Sierra Leone - [DHA: 01-13.Oct.97]
Sierra Leone - [DHA: 01-13.Oct.97]
SIERRA LEONE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION REPORT
Period covered: 01-13 October 1997
This report has been prepared by the office of the United Nations
Humanitarian Coordinator for Sierra Leone in Conakry, Guinea
SECURITY
1. At 1600 hours on 8 October ECOMOG warplanes bombed Cockerill, Sierra
Leones military headquarters in Freetown causing extensive damage to the
buildings, communications equipment and the helicopter gun ship. Rumours
that the cargo helicopter was damaged have since been proved to be
false. The AFRC reported that two civilians and two soldiers were killed
and 28 wounded. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing 30-40 bodies. In a
press release issued the following day by ECOMOG Headquarters in
Monrovia, it was stated that the bombardment on Cockerill was
perpetrated to neutralise an AFRC helicopter gun ship which had opened
fire on an ECOMOG resupply helicopter at Lungi. An AFRC spokesman said
that the attack was probably an -assassination attempt- as it occurred
at the exact time of a meeting scheduled to take place between Major
Koroma, AFRC Chairman, and other senior officials.
2. On 9 October the AFRC attacked the ECOMOG base at Jui on the
outskirts of Freetown. Sporadic heavy fighting continued between the
AFRC and ECOMOG for the next four days causing casualties on both sides.
AFRC positions in the vicinity of Lungi were subjected to bombardment
from Lungi and Nigerian combat aircraft flew regular sorties over
Freetown. The AFRC retaliated by firing from Calabah town into Jui. By
13 October the ECOMOG front line had advanced slightly to Allen town.
Reports that the Nigerian camp at Jui had been overrun are false. The
road from Waterloo to Freetown has been closed as a result of the
fighting although some humanitarian personnel have entered Freetown
through this route since the Cockerill bombing.
3. Fighting between the AFRC-RUF and ECOMOG also erupted in Bo and
Kenema in the wake of the bombing of Cockerill. In Bo town, the ECOMOG
position in Gondama was bombarded by the AFRC-RUF on 11 October. In
response, the AFRC positions were bombed by Nigerian warplanes which
reportedly inflicted severe casualties. In Kenema, ICRC reported 16
casualties following clashes between the AFRC-RUF and ECOMOG.
4. Two aid agencies have had their offices in Freetown burgled during
the last week. A vehicle owned by another relief organisation was
commandeered by kamajors in the vicinity of Taiama.
5. It has been reported that another 140 Sierra Leonean military
defected to ECOMOG during the weekend of 4-5 October bringing the total
number of deserters to approximately 1,200 since the 25 May coup.
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
6. In President Kabbahs address to the 52nd session of the UN General
Assembly on 1 October he stated, inter alia, that any negotiations with
the AFRC should be undertaken by the ECOWAS Committee of Five Foreign
Ministers. He added that the three-point ECOWAS agenda should remain the
focus of any talks and that negotiations should be time-bound to prevent
the AFRC from using stalling tactics in an effort to gain -creeping de
facto recognition by the international community.- He stressed that the
AFRC delegation should be led by Major Koroma to reduce the scope for
subsequent repudiation. President Kabbah said that he had -serious
reservations- about negotiating with the junta himself because the AFRC
had acted in bad faith in previous negotiating sessions. He also stated
that the military junta was an -unstable coalition- in which the RUF had
the upper hand and that the RUF had threatened to -launch a scorched
earth campaign to reduce the country to ashes- if its position were
placed in jeopardy. On the issue of the provision of humanitarian
assistance Kabbah said: -Security is paramount. Without security no
meaningful humanitarian assistance can reach the people of Sierra
Leone.-
7. From 10-11 October three of the ECOWAS Committee of Five Foreign
Ministers (the Committee) met in Abuja to evaluate UN Security Council
Resolution 1132 (see point 9 below) and adopt strategies for achieving
early restoration of constitutional order in Sierra Leone. The Committee
called on the AFRC to stop attacking ECOMOG troops, failing which ECOMOG
would take appropriate action to defend itself decisively. The Committee
called on ECOWAS member states to strengthen ECOMOGs operational
capabilities and requested that the UN Secretary-General establish a
contact group on Sierra Leone in fulfilment of Paragraph 18 of
Resolution 1132, which urges all States to provide technical and
logistical support to assist ECOWAS to carry out its responsibilities.
8. On the issue of the resumption of negotiations with the AFRC, the
Committee echoed the sentiments expressed by President Kabbah in his
speech to the UN General Assembly stating that the representatives of
the AFRC must have the requisite mandate to negotiate, that the regime
must negotiate in good faith and that negotiations should be strictly
within the ECOWAS mandate as stipulated in the Conakry Final Communique
The ECOWAS Committee also had discussions with Foday Sankoh while in
Abuja. The next ECOWAS meeting will be held in Conakry on 20 October,
1997 and the AFRC will be invited to attend.
HUMANITARIAN DEVELOPMENTS
9. On 8 October the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter 7 of the
UN Charter, unanimously adopted Resolution 1132 (1997) imposing global
arms, oil and travel sanctions on Sierra Leone. The sanctions will
remain in force until the AFRC takes -immediate steps to relinquish
power in Sierra Leone and make way for the restoration of the
democratically-elected Government and will be reviewed after a period of
six months. The Resolution authorises ECOWAS to enforce implementation
of the sanctions by monitoring ships cargoes bound for Sierra Leone and
calls on States to cooperate with ECOWAS in this regard. The Resolution
establishes a Sanctions Committee which will be responsible for
monitoring overall implementation of the embargo and authorising
exceptions to the oil embargo on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian
purposes. Article 14 of the Resolution requests ECOWAS, the UN and other
humanitarian agencies -to establish appropriate mechanisms for the
provision of humanitarian assistance and to endeavour to ensure that
such assistance responds to local needs and is safely delivered to, and
used by, its intended recipients. -The Security Council sanctions are
less broad than the ECOWAS sanctions, imposed on 29 August, 1997.-
10. At their meeting on 10-11 October the ECOWAS Foreign Ministers noted
with concern the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sierra Leone
due to the -intransigence of the illegal regime, the lack of security
and the gross violations of human rights by the regime.- The Committee
of Five has, therefore, directed the ECOWAS Executive Secretary and the
ECOMOG Force Commander to establish a technical committee to work out
appropriate modalities for the -creation of safe havens, the
establishment of humanitarian corridors for delivery of relief materials
and the registration of NGOs.- The technical committee would also advise
the Foreign Ministers on all issues relating to the delivery of
humanitarian assistance. The United Nations Department of Humanitarian
Affairs, after close consultation with UN Agencies, NGOs and donors, has
submitted a set of recommendations to ECOWAS on Cross-border relief
operations into Sierra-Leone. The recommendations include seven
categories of relief items which should be automatically exempt from
sanctions, namely food aid, health, shelter and survival, water and
sanitation, personal and community hygiene, food production and UN and
NGO operational support.
11. It is hoped the ECOWAS establish the technical committee as soon as
possibly as humanitarian operations are currently being constrained by
the Guinean Governments application of more stringent controls at
Pamelap, the border crossing point with Sierra Leone. Although
humanitarian personnel and small quantities of relief items have entered
Sierra Leone during the past two weeks, problems at the border have
become increasingly common and need to be addressed.
FOOD AID
12. Food agencies have estimated that there were approximately 3,000
tones of relief food available in Sierra Leone as at 3 October compared
with a total of 21,000 tones available at the time of the coup.
Shortages in Bo and Makeni are particularly acute. Although it is
estimated that this quantity could theoretically feed the current
caseload for a period of one month, all agencies continue to experience
severe distribution problems. There are reportedly large quantities of
commercial rice in Freetown.
13. Logistical arrangements are in place for food agencies to commence a
cross-border operation when authorised under the provisions of the
ECOWAS embargo. Food commodities will be transported to a transhipment
point at the border using Guinean trucks and transferred to
Sierra-Leonean trucks for transport into Sierra Leone. A coordinated
approach is being adopted in setting rates and the scheduling of
commodities.
AGRICULTURE
14. FAO has announced that it has 145 tones of fertiliser available in
Freetown and modest funds for the purchase of vegetable seed for the
next rainy season. NGOs have been invited to submit proposals in order
to access these agricultural inputs for their programmes. In an ominous
development agricultural land in 17 villages to the north of Bo has been
burned by the RUF-AFRC during the past week.
HEALTH
15. In September 1997 health agencies started a system for the regular
and standardised collection of morbidity-malnutrition data throughout
Sierra Leone under the auspices of the Conakry health Committee. An
average of 10 peripheral health units per district have been identified
for the collection of data on a weekly basis. Government medical
officers are responsible for filling out the morbidity forms for the
health units under their control. Africa is responsible for the
collection of forms in Kenema district, MSF-Belgium in Bo and Concern
Universal in Makeni. The forms are centralised with UNICEF Freetown and
UNICEF Kambia before being forwarded to Conakry for analysis. The
ultimate objective of the exercise is to build up a picture of health
needs throughout Sierra Leone which will serve as a basis for planning
future inventions in the health sector. More details are available in
point 16, sitrep dated 23 August-1 September. To date, regular feedback
has only been received from Freetown, Kambia and Port Loko districts.
16. Results from Freetown and Kambia and Port Loko districts reveal that
malaria followed by Acute Respiratory Disease remain the two major
health problems for children under the age of five in every area.
Incidence of malaria is highest in Freetown constituting an average of
45 percent of all cases. In Kambia and Port Loko districts the average
rate of global acute malnutrition for under fives in the targeted
clinics is higher than in Freetown. In Kambia district the frequency of
global malnutrition ranges from 5-18 percent of all diagnoses whereas in
Port Loko district the frequency in 5-7 percent. The clinics in Rokupr,
Mambolo and Kukuna in Kambia district and Port Loko town, Rosint Buye
and Sendugu in Port Loko district have consistently reported higher
rates of malnutrition than the other clinics surveyed. Health agencies
are conducting further investigations in these areas to determine why
this is the case.
17. Mortality data for Freetown, Kambia and Port Loko districts do not
yet reveal any cause of concern. At the most recent health meeting in
Conakry it was acknowledged that mortality surveillance was hampered by
the difficulty in obtaining reliable population estimates. It was
decided that the total number of deaths would be considered instead of
mortality rates in areas where population estimates are unreliable.
18. UNICEF organised a rapid assessment of the Freetown population
during the first week of September 1997. 20 households in 15 different
clusters in the greater Freetown area were surveyed for the number of
people living in the household, number of children under the age of
five, health conditions and number of displaced people. The assessment
revealed an estimated total population of 746,600 with 126,913 under
fives.
19. WHO has announced its intention to increase its activities as
follows: enhance the Conakry office and open an office in Kambia,
strengthen epidemiological surveillance in all accessible districts,
support the morbidity-malnutrition-mortality surveillance network,
revitalise and support district emergency health task forces, resume its
support to the lassa fever programme in Kenema district, establish (in
collaboration with Merlin) sentinel monitoring sites for yellow fever on
the Liberian border, support district hospitals in Koinadugu, Kono,
Moyamba and Bonthe districts.
20. On 12 and 13 October UNICEF transported 100,000 doses of vaccines by
land from Guinea to Kambia and Freetown.
CHILD PROTECTION
21. On 9 October major Koroma ordered the immediate disarmament of all
child soldiers in Sierra Leone. He stated that the AFRC, Through the
Ministry of Social Welfare, Children and Gender Affairs, would -identify
all children under the age of eighteen in the National Army, the
Peopless Army and other armed militias and arrange for their immediate
withdrawal for disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, in keeping
with the relevant provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the Geneva Convention and the Abidjan Peace Accord. Major Koroma
stated that the first step would be the holding of a demobilisation
workshop and appealed to humanitarian agencies to assist the AFRC in the
implementation of this programme.
22. The Secretary of State, Social Welfare, Children of Gender Affairs
stated that there were over 5,000 people below the age of 18 with arms
in Sierra Leone. The Children Associated with the War programme (CAW), a
national NGO, issued a statement saying that over 750 children had been
demobilised and reintegrated into their respective communities since
1993 through centres established by CAW in Freetown and Bo. Independent
observers have witnessed RUF commanders buying weapons from children in
Freetown and in Kono. The majority of children being disarmed are
believed to be recent recruits as opposed to long-term combatants.
23. The Child Protection Committee in Conakry has estimated that there
are at least 3,000 children associated with the RUF. It is known that
1,500 RUF camp followers under the age of 13 have been incorporated into
existing programmes based on current information from agencies
operational in Sierra Leone. The geographical distribution is as
follows: Kenema: 500, Makeni: 400, Mile 91: 400, Freetown: 200. It is
assumed, based on past experience, that each pre-teen RUF camp follower
has an elder minder aged between 13-18, who is usually a bona fide
combatant. Hence, a total of 3,000 children associated with the RUF is
reached. There is no reliable information on numbers of children in the
Sierra Leone military or traditional militias such as the kamajors and
it was felt that it would be counter-productive to indulge in idle
speculation.
24. The Youth Gangs in Freetown have been relatively quiet over the past
two weeks, which may be attributable to recent reports of defections. In
response, an estimated 100-150 youths have been brought into Freetown by
the RUF and are believed to be undergoing indoctrination training. It
has also been reported that 40 child soldiers have been captured by
-surrendered to ECOMOG in Lungi and are receiving care.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
Complex Emergency Division (CED) New York
Mr. Stephen Johnson
Tel.: (1 212) 963.3044 - Fax: (1 212) 963.3630
E-Mail: johnsons@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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