U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa Tel: +225 22-40-4440 Fax: +225 22-40-4435 e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ciWEST AFRICA Weekly Round-up 16 15-21 April 2000
CONTENTS: SIERRA LEONE: Zambian peacekeepers start arriving SIERRA LEONE: RUF still controls diamond areas SIERRA LEONE: Women's situation particularly difficult SIERRA LEONE: UN commission condemns atrocities SIERRA LEONE: Chief of staff dies SIERRA LEONE: Lowest life expectancy in the world SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament tally LIBERIA: Acute water shortage BURKINA FASO: National assembly modifies electoral law BURKINA FASO: Human rights activists suspend stayaway BURKINA FASO: CPJ condemns closure of private radio TOGO: Gabonese diplomat murdered TOGO: Committee set up to probe UN accusations TOGO: Report leads to publisher's arrest GAMBIA: President announces inquiry into student deaths WEST AFRICA: Six states agree to form monetary union NIGER: Food aid from Japan NIGERIA: Militant youths vacate oil stations NIGERIA: Health Ministry donates meningitis vaccines to Niger NIGERIA: Police arrest over 40 pro-Biafra activists NIGERIA: Bishops decry illegal arms imports NIGERIA: About 500 feared dead in boat disaster NIGERIA: CPJ worried by attack on newspaper EDUCATION: Reinforcing a 10-year-old commitment EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Guarantee human rights, UN Commission says MAURITANIA: German aid for poverty alleviation COTE D'IVOIRE: Draft constitution presented to parties COTE D'IVOIRE: Parties asked to put rallies on hold COTE D'IVOIRE: Former Defence Minister reportedly released COTE D'IVOIRE: Extrajudicial killings worry rights group CAMEROON: Independent press under fire MALI: Two journalists jailed for defamation BENIN: Canada donates generators GHANA: Illegal currency dealers arrested SIERRA LEONE: Zambian peacekeepers start arriving An advance party of over 100 Zambian peacekeepers arrived in Sierra Leone this week, a UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) official told IRIN on Friday. He said the group was now carrying out logistic and other preparatory assessments before the arrival of the remainder of the Zambian contingent, expected to total 776. The full deployment of the Zambian soldiers, he said, might take place in late April or early May. SIERRA LEONE: RUF still controls diamond areas The former rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) still controls diamond-rich areas in eastern Sierra Leone, says Lansana Gberie, who co-authored a report on the role played by diamonds in Sierra Leone's conflict. "We have aerial photographs to prove this," Gberie told IRIN on Wednesday. Ian Smillie, another author of the report -- titled "The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone's Diamonds and Human Security" and published in January -- said the war in Sierra Leone would not end unless the diamond industry was controlled. "The government has no power to control diamond areas and the RUF has shown bad faith in preventing UN forces from deploying to these areas," Smillie told IRIN in New York on Wednesday. More than 7,000 UNAMSIL (United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone) peacekeepers are in Sierra Leone, but they have not been able to deploy to the diamond-rich Kono area. In another report called 'Fatal Transactions,' published in April, a group of European NGOs said that the illegal export of Sierra Leonean diamonds generated US $200 million per year between 1991 and 1999. SIERRA LEONE: Women's situation particularly difficult The situation of women in Sierra Leone is particularly "difficult", UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie told journalists on Tuesday in New York. She said human rights workers on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) team had reported that the incidence of sexual attacks was worse than in Bosnia, where rape was considered a war crime. SIERRA LEONE: UN commission condemns atrocities The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) on Tuesday expressed "grave concern" at the continuing human rights abuses in Sierra Leone and called for an end to them. In a press release, the organisation noted that atrocities against civilians such as rapes, hostage-taking, summary executions, mutilations, forced labour, and abuse of women and children have been done with impunity. It implicated the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and ex-Sierra Leone Army (SLA) in these acts. SIERRA LEONE: Chief of staff dies Sierra Leone's government this week declared seven days of mourning in honour of its armed forces chief of staff, Brigadier-General Maxwell Khobe (50), who died in Lagos on Tuesday, Khobe, who was Nigerian, headed the ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) task force in Sierra Leone before being appointed chief of staff. He spearheaded the military operation that restored President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to power in February 1998 after his overthrow in May 1997. SIERRA LEONE: Lowest life expectancy in the world Sierra Leoneans had the lowest life expectancy in the world in 1999, statistics released on Friday by the German Federal Demographic Research Institute revealed. The institute noted that the average life span for a Sierra Leonean was only 37 years, compared to a world wide average expectancy of 65. At the other end of the scale was Japan with a life expectancy of 80, followed by Canada and Iceland (79). SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament tally As at 17 April, 23,009 ex-combatants had disarmed in Sierra Leone, that country's National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) reported on 20 April. These included 4,373 Revolutionary United Front rebels, 7,698 from the Civil Defence Forces (former pro-government militias), 5,671 from the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council/Ex-Sierra Leone Army(AFRC/Ex-SLA) 3,804 current SLA and 1,463 others. [The ex-SLA are soldiers who were loyal to the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta that ruled Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998 while the current SLA are soldiers who remained loyal to the state.] LIBERIA: Acute water shortage A severe water shortage has hit sections of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, forcing people to go to other parts of the town to obtain water, according to local media and residents. Local officials were quoted as saying that the shortage started last week after a diesel pump used to pump water to storage tanks in the affected areas broke down and that it was being repaired. A capital resident told IRIN the water shortage had led to an accumulation of sewage in Monrovia's open-air drains and that some of it had seeped onto the streets. BURKINA FASO: National assembly modifies electoral law Burkina Faso's national assembly has adopted a bill modifying the country's electoral law, PANA reported on Thursday. The bill was passed in the absence of legislators from the Parti pour la Democratie et le Progres (PDP), who have been boycotting plenary sessions of the assembly, to denounce the absence of a consensus among politicians on the texts submitted for discussion. The clauses modified cover issues such as the independent national electoral commission, the delimitation of constituencies and deadlines for the submission of lists of candidates. BURKINA FASO: Human rights activists suspend stayaway Human rights and political organisations in Burkina Faso on Monday decided against continuing a nationwide stayaway launched the previous week, the group's leader, Halidou Ouedraogo, told IRIN. However, the Collectif de partis politiques, syndicats et ONGs will "continue its active resistance" pending meetings on 22 April throughout the country at which it will assess the situation and decide on future action, said Ouedraogo, who was released on 15 April after being detained along with other leaders and activists of the Collectif. The stayaway, on 10-12 April, was the latest in a series of protests by the Collectif, which has been demanding reforms to the judiciary, constitution and electoral code, an end to impunity, and human rights guarantees. BURKINA FASO: CPJ condemns closure of private radio The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday condemned the closure of a private radio in Burkina Faso, Horizon FM, two days after it aired a communiquee from a coalition of opposition and rights groups, calling for a rally to protest the lack of progress in investigating the murder of an independent journalist. TOGO: Gabonese diplomat murdered Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema on Monday condemned the murder of Gabonese Charge d'Affaires Mamva Nkele in Lome by armed carjackers and said his government would do everything to find his killers, state-owned Radio Lome reported on Monday. TOGO: Committee set up to probe UN accusations Togo's government on Monday announced that it had set up a commission to investigate the accusations made against it last month by a UN Panel of Experts on the violation of sanctions against UNITA. In a communique quoted by Togolese radio, the government said the decision was taken by the cabinet on 22 March. The commission comprises several ministers and lawyers, it said. TOGO: Report leads to publisher's arrest The publisher of a Togolese weekly, `L'Exile', was arrested and imprisoned in Lome after being accused of publishing false news, RFI reported on 17 April. His paper had reported that President Gnassingbe Eyadema's daughter had died in a car accident, whereas she was still alive. GAMBIA: President announces inquiry into student deaths Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced on 16 April an official inquiry into clashes early last week between students and police in which 12 people died and decreed a week of mourning for the victims. However, opposition parties called for an independent commission to be set up to investigate the deaths. The students had been demonstrating against the killing of a fellow student, whom they said had been tortured. WEST AFRICA: Six states agree to form monetary union Six countries outside the CFA franc zone -- Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone -- agreed at a summit in Accra on Thursday to create a second monetary union in West Africa by January 2003, PANA reported on Friday. As part of the conditions for joining the monetary union, the six countries pledged to attain an inflation rate of no more than 9 percent by the year 2000 and 5 percent by 2003, PANA said. They also need to maintain gross external reserves to cover at least three months of imports by the end of 2000, and six months by the end of 2003. Other requirements include limiting central bank financing of budget deficits to no more than 10 percent of the previous year's tax revenue. The budget deficits (excluding grants) should not exceed 5 percent of GDP by 2000 and 4 percent by 2002. NIGER: Food aid from Japan Japan is to provide Niger with food aid, in the form of rice, worth 360 million yen (about US $3.4 million) under an agreement signed in Niamey on Monday by representatives of the two governments. The grant brings total Japanese donations to Niger since 1976 to 40,783 million yen (about US $390 million at today's exchange rate), according to a communique from the Japanese Embassy in Abidjan, which also covers Niger. NIGERIA: Militant youths vacate oil stations Militant youths who last week occupied five oil pumping stations in north and south Isoko local government areas, near Warri in southeastern Nigeria, have vacated the sites. The youths were protesting against the "dumping of suspected toxic waste by Shell" last year. AFP quoted an environment ministry official as saying that tests had shown that the waste was not toxic. NIGERIA: Health Ministry donates meningitis vaccines to Niger Nigeria's health ministry has donated 500,000 doses of cerebrospinal meningitis vaccines to Niger, news organisations reported on Thursday. Nigeria acted in response to a call from Niger's government for help in curbing the spread of meningitis in the country, 'The Guardian' said. Cerebrospinal meningitis is a disease prevalent in desert areas. It is often exacerbated by extreme heat and congestion. NIGERIA: Police arrest over 40 pro-Biafra activists Forty members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) were arrested on Tuesday after they clashed with police as they marched through Agboju area, a satellite town of Lagos. 'The Guardian' reported that the group, carrying placards with pro-Biafra inscriptions and T-shirts on which 'BIAFRA' was boldly printed, marched through the streets of Agboju Amuwo chanting songs against Nigerian unity. NIGERIA: Bishops decry illegal arms imports Methodist bishops in Nigeria on Thursday called on the government to monitor the illegal importation of small arms which, they said, contributed to "the current wave of violence" in the country, including murders and armed robberies. They also urged the government to take immediate steps to address crime. NIGERIA: About 500 feared dead in boat disaster Up to 500 people are feared dead after the boat they were travelling in capsized on Wednesday night on the Nembe River near Port Harcourt, in southeast Nigeria. News organisations reported on Friday that the 500 passengers were more than double the boat's capacity of 200. Most of the passengers were believed to be traders and people travelling to their rural villages for the Easter holidays. There was no mention of survivors. NIGERIA: CPJ worried by attack on newspaper The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about a recent attack on the independent daily newspaper 'ThisDay', and "the overall deterioration of press freedom standards in Nigeria" in a letter dated 13 April to President Olusegun Obasanjo. On 4 April, it said, armed members of the State Security Service (SSS) invaded the offices of 'ThisDay' in Abuja, sealed its gate for three hours and roughed up many employees. CPJ said that, according to its Nigerian sources, the SSS justified their actions by claiming that the newspaper's offices contained "subversive and incriminating documents". EDUCATION: Reinforcing a 10-year-old commitment The world's failure to achieve education for all can no longer be tolerated, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said in New York on Tuesday, ahead of the World Education Forum to be held in Dakar, Senegal, on 26-28 April. "As we enter the third millennium, more than 110 million children -almost two-thirds of them girls- are excluded from schooling," Bellamy said. Bellamy said she hoped the Dakar meeting would re-ignite commitment and action for education that was severely challenged during the 1990s by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the expansion of armed conflict and unprecedented natural disasters. EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Guarantee human rights, UN Commission says The UN Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday urged the government of Equatorial Guinea to adopt quick, effective measures to guarantee the full enjoyment of basic rights. These include freedom of movement and association; freedom of information, opinion and expression; the rule of law; freedom from torture; the right to justice and the independence of the judiciary. It also urged Equatorial Guinea to ensure that military jurisdiction was not applied to civilians. According to Amnesty International, some 80 members of Equatorial Guinea's Bubi minority were sentenced to jail in June 1998 by a military court after being accused of trying to overthrow the government. Many are reportedly still in jail. MAURITANIA: German aid for poverty alleviation Germany has granted Mauritania aid amounting to the equivalent of 14.83 million euros to support poverty alleviation efforts over the next two years, according to a communique from the German Cooperation Ministry quoted by AFP. COTE D'IVOIRE: Draft constitution presented to parties Cote d'Ivoire's president, General Robert Guei, on Wednesday presented a draft constitution prepared by a Consultative Constitutional and Electoral Commission (CCCE) to leaders of political parties, the official 'Fraternite Matin' daily reported. The draft is to be discussed at a working session on Wednesday 26 April by representatives of the parties, students' and women's groups, non-governmental organisations, and the military Conseil National de Salut Public (CNSP - headed by Guei), the daily reported. COTE D'IVOIRE: Parties asked to put rallies on hold The Ivoirian government on Wednesday said unnamed politicians had conducted political campaigns although President Robert Guei had asked parties, in a 22 February communique, "to hold over, until further notice, the organisation of public demonstrations involving a significant mobilisation of the population". The warning followed public meetings by Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) leader Alassane Ouattara in various parts of the country. "The government would no longer be able to tolerate the flouting of these precepts and appeals to the spirit of discipline and civic sense of everyone," the government said in a communique on 19 April. COTE D'IVOIRE: Former Defence Minister reportedly released Former Defence Minister Bandama N'Gatta, arrested on 31 March, was released by the military on 20 April, according to AFP, quoted by the official 'Fraternite Matin' daily. COTE D'IVOIRE: Extrajudicial killings worry rights group Cote d'Ivoire's human rights watchdog, the Ligue Ivoirienne des Droits de l'Homme (LIDHO) has expressed concern over the extrajudicial killing of presumed criminals in an open letter to the government and the Conseil national de Salut public (CNSP - the military council led by the president, Gen. Robert Guei). LIDHO noted that, referring to the results obtained by the CNSP in its fight against crime, Guei had told former parliamentarians at a meeting on 13 April that 66 bandits had been killed in three months, while 80 percent of stolen cars had been recovered. LIDHO said it wished to draw the attention of the government and the CNSP "to the illegality of the methods used in regard of the rights of the individual and the safety of citizens especially since it has not yet been proved that the military have acted in self defence in all cases and that the methods have always been proportionate to the threats." CAMEROON: Independent press under fire The steering committee of the Cameroonian press freedom organisation, OCALIP, on Sunday condemned the imprisonment of journalists in Cameroon but its chairman, Pius Njawe, also called for more professionalism in the media, RFI reported. "If we want to be respected in the exercise of our work, as other groups are, then we must begin by respecting ourselves and our work, showing a high sense of responsibility by demonstrating an irreproachable level of professionalism," he told an OCALIP steering committee meeting in Douala. Michel Pekoua, the regional managing director of the `Ouest Echo' newspaper has been imprisoned in the northwestern town of Bafoussam, since 3 April for "defamation", RFI reported on Monday. Last week, Severin Turkoi, director of the bi-weekly 'La Nouvelle Expression', and two of his assistants were held for questioning for 48 hours and charged with the propagation of false news, RFI reported. MALI: Two journalists jailed for defamation Two journalists were sentenced to a month in prison for defaming Mali's former justice minister Amidou Diabate, AFP reported on Thursday. The publisher of 'Le Zenith' weekly, Ibrahim Diallo, and colleague Habib Sidibe were also ordered by Bamako's criminal court to pay the equivalent of US $2,800 in damages and interest to Diabate. 'Le Zenith' published a story in March saying that the ex-minister had been questioned about the management of Canadian funding for a justice ministry project. It described Diabate's management as "at the very least catastrophic" and said he had been accused of carelessness. BENIN: Canada donates generators Canada has donated four generators valued at 1.15 billion CFA francs (about US $1.65 million) to Benin to help ease a severe power shortage in the West African nation, PANA reported. The generators have a total output of 4 megawatts. Earlier, the Canadian Agency for International Development donated 1.31 billion cfa francs (about US $1.88 million) for capacity building in Benin's energy sector and staff training for the Benin Electricity and Water Company, PANA said. GHANA: Illegal currency dealers arrested Some 36 illegal currency dealers were arrested in Ghana on Tuesday, PANA reported. It quoted Police Superintendent Kofi Boakye as saying that the crackdown was aimed at helping the government in its efforts to curb the fast depreciation of the cedi, which plunged from 3,500 to the US dollar at the start of the year, to about 6,000:1 this week. However, economists blame the depreciation on the failure of economic and financial managers to develop a culture of sustainable internalised fiscal discipline, PANA said. Abidjan, 21 April 2000; 16:30 GMT [This item is delivered in the English service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . 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