Sierra Leone - ICRC: 1-31.Jul.97
Sierra Leone - ICRC: 1-31.Jul.97
International Committee of the Red Cross
Sierra Leone
1-31 July 1997
General context
During the Sierra Leonean conflict that started in 1991, nearly 40% of the
population was forced to flee their place of living. Hundreds of thousands
of people left for Guinea and Liberia, but the majority found refuge in
displaced camps in Sierra Leone. At the end of 1995, more than one million
people were displaced in camps in Freetown, Makeni, Bo, Kenema, Segbwema
and Daru. With the cease-fire and the peace talks initiated in March 1996
by the Sierra Leonean Government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF),
the displaced persons and the refugees started coming back to their place
of origin. The peace agreement was signed on 30th November 1996 in
Abidjan.
In January 1997 the security situation deteriorated again with an increase
in armed clashes between the traditional militia (Kamajors), the army and
occasionally the RUF in the Districts of Kenema, Kailahun and Pujehun. In
March and April unrest expanded further to the Northern Province
(Tonkolili, Port Loko and Bombali). On 25th May 1997, the Government of
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was ousted during a coup by the Armed Forces
Revolutionary Council (AFRC), headed by Major Johnny-Paul Koroma. The
whole international community, including the ECOWAS, the OAU and the UN
immediately condemned the coup and asked for the return of Kabbah. The
Nigerian contingent that had been helping the Government to fight the RUF
over the last years was reinforced by ECOMOG troops from Liberia. On 2
June 1997, fighting broke out in Freetown between the Nigerian armed
forces and the AFRC, which had in the meantime been rallied by the
People's Army (former Revolutionary United Front-RUF). At the end of June
the ECOWAS declared its willingness to use any means (dialogue, economic
sanctions and military action) to bring back the elected Government and
appointed a committee of four states (Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea,
Nigeria) to conduct the ECOWAS action. In June, many clashes between the
Kamajors and the army took place in the center and the east of the
country. Clashes over the control of Lungi international airport were
reported at the beginning of July, between the Nigerian and Sierra Leonean
armed forces.
Hundreds of people have been killed or wounded since the 25th of May.
Violence again forced tens of thousands of people to flee. Many of them
left Freetown heading to the Guinean border or to the northern areas. In
the center and in the east, a number of villages were abandonned and
people converged on the cities of Bo and Kenema. In July thousands of
people crossed into Liberia from neighbouring Pujehun to escape the battle
for the control of the border.
The ICRC in Sierra Leone
The Republic of Sierra Leone is a party to the four Geneva Conventions of
1949 (since 1965) and the two Additional Protocols of 1977 (since 1986).
These treaties of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) apply to the
current armed conflict.
Assistance to the civilian population
Most of the people living in areas affected by the war had to leave their
villages to seek refuge. This prevented them from farming, which disrupted
their previously balanced diet. During the war chronic malnutrition set in
and caused the death of many civilians, especially children. The ICRC
conducted nutritional surveys of the population in the eastern Districts
of Kailahun and Pujehun, which had been most severely affected by the war,
and began distributing food in February 1996 to 180,000 people living in
these regions. 4,600 tonnes of food (maize meal, corn/soya blend and
vegetable oil) were distributed between February and November 1996, when
the new crops allowed the population to regain some autonomy.
Reinforcing food autonomy
In 1996 and at the beginning of 1997, the ICRC was actively engaged in
helping the people to resettle. Due to the food scarcity of former years,
there were no seeds left for sowing. In cooperation with the Ministry of
Agriculture, the ICRC decided to carry out an extensive seed distribution
programme to the same population of 180,000 persons. Between May and
October 1996, the farmers were provided with 1,200 tonnes of rice and
groundnut seeds, together with 52,000 hoes. At the end of 1996, mixed
vegetable seed kits (tomato, cucumber, onion, gombo, pepper, eggplant)
were distributed to 12,000 families to restart gardening. As agricultural
rehabilitation can not be achieved within a single season, the ICRC
continued the seed distribution programme in 1997, with again 1,200 mt of
rice and groundnut seeds, 41,000 mt of vegetable seeds and 72,000 hoes
distributed so far (Sept 1997).
A help to the returnees
The people returning to their places of origin have lost everything while
in exile. To assist them in their resettling, the ICRC provided at the
beginning of 1997, 130,000 persons with cooking sets, clothes, blankets
and other items covering basic needs .
Assistance distributed during first semester 1997
Cereals 410 tonnes
Hoes 76'000 units
Bulgur 32 tonnes
Plastic sheeting 1'100 rolls
Vegetable oil 64 tonnes
Kitchen sets 15'700 units
Pulses 78 tonnes
Buckets 37'000 units
Upland rice seeds 500 tonnes
Blankets 100'000 units
Swamp rice seeds 323 tonnes
Soap 657'000 units
Groundnut seeds 300 tonnes
Candles 221'000 units
Vegetable seed kits 36'000 units
Medical and sanitation activities
Following the fighting of May and June 1997, the ICRC and the Sierra Leone
Red Cross Society (SLRCS) were able to evacuate dozens of wounded people
to hospitals. An ICRC surgical team (surgeon, anaesthesist, OT nurse)
arrived in Freetown beginning of June and worked until end of July in a
private clinic that has been transformed into a Red Cross facility. Today
contacts are being maintained with the medical facilities in order to
supply assistance and allow a medical team to return and be immediately
operational, would emergency needs arise.
Due to the reduction of commercial activities consequent to the coup and
the onset of the rainy season, the public health situation deteriorated in
the populated areas of Freetown. The people could not afford anymore the
necessary drugs to treat illnesses such as malaria, dysentery and
respiratory infections. This situation prompted the ICRC to open 5 health
centers in the poorest areas of the capital in order to provide
consultations, treatments and child vaccinations (diphteria, tetanus,
polio, measles). In the east of the country, the ICRC supports 10 similar
health posts. It also runs a dispensary in Kenema in cooperation with the
SLRCS, which gives an average of 800 consultations a week.
Two sanitation engineers are working on improving public health. They
increase the quality and availability of drinking water by chlorinating
wells, repairing damaged ones and constructing new water catchment
structures. The ICRC has also been helping to build 500 additional
latrines in the camps for displaced persons in the east. In Freetown, it
has installed water tanks in two hospitals and has conducted a survey on
the capital's water supply system.
Protection
The ICRC has access to the persons detained in relation with state
security, in order to evaluate their state of health and their conditions
of detention. It visits detainees in the Central prison and the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) in Freetown, the police stations and the
military barracks all over the country.
In collaboration with the SLRCS, the ICRC also helps to restore family
links between the refugees abroad and their relatives in the country by
enabling them to exchange Red Cross messages (RCM). During the first half
of 1997, 1200 RCM have been exchanged between people in Sierra Leone,
Liberia and Guinea.
Neutral intermediary
In 1996, the ICRC facilitated the holding of peace talks by acting as a
neutral intermediary between the two parties upon request of the Sierra
Leonean Government, the RUF as well as the main mediator, the government
of Ivory Coast. It arranged for an RUF delegation to travel under the
protection of the Red Cross emblem to Cote d'Ivoire to sit at the
negotiation table with representatives of the Government. In November
1996, the talks resulted in the signature of a peace agreement.
During the fighting that took place in Freetown on June 2, 1997, the ICRC
mediated a truce between the Nigerian and Sierra Leonean parties which
allowed hundreds of civilians to evacuate a hotel that had come under
fire.
Dissemination of international humanitarian law
The ICRC regularly holds information meetings with different groups,
including members of the Sierra Leonean and Nigerian armed forces, the
People's Army, governmental and traditional authorities, local militias
(Kamajors), students, journalists, etc. The aim of these meetings is to
explain the modalities of work of the Red Cross as well as to introduce
the principles of international humanitarian law (IHL).
Cooperation with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS)
Most of the current ICRC activities are carried out in co-operation with
the National Society: evacuations of the wounded, manpower support to the
hospitals, running of the health centres, the tracing of separated family
members, communication work. In the long term, the ICRC sponsors specific
projects of the National Society, such as the training and equipping of
the first-aid emergency teams in Freetown, Lungi, Bo, Kenema and Makeni.
* * *
The ICRC started working in Sierra Leone in 1991. In July 1997, THERE were
180 LOCALLY HIRED employees and 21 expatriates WORKING on the operation in
Sierra Leone, including members of the National Red Cross Societies of
Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland and Sweden. The ICRC's main office
is located in Freetown (10 expatriates). It has offices in Makeni (2
expatriates), Kenema (4 expatriates), Segbwema (3 expatriates) and Zimmi
(2 expatriates). The operations in Sierra Leone are coordinated by the
ICRC's regional delegation in Abidjan.
ICRC Regional Delegation in Abidjan ICRC Mission in Freetown
Avenue Franchet d'Esperey 6, Cantonment Road,
B.P.459 - 01 Abidjan Brookfields,
Freetown
Tel. ++ 225 222 459 Fax 222 456 Tel. ++ 232 22 241 438
Fax 242 217
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