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IRIN-WA Weekly Round-Up 8 of Main Events for West Africa covering the period 19-25 February 1999

NIGERIA: PDP sweeps legislative poll Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) defeated a two-party challenge to win legislative elections on Saturday for the 109-seat Senate and 360-seat House of Representatives, according to results issued by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC). The PDP won 59 Senate seats, the All People’s Party (APP) 29 and the Alliance for Democracy (AD) 20. In the House, the PDP won 206 seats, the APP 74 and the AD 68. By-elections will be held on 6 March for legislative polls in the states of Akwa Ibom, Delta, Nasarawa and Rivers where voting did not take place because of security concerns. INEC Chairman Ephraim Akpata told a news conference that although generally fair, there had been voting irregularities such as the late opening of some polling centres, stuffing of ballot boxes, falsification, alteration and inflation of results. These activities involved some electoral staff, he said. Presidential campaigning winds up This Saturday’s presidential poll will mark the last in a series of elections leading to the restoration of democracy in Nigeria after 15 years of military rule. Winding up his campaign, frontrunner Olusegun Obasanjo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) again dismissed allegations that his victory would represent a continuation of military rule in civilian guise. Obasanjo, who ruled Nigeria as an army general from 1976 to 1979, told supporters at a thinly-attended rally in Lagos on Wednesday, “I am a candidate for all Nigeria. I am a civilian candidate, not a military candidate.” His main challenger is Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy/All People’s party (AD/APP), who served as finance minister under the military government of Ibrahim Babangida in the 1980s. Military decrees terms for president The military government decreed on Wednesday that the winner of the presidential race would be limited to two four-year terms of office. He will also have to declare all assets before taking charge of the country, news reports said. The election rules also stipulate a one year prison term and a US $60 fine for anybody offering or accepting bribes. SIERRA LEONE: Rebels willing to hold talks, lay down armst Rebels in Sierra Leone have expressed willingness to hold peace talks with the government and take part in a UN-monitored cease-fire, Reuters reported. It cited a joint statement by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and UN Special Representative for Sierra Leone Francis Okelo following talks last weekend in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The RUF said a meeting should first be held between its jailed leader Foday Sankoh and his commanders, as suggested by President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, and proposed either Ouagadougou, Abidjan or Lome as a venue. The RUF also wants Sankoh to be freed after these talks. However, Sierra Leonean Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Thursday Ougadougou would be unacceptable as a venue “given that the Burkina Faso president is implicated in the Sierra Leone crisis”. He also said the rebels had rejected a proposal that they meet Sankoh offshore on board a British ship near Guinea. “We are now waiting to hear from them,” he said, adding that other venues had not been discounted. Waterloo free of rebels, access to east easier The West African intervention force ECOMOG has flushed rebels out of Waterloo, some 18 km from Freetown, making the capital safe, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Olukolade said, according to media reports. The UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) confirmed that Waterloo, which had been under rebel control for weeks, was now secure. This affords greater access to the east, although caution is still advised, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Thursday. Concern over situation in north However, the humanitarian community has expressed concern about the situation in northern Sierra Leone which is mostly inaccessible to relief organisations. The Kailahun area in particular is giving cause for concern because it is a meningitis zone, and cases have already been identified among displaced people arriving in Kenema. The sources also said about 1,749 children had been reported missing by family members in the Western area. This could be either due to separation, wilful abduction by rebels or unknown deaths. Tracing is slow, as many children are still held by the rebels in areas where ECOMOG is not fully deployed. Malian troops arrive The first batch of ECOMOG Malian troops arrived in Freetown on Saturday, according to an ECOMOG news release. The force’s chief of staff, Brigadier General Abu Ahmadu, told the 428 Malians that their arrival came at a “most vital time”. They join some 15,000 other troops from Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria. British military team promises ECOMOG aid ECOMOG Force Commander Major General Timothy Shelpidi met a five-man British military team in Freetown on Monday to discuss details of British aid for ECOMOG operations, ECOMOG said in a press release. The head of the British team, Brigadier David Richards, said a “comprehensive package” of British assistance would be worked out based on the current consultations. Richards said the aid would be “all-embracing” to complement ECOMOG activities on land, sea and air and also to train the future Sierra Leone army. Kabbah urges UN to act against rebels Sierra Leonean President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah urged the UN on Saturday to act against arms suppliers delivering to the rebels. In a radio and television broadcast he called on the Security Council to “exert pressure on those states and individuals who continue to supply weapons and logistics” to the rebels. LIBERIA: Government deports “mercenaries” Liberia has ordered the deportation of a Briton and a Sierra Leonean, accusing them of being mercenaries, Star radio reported on Thursday. They are among 10 people arrested recently on suspicion of collaborating with Sierra Leonean rebels. The Briton, Richard Ratcliffe, is the general manager of Red Deer International, and the Sierra Leonean is Sheikh Ahmed Kompah. Eight others were freed for lack of evidence. Sources in Liberia told IRIN the premises of Red Deer International were now closed and sealed up pending the outcome of the investigation. The company was believed to be primarily a rubber buying organisation, and was said to be close to the government. Sierra Leonean diplomat expelled Sierra Leonean diplomat David Saysay was also ordered out of Liberia, Star radio reported on Thursday. The Liberian authorities accused him of being an intelligence officer posing as an information officer at the embassy of Sierra Leone. Liberian Justice Minister Eddington Varmah said Saysay had organised a covert operation to “discredit the government”. Liberia has been accused of helping the rebels in Sierra Leone and has constantly denied the allegations. Liberia invokes measures to stop involvement in Sierra Leone In another move, Liberia announced measures aimed at “discouraging Liberians from complicating the Sierra Leone crisis”, Star Radio reported on Sunday. Among the measures were an amnesty for Liberians who were fighting in Sierra Leone. The government gave a 45-day deadline beginning 20 February for the Liberians to cooperate with a “voluntary repatriation programme”. The government said it would work with the Sierra Leone authorities to arrest and prosecute Liberians who did not turn themselves in. GUINEA BISSAU: Prime Minister Fadul takes oath of office Guinea Bissau Prime Minister Francesco Fadul was sworn in as head of the new transitional government of national unity and pledged to work for the entire country, despite his affiliations with the former anti-government junta. With the formation of the government, and under a November 1998 peace accord ending an army rebellion against President Joao Bernardo Vieira, Fadul is supposed to organise new general elections at the end of March at the latest. However, shortly after his swearing in Fadul said that the disruption caused by the eight-month civil war made it impossible for him to organise the elections sooner than September, Reuters reported. Fadul had always refused to take office before the departure of troops from Guinea and Senegal, who have been backing Vieira since the June 1998 army rebellion. Some 900 Senegalese soldiers from a total of 2,500 have reportedly begun to withdraw. WFP distributes food to displaced Some 170,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Guinea Bissau capital, Bissau, received 800 mt of rice, peas, vegetable oil and wheat flour distributed by WFP on Wednesday, the agency’s regional spokesman, Wagdi Othman, told IRIN. He described the operation as “a one-off general food distribution” effort for IDPs trapped in Bissau without food during recent fighting between loyalist and anti-government troops. Othman, who has just returned from Bissau, said although life in the city was gradually returning to normal with some food in the markets, residents lacked money to buy items. In addition, he said there were still 100,000 IDPs in areas near the capital, such as the town of Safim. Of these, 60,000 IDPs were living in makeshift camps “almost everywhere in the town”, he said. WEST AFRICA: Ogata begins visit UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata began a visit to the region on Tuesday, starting in Guinea. UNHCR said her eight-day mission would also take her to Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, security permitting. She will meet heads of state and UN officials and “take a first hand look at one of the world’s most difficult refugee situations”, a UNHCR spokesperson said. He recalled that Guinea hosts a refugee population of almost 470,000 (mostly from Sierra Leone, with about 120,000 from Liberia). In Liberia, UNHCR is assisting an estimated 95,000 refugees from Sierra Leone and working to support the repatriation of Liberians from neighbouring countries. Since the end of 1997, about 100,000 Liberians have returned home. Cote d’Ivoire still hosts some 90,000 Liberians. IFRC launches urgent appeal The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has appealed urgently for support for its programmes in West Africa. In a news release received by IRIN on Tuesday, the Federation noted that ongoing armed conflict in the region, notably in Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone, had resulted in hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees. Mortality rates from cholera, meningitis, yellow fever and hepatitis-A remained high, while HIV/AIDS cases were growing at an alarming rate. The Federation appealed for 3,082,000 Swiss francs for its ongoing programmes and a further 13,279,000 Swiss francs for its emergency programmes in Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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