War and Peace

AFRICA

Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Swaziland are lagging in good governance, according to a landmark United Nations survey of 28 nations on the continent released recently.

The four countries fell short in areas like corruption, political representation, economic management and respect of human rights, says the report published by the African Development Forum. In the first ever evaluation of its kind, the 63-page UN report also showed that few
Africans living in the 28 countries trust the police or think public services are efficient.

"Police and prison services violate the rights of citizens with impunity in several countries," the report by the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, said. "These agencies, especially the police, engage in , extra-judicial s and ill treatment of suspects awaiting trial."

It also stated that in Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, Zimbabwe and Malawi, "there are doubts about the commitment of government agencies to respect and implement the rule of law".

The pioneering study, Striving for Good Governance, reveals what Africans think about their own governments and their management of the country. Countries who agreed to the survey included Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Gabon, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

GUINEA

Two army officers and 10 civilians, held without trial for almost a year on suspicion of plotting to overthrow Guinean President Lansana Conte, were finally released on probation, legal and activist sources said. The men were arrested in December last year, a month after the detention of dozens of other military personnel in connection with a suspected coup plot against President Conte.

The authorities' decision to release the suspects coincided with visits by delegations from the European Union and France.

Michel de Bonnecorse, special envoy of President Jacques Chirac, was due to meet President Conte on Wednesday, while an EU delegation was to arrive in the country to continue negotiations between the government and the European Commission on the release of a 221 million euro (US$ 274) aid package which has been withheld for several years. The EU is demanding economic and political reforms to establish better governance and genuine democracy before releasing the money and say no decision is likely until the end of the month.

For Guinea coverage please go to http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Guinea

GUINEA-BISSAU

The president of Guinea Bissau, Henrique Rosa, has declared that a two-day army mutiny sparked off by a protest over salary arrears is over and the mutineers on Friday issued a statement on a popular local radio station urging all troops to return to their barracks.

"The revolt has come to an end and there will be no more acts of in Guinea-Bissau," Rosa said in a radio broadcast on Thursday night following six hours of negotiations with the mutineers.

He described the incident as "a hiccup on the path back towards the normalisation of life in the country" and urged international donors not to penalise the government for what had happened.

The mutiny, which began on Wednesday, led to the of General Verissimo Correia Seabra, the chief of staff of the armed forces, and Colonel Domingos de Barros, its head of human resources.

NIGERIA

Rebel fighters are proving slow to come forward for disarmament in the far southeast of Liberia because they hope to get more money by handing their weapons in over the border in nearby Cote d'Ivoire, Major General Joseph Owonibi, the deputy commander of UN peacekeeping forces in Liberia, said on last week.

Owonibi told reporters that the number of fighters of the Movement for Democracy for Liberia (MODEL) surrendering their guns to the UN disarmament centre in the port town of Harper was lower than expected.

Many were hanging back because they hoped to get US$900 for handing in their arms in Cote d'Ivoire, where a disarmament campaign is due to start shortly, rather than the $300 they would receive in Liberia, the Nigerian general said.

He also complained that commanders in the Harper region were being uncooperative.

Owonibi did not say how many former combatants had reported for disarmament in Harper, since a UN disarmament camp opened there on 29 September. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) said at the time that it expected about 1,000 fighters to hand in their guns there before the disarmament programme in Liberia finishes on 31 October. (Source: IRIN)

LIBERIA

Restless ex-combatants in Liberia who have handed in their weapons but who have not received promised education or skills training because of a cash shortage pose a threat to national security, the government and the United Nations said in a joint document submitted to international donors recently.

The document was circulated to donors during last month's visit to New York by Gyude Bryant, the chairman of the transitional government and was made available to IRIN on at the beginning of October.

Bryant repeated a call first made in mid-September, for the international community to provide an extra US$44 million to help former fighters learn the skills needed to earn an honest living and lead a new, peaceful life. He said in a broadcast speech to the nation that funds had run out because twice as many former fighters had registered for disarmament as originally envisaged. As a result, the entire budget for disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) had been spent on disarming them and providing them with a $300 resettlement grant.

The UN initially thought that only 38,000 ex-combatants would report for disarmament, but figures show that by 5 October, 83,000 people had been disarmed.

SIERRA LEONE

An independent report on Sierra Leone's brutal decade of civil war has accused Libya and Liberia of playing key roles in the war, recommended that Libya pay reparations for having trained top rebel military commanders, and also warned the government that poverty and corruption were still as rampant now as when the conflict broke out.

The Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, after a two investigation, said Libya should pay reparations but it did not specify the amount, while Liberia should also accept responsibility for s the civil war.

The report also pointed at the fact that “many of the dire conditions that gave rise to the conflict in 1991 remain in 2004.”

It noted that poverty was still rampant in the society and corruption was still plaguing state affairs, and needed to be tackled.

For Sierra Leone coverage please go to http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Sierra_Leone