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IRIN-WA Update 380 of Events in West Africa (Thursday 14 January)
SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG mopping up in Freetown
Nigerian-led ECOMOG intervention troops were mopping up in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, today (Thursday) after driving out most of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) rebels, news reports said. ECOMOG Force Commander Timothy Shelpidi said yesterday (Wednesday) that some rebels were hiding in shantytowns around the Kissy area in the eastern end of the city. Speaking in his first briefing on the military situation since rebels attacked on 6 January, Shelpidi said the damage caused by the rebels was "colossal" but that electricity and phone lines might be fully restored by the weekend.
He declined to give ECOMOG casualty figures, preferring to describe them as light. He said at least 1,000 rebels had died in the city. He added that ECOMOG could have finished off the rebels had the subregional force been equipped with military hardware, especially helicopter gunships such as the MI24. ECOMOG has only one helicopter, he said.
Nigeria warns countries aiding rebels
Nigeria's Foreign Ministry warned Liberia and other countries yesterday to stop backing rebels in Sierra Leone, AFP reported.
"It cannot be business as usual with countries which provide bullets that kill and maim our sons and daughters," it said, quoting the Foreign Ministry statement. This was the first statement by Nigeria on the situation in Freetown since the rebel attack. Nigeria provides most of the troops for ECOMOG.
Shelpidi said in Freetown yesterday that Liberian President Charles Taylor was supporting the RUF. "He's funding the rebels in exchange for diamonds," Reuters quoted Shelpidi as saying. Taylor has denied his government's involvement but concedes that Liberian mercenaries were helping the rebels.
Nigeria also called on Wednesday for a concerted international effort to contain the war. The Foreign Ministry said any initiative to bring reconciliation in Sierra Leone "must necessarily take into serious cognisance the pivotal role of the three ECOMOG troop-contributing countries, including Nigeria," Reuters said. Apart form Nigeria, Ghana and Guinea are the other troop contributing countries. The Gambia and Mali are also expected to send troops.
British frigate to back Kabbah's government
H.M.S. Norfolk, a Royal Navy frigate, is heading for Freetown in support of the democratically elected government of Sierra Leone, Reuters reported yesterday. "How we are going to do that is really my business," Brigadier David Richards, the commander of the British forces aboard the frigate, told Reuters in Dakar, the Senegalese capital. The agency said the Norfolk carried a Lynx helicopter and a 181-man "reconnaissance and liaison team". It would next go to Conakry, the Guinean capital, near Sierra Leone.
Imprisoned rebel leader talks to his commander
Imprisoned RUF leader Foday Sankoh spoke yesterday with his guerrilla commander Sam Bockarie about a possible ceasefire in an effort to end the nation's civil war, a UN official in Guinea told IRIN today. The official, who declined to disclose the outcome of the conversation on a satellite telephone link, said ceasefire proposals were still under negotiation. Details of the proposal were not made public. The United Nations Special Representative for Sierra Leone, Francis Okelo, who set up the telephone link, is meeting foreign ministers of Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Guinea and consulting other ECOWAS countries on ending the crisis.
ICRC ordered out of Freetown
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) airlifted its five remaining representatives out of Freetown yesterday on the orders of the Sierra Leonean government, the Committee said today in a statement.
The Committee said it regretted having to leave at a time "when the humanitarian situation is still giving cause for the gravest concern". Although unable to carry out humanitarian work due to fighting in the city, it said, the presence of the delegates was reassuring to the 180 civilians who had sought help in the ICRC compound, and to the wounded being treated in the ICRC's Netland surgical hospital. The ICRC said it was ready to resume its humanitarian tasks as soon as it was authorised.
Rebels take Freetown archbishop hostage
The Roman Catholic archbishop of Freetown and Bo, Joseph Ganda, has been taken hostage by rebels in Sierra Leone, the missionary news agency, MISNA, reported today. It said Ganda, 66, was being held in the same location as Xaverian missionary Father Mario Guerra. MISNA said the circumstances of Ganda's abduction, Tuesday or Wednesday, were not immediately known. His captors have allowed him to communicate with the Church.
SENEGAL: Liberians and Sierra Leoneans seek UNHCR support
Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in the capital Dakar were scheduled to meet UNHCR officials today to discuss further the refugees' grievances after an angry protest there earlier this week. The UNHCR Regional Representative in Dakar, Osseni Fassassi, told IRIN today that the meeting would discuss the refugees' demands for UNHCR protection and assistance in Senegal. On Monday, about 70 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees demonstrated in front of the UNHCR office. The refugees agreed to leave after Fassassi met them, but a few have since returned and have started a hunger strike, he said.
There are some 300 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Dakar, most of whom came from Guinea-Bissau last year after the outbreak of the conflict there. Fassassi said the Sierra Leoneans and Liberians do not have full refugee status in Senegal because it is not a designated country of asylum for people from those two countries.. As a temporary solution, UNHCR would explore possibilities for extending assistance to the group, and some kind of UNHCR protection document could be issued to them, he added.
NIGERIA: Two parties merge to challenge for presidency
Nigeria's second and third largest political parties have agreed to present a single candidate for presidential elections due in February, news organisations reported yesterday.
"We have approved the plan for a working alliance," Josiah Odunna, the national secretary of the centre-right All Peoples Party (APP) told AFP. He said an alliance with the centre-left Alliance for Democracy (AD) was necessary if they were to stop the People's Democratic Party (PDP) from making a sweep of the presidential poll. The PDP won the weekend state elections.
The AD has approved the plan and the two party leaders are to meet soon, AFP reported, quoting an official. The agency said the electoral pact had been blocked by major differences between the parties. The AD, which is strong in the Yoruba southwest, proposes a populist programme and staunchly opposed the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha. The APP, which offers a conservative economic regime, includes many former Abacha supporters.
Thirty student protesters arrested
Nigerian police arrested at least 30 students on Wednesday after firing shots and teargas to disperse an anti-government protest in Lagos, Reuters reported. The slogan chanting students demanded an end to recent rises in school fees and fuel prices.
The recent increases in fuel prices followed the government's decision to abandon fuel subsidies and spending cuts because of a sharp fall in the price for crude oil, which accounts for 90 percent of the country's export earnings.
Wheat flour imports banned
Nigeria has banned the importation of wheat flour, raising prospects of potential bread shortages on local markets, the Nigerian daily 'The Guardian' said yesterday. The government move is designed to boost local production. Wheat grain is not on the list of non-importable items, but there is concern that local wheat mills may not be able to meet market demand, it said. The ban was announced on Tuesday by Central Bank Governor Paul Ogwuma. The import ban also applies to maize, sorghum and millet, the newspaper said.
GUINEA: Opposition leader moved to prison
Opposition leader Alpha Conde, who was arrested on 16 December two days after presidential elections in which he came in third, has been transferred to the central prison in the capital Conakry at his lawyers' request, AFP said yesterday. Conde has been held under house arrest on charges of illegally crossing the Guinean-Ivorian border and of threatening state security, news agencies said. AFP quoted Conde's lawyers as saying they had only been able to see their client once since his arrest and that they had not been given access to court documents in the case.
Four diplomats visit Conde
Meanwhile, four Western diplomats visited Conde earlier this week, a spokeswoman for the United States Embassy in Conakry told IRIN today. She said US Ambassador Tibor J. Nagy went to see Conde along with the ambassadors of Canada and Germany and the representative of the European Union on Monday afternoon. The spokeswoman said Nagy had requested a visit with Conde "on instructions of his government". But she would not release additional details on the meeting or on Conde's condition.
GUINEA BISSAU: More donor help essential, EIU says
Guinea Bissau, one of the 15 poorest countries in the world, will need even more donor help if it is to recover from the effects of months of fighting between the government and the rebel military junta led by sacked army chief Ansumane Mane, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) says.
In its fourth quarter 1998 report on the Guinea Bissau economy, the EIU said public amenities had been destroyed and the government coffers were nearly empty. "Once the conflict is over, the country will face the enormous challenge of rebuilding not only its weakened economic infrastructure but also the social and political edifices on which that infrastructure depends," it added.
It said there were no reliable estimates of war casualties, but reportedly bodies had been left to decompose in the streets. This, "together with the lack of hygiene and sanitary facilities, increases the risk of epidemics. Humanitarian and reconstruction aid will therefore remain the authorities' top priorities," the EIU said.
The full EIU report can be found on the EIU website: http://www.eiu.com
Abidjan, 14 January 1999, 17:00 GMT
[ENDS]
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 17:46:08 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 380 for 1999.01.14
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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