22 JAN 99 - 14:39

Guinea-Bissau: Rebels, West Africans Seek Compromise for Implementing Peace Accord

Bissau, Jan. 22 (Lusa) - The rebel Military Junta was to meet Friday with a West African delegation to try breaking the deadlock on implementation of Guinea-Bissau's peace accord.

Junta sources told Lusa it would present several compromise proposals to representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which brokered the Nov. 2 peace agreement and is to supply a peace-keeping force.

It was possible, the sources said, that a compromise platform would be signed Friday by the Junta, its archrival President Nino Vieira and ECOWAS.

An agreement would open the way for the deployment of an ECOWAS force, known by the acronym Ecomog, the withdrawal of foreign troops who backed Vieira during the armed forces' rebellion last year, and the swearing in of an already designated "national unity" government.

The Junta, led by Brig. Ansumane Mane, said its proposals centered on the following points:
- the deployment by Jan. 31 of a 750-strong Ecomog force;
- the withdrawal by Feb. 4 of some 3,000 Vieira-allied Senegalese and Guinea-Conakry troops; and
- the installation of Prime Minister-designate Francisco Fadul's cabinet on Feb. 7.

ECOWAS, whose delegation is headed by Togolese Defense Minister Gen. Tidjani Assani, has insisted the new government take office before it fully deploys its peacekeepers.

It also considers a larger contingent, 1,450 men, necessary to oversee implementation of the peace accord, which has so far only

22 JAN 99 - 19:13

Guinea-Bissau: Red Cross Completely Out of Food and Medicine

Bissau, Jan. 22 (Lusa) - The Red Cross of Guinea-Bissau is completely out of food and medicine, Paulo Manafa, the organization's national secretary-general, told Lusa Friday.

A ship from the Gambia with food provided by the World Food Program should arrive within the next few days, Manafa said, adding that a truckload of Bissau-bound medicine was reportedly still held up at the Senegalese border.

Stocks of food and medicine are low in the capital, where municipal services and bank operations have been suspended since a five-month military rebellion against President Nino Vieira broke out last June 7.

The only outlets for assistance are the Swedish-financed Bandim Health project, the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church. -Lusa

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