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IRIN-WA Update 253 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 17 July 1998
NIGERIA: Abubakar keeps Nigeria in suspense
Nigeria's new military ruler General Abdulsalam Abubakar kept Nigeria in suspense on Friday as the country awaited a major announcement widely anticipated to outline plans to restore democracy, media reports said.
Last week, news agencies recalled, civil conflict was feared after the presumed winner of 1993 presidential elections, Chief Moshood Abiola, died in gaol of a heart attack, sparking widespread rioting.
Reuters said recent decisions to free political prisoners and scrap discredited electoral bodies set up by Abubakar's late predecessor, General Sani Abacha, have heightened expectations Abubakar will announce his own plans for a transition to democracy. Earlier last week, Abubakar also sacked the former military government he inherited from Abacha and handed over day-to-day control of ministries to senior civil servants.
But politicians have been kept guessing as to whether the general will now go further and also dismiss deputies from Nigeria's five registered political parties, who won seats in allegedly stage-managed local, regional, and legislative elections earlier this year, news agencies reported.
Opposition split
Nevertheless, Nigeria's opposition has remained split over how to deal with the new government, AFP reported on Friday. It said the national co-ordinator of the recently formed Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON) accused the leadership of the four-year-old National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) of colluding with the military government.
Gani Fawehinmi was quoted as saying NADECO had negotiated away the democratic rights of millions of Nigerians by "hob-nobbing" with Abubakar. While NADECO leaders have met twice with Abubakar in recent weeks, AFP reported, JACON leaders have not met the new head of state.
GUINEA BISSAU: Portuguese countries set up "contact group"
The summit of the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP) has set up a new "contact group" aimed at helping resolve the crisis in Guinea- Bissau, news reports said Friday. The announcement was made at a Lusophone meeting in Cape Verde.
AFP quoted Portuguese Minister Jaime Gama as saying that Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, and Sao Tome e Principe had founded the contact group.
Gaima said: "It is very important that the CPLP made this decision as an international organsation. The contact group should work to find a negotiated, diplomatic and peaceful solution to the conflcit in Guinea Bissau. He added that Brazil was studying the proposal, while Cape Verde had declined to join the group for reasons linked to its geographical and historical proximity to Guinea Bissau.
Gama underlined that the CPLP did not intend to compete with other mediation efforts undertaken by the Organiation of African Unity (OAU), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) .
Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio made an appeal at the summit for warring sides to open humanitarian corridors to allow access to people in need.
EU calls for immediate ceasefire
In a related development, the European Parliament has called for an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Guinea Bissau, AFP reported . It quoted an EU resolution on Thursday which called on the parties to cease fighting and expressed concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation with dwindling stocks of food, water and medicine.
PM says rebels defeated
Meanwhile, Guinea Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Correia has claimed that the "aborted coup d'etat" against President Joao Bernardo Vieira by former army chief-of -staff Ansumane Mane had "failed", AFP reported on Friday.
Correia said the rebel forces were "confined to a limited area" in the country, adding that in effect the "mutiny had been neutralised". Earlier media reports have indicated that there has been a stalemate in the fighting between the Senegalese-backed pro-government forces and the rebels. The mutiny started when Vieira sacked Mane on 7 June over his alleged role in the supplying weapons to a separatist movement in the southern province of Senegal.
Aid arrives in Bissau port
A Portuguese cargo vessel , 'Ponta de Sagres', unloaded 500 mt of relief supplies in the port of Bissau, Lusa news agency reported. The report said the aid would provide assistance to approximately 60,000 people for a period of 10 days.
A Portuguese government spokesman, Vitalino Cana, quoted by AFP, said the distribution of aid would be monitored by an international committee, made up of representatives of various NGOs, the Catholic church and diplomats
SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG moves base to Freetown
The Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, has made final preparations to move its headquarters from Liberia to neighbouring Sierra Leone, media reports said on Thursday.
An ECOMOG spokesman in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, was quoted by AFP as saying all logistical arrangements were now "in place" for the arrival of the 3,500 additional troops expected on Thursday of next week.
Humanitarian sources in the former ECOMOG headquarters, Monrovia, told IRIN that the move had been long expected. Nevertheless, ECOMOG's decision would alarm many Liberians, one source said.
"ECOMOG has been one the most important check and balance to government power in post-war Liberia. Its departure will not be welcomed by ordinary people," he added.
LIBERIA: Taiwan to give million dollar grant for port
Taiwan has pledged US $ 1 million dollars to renovate the main seaport in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, AFP reported. The funds would be used to purchase cargo-handling equipment, such as container lifts, tractors, fork lifts and a heavy-duty generator. Taiwanese ambassador Patrick Chang said the donation was the result of bilateral agreements reached in Taipei on reconstruction efforts in Liberia.
Liberia is one of the few countries, which has recognised Taiwan as a sovereign and independent state.
Incidents of police harassment
Five security officers linked to the disappearance of Nowah Flomo, a market vendor allegedly abducted from her residence in Monrovia over two weeks ago, have been turned over to the police, independent Star Radio reported on Friday. Police said they had launched a search to locate Flomo. Meanwhile, the police briefly detained the Secretary-General of Liberia Women Initiative (LWI), Etweda Cooper, for making "inflammatory" statements on the disappearance of Flomo, also a member of the LWI.
Speaking at a news conference after her release, Cooper called on Liberians to take an active role in protecting their rights.
In a related development, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, Kormah Breyemah, requested a probe into allegations of harassment by security forces in the central county of Grand Gedeh, Star Radio said on Thursday. Breyemah said harassment impeded the movement of people and goods.
CHAD: Three rebel leaders released
Three Chadian rebel leaders and five fighters were released from a Cameroonian jail after eight months in detention and returned to N'djamena, AFP reported on Friday. The fighters were arrested in Cameroon in 1997. Their release was in terms of an April 1997 peace accord signed by the Chadian government. It called for a ceasefire, an amnesty, and the transformation of the sessionist Forces armees pour une Republique federale (FARF) into a political party.
FARF was the largest armed political group in southern Chad. Clashes in October 1997 between the army and the FARF in Moundou region left more than 100 people dead. One reason given by the FARF for renewed violence was the failure to implement the peace accord between the FARF and the government.
TOGO: Opposition calls protest
The opposition in Togo called on people to stay at home on Friday as part of a "dead city" protest in the capital Lome against the re-election of President Gnassingbe Eyadema, news agencies reported.
AFP said the protest was called to stop Eyadema's "forceful" assumption of a new mandate following controversial presidential elections last month. The election was criticised as flawed by European Union and other internatinal observers. The opposition has claimed that the exiled leader of Union des Forces du Changement (UDF), Gilchrist Olympio, was the true winner of the elections.
NIGER: Authorities launch bid to cut maize prices
Niger's government has begun selling nearly 8,000 mt of maize in a bid to reduce market prices, media reports said on Thursday. According to the BBC, the operation was made possible by a French donation of nearly 5,000 mt of food. It quoted officials as saying the sale was intended to combat speculation by "dishonset merchants" taking advantage of a period of shortages expected to last until September.
Last year, more than a quarter of Niger's 8.5 million population was threatened with famine after a poor harvest, AFP said.
Abidjan, 17 July, 1915 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: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 19:11:42 +0000 (GMT) Subject: FW: IRIN-WA UPDATE 253 17.7.98 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980717190840.25513A-p://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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