Sierra Leone - DHA: 8-14.Jul.97

DHAGVA 97/0304

SIERRA LEONE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION REPORT
Period covered: 8-14 July 1997


This report has been prepared by the office of the United Nations
Humanitarian Coordinator for Sierra Leone in Conakry, Guinea

SECURITY
1. On 9 July, the Peoples Army attacked Lungi Airport in a bid to break
through ECOMOGs outer security perimeter and destroy the 98.1 FM radio
station which has recently served as a mouthpiece for President Kabbah
and which they believed to be in the area. (See point seven below). The
attack was comprehensively repulsed by ECOMOG troops and reliable
Freetown sources have reported that at least 350 Peoples Army soldiers
were killed by a combination of Nigerian and Guinean forces. The RUF
commander who led the attack, Sam Bockarie (known as Mosquito) was
injured in the foot during the fighting and has been seen in hospital by
reliable eyewitnesses.

2. During the weekend of 12-13 July, the Peoples Army suffered another
significant setback during fighting with Nigerian forces involving heavy
artillery in the Jui and Hastings area. Although precise numbers of
casualties are unknown, two trucks laden with corpses were observed
returning to Freetown on the afternoon of 13th July. While the Nigerians
suffered some casualties, the Peoples Army clearly incurred far more
severe losses. ICRC reported 26 newly-wounded civilians at Netland and
Connaught hospitals on 14 July. AFRC claims that Nigerian troops that
were using Guineans as human shields have been ridiculed by ECOMOG Force
Commander, Victor Malu. An ECOMOG warplane was observed flying over
Freetown at the start of the fighting, but it was not seen to have
dropped any ordnance.

3. Nigerian troops are now in control of Hastings Airport and the area
up to and including Allen town. Residents from these areas are
relocating in large numbers to the hills and into central Freetown. The
main road out of Freetown is effectively closed as few vehicles have
been observed on this route since 13 July. In Freetown, the Peoples Army
have been preparing heavy machine gun positions on the high ground in
the Hill station area. Some of these guns are mounted on the back of
pick-up trucks and are mobile.

4. There has been sporadic but intense fighting between the RUF and the
kamajors during the past week in the Zimmi area and an estimated 1,500
civilians and 300 kamajors are believed to have been forced into
Liberia. Control of the strategically-important Bo Waterside bridge on
the Sierra Leone-Liberia border has fluctuated between the two sides.
Although the RUF was believed to have taken the bridge earlier in the
week, Chief Norman, Deputy Minister of Defense and de facto leader of
the kamajors, reported that the kamajors were in control of the bridge
on 14 July.

5. The Kenema-Kono highway, which was previously controlled by the
kamajors, has now been secured by the Peoples Army following AFRC-RUF
re-enforcement of the area.

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
6. The date of Major Koromas proposed meeting with the ECOWAS committee
of four has been changed from 15 July to 17 July. The meeting is
scheduled to take place in Abidjan and not in Conakry.

7. President Kabbah has made several broadcasts to Sierra Leone over the
98.1 FM radio station which have proved to be a considerable irritant to
the AFRC. In his first broadcast on 8 July, Kabbah urged the AFRC to
step down to spare the people of Sierra Leone further pain and
suffering. He also ordered soldiers and RUF to report to the nearest
ECOMOG base and declare their loyalty. This tactic has been partially
successful as several AFRC soldiers have since surrendered to Nigerian
forces at Lungi.

8. On 8 July, in an attempt to undermine the impact of Kabbahs broadcast
which took place earlier in the day, the AFRC announced its 19 member
Cabinet. The majority of the posts are filled by former representatives
of the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). For example, Captain
SAJ Musa, Secretary of Mineral Resources and Chief Secretary, Victor
Brandon, Secretary of Development and Economic Planning, Col. Dr. KIS
Kamara, Secretary of Health and Sanitation, Major Kula Samba, Secretary
of Social Welfare, Children and Gender Affairs.

9. The Finance Secretary, Joe Amara Bangali, was a former minister in
the APC and the Foreign Secretary, Dr. Paolo Bangura, was a former
Ambassador to the UN. The RUF are represented through the appointment of
Foday Sankoh as Deputy Chairman and SB Rogers as Acting Secretary of
Lands and Environment. Two portfolios, namely Trade, Industry and State
Enterprises and Energy and Power, have not been filled but the posts
have been reserved for representatives of the Peoples Army. 37 posts in
the Supreme Council have also been created, but only 22 have been filled
to date. The extent to which nominees were consulted prior to their
appointment is debatable. In a radio broadcast on BBCs Focus, Mr. Saaba
Tumor, who was appointed Director of Information and Broadcasting,
denied all knowledge of his appointment.

10. In a statement issued on 11 July following its meeting with the
Committee of the four ECOWAS Foreign Ministers, the UN Security Council
reiterated its view that the attempt to overthrow President Kabbahs
government was unacceptable and called for the immediate and
unconditional restoration of constitutional order in Sierra Leone. The
Security Council expressed deep concern over the negative humanitarian
consequences of the continuing crisis in Sierra Leone as well as its
threat to regional stability. The Security Council welcomed the
mediation efforts initiated by ECOWAS and expressed its full support for
these efforts as set out in the communique issued at the meeting of the
ECOWAS Foreign Ministers in Conakry on 26 June. Finally, the Security
Council stated that it would continue to follow the progress of efforts
aimed at the peaceful resolution of the crisis and that it was ready -to
consider appropriate measures if constitutional order in Sierra Leone is
not restored without delay.-

11. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, on which nine different
Commonwealth countries are represented, convened on 10-11 July to review
developments in Gambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. In its discussions on
Sierra Leone, the Group urged the international community to continue to
deny recognition to the AFRC and decided that participation of Sierra
Leone in the councils of the Commonwealth would be suspended pending the
restoration of -legitimate government.-

12. On 10 July, the EU issued a statement welcoming ECOWAS efforts to
resolve the crisis in Sierra Leone. The EU particularly, welcomed the
inclusion of the OAU on the ECOWAS committee of Four. With regard to its
aid programme, it was stated that -Pending the return of the legitimate
government to Freetown . . . the EU maintains its view that development
aid to Sierra Leone cannot be continued in the present circumstances.-

HUMANITARIAN DEVELOPMENTS
13. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has endorsed the joint
UN-NGO Strategy and protocols for Sierra Leone as well as the United
Nations Strategy for Inter-Agency Emergency Humanitarian Response. See
Sitrep dated 24-30 June for more details. The US-based NGO consortium,
INTERACTION, has also expressed written support for these strategies.

14. There has been much speculation over the status of the embargo in
Sierra Leone as envisaged in the ECOWAS communique. There is no doubt
that there are four Nigerian warships off the coast of the Western Area
as at 14 July. Although these vessels are not visible to Freetown
residents, they have successfully prevented commercial ships from
docking at Freetowns port. Rocketing insurance premiums have also been a
significant deterrent to shipping companies. There have, however, been
many reports of pirogues and other small vessels successfully
circumventing the blockade.

15. Media reports of an influx of a million people into Bo town are
hugely exaggerated. ACF and MSF, both of whom have a presence in Bo
estimate that less than 10,000 people have moved into Bo since the coup.

FOOD AID
16. The increase of the price of rice in Freetown to 40,000 leones per
bag from its previous cost of 25,000 leones per bag is a clear
indication that rice shortages are becoming increasingly acute. Although
retailers still have rice available in their stores, wholesalers have
exhausted their stocks as no food vessels have arrived in Freetown since
the coup. Attempts by the business community to import rice into
Freetown at the request of the AFRC have been unsuccessful primarily due
to the exorbitant cost of insurance. Food agencies have managed to
transport limited quantities of commodities (approximately 500 MTs) to
Makeni and Bo during the past week. There is still a capacity of
approximately 1,400 MTs in warehouses in Port Loko and Kambia.

17. The food aid pipeline for humanitarian relief remains healthy.
Providing there are no unforseen complications, there will be 10,000 MTs
of food aid in Conakry available for programmes in Sierra Leone by the
end of July. Another 5,000 MTs of food commodities are due to arrive in
Conakry during August 1997. Distribution modalities will be determined
by the Committees on Food Aid.

18. Existing targeted feeding programmes as outlined in previous sitreps
continue. A one-off emergency distribution is being planned for
approximately 8,000 displaced in Kabala in Koinedugu district in the
Northern province of Sierra Leone. As the normal population of Kabala is
estimated to be 10,000 people, this new influx is putting considerable
strain on the coping mechanisms of the local population.

HEALTH
19. Freetown. There is a concern over the maintenance of the drug
pipeline for the eight clinics currently being operated by ICRC, SLRC
and MSF in Freetown. Staff from these agencies are investigating how
long existing stocks will last. The caseload for the ICRC-MSF surgical
programme has continued to decrease notwithstanding recent admissions
due to the fighting in the vicinity of Hastings. ActionAid has agreed to
make incentive payments to Blue Flag volunteers working on cholera
prevention in Freetown.

20. Bo. An assessment of the MSF-supported hospital in Bo on 5 July
revealed that the hospital building has not been damaged by recent
fighting although the emergency department is still under
rehabilitation. There is deemed to be sufficient local surgical capacity
to treat casualties from possible future clashes. There were only 40
in-patients in the hospital as at 5 July this is attributable to
insecurity and inaccessibility due to poor public transport to local
areas.

21. Kenema. Merlin continues to support the Kenema government hospital
in the Under Five clinics (the Pediatric Ward and the Lassa Fever Ward).
Support is provided through the provision of therapeutic and
supplementary foodstuffs and essential drugs and equipment. Merlin also
plays a supervisory role as well as enhancing cholera preparedness. The
programme is supervised by Merlins Medical Coordinator who is based in
Monrovia. Although Merlins drug supplies were left intact, the pharmacy
in Kenema hospital was completely looted. ICRC is seeing an average of
800 patients per week at the Nongowa clinic in Kenema. Drugs are
provided by ICRC, Merlin and UNICEF.

CHILD PROTECTION
22. Although the family tracing and reunification network in Sierra
Leone was temporarily disrupted by the coup and the departure of several
key staff, efforts are being made to restart the reunification programme
as the regional focus organisations, ADRA and Christian Brothers are
still operational.

23. At the first Child Protection meeting in Conakry on 7 July, it was
acknowledged that there were several impediments to successful
implementation of child protection-demobilisation programmes in addition
to security constraints namely: lack of reliable numbers of child
soldiers as the only source of information was the former Disarmament,
Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Unit under MNRRR, uncertainty
over potential AFRC counterparts (e.g., the former programme manager of
the DDR Unit, Major Kula Samba, is now Secretary of Social Welfare,
Children and General Affairs and the former Army Chief of Staff, Col.
Max Kanga is now Director of the National Relief, Rehabilitation and
Demobilisation Commissions), the degree to which any programme might
apply to the kamajors, and the current capacity of NGOs to implement any
programmes. UNICEF is exploring the possibility of a pilot
demobilisation project for 50-100 children to test the publicly-stated
commitment of the AFRC to demobilisation of child soldiers.

REFUGEES
24. Concern Worldwide, the Irish NGO which still has one expatriate in
Freetown, has reported that a caseload of 7,700 Liberian refugees have
been receiving WFP food on a regular basis since the coup. All Liberian
refugees have moved out of Jui camp to Waterloo camp, Clay Factory Camp
and Freetown. Concern Worldwide continues to run a medical and
therapeutic feeding programmes in Segbwema.

25. 200 of the 489 Sierra Leonean refugees who have been living in
Waterloo camp in Freetown since their repatriation prior to the coup
have indicated that they would like to return to their areas of origin.
The first group of 40 will return by bus to the Eastern province as soon
as possible.

This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int

Complex Emergency Division (CED) New York
Mr. Peter Due
Tel.: (1 212) 963.1731 - Fax:	(1 212) 963.3630
E-Mail: due@un.org

Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Mr. Chris Kaye
Tel.: (41 22) 788.6385 - Fax: (41 22) 788.6389
Registry E-Mail:Rosemary.Addo-Yirenkyi@dha.unicc.org

Press to contact (DHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856 - Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH - E-Mail: Moulin-Acevedo@dha.unicc.org



distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center                    lists: listproc@vita.org
                                                     sitreps   nat-dsr
                                                     appeal    fireline
      web: www.vita.org                              rwanda
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@vita.org