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U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Update 818 (Wednesday 4 October)	

CONTENTS: 

COTE D'IVOIRE: Ouattara's bodyguards arrested
COTE D'IVOIRE: Politician on hunger strike 
COTE D'IVOIRE: Errant student to be punished
GUINEA: Refugees flee to Sierra Leone
SIERRA LEONE: One soldier killed in clash with militia
GHANA: Increased condom sales 
GHANA: Efforts to implement resolution on diamonds

COTE D'IVOIRE: Ouattara's bodyguards arrested

Seven people have been arrested for allegedly trying to recruit young
hoodlums to prevent the announcement of eligible presidential candidates,
state television reported on Tuesday.

All seven are bodyguards of the controversial presidential aspirant,
Alassane Ouattara, officials of his Rassemblement des republicains (RDR)
party told IRIN.

One official said that Ouattara's guards had been called to his wife's
office after people were seen milling around suspiciously. When they arrived
in their cars all five guards and the two drivers were arrested by soldiers.
Ouattara's French wife, Dominique, escaped with her sole personal guard.

The Ivorian minister of communication, naval Captain Henri Sama, denied
attempts to kidnap Ouattara's wife. He said on television that the arrests
had been made to dismantle a plan to destabilise the country. The newscast
said the seven had helped "the big fish" - presumably Ouattara - get away. 

[For full story see item titled 'COTE D'IVOIRE: Ouattara's bodyguards
arrested']

COTE D'IVOIRE: Politician begins hunger strike 

The secretary-general of the Rassemblement de republicains (RDR) party,
Henriette Diabate, will continue her hunger strike started on Wednesday
until she boards a flight to visit her sick husband in a Paris hospital, a
close aide told IRIN on Wednesday. 

Diabate was barred from boarding an Air France flight on Tuesday  - despite
permission from the office of Ivorian military leader General Robert Guei -
by gendarmes who said they were acting on the orders of higher authority. 

"It was a form of humiliation," one of her aides said. 

Diabate, 65, was this afternoon still at the Cathedral St Paul in Abidjan
where she started her protest in the morning. An aide said she may fly out
later Wednesday. Her husband is receiving specialist care at the American
hospital in Neuilly, in the Paris region. 

All ranking officials of political parties must obtain government permission
before leaving the country. 

COTE D'IVOIRE: Errant student to be punished

Military leader General Robert Guei promised on Tuesday severe punishment
for the ringleaders of two rival factions of the national students union,
FESTI, following recent fighting in which one among them was killed.

Speaking on national television, Guei said those most responsible for the
fighting would be pressed into military service. Representatives of the 
two groups have been locked in a leadership struggle for the union. The
present secretary-general, Charles Ble Goude, is considered close to the
Front populaire ivorien, headed by Laurent Gbagbo, a presidential aspirant.
Goude's rival, Doumba Major, is said to favour the Rassemblement des
republicains, led by Alassane Ouattara, according to media reports.

Ouattara's eligibility to run for the presidency has been the source of a
political crisis here for the past year. Opponents want him disqualified
under a recently adopted constitution that requires both parents of a
candidate to be Ivorians of Ivorian birth. In addition, the candidate should
never have held another nationality. Ouattara is challenging attempts to
disqualify him and the Supreme Court is due to rule on the eligibility of
all candidates by 7 October. 

GUINEA: Refugees flee to Sierra Leone

Refugees who had been camped in Guinea fled back to Sierra Leone during a
cross-border attack by armed men from their own country at the weekend and
are being identified by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in
Freetown.

The number of refugees who turned up in Lungi, Sierra Leone, has not yet
been determined, Fatoumata Kaba, a UNHCR spokeswoman in Conakry, told IRIN
on Wednesday. The refugees could be among at least 4,000 who fled the
Farmoriah refugee camp when it was attacked early Saturday. UNHCR has
relocated 1,785 refugees from Farmoriah to the Kaliah camps nearby, she
said. 

[For full report see item titled 'GUINEA: Refugees flee to Sierra Leone]

SIERRA LEONE: One soldier killed, three wounded in clash with militia

One Sierra Leonean soldier died and three others were wounded during a
weekend clash at Magbele Bridge between government troops and militiamen of
the normally pro-government Civil Defence Forces, Sierra Leone Web reported
quoting a UNAMSIL military spokesman. 

The official, Lt-Cmdr Patrick Coker told reporters on Monday that Nigerian
UNAMSIL troops at Port Loko, some 60 km northeast of Freetown, stopped the
fighting and arrested 12 militiamen. They were handed over to the police in
the town. Citing a Reuters report, Sierra Leone Web said the fighting
started when soldiers ordered the militiamen to dismantle their roadblock.

GHANA: Increased condom sales since AIDS campaign launched

Sales of condoms in Ghana increased by 74 percent since the "Stop AIDS, Love
Life" campaign was launched in February, according to a Ghanaian health
official.  

More than six million condoms have been sold since February, compared to
three million over the same period in 1999, PANA quoted Kofi Amekudzi, AIDS
programme manager of the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation, as saying on
Monday. 

"The increase in sales tells us that people are now realising that AIDS is
real and there is the need for protection more than in times past," he said.
His comments were originally published by the Ghana News Agency. 

He said collaboration between the US-based Johns Hopkins University and the
ministries of health and communications in Ghana had improved the technical
knowledge of the Information Service Department on the rural campaigns. He
said the marketing foundation was exploring non-traditional distribution
outlets, such as supermarkets and barbershops, to reach out to more people. 

GHANA: Efforts to implement resolution on diamonds

Ghana has taken steps to implement the provisions of a UN Security Council
resolution banning the illicit trade of diamonds from Sierra Leone. 

The Cabinet has asked the interior, roads and transport ministries, the
Minerals Commission, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the immigration
service to take appropriate measures to curb any trade in such "blood
diamonds" in the country, PANA reported on Tuesday.

Funds from the sale of illegal diamonds have been used by rebel factions,
such as the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, to purchase arms.

[ENDS]

Abidjan, 4 October 2000; 18:24 GMT

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Desk): +225-22-41-9339; e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci]  


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