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Tuesday 20 September 2005 |
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IRIN-WA Weekly 270 covering 27 March –1 April 2005[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]CONTENTS: COTE D’IVOIRE: UN highlights tide of human rights abuse in run-up to peace summit ABIDJAN - The UN peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire has published a detailed and scathing report on recent human rights abuses in Cote d'Ivoire as President Laurent Gbagbo prepares for a face-to-face meeting with rebel leader Guillaume Soro at fresh peace talks in South Africa on Sunday. "Despite some encouraging improvements in the human rights situation observed during the months of January and February, the overall situation remained worrying," the report concluded. It noted with alarm "an intensification of the activities of militias and armed groups responsible of acts of violence and revenge" in Abidjan, the de facto capital, and government-controlled areas of central and western Cote d'Ivoire. The report by the human rights division of the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI) chronicled a series of human rights abuses committed during the first two months of this year. These took place in the government-controlled south and the rebel-held north of the country, as well as the lawless buffer zone patrolled by UN and French peacekeepers that lies in between. Also this week, France recommended that the UN mandate of international peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire should be extended by just one month until it becomes clear what the peace summit might deliver, if anything. The current mandate of the 4,000 French peacekeeping troops in Cote d'Ivoire and a further 6,000 UN blue helmets drawn from several other countries expires on 4 April, hours after the Pretoria summit is due to take place. Full report TOGO: Tension rising in run-up to presidential poll LOME - Scattered incidents of pre-election violence broke out in Togo, triggering sharp concern from opposition and human rights leaders just over three weeks before the country holds a landmark presidential poll. The Togolese League of Human Rights as well as callers on local radio reported several clashes between police and protesters claiming they were being denied voters’ cards. “Tension is mounting across the country and we are concerned,? Sylvestre Zoumou, deputy head of the Togolese League of Human Rights, told IRIN. “The conditions for a free and fair election have not yet been met, many voters are not being given their cards.? “We are set on a course of conflict,? he said. But Togo’s Interior Minister Akila-Esso Boko told IRIN by telephone that the incidents were caused by troublemakers who could not be issued with voters’ cards as they were unable to provide the identity papers necessary to register on the electoral roll. Earlier in the week the some of the political opposition had called for a delay to the polling date, but those calls have since been dropped. Full report NIGER: Second food price hike cripples capital, clashes reported further north NIAMEY - Niamey, the capital of Niger, was virtually paralysed on this week as residents heeded calls to stay at home in protest at the imposition of a new tax on basic foodstuffs, diplomats in the country said. But local radio stations said there was trouble in Tahoua, an opposition stronghold 550 km to the northeast, where police fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators. It was the third day of protest in three weeks to be organised by the Coalition Against Costly Living, an opposition-backed alliance of civil society groups, formed to protest the recent imposition of a new 19 percent value added tax (VAT) on basic goods and services. The new tax has pushed up the price of everyday items such as flour, milk and sugar, as well as electricity and water tariffs in this arid land-locked state. The protests took place despite the detention of five leaders from the last round of demonstrations against food price hikes. They have been charged with plotting against the state and forming an unauthorised association, and could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty. Full report GUINEA-BISSAU: Main opposition party picks Kumba Yala as presidential candidate BISSAU - The main opposition party in Guinea-Bissau has chosen former president Kumba Yala as its candidate in presidential elections due on 19 June, even though Yala was banned from politics for five years following his overthrow in a bloodless 2003 coup. Yala, who was first elected president with a landslide majority in 2000, was overwhelmingly chosen as the presidential candidate of his Social Renovation Party (PRS) at a meeting of the party's national council on Saturday. Meanwhile, support is growing for another controversial figure, exiled former president Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, to stand as a rival presidential candidate in the June election. Full report COTE D’IVOIRE: Crime and corruption flourish amid political crisis ABIDJAN - Businesses are closing and jobs are being lost as the political stalemate continues. As times get increasingly tough, crime and corrupt practice are on the rise warn watchdogs and employers associations. Many ordinary Ivorians joke that the only people profiting from the no-war-no-peace situation are politicians, the military, and rebel leaders, many of whom are building large villas for themselves and driving around in luxury cars. Primary commodities, generally produced in the rebel held north of the country, are being illegally shipped north out of the country to buyers in neighbouring countries or sitting in warehouses awaiting rebel authorisation before they can be transported south into government controlled territory. Full report LIBERIA: UN investigating recruitment of Liberian mercenaries in Cote d’Ivoire MONROVIA - The UN peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire are trying to track down those who have recently been recruiting former combatants in Liberia to fight for armed groups into neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire, a senior UN official said. Abou Moussa, the deputy head of the the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), told a news conference that investigations had begun following a meeting of the International Contact Group on Liberia held in Sweden last week. “[There have been] reports that some ex-combatants are crossing over the borders to join both sides of those fighting,? said Moussa. International NGO Human Rights Watch released a report this week giving further details of the methods used to lure young Liberians to join militias in Cote d’Ivoire. The first batch of Liberian police officers were deployed on the streets of the capital Monrovia this week, with further contingents to be posted to the interior soon. Full report LIBERIA: UN says IDPs can register in camps but must go home to vote MONROVIA - Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Liberia will be allowed to register for a voting card in the camps where they are currently living, but they will have to return home to cast their ballot in elections due in October, UN and national electoral officials have said. Previously, Liberia's National Elections Commission had insisted that people would only be able to register to vote in their home county. Officials said this policy had been eased in view of the slower than expected resettlement of 300,000 IDPs, most of them living in a chain of camps around the capital Monrovia. "The position now is that they can register in the camps where they are, but each IDP will have to vote in their county," Abou Moussa, the deputy head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), said. Full report LIBERIA: UN reveals suspect diamond deal DAKAR - The transitional government of Liberia has forged a 10-year deal that gives a previously unheard of mining company a de facto monopoly to buy up diamonds and other minerals produced in the west of the country, according to a United Nations panel of experts. “The National Transitional Government of Liberia has signed a secret agreement with the West African Mining Corporation (WAMCO), a company financed by the privately-owned London International Bank Limited,? the panel said in its latest report to the UN Security Council. The five-member panel expressed concern that the deal had been struck in an “atmosphere of secrecy? with a company of “unknown provenance? and cited its existence as evidence that a four-year-old ban on diamond exports by Liberia should be maintained. Full report MAURITANIA: Ministers receive 600 percent pay rise NOUAKCHOTT - The government of Mauritania has awarded its ministers a whopping six-fold pay increase in an attempt to clamp down on top level corruption as the West African country waits for its first offshore oilfields to come on stream later this year, officials said. They confirmed recent reports in the local media that 26 government ministers had been awarded a 633 percent pay rise to 950,000 Ouguiya (US $3,620), backdated to January. Previously ministers earned an official salary of just 150,000 Ouguiyas ($570) per month. Government insiders said that the generous pay increase was intended to stop rampant corruption within the top levels of government by paying ministers a decent wage which they would not feel obliged to supplement by taking bribes or embezzling state funds. Full report [ENDS]
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