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IRIN-WA Update 375 of Events in West Africa (Thursday 7 January)
SIERRA LEONE: President, rebel leader agree to resume negotiations
Sierra Leone President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh have agreed to resume negotiations on a cease-fire following yesterday's rebel attack on the capital, Freetown, news agencies reported today (Thursday).
The reports said Kabbah told journalists at Freetown's Lungi International Airport that he and Sankoh had agreed yesterday (Wednesday) to a seven-day cease-fire. Reuters reported that Kabbah, who was at the airport with his ministers, had also offered to free Sankoh if he agreed to certain conditions.
Nevertheless, Nigerian jets and mortars struck rebel position in the capital today as the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, tried to push back a rebel thrust into the city. Nigerian Alpha jets and helicopters flew non-stop sorties from the airport, AFP reported, leaving thick clouds of smoke over the city. Opposing forces continue to hold the same positions they occupied earlier today. The rebels hold the eastern end of the city and ECOMOG the west. Central Freetown is still disputed.
Nigeria consulting with regional allies
Nigeria has been consulting regional allies today on the fighting in Sierra Leone where its forces in ECOMOG and the rebels both claim control over most of the city, AFP reported.
The agency, quoting presidential sources, said that Nigerian military leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar met the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Lansana Kouyate, on the problem. Abubakar also met Sierra Leone's ambassador to Freetown, Joseph Blell, and representatives of several other diplomatic missions. The agency quoted Nigerian Defence Ministry spokesman Sam Tella as saying that military-level consultations were also continuing.
Despite the intensity of the fighting Nigeria has said it will keep its troops in Sierra Leone as long as they are needed, AFP said. "ECOMOG will not stand by and allow the legitimate government of President Kabbah to be ousted again," Tella, a Lieutenant Colonel, said.
Appeals for end to fighting
Ghana's foreign minister, James Gbeho, has said Accra was considering sending additional troops to Sierra Leone to back the largely Nigerian-led effort in ECOMOG, "if the environment is right" to do so.
He said on state radio yesterday that Ghana would consult with other countries contributing to ECOMOG on the conditions under which the troops would be sent. Ghana has some 200 ground troops and air force elements in Sierra Leone within ECOMOG. They are to be joined by troops from The Gambia and Mali.
In a related development, PANA reported that Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings appealed to countries supplying sophisticated weapons to the rebels to stop. He said that ECOMOG had gone to Sierra Leone to further peace. "We entered that place to put in place a lasting democratic process," PANA quoted Rawlings as saying.
Britain warns Liberia
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said today that he had sent "a firm message" to Liberia that there was credible evidence suggesting Monrovia's support for the rebels in Sierra Leone. In an interview carried on BBC radio today, he said he told the Liberian authorities to stop immediately "if they are giving any support to the rebels".
Cook also said he had asked key British allies in Europe and the United States to provide more money and logistical support to the Nigerian forces in ECOMOG, "so that they do have a better opportunity of sustaining the legitimate government in Sierra Leone."
France also called for support for ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, from which ECOMOG gets its mandate.
Nigerian dead taken home
The bodies of 25 Nigerian soldiers killed in the latest fighting in Sierra Leone have been secretly returned to Nigeria, AFP reported today. Citing the Nigerian daily 'PM News', AFP said the bodies had been flown into Nigeria on Monday night aboard an airforce plane and were buried yesterday at an army cemetery in Lagos. Another 35 soldiers injured in the fighting had also returned to Nigeria on Monday, AFP said, adding that Nigerian officials had declined to comment on the report.
GUINEA BISSAU: Sporadic gunfire shatters Bissau's calm
Sporadic gunfire shattered the calm of Guinea Bissau's capital, Bissau, late yesterday and a Western diplomat told IRIN it could encourage more civilians to leave the capital.
Swedish Charge d'Affaires Tom Abrahamsson said today that there was no indication of who was shooting and at what. He said that the leader of the self-styled Military Junta, General Ansumane Mane, appeared impatient with the slow pace in forming a government of national unity and had demanded the formation of a government by the end of this week "or else".
"I think the message from the junta is (designed) to put pressure on the government," Abrahamsson said.
He described the atmosphere among the city's residents over the last two days as "tense and worrying" because of the movement of troops and helicopters and the growing political uncertainty. This situation, he added, had encouraged residents to begin leaving the city "in their hundreds if not thousands". He added: "People want to be on the safe side."
Formation of the unity government is one aspect of the Abuja peace accord signed in the Nigerian capital in November 1998 between the rival forces in Guinea Bissau's five-month civil war.
Guinean, Senegalese troops to begin leaving 10 January
Guinean and Senegalese military commanders have agreed to begin pulling out the first of their army units from Guinea Bissau on 10 January, Abrahamsson said. This was decided at a meeting on Tuesday between the military commanders of the two countries and the leader of the Togolese force which is to form part of the ECOMOG troops which will take their place. Abrahamsson said 200 Senegalese and 24 Guinean troops would leave on 10 January.
The junta, he said, expected Guinean and Senegalese troops, who came to shore up Vieira's government, to leave before the formation of a government of national unity. However, Francisco Fadul, Mane's political adviser who is the country's newly appointed prime minister, said on Radio France Internationale on Monday that general elections set for late March in the Abuja accord might have to be delayed because of the delay in forming the government and the problems in registering voters because there were so many IDPs in the country which was still totally disorganised.
ICRC rehabilitates main hospital
The ICRC has started rehabilitating the country's main hospital, which was severely damaged during last year's conflict. In a statement received by IRIN today, ICRC said the repairs to the 500-bed Simao Mendes Central Hospital in the capital Bissau would help ensure that the conflict-affected population had access to adequate health care. The hospital employs some 600 people, the statement added.
NIGERIA: Dialogue underway to resolve Bayelsa crisis
Government officials on Tuesday justified the deployment of troops and tanks in oil-rich Bayelsa State last week in response to protests by Ijaw youth, news agencies said. Information and Culture Minister John Nwodo told a press conference in Abuja that the troop deployment was aimed at protecting lives and property in the state, where Ijaw youths are demanding more control over local oil resources, the Nigerian daily "The Guardian' said yesterday. "Dialogue is going on now...to ensure that the grievances articulated by the young men of these areas are addressed as expeditiously as possible," Nwodo was quoted as saying.
The unrest in Bayelsa started on 30 December after the passing of an Ijaw deadline for oil companies to cease operations in the area. Up to 26 people were reported killed in ensuing clashes between the youths and security forces. Many civilians fled the state capital Yenagoa and other towns in response to the unrest, news agencies said.
Meanwhile, a local elders' group has criticized the government's actions in Bayelsa, saying that the agitation by Niger Delta people was "born out of a deep sense of injustice over the lack of infrastructural development of their areas," 'The Guardian' said. It quoted a spokesman for the Niger Delta Elders Forum as saying in Lagos that the government's "heavy-handed" response had "only aggravated the crisis".
Elections postponed in Bayelsa
Elections planned for Saturday in Nigeria's 36 states have been postponed in Bayelsa, Nigerian television, monitored by the BBC, reported yesterday. It cited a statement from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as saying that a new date for the Baleysa elections would be announced later. The statement gave no reason for the postponement, Nigeria television said.
Meanwhile, three front-running parties from the 5 December local government elections have registered candidates to take part in Saturday's elections for state assemblies and governors, news agencies said today. The parties are the radical Alliance for Democracy, the centre-right All Peoples Party and the centre-left Peoples Democratic Party, they said.
An INEC spokesman told PANA today that election materials had already been sent to voting centres across the country. "We are moving on fine. We are steadily preparing for Saturday," spokesman Steve Osemeke was quoted as saying. Land borders are to be closed late Friday and movement of people within the country restricted on polling day to limit attempts at fraud, AFP reported today.
Fuel prices reduced
Fuel marketing companies in Nigeria have reduced the local pump price of petrol by about 20 percent, news agencies said yesterday. Radio Nigeria quoted a statement by the petroleum companies as saying the decision to reduce prices was in support of government concerns to keep the price as low as possible. Pump prices increased last month after the government deregulated the fuel sector. The price increases had outraged labour unions and sparked street protests, news agencies said.
WEST AFRICA:
Record harvests are expected in the main food-producing countries of the Sahel due to generally favourable growing conditions in the region, FAO said. In a report received by IRIN today, FAO said record crops are anticipated in Chad, Mali and Niger, above-average output is anticipated in The Gambia, while output will be about average in Burkina Faso and Senegal. However, FAO forecasts below average production in Cape Verde and Mauritania, while cereal production in Guinea-Bissau is expected to be well below average due to civil strife which hampered agricultural activities, the report said. Harvest prospects are generally favourable in Benin, Nigeria and Togo but less favourable in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. Liberia and Sierra Leone remain heavily dependent on international food assistance, the report added.
The full report is available on http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/GIEWS/ENGLISH/eaf/eaf9812
BENIN: Police seize arms, ammunition
Police in Benin have seized 10 rifles and several thousand rounds of ammunition on a vehicle travelling from Ghana to Nigeria, AFP reported today. It said the seizure took placce about 85 km north-west of Cotonou, the same area where another vehicle from Ghana, carrying two assault rifles and ammunition was stopped on 30 December.
Abidjan, 7 January 1999, 19:00 GMT
[ENDS]
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 19:14:26 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 375 for 1999.01.07
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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