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IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 141 covering the period 14-20 Sep 2002

UNITED NATIONS
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network
COTE D'IVOIRE: Uprising was a failed coup d'etat, says government

What started out as another business-as-usual week in Cote d'Ivoire has turned out to be the latest turbulent chapter in Ivorian politics. The armed uprising, which broke out on Thursday morning, has left many dead including former head of state General Robert Guei.

The armed uprising in Cote d'Ivoire on Thursday morning was a failed coup attempt against the government of President Laurent Gbagbo, the defense minister Moise Lida Kouassi said in a public statement.

Neighbouring Burkina Faso's security minister, Djibril Bassolet, said in the capital, Ouagadougou, that his country had beefed up border security "to prevent any infiltration of elements who may be hunted down from Cote d'Ivoire."

Bassolet denied media reports attributed to Kouassi that some mutineers drove into Cote d'Ivoire from Burkina Faso.

In Abidjan, loyalist forces were able to suppress the fighting by Thursday afternoon. Sporadic gunfire was however heard during Thursday night and early Friday morning.

Government said the coup attempt was plotted by former president General Robert Guei who was killed in Abidjan, on Thursday morning. Other reports said at least 12 people were killed including the Minister of the Interior, Emile Boga Doudou. There were unconfirmed reports of some fatalities in an attack on Guei's Abidjan home.

Two towns in the central and northern regions, Bouake and Korhogo remained under the control of mutinous soldiers by Friday afternoon. The mutineers still held the Sports Minister, Francois Amichia and his wife. Media reports quoted them the mutineers as saying they would not surrender.

The government gave mutineers a Friday 3:00 GMT deadline to surrender of face an assault. Missionaries in Bouake told IRIN after the deadline that "a good amount of shooting started after 3:00 GMT". Other sources said the government had launched an offensive to flush the rebels out of the two towns.

Several regional football teams including Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Cape Verde were said to be trapped in The Ran Hotel in Bouake. They had arrived to play in a regional soccer tournament a day before the violence started.

Diplomatic sources said heavy movement of loyalist troops towards Bouake and Korhogo was seen on Friday afternoon. The Ivorian government said it hoped France would intervene "should the crisis last and should it be proven that foreign elements are involved."

President Gbagbo was expected back in the country later in the evening from Italy where he had been on a state visit. In Abidjan, an urgent cabinet meeting was called on Friday morning by the Prime Minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan.

Kouassi also announced that opposition leader Alasane Ouattara was safe in his house and guarded by the national army. Another former president Henri Bedie was also reported safe in his house.

Some shops opened in Abidjan on Friday, but a curfew remained in place from 6:00 pm to 8:00 am. Air France announced its flights from Paris would arrive in the late afternoon. On the roads there were hardly any vehicles. The national radio and television continued to broadcast music and government assurances that the situation was under control.

In New York, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the coup attempt. "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of armed attacks by elements of the armed forces of Côte d'Ivoire in various parts of the country. [He] is particularly saddened by the loss of life that has ensued," the spokesman said.

Annan called on "all those involved in these attacks to immediately and unconditionally cease their activities and submit to the constitutional order". He urged all concerned parties to refrain from any action that could worsen the situation.

The African Union's Amara Essy and the Algerian and South African governments too condemned the attempted coup and called for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

LIBERIA: State of emergency lifted

Liberian President Charles Taylor on 14 September lifted a state of emergency and ban on political rallies he had imposed earlier this year in response to rebel movement towards the capital Monrovia.

In a national radio address, Taylor said the lifting of the measures was motivated by recent positive developments in the war against rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). The Liberian army reported that it had pushed back LURD members to areas near the border with Guinea.

The LURD said although it welcomed the move, it was not enough, adding that it would not affect their operations and that the fighting would continue. LURD spokesman William Hanson, in a radio interview with RFI, reiterated their position that Taylor was no good for the country. "For the conflict to end, he has to resign from the presidency", Hanson said on RFI.

Taylor imposed a state of emergency on 8 February. At the time the LURD had threatened to overrun Monrovia. In April, he ordered a nationwide suspension of all political meetings.

On Monday, Taylor also reiterated his opposition to calls for an international peacekeeping force to intervene in the ongoing conflict. "There will be no intervention force in Liberia as long as I am president" Taylor said at the final plenary session of a national reconciliation conference. Regional authorities, including ECOWAS, and Liberian opposition have suggested that an international force be invited to Liberia to stop the fighting and make peace.

One day later at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a new international contact group- the Liberia contact group- was set up to devise durable solutions for the conflict. The group includes the UN, European Union, African Union, ECOWAS, US, UK, France, Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco.

In a related development, Abou Moussa, hitherto regional coordinator for West Africa of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, was named this week UN representative and focal point for the country.

Other items on Liberia this week included: LIBERIA: SCF tells of "many children, families at risk" http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID)984&SelectRegion=West=5FAfrica&SelectCountry=LIBERIA

SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh trial adjourned again

Sierra Leonean rebel leader Foday Sankoh failed to appear in court on Wednesday where he faces charges of murder, attempted murder and other, related offences, amid reports that he was ill.

The High Court of Sierra Leone in the nation's capital, Freetown, heard that Sankoh was receiving treatment for an unspecified illness in a prison hospital.

The trial of Sankoh and 49 co-accused, all members of the now-defunct Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was adjourned until 8 October to allow the government prosecutor a two-week break and for Sankoh to be brought to court, news agencies reported. The accused have appeared in court several times, but without a lawyer, and deny the charges. The trial was last adjourned on 19 July.

Director of Public Prosecutions Gerald Soyei told the court that by the time the trial resumes the accused would most likely be tried by a proposed United Nations Special Court.

The RUF members face charges on 70 counts stemming from the May 2000 shooting at a crowd of protesters in front of Sankoh's house in Freetown. At least 20 people died in the incident.

NIGER: Human rights defender sentenced to jail

The president of Niger's human rights league, Bagnou Bonkoukou, was sentenced on Thursday to one-year jail term and fined US $30 for comments made in the aftermath of last month's mutiny. Bonkoukou was arrested in mid-August in violation of a presidential decree forbidding the dissemination of information about the 31 July-9 August mutiny. In a radio programme, Bonkoukou had said that the death toll from the mutiny was higher than the government had reported.

Soldiers started a mutiny in an army barracks in Diffa, eastern Niger, on 31 July demanding better pay and living conditions. They attempted to take over army barracks in the capital Niamey but were defeated by loyalist troops. On 9 August the government announced that it had quelled the uprising.

A court sentenced the human rights defender on Thursday after finding him guilty of "false information and dissemination of information in nature to ruin the moral of the armed forces", sources said.

TOGO: Parliamentary polls set for 27 October

Legislative elections, which had been delayed on several occasions since October 2001, would take place on 27 October. The government took the decision upon the recommendation of an electoral college of seven judges mandated to organise the polls.

The decree from President Gnassingbe Eyadema set the participation fee at US $700 and allows for security forces to vote three days before the rest of the population so that they could maintain order and security on election day. Their ballots would however be counted at the same time as the rest of the population.

Seven political parties have announced their participation, along with 12 independent candidates. However an opposition grouping, which represented the opposition parties within the former national electoral commission, said it would not participate unless the college of judges is replaced by a new electoral commission.

The polls are meant to replace parliamentary polls held in 1999 that were boycotted by the opposition. Its organisation has been the main bone of contention between the government and the opposition since presidential elections in 1998.

MAURITANIA: World Vision to set up feeding centres

The international non-governmental organisation, World Vision, plans to set up 181 feeding centres in Mauritania and to provide 5,670 metric tons (mt) of cereals for immediate distribution in response to food shortages in the country, WV announced on Monday. It also plans to distribute 6 mt of seed potatoes and quick-growing sorghum to drought-affected areas before the end of September.

According to the organisation, the country stands on the brink of famine. "If there is no rain by the end of September then the possibility for a harvest is nil. If there is no production, there is no food and we will have a huge migration from rural to urban areas", country director Charles Ossay said.

Family members were showing signs of malnutrition, exhaustion and loss of weight, night blindness, scurvy, dehydration and diarrhoea, it said.

Relief agencies have reported that one million of Mauritania's 2.7 million people face food shortages. On 1 September, the government said nine of 13 regions were seriously affected and appealed for 37,000 mt of cereals and 14,000 mt of complementary food aid for a three-month period.

Several countries, in West Africa's Sahel region, are facing food shortages caused by a lack of rain.

CAMEROON: Ruling party wins more seats, IMF loan

Cameroon's ruling party won 16 out of 17 seats in parliamentary re-elections held on Sunday, after irregularities marred in the original poll in June, Cameroon Radio and Television reported on Tuesday.

Provisional results indicated that the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) party won all the seats except the Kumba urban constituency, which was taken by the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the national broadcaster reported.

The Supreme Court will officially proclaim the results after the votes have been recounted by the national votes counting committee, in accordance with the constitution, CRTV added.

Members of the national votes counting commission had begun meeting in the capital, Yaounde, to conduct the final count but have up to 20 days from Sunday to complete it, according to the report.

Cameroon's Supreme Court ordered fresh legislative elections in nine constituencies, with a total of 17 seats, because of irregularities during parliamentary polls held on 30 June.

In financial news, the IMF approved the disbursement of US $21 million as part of Cameroon's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility arrangement. The money would be used for key social sectors and to support macro-economic reforms. The IMF disbursement coincided with a debt cancellation from Belgium for the amount of US $62.8 million. Another $15.5 million was rescheduled over a period of 40 years.

[ENDS]

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