| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
Tel: +225 21-73-54 Fax: +225 21-63-35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci
IRIN-WA Update 157 of Events in West Africa, (Tuesday) 3 March 1998
SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG captures northern cities
The Nigerian-led West African intervention force in Sierra Leone, ECOMOG, said it captured the northern regional centre of Makeni and the nearby town of Lunsar on Monday, media reports said. According to AFP, troops loyal to the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which was ousted by ECOMOG from the capital, Freetown, and southern Sierra Leone last month, fled Makeni as Nigerian troops advanced. Some 50 church workers trapped in their compound by fighting for three weeks were also reportedly liberated. Local people, who fled to the bush during the AFRC occupation, came out to greet ECOMOG troops, one missionary told AFP. However, ECOMOG was reportedly still engaged in an intensive clean-up operation in the town on Tuesday. According to the news agency, dozens of bodies still littered the streets.
More humanitarian aid arrives
WFP's Regional Director for West Africa, Paul Ares, told IRIN on Tuesday that 15 trucks carrying some 389 mt of food had arrived in Kambia, northeast Sierra Leone. Security permitting, food would also be distributed in Makeni, he said. A UN assessment mission also planned to visit the second city of Bo. It would inspect access roads and the city's airport, Ares said. If roads were impassable, WFP planned to airlift in food from neighbouring Liberia.
Another assessment from Liberia to the eastern city of Kenema would be carried out by WFP, Ares added. He expected four WFP international staff to return to Freetown by the weekend to strengthen WFP's presence in Sierra Leone.
NIGERIA: Pro-Abacha rally goes ahead
A mass rally to support the government of Nigerian head of state General Sani Abacha got under way on Tuesday in the capital, Abuja, media reports said. Thousands of people converged on the national parade ground on Tuesday for the two-day pro-Abacha rally, AFP reported. According to the BBC, organisers said they wanted to show Abacha that the people were "clamouring" for him to remain in power beyond October, when Nigeria is scheduled to return to civilian rule.
Meanwhile in the largest city, Lagos, security forces blocked a rival demonstration, which they said had no permission to take place, AFP reported. According to the news agency, some 150 armed Lagos police sealed off the opposition rally venue on Tuesday morning. Two armoured personnel carriers had also been deployed nearby, the news agency said.
In a related development, Nigerian police raided the house of opposition activist Chief Gani Fawehini in Lagos on Tuesday, Monrovia's independent Star Radio reported. A media source in Lagos told IRIN on Tuesday, Fawehini had intended to speak at the opposition rally. The source said it was not clear if the rally had gone ahead. Security was "very tight" and journalists had not been allowed into the area, the source said.
Earlier, organisers had insisted they would confront the police whatever the cost, forecasting millions would attend. According to the BBC, the opposition has alleged the pro-government rally in Abuja is being financed by the government itself.
NIGER: Students boycott classes
School and college students in Niger's capital, Niamey, boycotted classes on Monday in a mark of solidarity with students from the university campus, which was closed by the government last Friday to defuse tension between students and police, AFP reported. According to government figures, some 14 members of the security forces were injured in clashes last Thursday at the university. Police said students used darts, catapults and petrol bombs to attack them. Five undergraduates were also allegedly injured by tear gas canisters.
According to AFP, students are demanding payment of 28 months grant arrears and improved living conditions. The government said some FF 200,000 has been paid to Niamey students each week to make up outstanding grants. However, the Union des Scolaires du Niger (USN) has demanded full payment and unconditional re-opening of the university, AFP said.
Social forum meets in capital
Niger government representatives, employers, union leaders and prominent civilians met in Niamey on Monday to discuss the current economic crisis behind the wave of recent strikes, AFP reported. Opening the "social truce" forum, President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara said "mutual understanding" between workers and employers was the best guarantee of stability. But he said he hoped delegates would bear in mind the economic situation in Niger. One prominent union boycotted the conference in a dispute over promotional literature, AFP said.
Niger has experienced a series of strikes led by workers and students protesting unpaid wages and poor conditions. Last week, troops in four Nigerien garrison towns also mutinied, media reports said.
GUINEA: Defence challenges mutiny trial
Defence lawyers acting for some 96 Guinean soldiers charged with treason following a 1996 mutiny, which turned into a coup attempt, have challenged the jurisdiction of a special court set up to try the case, AFP reported on Monday. Speaking at the re-opening of the court session following a second defence adjournment, lawyers said the court was not competent to try the accused. A number of other alleged legal irregularities were cited. According to defence lawyers, the case was adjourned until Tuesday for the court to consider the appeal.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Extraditions condemned
An opposition group in Nigeria condemned the extradition to Equatorial Guinea of three Guinean students at the weekend accused of a terrorist attack on government forces in January, AFP reported. Five Guinean troops were allegedly killed by the separatist Movimiento para la Autodeterminacion de la Isla de Bioko (MAIB) on Bioko, an island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea.
An opposition statement quoted by AFP said the Guinean defence minister, Melanio Ebendeng Nsomo, negotiated extradition with the Nigerian government, which arrested the students.
BENIN: Government and unions reach agreement
Benin trade union officials appeared to have agreed on Monday to end an eight-day general strike for pay arrears, media reports said. The 14-hour talks with government officials covered salary increase arrears for 1992. Radio France Internationale (RFI) said arrears for the following years would be negotiated later. A trade union official was quoted as saying the ground was "favourable for a resumption of work", but a decision had to be made by higher union authorities.
WEST AFRICA: Customs chiefs to meet in Abuja
Heads of customs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will meet in Abuja on Wednesday to discuss harmonising customs regulations, Reuters reported. Head of Nigerian customs Major General S.O. Ango was quoted by an independent newspaper as saying the meeting would discuss ECOWAS's trade liberalisation scheme, customs tariffs and "other fiscal protocols".
Reuters said delegates were expected to come from all 16 ECOWAS countries and some neighbouring non-member states, including Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea.
Peacekeeping exercise ends
A French-led African peacekeeping exercise ended successfully in Senegal on Monday, RFI reported. According to the radio, some 3,500 troops from eight West African countries took part in the ten-day manoeuvres with additional support from the US, Britain and Belgium.
RFI said the first test of the effectiveness of the joint force, however, would be the military monitoring mission in the Central African Republic. Nigeria has expressed scepticism over the value of Western assistance, the report added.
Nigeria rejects international court jurisdiction
Nigeria rejected the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday on the first day of proceedings brought by Cameroon over the Bakassi Peninsula, media sources reported. Since 1994, the two countries have clashed several times over the peninsula between the two states, which is thought to hold significant oil reserves.
Abidjan, 3 March 1998, 20:30 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-updates]
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 20:35:06 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 157, 98.3.3 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980303203255.26678A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
| Previous Menu | Home Page | What's New | Search | Country Specific |