Cease-fire ignored as border war spreads

Press, 30 December 1985, Page 8

Cease-fire ignored as border war spreads

NZPA-Reuter Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Hopes of an early end to the border war between two of the world’s poorest countries were dashed yesterday when Mali said its planes had struck deep inside neighbouring Bourkina Fasso.

The reported air raids on a string of four towns marked a further escalation of the West African conflict which began on Christmas Day over an arid strip of border land believed to be rich in minerals. No immediate Bourkinabe reaction was made to the reported raids which Mali said had caused serious damage and inflicted casualties. The ruling party in Bamako said that Malian ground forces had destroyed also enemy positions in the south-western Bourkinabe town of Koloko.

Bourkina Fasso (formerly Upper Volta) had earlier reported beating off an attack on Koloko, capturing

positions inside Mali, and mounting an unconfirmed air raid on Sikasso, a town 500 km from the disputed area.

A ceasefire, the second to be announced since the start of the conflict, was to have come into force at midnight on Friday.

The details were to have been worked out at a meeting on Saturday in the Ivory Coast of the A.N.A.D. (Accord de Non-Agression et de Defense) — a regional defence pact to which both countries belong.

The news media in both countries ignored the ceasefire announcement and although a Bourkina Fasso Minister arrived for the meeting, he left because his Malian counterpart was not there.

On Friday, the Libyan Foreign Secretary, Dr Ali Abdel-Salam Tureiki announced a truce from Ouagadougou, the Bourkinabe capital, but the Malian Government said it was not aware of the pact.

Bourkinabe radio said yesterday that there was no evidence to confirm that the border area was rich in minerals.

A commentary said the real aim of the Mali Government was the destruction of Ouagadougou’s revolutionary regime. Bourkina Fasso also repeated earlier allegations of non-African involvement in the war, saying white mercenaries had been seen fighting alongside Malian

troops. Mali has dismissed the allegations, and counter-

claimed that enemy troops tortured to death officials in four border villages. Ouagadougou radio reported that the Soviet leader, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, had urged Bourkina Fasso’s radical leader, Captain Thomas Sankara, to seek a settlement.

The radio, monitored in Abidjan, quoted a message from Mr Gorbachev saying the Soviet leadership viewed

the armed conflict with great concern and could not remain indifferent to “the gravity of the situation.” Mr Gorbachev is the latest in a growing list of leaders to call for an end to the war.

He was quoted as calling the conflict a “colonialist legacy” dating back to when “the colonialist powers arbitrarily partitioned the political map of the continent, and this sowed distrust and animosity among Africans.” Officials from Algeria, several West African countries and the 16-nation A.N.A.D. pact joined Dr Tureiki in shuttling between Bamako and Ouagadougou to try to stem the fighting. The conflict began when Bourkinabe census officials set out earlier this month to count the population in the* four disputed villages. Ouagadougou sent troops to protect them. The two former French colonies fought a brief war over the disputed area in 1974.