IRIN-West Africa Weekly Roundup no. 82 for 1999.01.08

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup No 82 of Main Events for West Africa covering the period 31 December 1998 to 7 January 1999

SIERRA LEONE: Ceasefire agreed in Freetown

Rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and their allies from the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) stormed the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown in the early hours of Wednesday. By Thursday, the rebel forces held most of the eastern side of the city with the West African intervention force ECOMOG in firm control of the west and Lungi international airport. The commercial heart of the city was a no-man's land.

On Thursday evening Sierra Leone President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah announced he had agreed a seven-day ceasefire with jailed RUF leader Foday Sankoh and said he would release him if certain conditions were met. Sankoh was being held pending an appeal against a death sentence for treason. In a radio broadcast, Kabbah listed the conditions as "an immediate ceasefire, adoption of the Abidjan Charter, and consultations with my cabinet colleagues." Kabbah and Sankoh signed a peace accord in Abidjan in November 1996. In a recorded statement broadcast at the same time, Sankoh said "our combatants should keep to their defensive positions and cease all hostilities. Within the seven days we will work out modalities for me to join you."

Nigerian jets and mortars struck rebel positions in the capital on Thursday as ECOMOG tried to push back the rebel thrust. Nigerian Alpha jets and helicopters flew non-stop sorties from the airport, AFP reported, leaving thick clouds of smoke over the city. But little or no fighting was reported elsewhere in the country.

The rebels seized the presidency and burned the Nigerian embassy and police headquarters on Wednesday. They also entered Pademba Prison in Freetown, releasing detained members of the RUF and AFRC. Expatriates, including Francis Okelo, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and his United Nations Military Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) team, were flown out of the country, mostly to neighbouring Guinea.

Rebel commander dead

One of Sierra Leone's main rebel commanders, Solomon Musa, died of his wounds following an ECOMOG bombardment of rebel positions in the north of the country, the French news agency, AFP, reported on Monday quoting missionary sources. Musa headed a rebel unit which has been holding an Italian missionary, Father Mario Guerra, since 15 November. Musa was a member of the military junta ousted by ECOMOG in February 1998.

Nigeria holds talks

Nigeria, which provides the bulk of the ECOMOG forces, consulted with regional allies on Thursday on what steps to take after the rebel attack. Presidential sources told AFP that military leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar met the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Lansana Kouyate, 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 being held. "ECOMOG will not stand by and allow the legitimate government of President Kabbah to be ousted again," Tella said.

Britain warns Liberia

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said on Thursday 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 with BBC radio, 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, from which ECOMOG gets its mandate.

Nigeria presses Security Council for urgent support to ECOWAS

Earlier in the week, Nigeria asked the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to tighten the arms embargo on Liberia and the illegal arms supplies to RUF rebels, PANA reported on Thursday. Nigeria's ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Gambari, who met the representatives of China, France, Russia, Britain and the US on 29 December, asked them to investigate countries accused of violating the arms embargo, including Liberia.

Gambari also asked governments of the five permanent members to do more to support the peace effort. In a statement on 30 December, the US Department of State said that the US had given US $3.9 million to Sierra Leone in 1998. This year, it said, the US had allocated $1.3 million for logistics support to ECOMOG.

Britain said on Tuesday it would provide an extra one million pounds (US $1.65 million) to help Sierra Leone and the ECOMOG force. "Two-thirds of this amount, provided equally by the FCO (the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and MOD (the Ministry of Defence), will be available immediately for logistical support to ECOMOG," the Foreign Office said in a statement. It said the British Department for International Development (DFID) was also ready to provide up to one third of the full amount in a separate package of development assistance. The Foreign Office said the logistical aid would depend on the list of requirements provided by ECOMOG but would not include arms or ammunition.

Ghana may send more troops

Ghana's foreign minister, James Gbeho, has said Accra was considering sending additional troops to Sierra Leone to back ECOMOG, "if the environment is right. He said on state radio on Wednesday 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.

Malian President Alpha Omar Konare told President Kabbah on Monday he would send troops to support ECOMOG and an advance party of senior Malian officers had been expected to go to Freetown next week for talks on deployment with ECOMOG. The Gambia's secretary of state for foreign affairs, Sedat Jobe, told IRIN on Wednesday that logistical difficulties had made it difficult for an advance Gambian military team to go to Sierra Leone and review mechanisms for a troop deployment. Gambian political analysts told IRIN that the nation's participation in ECOMOG would be complicated by President Yahya Jammeh's offer to negotiate an end to the fighting. The analysts said The Gambia could not be a peace broker and at the same time a combatant in the war.

UNHCR says fighting raises spectre of refugee exodus

The UNHCR said on Wednesday the upsurge of fighting in Sierra Leone raised the spectre of another refugee exodus from Sierra Leone. In a statement received by IRIN, the UNHCR said an estimated 350,000 people were now displaced persons within the country. Many are in the Kenema area, in eastern Sierra Leone. The agency said it had received reports of another 5,800 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the western border area of Kambia who possibly intended to cross into Guinea if the fighting continued.

"Over the past few days, over one hundred refugees have fled into neighbouring Guinea," it said, adding that it was prepared to receive new arrivals on the Guinean side of the border. The agency said about 210,000 people fled Sierra Leone to Guinea in 1998, hundreds of whom arrived mutilated by rebels who "systematically terrorised the rural population". In all, there are 350,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and another 90,000 in Liberia, UNHCR said.

There was enough food for a week for IDPs in Kambia, Kenema and Bo, an official of the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) told IRIN. There are 10,324 newly registered IDPs in Kambia who fled fighting in Makeni, Port Loko and from villages around Kambia. They are receiving help from UNICEF and WFP, the official said. By Tuesday, 26,250 IDPs had arrived in Kenema and registration was continuing, the official said, adding that the food situation in the town, about 135 km southeast of Freetown, was under control. But the WFP reported a shortage of non-food items and shelter.

WFP supplies 20,000 IDPs with food

The WFP said on Tuesday that in the previous five days it had fed 20,000 IDPs in Kenema. "People are arriving by the thousands and they are in urgent need of food and other humanitarian assistance," Patrick Buckley, the representative of the UN food aid agency in Sierra Leone, said. WFP had 1,500 mt of food in its Kenema warehouse, Buckley said, enough to feed 160,000 people for one month. "The influx in Kenema is just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "We are gravely concerned about the situation of several thousands of people we believe are hiding in the bush."

Close to 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the Makeni and Kono regions in the northern and eastern parts of the country, he said, and were starting to arrive in Bo, 110 km south of Makeni. WFP has been coordinating food deliveries with the Catholic Relief Services, CARE and World Vision. Over the past three weeks, he said, they had been able to feed some 24,000 people and had been helping in Makeni before the town fell to the rebels in December.

GUINEA BISSAU: Sporadic gunfire shatters Bissau's calm

Sporadic gunfire shattered the calm of Guinea Bissau's capital, Bissau, late on Wednesday and a Western diplomat told IRIN it could encourage more civilians to leave the capital. Swedish Charge d'Affaires Tom Abrahamsson said on Thursday 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 previous 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 troops who will form part of the ECOMOG force 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 on Thursday, 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: Bayelsa crisis worsens

Up to 26 people were reported killed, 200 wounded and hundreds more displaced as a result of fighting between Ijaw youth and security forces in Bayelsa State, news agencies said. Military tanks, two warships and between 10,000-15,000 additional troops were deployed to the area in response to the crisis, sparked by Ijaw youths demanding greater control over local oil resources, news agencies said. Bayelsa State administrator Paul Obi declared a state of emergency on 30 December at the start of the demonstrations, which followed the passing of an Ijaw deadline for oil companies to leave the region. Many military check-points had been set up, sporadic gunfire could be heard in the state capital Yenagoa over the weekend and tension remained high there, the Nigerian daily `The Guardian' today quoted local residents as saying. Medical services in Yenagoa ceased functioning after health workers fled to other towns, `The Guardian' added.

Fuel prices reduced

Fuel marketing companies in Nigeria have reduced the local pump price of petrol by about 20 percent, news agencies said on Wednesday. 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 more than doubled last month after the government deregulated the fuel sector. The price increases had outraged labour unions and sparked street protests, news agencies said. Five people were killed in Lagos on Monday during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against the price increases, Reuters reported.

Nigeria brings in tight budget, scraps two-tier exchange rate

Nigeria has abolished the controversial dual exchange rate in a 1999 budget dominated by the collapse of the price of oil, news reports said. The budget, unveiled last Friday, is based on an estimated price of US $9.0 per barrel of oil compared with US $17 per barrel in the 1998 budget. The budget foresees a deficit of nearly US $400 million because of the fall in oil revenues.

Military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar said in his annual budget speech that the dual exchange rate was being abolished with immediate effect. It had given some branches of government access to foreign exchange at 22 naira to the dollar compared with a market rate of about 86 naira. International lending agencies had long demanded its abolition.

Abubakar said pre-shipment inspection of imports would also be abolished from 1 April to help remove bottlenecks at ports and gave the central bank autonomy over monetary policy. The privatisation of inefficient state enterprises would be speeded up before the restoration of civilian rule in May, he said.

Finance Minister Ismaila Usman announced on Tuesday that an embargo on external loans had been lifted in the face of diminishing oil earnings, AFP reported. AFP said Nigeria would seek concessional loans and credits from multinational and bilateral sources, including the World Bank.

Commonwealth team to witness Nigerian state elections

A 17-member team from the Commonwealth Secretariat is in Nigeria to observe State Assembly and Gubernatorial Elections due in the 36 states on Saturday. The Commonwealth said in a statement that the team, led by the Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General (Political), Mr K Srinivasan, would seek to gain a broad overview of the electoral process and the elections themselves, and report to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku. The poll is due to be followed by legislative and presidential elections in February that will lead to Abubakar stepping down in May.. Srinivasan's team, invited by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), observed local elections last month which it said had been successful.

Elections postponed in Bayelsa

The elections have been postponed in Bayelsa, Nigerian television, monitored by the BBC, reported on Wednesday. It cited a statement from INEC as saying that a new date for the Baleysa elections would be announced later.

Parties register candidates

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 on Thursday. The parties are the radical Alliance for Democracy (AD), the centre-right All Peoples Party (APP) and the centre-left Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), they said.

An INEC spokesman told PANA on Thursday 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 today (Friday) and movement of people within the country restricted on polling day to limit attempts at fraud, AFP reported.

Two parties form alliance on candidate

Two of Nigeria's three political parties have agreed to field a common candidate for 27 February presidential elections under the military's plan to restore civilian rule, party officials said on Monday. "We have decided to have a common candidate for the presidential elections, but we're still fine-tuning the process through which that candidate will emerge," Reuters quoted the AD's Tunji Adebiyi as saying of the link-up with the APP. The left of centre AD and the rightist APP were defeated in December local government elections by the centrist PDP which won about 60 percent of seats in the vote.

Committee recommends adopting 1979 constitution

A 26-member committee set up in November to organise a national debate on Nigeria's 1995 draft constitution has recommended the adoption of the country's 1979 constitution, according to news reports. The committee, chaired by Federal Appeal Court Judge Niki Tobi, recommended the military regime adopt the 1979 document with some amended provisions from the 1995 draft. The 1979 constitution provided for a presidential system of government with a clear-cut separation of powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary, the independent newspaper 'This Day' reported. The constitution also provided for a vice president and a multi-party system, the paper said.

GUINEA: Lawyers allowed to see Conde

Lawyers in Guinea have been allowed to see Alpha Conde, a defeated candidate in December's presidential election, for the first time since he was arrested on 15 December, Reuters reported on Tuesday. It quoted a spokesman for the team, Sydrame Camara, as saying that: "Judging by appearances he is well. His living conditions are acceptable, especially as regards food."

Camara said an informal visit lasting 15 minutes was allowed on Monday in the presence of public prosecutor Moundjou Cherif. According to Camara, Conde was in a villa in Conakry's Cite de l'OUA, an area close to government ministries and the presidency. He told his lawyers he had been kidnapped and detained illegally. His legal team was trying to negotiate formal visiting times with the examining magistrate, Reuters said.

The authorities have said Conde was arrested as he fled to neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire the day after the 14 December poll. The most serious charge against him is attempted subversion. Cherif has said this referred to an alleged plan "to recruit and train (mercenaries) and wage war with a view to replacing by force the government of the republic." Other charges include alleged plans for the fraudulent transfer of foreign currency, violence against the police and violation of a decree closing Guinea's land borders during the election.

SENEGAL: Casamance rebel leader rejects preconditions for dialogue

The leaders of the Casamance secessionist Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) must be released unconditionally before any talks can take place with the government, Africa No 1 radio reported on Saturday. The radio, monitored by the BBC, quoted MFDC Deputy Secretary-General Mamadou Nkrumah Sane as saying that the movement "and the Casamance people categorically reject the appeal that (Senegalese President) Abdou Diouf has just made."

"As long as [MFDC Secretary-General] Father [Abbe Augustin] Diamacoune [Senghor] and his close associates are in prison, there is no question of us answering this appeal," he said. The MFDC also rejected Diouf's proposal for talks "within the framework of Senegal," he said, adding: "The MFDC is always prepared to hold dialogue with the Senegalese government but without any preconditions by the Senegalese government and Abdou Diouf."

Dakar has been trying to put down the separatist rebellion in Casamance for 17 years.

LIBERIA: Displaced leaving Monrovia camps

Displaced people in and around the capital Monrovia started abandoning their camps on Monday after President Charles Taylor ordered them to leave, news agencies said. "The war is over and displaced persons should return to their respective counties to engage in agriculture," AFP quoted Taylor as saying at a press conference last Thursday. Taylor had given the displaced up to the end of December to leave, AFP said. Some 35 camps around the capital have accommodated thousands of people displaced by civil war, which formally ended with the 1997 presidential and legislative elections, it said.

Lofa deaths not linked to haemorrhagic fever

Investigations have revealed no evidence of haemorrhagic fever in northeast Liberia where local authorities had recently reported the possible presence of the disease, a WHO official said today. Health authorities in Lofa county had suspected that eight deaths since October might have been due to Rift Valley Fever. However, results of laboratory tests conducted in Abidjan and at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have shown no trace of a haemorrhagic fever including Rift Valley Fever, a WHO official in Abidjan told IRIN on Wednesday. An investigative mission to the area between 14-23 December saw no signs of Rift Valley Fever, such as abnormally high animal death rates, the official added.

BURKINA FASO: Commission to start death probe

An independent commission to investigate the death of outspoken local journalist Norbert Zongo was expected to begin its work on Thursday, Radio Burkina said. The radio, monitored by the BBC, quoted Minister of Territorial Administration and Security Yero Boly as saying the investigative commission would include 10 civilians and clergymen, four law enforcement representatives as well as members of international organisations. "It is a commission that is quite capable of doing its work" Boly said. Zongo's death under unclear circumstances last month sparked demonstrations in the capital Ouagadougou and several other towns in the country.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: General elections set for 6 March

General elections will be held in Equatorial Guinea on 6 March, AFP reported, quoting radio Malabo. According to a government decree read on the radio, there will be one round of voting for the 80-seat national assembly with a simple majority deciding the winner. There are 13 official political parties including six opposition groups, AFP said. The current assembly is dominated by the Parti democratique de Guinee equatoriale (PDGE) which took 67 seats in the 1993 poll. The other seats went to allied parties, the opposition having boycotted the vote. The opposition also boycotted municipal and presidential polls in 1995 and 1996.

WEST AFRICA: CFA franc pegged to the euro

The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) said at the beginning of the week that the CFA franc had been pegged to the euro, via the French franc, at the rate of 655.957 fcfa to the euro. The parity to the French franc remains 100 to one. There had been speculation that the CFA franc would be devalued with the introduction of the euro in 11 European Union states, including France, on 1 January. The CFA franc is used in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo in West Africa and in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon in Central Africa.

WEST AFRICA: Record harvests forecast

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 on Thursday, 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

WEST AFRICA: EU's Bonino puts off visit

The European Union's Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Emma Bonino has postponed a visit to Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal due to continued fighting in Sierra Leone, a European Commission official told IRIN on Monday. The visit has now been tentatively rescheduled for the first week of February, the official said.

Abidjan, 8 January 1999, 15:00 GMT

[ENDS]

Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 15:53:33 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Weekly Roundup no. 82 for 1999.01.08

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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