Sierra Leone - DHA: 12-22.Aug.97
Sierra Leone - DHA: 12-22.Aug.97
DHAGVA 97/0328
SIERRA LEONE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION REPORT
Period covered: 12-22 August 1997
This report has been prepared by the office of the United Nations
Humanitarian Coordinator for Sierra Leone in Conakry, Guinea
SECURITY
1. The scheduled -March for Democracy- organised by National Union of
Students to take place on 18 August was banned by the AFRC. However,
students, market women and trade unionists took to the streets in defiance.
Reports indicate that heavy shooting and tear gas caused people to flee and
many were beaten and detained, including journalists working for
international news agencies. An unconfirmed number of injuries and deaths
were reported during the massive show of force by AFRC troops and police.
One relief agency claimed that two student nurses from Connaught Hospital
were killed.
2. The following day, shooting occurred in Freetown in the morning,
heightening tensions further and preventing people from going to work. The
shooting occurred in the vicinity of the State House and Government Wharf.
Military barricades were established in the central part of the city. There
were no reports of any casualties or arrests. A 10:00 p.m. to dawn curfew
has been imposed in an attempt to quell civil unrest.
3. ECOMOG troops stationed at Lungi International Airport fought with AFRC
and RUF military on 13 and 14 August. Heavy shelling occurred resulting in
an unknown number of casualties and forcing nearby villagers to flee from the
area. Unconfirmed reports put the number of dead as high as 150. Other
reports claimed that large numbers of AFRC surrendered to ECOMOG following
the fighting. Medical staff who treated the wounded noted that many of the
military casualties were children. The AFRC withdrew their troops to Port
Loko, 30 kms from Lungi.
4. Fighting between Kamajos and AFRC-RUF continued in diamondiferous areas of
Tongo Fields and Zimmi. The Kamajos were forced to make a strategic
withdrawal from Tongo which the junta forces now control. BBC reported that
Col. -Mosquito- Bockarie is in charge and has meted out severe punishment for
convicted criminals, including public shooting in the legs of looters. Zimmi
remains the battlefront with Kamajos occupying the town presently. People
have escaped the fighting by crossing the border into Liberia and westwards
towards Potoru and Pujehun town.
5. Harassment of aid agencies appears to have subsided marginally. World
Vision country director visited Freetown from Conakry to meet with his staff
and to assess the working environment. He met with Major JP Koroma and junta
officials to complain of high incidences of looting, threats made against aid
workers and impediments to aid delivery. These meetings appear to have
yielded fruitful results. World Vision reports that the previous attempt by
the junta to endorse and control food consignments and distributions have not
been reported since.
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
6. Nigerian President Sani Abacha, current ECOWAS chairman visited Conakry,
Guinea, to meet with President Conte and ousted President Kabbah. The aim
was to seek common agreement on the ECOWAS committee of Four Foreign
Ministers Conakry decision before the forthcoming summit in Abuja. At a
press conference, Abacha indicated that -much time had been lost and that the
sanctions had been unsuccessful-. he stated that -military intervention
should be strongly considered- and that negotiations can resume -only if the
regime is willing to step down-.
7. On 19 August, Ambassador Dinka, UN SESG, briefed the UN Security Council
in an informal consultation about developments in Sierra Leone. The Security
Council members commended ECOWAS for its efforts and expressed the wish to
coordinate their efforts with ECOWAS Ambassadors before deciding on further
action.
8. UN Heads of Agencies met with President in exile, Alhaji Ahmed Tejan
Kabbah, at his residence in Conakry to discuss humanitarian developments in
Sierra Leone. While appreciative that the humanitarian needs are great, he
expressed concern over the insecurity in the country and -would not recommend
that international staff should go into Sierra Leone at the present time-.
He supported -continuing the present levels of humanitarian life saving
interventions, working through national staff-. He also urged enhanced
planning and preparedness.
9. Ms. Elizabeth Lwanga, Humanitarian Coordinator, visited General Victor
Malu, ECOMOG Force Commander based in Monrovia, Liberia. The mission
objectives were to establish contact, seek guidance for the work of the
humanitarian community in Sierra Leone and to safeguard national staff and
assets in the event of ECOMOG military intervention. The ECOMOG Force
Commander agreed with the Humanitarian Coordinator that the delay in the
resolution of the crisis was leading to a serious humanitarian situation.
He, however, said -he understood sanctions and embargo covered anything- and
suggested that the forthcoming ECOWAS summit might address the exemption of
humanitarian aid. He regretted the intransigence of AFRC and RUF and stated
-the only solution was now most likely the use of force- which would be -a
massive, surgical initiative to limit loss of life and damage to
infrastructure-.
10. Ships with cargoes of rice, fuel and lubricants for electricity
generators have off loaded in Freetown in spite of the current embargo.
There have been no sightings of the ECOMOG patrol boats and the last cargo
ship was fired on from static artillery positions at Lungi before
successfully docking on 17 August. Purchase and delivery of these goods have
involved deals struck between the political and business communities in the
Sub-region.
HUMANITARIAN DEVELOPMENTS
11. Aid agencies met on 14 August to improve the quality and regularity of
humanitarian data from Sierra Leone. Health and Food Aid committees
submitted ideas on the indicators that should be incorporated into the
proposed scheme for health and nutrition surveillance. These included three
health indicators - mortality, morbidity and percentage rates of malnourished
from strategic health units. The other three indicators chosen were: food
basket monitoring, harvest mapping data and internally displaced population
figures. Appropriate forms, strategic locations and methodology will be
completed by 1 September.
12. The Committee on Food Aid held an emergency meeting to discuss the
deteriorating operating environment in Sierra Leone, in particular, Freetown.
Recommendations were passed to the National Technical Committee in the
capital for feedback. These included evaluating the possibility of designing
an expanded food distribution scheme to target the most vulnerable in
Freetown. This information should be relayed through operational levels to
the AFRC regime to limit political interference. Additional plans should be
made to protect stocks of high protein food for emergency distributions.
Looting of relief food will be reduced by increasing targeted beneficiaries
in Freetown and transporting foodstocks to the provinces.
HEALTH
13. A recent nutritional survey carried out by UNICEF in Kambia and Port Loko
towns indicated significant health concerns, even taking into consideration
seasonal variations and the high percentage of IDPs present in these
locations. In Port Loko, combined rate of moderate and severely malnourished
under fives was over 10.8 percent. It rises to 13.5 percent by including the
under five clinic in the District Hospital where 23.4 percent of children
were moderately malnourished and 1.9 percent severely malnourished. Levels
of 2 percent for severely malnourished and 10 percent for global are accepted
as thresholds requiring specialised feeding interventions.
14. In another survey in Kambia District, MSF found 6.4 percent global
malnutrition. Girls under age five were recorded as being twice as likely to
be malnourished than boys. 40 percent of IDP children (9.6 percent of the
sample) are not immunised against measles. There was no marked difference in
the rate of malnutrition between newly displaced and resident populations.
There are fears that immunisation programmes are breaking down as the
national -cold chain- at District and PHU levels functions only
intermittently, due to logistical problems. ACF and ICRC are planning to
improve anthropometric surveillance and feeding programmes through the
placement of nutritionists in Bo, Makeni and Freetown.
CHILD PROTECTION
15. At Teko barracks in Makeni, the Catholic Mission through Bishop Begazzi,
continues to provide basic care to some 250 RUF children and is negotiating
to remove child soldiers to more conducive centres in the local area. Social
workers in Kambia are providing a psycho-social programme to support RUF
children back with their families. CAW has been given access to the Benguema
barracks to register RUF children under 10 years of age. The Planning
Framework for the demobilisation of child combatants has been forwarded to
Freetown and the Provincial capitals for comments.
AGRICULTURE
16. FAO has issued a -special alert- from their Global Information and Early
Warning System that Sierra Leone, based on available data, can expect bleak
food production at the next harvest and there is the real possibility of a
famine. Insecurity has -severely hampered agricultural activities,
especially the planting of main crops which take place in April to June-.
Agricultural agencies are creating a harvest map based on inputs distributed
and estimations of yield. This is one of the indicators chosen to improve
overall humanitarian data from Sierra Leone. (See paragraph 11 above).
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
Ms. Shahwar Pataudi
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1403 - 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
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