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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 891(Thursday 18 January)

LIBERIA: Monrovia recalls ambassador from Guinea
COTE D'IVOIRE: RSF calls for liberation of journalist
GUINEA: Japan alleviates debt
NIGERIA: Rights commision wants prisons boss arrested
CAPE VERDE: PAICV to tackle unemployment, poverty
WESTERN SAHARA: European Commission aid for Sahrawi refugees 
DRC-AFRICA: Summit observes minute of silence for Kabila

LIBERIA: Monrovia recalls ambassador from Guinea

Liberia has recalled its ambassador from Conakry in protest at what it said
were continuing acts of aggression by the Guinean government, according to
media reports confirmed to IRIN by observers in Monrovia. 

The two nations have placed troops on their borders and continue to accuse
each other of supporting armed anti-government rebels. 

The Liberian Foreign Ministry said recently that Guinean troops made several
incursions into Liberian territory last year. In addition, the ministry
said, Guinean troops forced their way into the Liberian ambassador's home in
Conakry on 11 September 2000, ransacked it and burnt the Liberian flag. The
ministry said Guinea was in violation of regional and international
non-aggression pacts. 

On the other hand, Conakry has accused Liberia of being behind the
incursions by armed men into southern Guinea that have claimed scores of
lives and displaced tens of thousands of refugees and Guineans. The Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has decided to send troops from
Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal to monitor the borders between Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone.
 
One political analyst who watches Liberia closely told IRIN on Thursday the
government's decision was untimely. "It will not serve any purpose except to
escalate tension," the analyst said.

Such a measure on the eve of the deployment of ECOWAS border monitors, the
analyst added, "significantly diminishes" the chances of direct talks
between presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Lansana Conte of Guinea.
"Seems to me like the region will now have to brace itself for rough times
ahead," the analyst said. 

COTE D'IVOIRE: RSF calls for liberation of journalist

Ivorian and international media organisations have denounced the detention
of Ivorian journalist Junior Ouattara, accused by the state of participating
in an attempted coup on 7 January.

Ouattara, who works for Agence France Presse (AFP), had covered the
attempted coup. He was arrested on Wednesday by agents of the Directorate of
Territorial Surveillance, who handcuffed him and took him away in an
unmarked car, AFP said. 

Honorat de Yedaigne, the head of the Union nationales de journalistes de
Cote d'Ivoire (UNJCI), denounced the journalist's arrest and the manner in
which he was arrested. He told IRIN on Thursday his organisation was calling
for Ouattara's unconditional release. 

Reporters sans frontieres (RSF - Reporters Without Borders) made a similar
call in a letter addressed to Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou.
 
"This journalist merely exercised his profession and should never have been
bothered," RSF Secretary-General Robert Menard said. "If the authorities
wanted to question him in connection with their investigation, they should
have summoned him."  

GUINEA: Japan alleviates debt

Japan has granted Guinea debt relief of just under US $1.5 million, an
official source told IRIN today. Guinea has pledged to use the money thus
saved primarily for agricultural equipment and supplies, vehicles and
communication equipment, the embassy's advisor for economic cooperation,
Myriam DeLartigue, told IRIN. The agreement was signed on Monday in Conakry.
In 2000, Japan alleviated Guinea's debt by almost US $25 million.

NIGERIA: Rights commision wants prisons boss arrested

Nigeria's Human Rights Violations Investigations Commission has ordered the
arrest of head of the country's prison service and three police officers for
failing to heed summons to appear before it, AFP reported on Wednesday.

AFP said the chairman of the Commission, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, ordered
the arrest of the three policemen and Comptroller-General of Prisons
Mohammed Jarmah, on Tuesday in the southeastern city of Port Harcourt where
the body is currently sitting. The policemen include Assistant Commissioner
of Police Kehinde Oyenuga and two junior police officers.

It was the first arrest ordered by the Commission, set up by President
Olusegun Obasanjo after he took office in May 1999. Its mandate is to
investigate human rights abuses since January 1966, when the military first
seized power in Nigeria.

CAPE VERDE: PAICV to tackle unemployment, poverty

Tackling unemployment and poverty will be the key priorities of the African
Party for the Independence of Cape Verde, which was voted back into power
this month, 10 years after losing the country's first multiparty polls,
Portuguese radio reported on Tuesday.

"At the moment virtually half of Cape Verdeans are poor - they live under
very difficult conditions, without water and electricity, but above all they
live in very precarious housing," Jose Maria Neves leader of the party
better known by its Portuguese acronym, PAICV, told the radio.

"So we will work to create new jobs, fight poverty and create the conditions
so that Cape Verdeans can live with more dignity," he added.

WESTERN SAHARA: European Commission aid for Sahrawi refugees  

The European Commission has earmarked nine million euros for supplies to
Sahrawi refugees living in camps in the Tindouf region of Algeria and to
assist in selected rehabilitation activities, the EU announced on Thursday.
The camps' occupants remain largely dependent on international aid, and
foodstuffs form a major component of the assistance. In July 2000, the
Commission allocated humanitarian aid worth just over 4.9 million euros in
response to a food crisis in the camps. The latest funding is being directed
through five NGO partners of the European Commission Humanitarian Office
(ECHO). 

DRC-AFRICA: Summit observes minute of silence for Kabila

Heads of state and government from France and Africa on Thursday observed
one minute's silence here in memory of Laurent Desire Kabila, president of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The call for a minute's silence, made by Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
Chairman Gnassingbe Eyadema at the opening session of the 21st
Franco-African Summit in Yaounde, was seen as confirmation that Kabila had
died. 

Some 24 heads of state and government are attending the meeting, which was
scheduled to focus on globalisation, but is now expected to devote much of
its time to the DRC. The leaders were expected to issue a declaration on the
situation in that country at a closed session on Thursday afternoon.

[For full story see 'DRC-AFRICA: Franco-African Summit observes minute of
silence for Kabila']

Abidjan, 18 January 2001; 17:55 GMT

[ENDS]

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