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IRIN-WA Update 266 of Events in West Africa, (Wednesday)
5 August 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: ECOWAS meets to discuss crisis
West African foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to
travel to Guinea Bissau to meet President Joao Bernardo
Vieira and the leaders of a military rebellion in the
latest bid to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict,
news organisations reported.
The foreign ministers of Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea and Senegal, and delegates from Burkina
Faso and Nigeria, members of the Committee of Seven,
established by the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) met in Accra, Ghana. They said they
would propose a plan of action, which would provide
"a final solution" to the conflict.
According to PANA, Cote d' Ivoire Foreign Affairs Minister
Amara Essy said that "concrete measures would
be presented to the UN Security Council" for approval
and action. However, Essy added that regional organisations
such as ECOWAS had to tackle problems which emerged
in the sub-region. The ECOWAS ministers reaffirmed
their support for Guinea and Senegal who sent in troops
to back pro-government forces in their bid to quell
the mutiny. Essy chaired the meeting in the absence
of the Nigerian foreign minister.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the Guinea
Bissau Foreign Minister F. Delfim da Silva said the
crisis required a regional solution and ECOWAS had
to play a key role in the conflict resolution process.
Meanwhile he welcomed the mediation efforts of the
Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).
A CPLP ceasefire was signed on 28 July. With the ceasefire
still holding, both sides were due to meet later this
week on a Portuguese warship.
The rebellion started on 7 June when Vieira sacked his
armed forces chief of staff General Ansumane Mane.
Humanitarian aid
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs,
Sergio Vieira de Mello, said on Tuesday there were
now an estimated 350,000 internally displaced persons
in Guinea Bissau with a large majority in the town
of Bafata, 125 km north of Bissau.
In a UN statement, Vieira de Mello said over 500 mt
of food aid had been sent from Senegal and Guinea (Conakry)
to Bafata for onward distribution, while the Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) delivered 54 mt of agricultural
supplies to assist farmers. Meanwhile, 500 mt of food
stored in Bissau city before the outbreak of the mutiny
had been distributed to hospitals, vulnerable groups
and internally displaced persons.
An OCHA representative in Dakar told IRIN on Wednesday
that an MSF convoy carrying 10 mt of medical supplies
had left Dakar for Guinea Bissau. Thirty-seven medical
kits would be distributed in the towns of Bafata, Gabu,
Oio and Cacheu. Meanwhile, the source said UNICEF trucks
carrying 32,600 liters of fuel were blocked at the
Senegalese border awaiting clearance. He added that
the fuel was urgently needed to generate electricity
and to run water pumps in Guinea Bissau.
The UN has appealed for US$ 29 million to support humanitarian
relief efforts in Guinea Bissau, and so far, only the
Government of Sweden has responded with a US $ 3 million
pledge.
National assembly meeting postponed
A meeting of the national assembly of Guinea Bissau
was postponed on Tuesday because several members of
parliament had refused to travel to Bissau citing security
concerns, AFP reported. The speaker of the national
assembly, Malam Bacai Sanha, called the meeting to
try and find a peaceful resolution to the mutiny and
also because he felt a resumption of institutional
activity in the country was important.
AFP said a number of deputies, including Koumba Yalla,
president of the opposition Social Renovation Party,
had asked for security guarantees before travelling
from the interior of the country to Bissau. A date
for the meeting was still to be scheduled.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Malabo reviews links with Spain
Equatorial Guinea's government announced on Wednesday that it was reviewing relations with the former colonial power, Spain, AFP reported. Complaining of Spanish attempts to portray a "negative image" of the government, an official told AFP that Equatorial Guinea had been "obliged" to review its development assistance links because of the virtual "war" Spanish 'Radio Exterior' had been waging against Malabo.
According to media reports, Equatorial Guinea's government has repeatedly asked Spain to close down 'Radio Exterior', but Madrid has consistently declined. According to AFP, the station is the only means the outlawed opposition has at its disposal to make its views known. In 1992, President Obiang Nguema ordered the closure of the Malabo relay of another broadcasting station claiming it was serving the cause of the opposition.
Political refugees flee Cameroon
Some 12 former members of the Equatorial Guinea military are leaving neighbouring Cameroon "for their own safety" after almost a year in police custody, AFP reported on Tuesday.
AFP quoted the Cameroon League for Human Rights as saying the former high-ranking army officers were leaving Cameroon at their own request to avoid any kidnapping attempt by Malabo's secret police.
France and Spain have reportedly refused to grant political asylum to former members of Equatorial Guinea's military, however Argentina was ready to welcome the men, AFP quoted the rights group as saying.
SIERRA LEONE: Guinea deports 77 AFRC supporters
Guinea has deported some 77 suspected supporters of neighbouring Sierra Leone 's former military junta, AFP reported on Wednesday.
AFP said most of the 51 soldiers and 26 civilians had turned themselves in to the Guinean authorities after fleeing across the border when troops from the Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, ousted Major Johnny Paul Koroma's Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) from the capita, Freetown, in February. Guinea reportedly handed the group over to ECOMOG at the border town of Pamelap.
Boat accident kills 35
At least 35 people died at the weekend after a passenger ferry foundered in bad weather off Sierra Leone's northern coast, media reports said on Wednesday.
According to search parties combing the coast, there was little chance of finding more survivors than the 110 already saved.
NIGER: One killed, six wounded in ethnic clash
One man was killed and six people wounded in a clash overnight between minority Tuaregs and ethnic Djermas in Niger's capital Niamey, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The news agency quoted witnesses as saying police had used teargas to quell the violence, which erupted in the Gamkale district of the city.
Reuters said the Tuaregs were former rebels, who were receiving military training at a Niamey camp under an accord ending fighting between Tuareg separatists and the government army.
Trouble reportedly broke out after the Tuaregs chased an unknown man into an area inhabited by Djermas, Niger's second largest group.
Paramilitary police then surrounded the training camp and evacuated all 500 Tuaregs there to safety, Reuters said.
According to media reports, the light-skinned Tuaregs have waged an intermittent rebellion against the government, which they say is dominated by blacks.
TOGO: President proposes broad-based government
Togo's president, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, appealed on Tuesday for opposition leaders to join him in setting up a broad-based government, AFP reported. It was not clear, however, whether the invitation was extended to exiled political leaders like Gilchrist Olumpio, the main opposition candidate for the presidency.
Speaking in the capital, Lome, Eyadema said he wanted to extend a sincere "hand of brotherhood" to the leaders of Togo's other political parties, whom he defeated last June in controversial presidential elections.
AFP quoted Eyadema as saying the government should be open to "anyone who shares the goals of peace, democracy and development."
But the European Union (EU) has criticised Togo's elections for failing transparency standards. Tensions between the EU and Eyadema's government were also exacerbated after three members of an EU team were briefly detained by a Togolese security unit, while trying to monitor the poll, media reports said.
NIGERIA: Government to seize Abacha estate
Nigerian military authorities have planned to seize
government buildings acquired "illegally"
by the late Nigerian leader, General Sani Abacha and
his entourage, AFP reported on Wednesday, quoting an
independent daily 'The Vanguard.' The report said real
estate property located mainly in Lagos and Abuja had
been sold at "ridiculously low prices" to
Abacha's family and friends. It added that Abacha's
widow had been turned back twice from an international
airport when she attempted to travel abroad. Authorities
apparently impounded her 38 suitcases she had prepared
for the trip.
No official figures are available on the scale of corruption
under Abacha, but it reportedly ran into hundreds of
millions of dollars, AFP said.
Abidjan, 5 August, 1998 18:00 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 or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to <archive@ocha.unon..org> - mailing list: irin-wa-updates]
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 18:00:36 +0000 (GMT) Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 266, 5.8.98 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980805174842.31237J-D N A T I O N S
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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