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IRIN-WA Update 268 of Events in West Africa, (Friday) 7 August 1998
GUINEA BISSAU: Rebels threaten to end truce
Rebel soldiers in Guinea Bissau threatened to break
last month's ceasefire they signed with pro-government
forces loyal to President Joao Bernardo Vieira if West
African countries joined in the peace negotiations
scheduled to start on Friday, news agencies reported.
The peace talks between the government of Guinea Bissau and army mutineers were due to begin aboard a Portuguese warship under the auspices of the Community of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) which had negotiated the truce.
According to the BBC, the rebels said they would reject
any role by the Economic Community of West African
Community (ECOWAS) because two of its members - Senegal
and Guinea (Conakry) were backing government forces.
In radio broadcast, AFP said the rebels also accused
ECOWAS of supporting Vieira and criticising the mutiny.
An ECOWAS committee was scheduled on Friday to meet
Vieira and rebel leader, General Ansumane Mane in Guinea
Bissau. At a meeting in Accra, Ghana, earlier in their
week, ECOWAS reiterated its willingness to cooperate
fully with the CPLP in its quest for a peaceful solution
to the crisis, AFP said.
Senegal and Guinea sent more than 2,500 troops to back
government forces. The mutiny started on 7 June after
Vieira sacked Mane, his former armed forces chief of
staff.
Annan confident in outcome of peace talks
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a five-day
visit to Portugal on Friday during which he is expected
to hold talks with the President Jorge Sampaio and
Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on the situation in
Guinea Bissau, news organisations reported. Speaking
to reporters in Lisbon, Annan said he was confident
that the ceasefire would hold in Guinea Bissau and
that a definitive agreement would be worked out during
the peace talks.
Additional foreign troops
Meanwhile, Zamora Induta, a spokesman for the rebels,
claimed that 600 soldiers had crossed the border from
Guinea (Conakry) into Guinea Bissau in the past two
days, news agencies reported on Friday. Induta said
the presence of these additional troops violated the
terms of the ceasefire agreement. He added that 300
soldiers were already in the second town of Bafata,
while the other 300 were deployed in government cities
preparing for an offensive against rebel-held positions.
Meanwhile, AFP quoted Mozambican spokesman as saying
that Mozambican troops would arrive in Guinea Bissau
in the next ten days as part of a planned CPLP ceasefire
observer mission.
NIGERIA: New electoral commission established
Nigeria's highest ruling body, the Provisional Ruling
Council (PRC), on Thursday appointed a 14-member independent
national electoral commission headed by a judge, Justice
Ephraim Akpata, to oversee elections leading to a handover
to civilian rule in May 1999, news organisations reported.
Major-General Godwin Abi, quoted by Reuters, said the
"decree establishing the commission was considered
thoroughly and details of the content of the decree
were given sufficient consideration so as to ensure
that the new electoral commission is fully independent."
The BBC correspondent in Lagos said the credibility
of the electoral commission was absolutely crucial
in Nigeria, a country in which such organisations have
in the past played a key role in failed attempts at
returning democracy.
Opposition gives cautious welcome
The Nigerian human rights activist, Clement Nwankwo,
quoted by AFP and Reuters, said Akpata's nomination
did lend credibility to the body since he was a "well-respected
former supreme court justice." He added however
that the law, which would set up the commission and
the powers given to it were crucial to the commission's
legal independence. Meanwhile, Femi Falana, vice chairman
of the opposition Joint Action Committee of Nigeria
(JACON) reiterated the same concerns, AFP said. Nigeria's
military ruler, general Abdulsalam Abubakar had promised
in a speech on 20 July that the commission would be
"truly independent of the military authorities".
State military administrators appointed
The government also announced the nomination of a new
Council of State, a body grouping the military administrators
of the 36 states of the Nigerian federation. In an
address to the newly-appointed military administrators,
Abubakar said the administration would not tolerate
any "covert or overt participation in the political
process by any of its functionaries." He added
that the central government would gradually devolve
greater power and responsibility to the states, a move
sought by many pro-democracy groups and civil groups.
NIGER: France pleased at opposition accord
France voiced its pleasure on Thursday at an accord signed last month between Niger's government and 11 oppositon parties, AFP reported. The news agency said the 10-point agreement on key political changes - mediated by the French Parti Socialiste (PS) envoy for Africa, Guy Laberti - had broken two years of political deadlock between the two sides.
The accord revises electoral procedures and institutions and also sets safeguards for appointing officials to bodies such as the supreme court, AFP reported. Both parties have also agreed that all political groups should have equal access to state media and that the right to demonstrate be respected.
AFP quoted a French foreign ministry spokeswoman as saying France hoped the international community would now step in to help prepare Niger for local and municipal elections in November, which the opposition has now agreed to contest.
SENEGAL: Holland announces funding programme
Holland has allocated some CFA 4.5 billion (FFr 45 million) a year to Senegal to fund food security, natural resource management and health projects, AFP reported on Thursday quoting a visiting Dutch official in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
Abidjan, 7 August, 17:30 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 or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to <archive@ocha.unon..org> - mailing list: irin-wa-updates]
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 17:23:09 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update no. 268, 98.8.7 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980807171911.17618A-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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