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IRIN Update 415 of Events in West Africa

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa
Tel: +225 21 73 54
Fax: +225 21 63 35
e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org

SIERRA LEONE: ECOMOG displays captured rebels

The West African intervention force, ECOMOG, has displayed to reporters nearly 90 rebel prisoners captured during fighting in Freetown in January, Sierra Leone presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN today (Thursday).

The Sierra Leone News website also reported that many of the prisoners were members of the country's former army and police officers. Following the battle for the city, the UN and other organisations accused ECOMOG of summarily killing rebels and suspected collaborators, a charge denied by both Kaikai and ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade.

"ECOMOG is bending over backwards to prove to the world it respects established laws governing the conduct of wars," Olukolade said. Kaikai told IRIN that had it wanted, ECOMOG would have executed hundreds of people.

Nigeria offers to train new army

Nigeria has offered to train at least 2,000 officers and men of Sierra Leone's new army, Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe told journalists. Khobe, a Nigerian who is Sierra Leone's Chief of Defence Staff, said the first 500 recruits would be sent to Nigeria soon, according to the Sierra Leone News website. The officers will undergo 12 weeks of basic training at the Nigerian Defence Academy and the enlisted men half that time at the same institution. They will return to Sierra Leone before 29 May, when a democratic civilian government is expected to regain power in Nigeria. ECOMOG's Nigerian contingent is expected to pull out around that date.

Spokesman denies UN representative asked to leave

Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai today denied personal knowledge that President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah had demanded the recall of UNDP Resident Representative Elizabeth Lwanga.

"I am not personally aware of this decision at all," Kaikai told IRIN.

His comment came in response to news reports that Kabbah made the request because UN expatriate staff had failed to return to Freetown after evacuating to neighbouring Guinea.

The news reports also said that Kabbah, a former UN official, claimed some UN agencies were "refusing to return in order to put pressure on the government to negotiate with the RUF [rebel Revolutionary United Front]".

Lebanon oblivious to Sierra Leone's plight, Kabbah says

Despite large numbers of Lebanese in Sierra Leone, the Beirut government has been "lukewarm" towards Freetown's efforts to put down the rebellion, President Kabbah said over state radio.

In a statement to outgoing Lebanese Ambassador Mohammed el-Dib, Kabbah said: "It is important for the Lebanese government to maintain a close link to Sierra Leone because of the huge number of its nationals resident here."

While the Lebanese community had contributed to the welfare of Sierra Leoneans, he said some had been accused of involvement in the country's problems. AFP reported that in April 1998, 20 Lebanese businessmen and diamond dealers were deported from Sierra Leone after being accused of aiding the junta which ousted Kabbah's government in May 1997.

NIGERIA: Coup plotters ordered released

Nigeria's current military regime today ordered the immediate release of 33 coup plotters, jailed for trying to overthrow the late General Sani Abacha in 1995 and 1997, news reports said. Chief of General Staff Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe was quoted as saying the decision was taken by the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) "in the spirit of national reconciliation".

"A lot has happened in the country and can be likened to a candle burning itself out," he said, according to the independent 'Guardian' daily. The 33 officers and civilians include former chief of general staff Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya, Major Generals Abdulkarim Adisa and Tajudeen Olanrewaju and journalist Niran Malaolu. According to the 'Guardian', Diya and his fellow 1997 coup plotters are now free men but lose their military ranking.

Falae to challenge poll results

The loser in Nigeria's presidential elections, Olu Falae, has reiterated he will challenge the results of Saturday's poll. In an interview with AFP, Falae - of the joint Alliance for Democracy/All People's Party (AD/APP) - said he would take up allegations of massive vote rigging with the country's election tribunal within two weeks, as requested by law. The decision was taken by the AD and APP, he added. He rejected calls for him to accept the result, which saw former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) elected president. "How can they say I should condone fraud? I can't do that," Falae said.

Analysts note "mammoth task" ahead

Nigerian analysts have said the new civilian government will face the mammoth task, when it takes power in May, of building a democratic order after decades of military rule. "We have to clean our psyche and really demilitarise our way of thinking and doing things," Abdul Oroh, director of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), told IRIN. He said he saw the role of CLO and other NGOs which - along with the independent media - led the opposition to army rule, as one of civic education and strengthening democratic process. "Most Nigerians under the age of 30 have never really known civilian rule," he pointed out.

Some analysts have questioned the "civilian" nature of Obasanjo's government, but Oroh insisted that "no matter how weak a civilian administration, it's better than military rule". However, Nigerian journalist Remi Oyo expressed concern that "if we have a government that has any trace of the military in it, we will be heading back to where we came from - that is extreme intolerance".

LIBERIA: NGOs urge government to tackle critical problems

More than 50 Liberian NGOs have urged the government to restore international confidence in the country by addressing critical human rights and security issues. The NGOs' "Mamba Point Declaration", received by IRIN today, expressed concern that citizens "live in fear of the security forces" and "cannot report violations with confidence". It invited the goverment to work with the NGO community in Liberia. Some of the most pressing tasks were the reintegration of thousands of ex-combatants and creating a "corruption free" environment for business investment.

Government probing ethnic tension in Lofa county

President Charles Taylor has sent a ministerial team to Lofa county in the north to investigate reports of renewed ethnic tension there, Star radio reported today. It said recent fighting in the Voinjama area had left at least three people dead. The Liberian interior minister, who is a member of the team, said the government had not yet established who was involved in the fighting. However, regional analysts note the traditional hostility in Lofa county between the Mandingo and Loma people who live in separate communities with their own leadership structures. The Loma regard the Mandingo as Guineans or foreigners who have "abused their hospitality" , and there have been instances of Loma appropriating Mandingo property and homes, the analysts say.

AFRICA: UN says violence against women linked to HIV/AIDS

The UN has called for intensified efforts to help women "living in the shadow of violence and AIDS". A report by UNAIDS entitled "HIV/AIDS and violence against women" says domestic violence, rape and other forms of sexual abuse are gross violations of human rights but are also linked to the spread of HIV. Many women and girls are also victims of sexual coercion by male relatives, classmates or neighbours. In Africa, schoolgirls often resort to sex with "sugar daddies" to help pay education fees, the report says. "Coercion can take the form of wanton rape," it adds. In South Africa, for example, roving gangs of young men, many infected with HIV, engage in what they call "catch and rape". Rape has also become a deliberate weapon of war in many conflicts, such as in Central Africa.

The report says in order to survive in a world with AIDS, it is necessary to protect the sexual and reproductive rights of women. While the International Criminal Court now recognises rape and other forms of violence against women as a crime against humanity in times of war, governments urgently need to enforce national laws that criminalise gender violence and abuse. Current resources for HIV prevention are grossly inadequate. The report notes that in 1997, only US $160 million were spent on AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. "This is completely inadequate to halt the epidemic, let alone help change attitudes among men with regard to prevention, non-violence and women's rights," it says.

Abidjan, 4 March 1999, 17:20 gmt

[ENDS]

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