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 IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 19 6-12 May 2000
CONTENTS: SIERRA LEONE: More peacekeepers arrive SIERRA LEONE: Annan appeals to world community SIERRA LEONE: British troops to stay while UN force builds up SIERRA LEONE: US ready to transport UN troops SIERRA LEONE: Government bans unauthorised armed men in Freetown SIERRA LEONE: Nearly 80,000 displaced persons in Freetown SIERRA LEONE: Rebel attack close to Freetown SIERRA LEONE: Calm returns after protests SIERRA LEONE: Two detainees released by RUF, Kenyans break through SIERRA LEONE: Former foes join forces against RUF SIERRA LEONE: Rebel movements from neighbouring states reported SIERRA LEONE: Children forced to rejoin rebels SIERRA LEONE: Evacuations SIERRA LEONE: ECOWAS pledges support for government, peace GUINEA: UNHCR reports hundreds of new arrivals from Sierra Leone NIGERIA: Navy rescues five hostages in oil producing region NIGERIA: Senate passes minimum wage bill NIGERIA: World Bank lends US $75 million to improve education, management NIGERIA: Ogoni issue resurfaces NIGERIA: Fire destroys domestic wing of Lagos airport SENEGAL: Habre's lawyers want trial scrapped SAO TOME: New foreign minister SIERRA LEONE: More peacekeepers arrive Some 300 Jordanian peacekeepers arrived at Lungi International Airport just north of Freetown on Friday, Fred Eckhard, spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, said in New York. Prior to their arrival, he said, the UN strength in Sierra Leone was about 8,900. Eckhard said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on Friday that the situation in Sierra Leone seemed relatively calmer "as efforts continue to stabilise the situation and consolidate our forces". Other Jordanians were expected to be deployed by the end of May, Eckhard had said on Thursday, while additional Indian troops and a Bangladeshi contingent were expected to be deployed next week. The airlifts of the new troops were being arranged with the assistance of Canada, The Netherlands, Russia and the United States. SIERRA LEONE: Annan appeals to world community UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council (SC) on Thursday not to fail the people of Sierra Leone and to ensure their security "in their hour of greatest need", a UN news release said. He also reminded the SC that the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was a peacekeeping force and was neither designed nor equipped for enforcement. He said: "The troops must be consolidated and reinforced so they can defend themselves and their mandate effectively." SIERRA LEONE: British troops to stay while UN force builds up Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair told his cabinet on Thursday that British forces would continue to provide technical and logistical support to UNAMSIL while the UN force is strengthened over the next month, according to government spokesman Alastair Campbell. British paratroopers are mandated to secure Lungi airport to release UN troops for deployment elsewhere in the country and allow the safe evacuation of British and other nationals wanting to leave. The British forces are also providing information and advice to the UN to ensure "an effective, coherent operation on the ground," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the BBC on Friday. The troops landed in Freetown on Monday and, by mid-week, they had airlifted over 300 people to Senegal. UN agencies evacuated most of their non-essential staff to Guinea. The British troops also helped to patrol the capital and to coordinate its defence and that of nearby areas against the rebels. Cook said in the British parliament on Monday that the United Kingdom would keep its commitment to Sierra Leone. "We must not allow a few thousand rebels to prevent the end to violence and the peace in which to get on with their lives, for which the three million people of Sierra Leone desperately hunger," he said. SIERRA LEONE: US ready to transport UN troops UN President Bill Clinton said the United States military would transport ammunition, supplies and UN peacekeeping forces to Sierra Leone so that they could check rebel attacks that threaten to shred the 1999 Lome Peace Accord. He said the US would also support West African nations who had made commitments to send additional troops to Sierra Leone. "A US military team in now in Nigeria to determine what assistance might be needed from the international community to outfit and transport these forces as quickly as possible," Clinton said. SIERRA LEONE: Government bans unauthorised armed men in Freetown Joint patrols by UNAMSIL and Sierra Leonean military police have been established to end the unauthorised movement of armed persons in Freetown, the government announced on Thursday over state-owned radio. In addition, AFP quoted the Ministry of Information as saying all armed pro-government forces in the capital would be issued with passes to allow them to circulate. "Armed personnel found moving around without passes will be arrested," the ministry said. SIERRA LEONE: Nearly 80,000 displaced persons in Freetown The United Nations estimates that it needs to provide food for up to 79,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Freetown, based on an inter-agency assessment mission to Waterloo, in the Freetown peninsula, this week. Of these, 20,000 are new IDPs, people displaced by recent hostilities outside the peninsula. Another 15,000 have been displaced again to Freetown from Waterloo, where they had sought refuge during earlier hostilities. Some 10,000 are longstanding IDPs within Freetown who, largely because they were not staying in IDP camps, had not been yet been registered. Then there are 34,000 people who were displaced as a result of the hostilities in Freetown in January 1999, when the rebels invaded parts of the capital. WFP began the registrations on Friday. SIERRA LEONE: Rebel attack close to Freetown According to UN and other sources, Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels attacked UNAMSIL positions on Wednesday night in Newton, some 25 km south of Freetown and Port Loko, about 70 km northeast of the capital, with rocket-propelled grenades and armoured personnel carriers. Attacks were also reported on Thursday. Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) leader Johnny Paul Koroma claimed that his troops - now allied to the government - had retaken Masiaka, some 60 km east of Freetown. Earlier in the week, there were reports that UNAMSIL had withdrawn from Masiaka and that it had been occupied by RUF rebels. On Wednesday, Fred Eckhard, spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, said UNAMSIL had consolidated its troops around the entry points to Freetown, and was preparing for a pitched battle, in the event of an attack. SIERRA LEONE: Calm returns after protests Calm returned to Freetown after a demonstration on Monday against rebel leader Foday Sankoh and his RUF for their repeated violation of the Lome Peace Accord, including the detention of some 500 UN peacekeepers. Four protesters were shot by RUF members, as demonstrators stormed Sankoh's home. Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) said on Thursday that a reporter was also killed while covering the demonstration and urged the government to find and punish his killers. During the demonstration, Sankoh disappeared from his home which, BBC reported, was looted by ex-Sierra Leone Army troops. SIERRA LEONE: Two detainees released by RUF; Kenyans break through Two UN military personnel, one from India and the other from Nepal, who were being held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in eastern Sierra Leone were released, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported on Thursday. On Wednesday, Kenyan UN troops broke through rebel lines in Makeni and Magburaka, north of Freetown, and later reached Kabala, further north, which they helped secure. Six of the Kenyans were wounded and were transferred to Freetown for medical care. SIERRA LEONE: Former foes join forces against RUF The head of the former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) Johnny Paul Koroma, told Sierra Leone Army (SLA) troops that the government was doing everything possible to get them in "full combat readiness", the Sierra Leone News Agency reported on Wednesday. He added that with the cooperation of the public, the SLA would bring peace. Koroma and the ex-SLA/AFRC formed an alliance with the RUF when the AFRC overthrew President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, ruled Sierra Leone for less than a year, and were then evicted from the capital by the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG. However, after last week's attacks against UN peacekeepers, the ex-SLA/AFRC rallied to the government side. They are fighting alongside members of the current SLA (soldiers who remained loyal to the government throughout the conflict) as well as the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), a pro-government militia umbrella, which was led by Deputy Defence Minister Hinga Norman. Norman urged Sierra Leoneans to give full support to UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) peacekeepers and said he felt there would be peace when the full UNAMSIL contingent of 11,000 was deployed. SIERRA LEONE: Rebel movements from neighbouring states reported UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday called on the governments of neighbouring states to "do everything possible to prevent the reported movement of rebels from the territory of their countries to Sierra Leone", UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists. Annan also urged West African leaders to "redouble their efforts to bring the situation under control and restore normalcy". Eckhard said there had been unconfirmed reports that rebels had been moving from Liberia and Guinea into Sierra Leone. SIERRA LEONE: Children forced to rejoin rebels The head of UNICEF's mission in Sierra Leone, Joanna van Gerpen, said RUF leaders in the northern town of Makeni last week remobilised at least 40 former child soldiers and attempted to re-enlist more. Van Gerpen said she was concerned that efforts to normalise life for hundreds of thousands of children in the country could be unravelling. The current instability, she said, had led to the postponement of the third round of a nationwide immunisation campaign, due 21-22 May. SIERRA LEONE: ECOWAS pledges support for government, peace Leaders of nine West African states decided at a one-day summit in Abuja on Tuesday to use all - including military - means to defend Sierra Leone's government and shore up its sagging peace process. In a communique, the ECOWAS heads condemned the detention of UN peacekeepers by Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and mandated President Charles Taylor of Liberia to make sure the RUF complies with a July 1999 peace agreement it signed with the government. Speaking to reporters in Monrovia on his return home from the summit, Taylor urged the RUF to stop hostilities immediately, Radio Liberia International reported on Thursday. He said he would immediately start to negotiate for the early release of some 500 UN peacekeepers held by the RUF. GUINEA: UNHCR reports hundreds of new arrivals from Sierra Leone UNHCR reported hundreds of arrivals in Guinea from Sierra Leone, including some 600 to 700 people who travelled by boat on Monday in two groups, one of which contained 19 Sierra Leonean refugees, most of the others being nationals or residents of Guinea. UNHCR said it was monitoring new arrivals in the eastern area of Forecariah, Conakry and the southern border district of Gueckedou and that by 8 May, it had pre-registered 265 new asylum seekers, mostly women and children. NIGERIA: Navy rescues five hostages in oil producing region Naval troops from the Warri base in southeastern Nigeria have rescued five people held hostage since Wednesday by youths from Opuama, near the coastal oil town of Sapele, `The Guardian' newspaper of Lagos reported. The youths had abducted the three Shell employees and two naval personnel from a Shell oil facility, demanding that the multinational pay three billion naira (US $29.76 million) for environmental damage to the communities of Opuama and Tsekelewu for oil spills in 1998 and 1999. The youths also seized a crew boat. NIGERIA: Senate passes minimum wage bill Nigeria's Senate has voted into law a bill raising the monthly minimum wage to 5,500 naira (US $49.60) from 250 naira (US $2.4), according to news reports. From the end of May, federal and state employees will receive a minimum wage of 7,500 naira (US $74.4) and 5,500 naira respectively, `The Guardian' reported on Thursday. NIGERIA: World Bank lends US $75 million The World Bank approved on Thursday two loans totaling US $75 million and repayable within 35 years after a 10-year grace period to improve basic education and economic management in Nigeria. The bank said US $55 million would go to a project to provide universal basic education for Nigeria's estimated 19.5 million children of primary school age, 3.8 million of whom do not attend school. The remaining US $20.0 million will support the government's effort to strengthen its capacity to manage the economy. NIGERIA: Ogoni issue resurfaces Five years after Ken Saro-Wiwa and other minority rights activists were executed following their conviction by a military tribunal, one of the members of his Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) who was acquitted in that trial is again facing charges. This time the charge is arson but, as in 1993, the issue centres around the oil transnational, Shell, and its position in the southern oil-producing region of Ogoniland. NIGERIA: Fire destroys domestic wing of Lagos airport A fire on Wednesday razed Terminal One of the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, destroying cash and equipment worth millions of dollars, 'The Guardian' newspaper of Lagos reported. The facility had been built 25 years ago. 'The Guardian' said domestic flights have been shifted to another terminal that was closed down some two years ago because of its poor facilities. SENEGAL: Hissene Habre's lawyers want case dismissed Lawyers for former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre are seeking to prevent a suit human rights groups have filed against him in Dakar, Senegal, on behalf of Chadian torture victims from going to trial. The defence team contends, among other things, that Senegal has no jurisdiction over crimes committed in Chad. The hearing began on Thursday and continues on Tuesday 16 May. SAO TOME: New Foreign Minister President Miguel Trovoada of Sao Tome and Principe this week swore in Joaquim Rafael Branco as foreign minister in country's third cabinet reshuffle in about 17 months, news organisations reported. Branco on Monday replaced Paulo Jorge, who resigned more than a month ago. Abidjan, 12 May 2000; 21:18 GMT [IRIN-WA: Tel +225-20-21-7354 Fax +225-20-21-6335 e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci] [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. 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