in the second quarter of 1998. Nigerian authorities released US$ 200 million for the refurbishing of the four refineries earlier in the month. In August 1996, the government estimated that it would require US$ 1.46 billion to rehabilitate the poorly managed refineries to bring them up to a production capacity of 85 percent. Industry analysts estimate that Nigeria could save more than US$ 100 million per year by shutting its refineries and importing all of its product needs, according to the US Department of Energy.
Abidjan, 1 September 1997
[ENDS] [Via the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa (IRIN-WA) Reports mailing list. The material contained in this communication may not necessarily reflect the views of the UN or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts from this report should be attributed to the original sources where appropriate. For further information: e-mail irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci, Tel: +225 217367 Fax: +225 216335.]
Message-Id: <199709020657.JAA14813@dha.unon.org> Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 09:44:41 +0300 From: UN DHA IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci> Subject: IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 11-97, 26 August - 1 September 1997 97.9.1
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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