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 22-41-9339 e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ciWEST AFRICA IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 21 20-26 May 2000
CONTENTS: SIERRA LEONE: Rights abuses worry UNAMSIL SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh to be tried SIERRA LEONE: Journalists and soldiers killed near Rogberi SIERRA LEONE: Annan wants bigger UN force; UNAMSIL Radio SIERRA LEONE: UN to send high-level mission SIERRA LEONE: Britain reaffirms military support SIERRA LEONE: Jackson urges US Congress to fund peace effort SIERRA LEONE: Seven ex-SLA arrested SIERRA LEONE: Children separated from their parents SIERRA LEONE: DDR camps destroyed SIERRA LEONE: Deplorable conditions on Tasso Island SIERRA LEONE: Daru "relaxed and quiet" SIERRA LEONE: Regular humanitarian flights to south and east SIERRA LEONE: ICRC distributes non-food relief to IDPs SIERRA LEONE: Concern over food shortages in Makeni SIERRA LEONE: Civil society donates money and food SIERRA LEONE: Humanitarian agencies appeal for more funds LIBERIA: US Senator's charges draw sharp reaction LIBERIA: Church body on reconciliation mission in Lofa LIBERIA: Libyan helicopters to help evacuate UN peacekeepers NIGERIA: Committee to probe AIDS cure claims NIGERIA: Curfew in Kaduna following bloody clashes NIGERIA: Christians sue federal government over Sharia NIGER: Gold mines to be closed SENEGAL: Wade wants direct talks with MFDC commanders GUINEA-BISSAU: NGOs stress national sovereignty GUINEA-BISSAU: President, army leader meet to ease tension COTE D'IVOIRE: Special crime fighting units dissolved COTE D'IVOIRE: New party wants Guei to run for president WEST AFRICA: Training in child rights for military trainers GHANA: Firms given 30-day deadline to reduce pollution MAURITANIA: Opposition protest WESTERN SAHARA: Annan proposes two-month MINURSO extension SIERRA LEONE: Rights abuses worry UNAMSIL The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) said on Friday it was "concerned" over human rights abuses committed by both sides in the renewed conflict and the continuing use of child soldiers. In a statement released in Freetown, UNAMSIL said the human rights situation was extremely precarious and might deteriorate if the fighting continued. [See separate item titled 'SIERRA LEONE: UN concerned over rights abuses'] SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh to be tried Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah announced on Friday that Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh would be tried "pretty soon", adding that the government did not want to "deny justice or delay it". Information Minister Julius Spencer confirmed the announcement, reported by the BBC. He told IRIN that the government had not yet received a response from the RUF following the president's remarks. Kabbah also said that Sierra Leone would not be secure until the diamond region is in government hands, Spencer told IRIN. "Persuasion or other means will have to be used to remove the rebels," he said. The government, Spencer added, would try to persuade the rebels for "as long as necessary," until other methods needed to be employed. SIERRA LEONE: Journalists and soldiers killed near Rogberi A team from the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) travelled on Thursday to the site where two foreign journalists, one of them American and the other Spanish, and four Sierra Leone Army (SLA) soldiers were killed on 24 May, Fred Eckhard, spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, said. The six were in a convoy that was ambushed by suspected Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels near Rogberi Junction, northeast of Freetown. Two other journalists who survived the attack were taken to hospital in Freetown and were reported to be in stable condition, Eckhard said. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was saddened by the killings, which were also condemned by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and various other bodies. According to the CPJ, 15 journalists have been killed in Sierra Leone, 13 of them by the rebels, since 1997. The Rogberi Junction area had been the scene of sporadic fighting between government forces and RUF rebels in previous days. It was also there that bodies in uniforms with UN insignia were found on Monday. UNAMSIL said on Friday that there were indications that the dead men were UN personnel. UN Spokesman David Wimhurst said in Freetown that there had been a battle with the RUF on 6 May at the site where the bodies were found. SIERRA LEONE: Annan wants bigger UN force; UNAMSIL Radio UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended an increase of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to 16,500 military personnel in a report to the UN Security Council, released on Monday. Once the additional forces have arrived, UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Monday, it would be appropriate to consider additional steps which may involve a strengthening of the force above the new proposed ceiling. Annan also said in his report that UNAMSIL was to set up its own radio station as part of efforts to expand its public information office. The station would help UNAMSIL face a significant challenge in disseminating information on the peace process in a country whose infrastructure has been damaged by years of warfare, Annan said. SIERRA LEONE: UN to send high-level mission The UN is to send a high-level team led by a former assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Manfred Eisele, to assess the problems faced by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and make recommendations on improving its ability to discharge its mandate, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Wednesday. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted in a report issued on Monday to the Security Council that UNAMSIL had experienced many difficulties in recent weeks. The Security Council expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation and reminded all States of their obligation to implement the arms embargo against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The RUF launched attacks on UNAMSIL at the start of May, detaining many of its members. It freed 83 of the peacekeepers on 21 and 28 May, bringing the total released to 233. The rebels still hold some 254 members of the UN mission. SIERRA LEONE: Britain reaffirms military support British Secretary of State for Defence Geoffrey Hoon said on Tuesday that the advance party of a UK-led International Military Assistance Training Team would arrive soon in Freetown. He said the mainly British force, which would be about 90 strong, would provide advice and training to help Sierra Leone's government rebuild its armed forces and Ministry of Defence. Hoon also said parachutists sent to Sierra Leone over two weeks ago would be replaced by marines. This, he said, was the first stage of a plan to withdraw the bulk of the deployed British force by mid-June, as previously announced. Hoon disclosed that now that the RUF has returned to violence, the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) would also have access to stocks of light weapons and ammunition if needed for operations. He said any distribution of arms and ammunition would be supervised by British officers and would be "carefully considered in the context of the local political situation and the wider regional issues". SIERRA LEONE: Jackson urges US Congress to fund peace effort US presidential envoy Jesse Jackson said following his return to the United States from a West Africa tour that if Washington was unwilling to field soldiers in Sierra Leone, then the US Congress should authorise money to support allied troops ready to enforce peace in that country, news reports said. The US Congress is holding back some US $226 million dollars the United States owes for UN peacekeeping activities, AP said. The US Information Agency reported on 19 May that US President Bill Clinton had authorised the Defence Department to provide up to US $20 million in defence goods and services to help the UN and other international forces stabilise the situation in Sierra Leone. SIERRA LEONE: Seven ex-SLA arrested Seven former Sierra Leone Army (ex-SLA) soldiers who attacked Wilberforce Barracks in Freetown on Sunday in an attempt to free one of their colleagues have been arrested by the police, news organisations reported. Two Nigerian peacekeepers were killed in the attack. SIERRA LEONE: Children separated from their parents The Child Protection Unit in the Eastern Region has registered up to 1,456 children separated from their parents in war-affected areas, the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA) reported on Tuesday. In 948 cases, their families have been traced mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, SLENA reported the coordinator of the Kenema Diocesan Development Office as saying. About 24 children have been placed in a foster home in the eastern town of Kenema. SIERRA LEONE: DDR camps destroyed Only two of the nine DDR camps in Sierra Leone are still operational, according to the head of the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR), Francis Kaikai. These are Daru in the east and Lungi, north of Freetown. In its 22-23 May humanitarian update, OCHA reported Kaikai as saying the RUF had destroyed the DDR camps in the northern locations of Makeni and Magburaka. Three other camps were intact while the condition of two in Port Loko in the north had not yet been assessed. OCHA reported that the reintegration part of the DDR programme had continued although it was not clear how many ex-fighters remain enrolled. According to NCDDR figures, as of 4 May, 24,271 fighters from all sides had disarmed. Since then an unknown number have rearmed. SIERRA LEONE: Deplorable conditions on Tasso Island Conditions on Tasso Island, northeast of Freetown, are described as "deplorable" by the International Medical Corps (IMC), OCHA reported on 26 May. The normal population of some 2,400 has been increased to 9,000-10,000 by the arrival of IDPs, which has had a chronic impact on shelter, health and water facilities, IMC's Robih Torbay told OCHA. The few wells on the island are unprotected, there are only a handful of latrines, and an outbreak of cholera is feared. "Water and sanitation are just unbelievable. We chlorinate the wells weekly, but that is not enough as they are unprotected," Torbay said. Plastic sheeting is also in short supply. IMC rebuilt the island's clinic last year and is planning to provide support with drugs and staff, supplementary feeding and health education from 1 June. The last major influx of some 1,000 new IDPs arrived on Tasso last week from the area between Waterloo and Masiaka. They included people from the localities of Pepel, Port Loko and Lunsar. SIERRA LEONE: Daru "relaxed and quiet" The town of Daru in the east is "relaxed and quiet" and business is continuing, humanitarian sources reported. However, concern for their safety has led some people to move from neighbouring villages to the town where an Indian UN peacekeeping force is stationed. One aid worker reported Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Daru as saying they were tired of fighting and would not join the Makeni group. Hundreds of disarmed RUF fighters have remained in the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration camp in Daru and were recently joined by eight more who said they wanted to demobilise, OCHA reported the aid worker as saying. The eastern diamond mining town of Kenema was also reported to be relatively quiet. SIERRA LEONE: Regular humanitarian flights to south and east UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond reported on 19 May in Geneva that UNAMSIL had decided to establish regular helicopter flights for humanitarian workers to Kenema and the southern towns of Bo, Moyamba and Pujehun, but that it was still too dangerous to travel by road to the interior of the country. On the other hand, people continued to be displaced in the north. OCHA reported aid agencies as saying on Monday that up to 2,200 newly displaced persons had settled in Port Loko in addition to the 23,000 IDPs already there. Most relief workers have left the area due to recent clashes but national medical personnel of the International Medical Corps decided to stay in Port Loko town to cater for the area's IDPs. OCHA also reported that over 2,000 IDPs fleeing insecurity arrived since mid-May in another northern town, Kabala. Most were said to come from the northern areas of Makeni and Magburaka. Insecurity in the area around Kabala has forced relief groups to scale down their activities, OCHA reported. They are now only operating in the town, providing health, nutrition, food aid and agriculture support. SIERRA LEONE: ICRC distributes non-food relief to IDPs The ICRC, in conjunction with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, this week distributed blankets, sleeping mats, soap, canvas sheets and buckets to 11,640 IDPs in Lungi, north of Freetown, ICRC reported in its latest humanitarian update. The IDPs, mostly women and children, had just arrived from areas such as Port Loko, Masiaka and Makeni. SIERRA LEONE: Concern over food shortages in Makeni There was concern about the deteriorating food situation in Makeni, according to humanitarian sources. Road access has been restricted, quadrupling the price of rice, and some residents were living mainly on mangoes. Before this month's clashes between rebel and government forces, Action Contre la Faim (ACF) was feeding more than 2200 malnourished children. Vital aid programmes have been stopped because of the renewed hostilities and ACF said they would not resume until it improved. SIERRA LEONE: Civil society donates money and food Members of the religious community, civil society and parliament have donated five million leones (US $24,000) and 100,000 bags of rice to pro-government forces and the families of people killed during a recent demonstration for peace in Freetown, the Sierra Leone News Agency reported on Friday. The secretary-general of the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone (IRCSL), Alimamy Koroma, told President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah at a presentation ceremony that as members of the religious community they could not afford to be neutral in a situation that affected their own lives. SIERRA LEONE: Humanitarian agencies appeal for more funds The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in cooperation with other agencies, is updating its consolidated appeal for Sierra Leone to reflect the current situation, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday. In his latest report on Sierra Leone to the UN Security Council, Annan said the appeal was only about 37 percent funded and that a stronger response was required to meet the country's urgent humanitarian and rehabilitation needs. LIBERIA: US Senator's charges draw sharp reaction Recent comments by US Republican Senator Judd Gregg that Sierra Leone's crisis would only be solved with the removal from office of Liberian President Charles Taylor has drawn sharp reactions from top Liberian officials. "It is a mockery for a senator from the world's champion of democracy to be calling for the overthrow of a sovereign state that they helped to nurture," Joe Mulbah, Liberia's information minister, said. "I am surprised that he made such a statement...it really reflects the level of his intelligence and makes highly questionable his commitment even to democracy," Monie Captan, the Liberian Foreign Minister, was quoted as saying. LIBERIA: Church body on reconciliation mission in Lofa The Lofa United Christian Association (LUCA) has begun a mission to reconcile and heal the minds of the people of the north Liberian county of Lofa, the Liberian News Agency (LINA) reported. Citing a statement by the association, it said LUCA's aims included creating awareness on the essence of peace and unity among the various ethnic groups in Lofa, which was wracked by communal violence early last year, and by fighting in August between armed dissidents and government troops. LIBERIA: Libyan helicopters to help evacuate UN peacekeepers Libyan helicopters arrived at Liberia's Foya airport on Monday for possible use in the evacuation of wounded UN peacekeepers detained by Sierra Leone's RUF rebels, PANA reported, quoting a Libyan Embassy statement in Dakar, Senegal. PANA said Libya had also sent doctors. NIGERIA: Committee to probe AIDS cure claims A six-man committee of doctors has been set up by the Nigerian Medical Association to verify claims by various researchers that they can fight the Human Immuno-defiency Virus (HIV), `The Guardian' of Lagos reported on Thursday. The body, known as the National Officers Committee on HIV/AIDS, has eight weeks to complete its work. NIGERIA: Curfew in Kaduna following bloody clashes A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Tuesday in the northern Nigerian town of Kaduna following ethnic and religious clashes, news organisations reported. The clashes, on Monday and Tuesday, are believed to have started after residents of a mainly Christian neighbourhood blamed Muslims for the killing of a local man. Police reports put the death toll at 43 but media organisations said more than 100 people died during the two days of violence. Churches and mosques were burned, the reports said. NIGERIA: Christians sue federal government over Sharia The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) filed suit in the Federal High Court in Abuja on 19 May against the imposition of Sharia law in the northern state of Zamfara, news organisations reported. CAN, which represents some 50 million Christians in Nigeria, said the Sharia can be implemented only in an Islamic state, AFP reported, whereas Nigeria is a secular state. Under Sharia in Zamfara, non-Muslim couples are being forced to ride in segregated buses, and the sale and consumption of alcohol has been outlawed. NIGER: Gold mines to be closed The minister in charge of mines in Niger announced on Thursday the temporary closing from 7 June of several hundred informal gold mining operations, AFP reported. The sites, near to the border with Burkina Faso and Mali, have been closed for "security reasons" to allow gold panners to return to their villages and cultivate the land, the minister said during a visit to the region. In 1998 heavy rains led to the deaths of some 30 gold diggers who fell into collapsed mine shafts. Since then, gold panning has been forbidden until the end of the rainy season in October, AFP reported. SENEGAL: Wade wants direct talks with MFDC commanders Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said on Radio France Internationale (RFI) that he wanted direct talks with "rebel generals" of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) that has been waging an 18-year war for independence of the south of the country. The previous ruling Parti Socialiste had reached a ceasefire agreement, facilitated by Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, with the MFDC. Monthly meetings in Banjul, designed to usher in full peace talks between Dakar and the MFDC, came to a halt because of the Senegalese presidential elections in March. Wade said he had since "initiated talks" and that there had been "indirect contacts" with the MFDC military field commanders. However, MFDC spokesman Alexandre Djiba told IRIN the MFDC's political arm, which would have to sanction any contact between Wade and its commanders, had not received a request for a meeting from the Senegalese president. GUINEA-BISSAU: NGOs stress national sovereignty A group of 15 national and international NGOs on Thursday called on the government and military authorities of Guinea-Bissau to defend the country's sovereignty. In a communique issued at the end of a three-day meeting in Bissau, they urged the government to "work quickly and effectively towards ending the constant violation of our borders by foreign forces and guarantee the safety of our population in the border regions". They called on the military to guarantee the defence of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, ensure the safety and protection of civilians and respect the constitution. The calls came against the background of tension in recent weeks along the border with Senegal. GUINEA-BISSAU: President, army leader meet to ease tension Guinea-Bissau President Kumba Yala and the leader of the June 1998 military uprising, Ansumane Mane, met in Bissau on Thursday to discuss ways to improve relations between the country`s civil and military authorities, Lusa reported. There has been growing tension between the two with civilians accusing the military of taking the law into their own hands and committing human rights violations. The chairman of the country's human rights league, Inacio Tavares, warned that Guinea-Bissau was on the verge of falling back into a habit of human rights violations. According to PANA, he said on radio that he had received threats for denouncing the beating of electricity utility workers by soldiers thought to be loyal to Mane. The tension has increased recently over the refusal of navy commander Lamine Sanha to accept his dismissal in April by the government for freeing a Korean ship caught fishing illegally in Guinea-Bissau waters. At Tuesday's meeting it was decided that Sanha should leave the Bissau navy base and await at home a court ruling on his case, while Yala indefinitely postponed the appointment of a new navy chief, LUSA reported. COTE D'IVOIRE: Special crime fighting units dissolved Cote d'Ivoire's military authorities have dissolved special crime-fighting units set up after a December 1999 coup, the Ivoirian leader, General Robert Guei, announced at the weekend. The units, called PC crises (crisis command posts) were set up within the armed forces to function as a type of military regular police and to assist the police and gendarmerie in the fight against crime. However, they had been accused by human rights advocates, especially the Ligue ivoirienne des Droits de l'Homme (LIDHO), of committing extra-judicial executions and other abuses. COTE D'IVOIRE: New party wants Guei to run for president A new political party in Cote d'Ivoire, the Rassemblement pour le Consensus National (RCN-Rally for a National Consensus) says it is proposing head of state General Robert as its candidate at presidential elections in September. Media organisations reported RCN leader Coulibaly Souleymane as making the announcement on Tuesday and as saying that he had not had any contact with Guei. The party was registered in March. WEST AFRICA: Training in child rights for military trainers Military trainers from member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are to participate in a workshop in Cote d'Ivoire on the rights and protection of children in conflict. Each country is to send two trainers to the workshop, which is a joint initiative of ECOWAS and Save the Children Sweden and which will be held on 12-24 June at the Peacekeeping School at Zambakro in the centre of Cote d'Ivoire, Save the Children reported in a news release. They will be joined on the last two days by a dozen war-affected children from the region who will share their experiences with them. GHANA: Firms given 30-day deadline to reduce pollution Ghana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given 20 industrial firms, including textile and oil companies, 30 days to reduce pollution levels or face prosecution, state-owned radio reported on Thursday. EPA Executive Director Peter Acquah's warning to the firms was issued at an Accra workshop on guidelines for the sound management of biomedical waste in Ghana. The EPA has asked the firms to submit plans on reducing their industrial effluent because, he said, their waste generation and discharge were beyond the approved threshold. MAURITANIA: Opposition protest Mauritania's main opposition party held a sit-in on 20 May outside the Interior Ministry in Nouakchott to press for an independent electoral commission and equal access for political parties to the state media, news organisations reported. Hundreds of members and leaders of the Union des Forces démocratiques-Ere nouvelle (UFD-EN) participated in the protest, AFP said. The UFD-EN is led by Ahmed Ould Daddah, who was detained on 24 April on the accusation of inciting violence, but was released without charges five days later. WESTERN SAHARA: Annan proposes two-month MINURSO extension UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked for a two-month extension of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), UN News said. It said the advice was contained in a new report that went to the Security Council on Tuesday. The report covers a visit Annan's Personal Envoy, James Baker III, paid to the region in April, and inconclusive face-to-face talks in London on 14 May between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The London meeting, also attended by observer delegations from Mauritania and Algeria, was the first direct encounter between the two sides since 1997. Abidjan, 26 May 2000; 19:18 GMT [IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 22-40-4440; Fax (Admin): +225 22-40-4435 Fax(Editorial Desk): 225-22-41-9339; 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. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.] Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000 distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - West Africa - http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/wafrica