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 27 1 to 7 July 2000
CONTENTS: SIERRA LEONE: Security Council bans uncertified diamonds SIERRA LEONE: Rights violations continue one year on SIERRA LEONE: UN forces in control of Masiaka SIERRA LEONE: More deaths from malaria than trauma injuries SIERRA LEONE: Liberia welcomes diamond embargo COTE D'IVOIRE: Calm returns to Abidjan GHANA: Inaugural flight to Washington BENIN: Nigeria offers assistance to army NIGERIA: Army to lay off 5,000 soldiers NIGERIA: Cholera outbreak in Kano NIGERIA: Curfew in Ondo State NIGERIA: Government places embargo on foreign loans NIGERIA: Wage talks collapse, strike spreads NIGERIA: Mass burial as strike continues NIGERIA: Government worried over rise in violent crime SENEGAL: Case against Hissene Habre dismissed GUINEA-BISSAU: Sustained support needed, UN says GUINEA: Opposition cries foul as ruling PUP wins landslide MALI: New laws on party financing, media CHAD: Government says it repulsed rebel attack NIGER: Kadhafi supports trans-Saharan railway SIERRA LEONE: Security Council bans uncertified diamonds The UN Security Council has imposed an 18-month ban on the trade in uncertified rough diamonds from Sierra Leone in a bid to stop their sale from funding the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebellion. Expressing concern at the role played by the illicit trade in diamonds in fuelling the conflict in Sierra Leone and at reports that the gems transit through neighbouring countries, including Liberia, the Council asked all states to prohibit the import of such diamonds into their territory, a UN news release said on Wednesday. The BBC reported on Thursday that it had obtained documents from Sierra Leone police files containing fresh claims that President Charles Taylor of Liberia is involved in gun-running and diamond smuggling with rebels in Sierra Leone. Liberia has denounced the claims as "sheer nonsense", Monrovia newspapers reported on Friday. SIERRA LEONE: Rights violations continue one year on One year after the signing of the Lome Peace Accord between the government and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, civilians continue to be killed, mutilated, raped and abducted in Sierra Leone, Amnesty International (AI) said on Thursday. AI said such abuses had increased following the resumption of hostilities between government and rebel forces in May. On Monday, Manoel De Almeida E Silva, deputy spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, had also accused Sierra Leone's rebels of continuing to perpetrate human rights violations. A humanitarian source in Freetown said the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has been receiving information on abuses from civilians fleeing RUF-held areas, including the northern towns of Makeni, Magburaka and Lunsar. SIERRA LEONE: UN forces in control of Masiaka UN forces are in control of the strategic town of Masiaka, some 60 km east of Freetown, following fighting with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels on Tuesday, UN spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu told IRIN on Wednesday. Following reports of disturbances on Monday in Masiaka, some 415 UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) troops were deployed to the town on Tuesday, and took control after exchanging fire with RUF rebels, Befecadu said. Masiaka has changed hands several times since renewed fighting between pro-government forces and RUF rebels broke out in early May. UN troops were also involved in a minor security incident on Saturday during a routine patrol near Rokel Bridge, some 65 km east of the capital, Befecadu said. They fired some shots after coming across people attempting to vandalise an overturned truck. No one was hurt, she said. SIERRA LEONE: More deaths from malaria than trauma injuries The World Health Organisation has found that more people died of malaria in Sierra Leone in the last few years than from war-related injuries, Richard Allan, focal person for the global Roll Back Malaria (RBM) programme, said on Friday. WHO estimates that up to 30 percent of the 960,000 peple who die of malaria each year in Africa are from countries affected by serious conflict, war or natural disaster, according to an RBM news release. SIERRA LEONE: Liberia welcomes diamond embargo Liberian Information Minister Joe Mulbah has welcomed the 18-month ban imposed by the UN Security Council on the trade in uncertified rough diamonds from Sierra Leone. He said he thought the ban would be helpful as "there have been lies told against Liberia and with this embargo now the world will see where the diamonds are coming from," 'The Inquirer' newspaper in Monrovia reported on Friday. COTE D'IVOIRE: Calm returns to Abidjan An apparent calm settled over Abidjan on Thursday following an agreement between the Conseil National de Salut Public (CNSP) and representatives of protesting soldiers that ended two days of unrest in Cote d'Ivoire. The protest began on Tuesday, with soldiers firing shots into the air, then commandeering private vehicles and taxis. On Tuesday, Information Minister Captain Henri Sama said it was the work of "some soldiers of the Ivoirian army who, for some weeks now, have been demanding six million CFA francs (just under US $9,000) each as war booty". The soldiers' spokesman, Captain Alain Kacou, said on Wednesday that the protest "was an exclusively military affair" but both Sama and CNSP leader General Robert Guei said politicians were behind it. "What has just occurred," Guei said on state television on Wednesday evening, "is a coup d'etat that was prepared and, unfortunately, certain political parties are behind it." Humanitarian sources said there was still a climate of uncertainty in the Ivoirian capital and that the situation could not be described as stable. GHANA: Inaugural flight to Washington The US Secretary of Transportation, Rodney Slater, has welcomed this week's inaugural Ghana Airways flight between Accra and the Baltimore-Washington D.C area, saying that it will strengthen American-African ties, the US Information Agency reported on Thursday. The airline will operate twice-weekly flights between the Ghanaian capital and the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWIA) via the Gambian capital, Banjul. It follows a US-Ghana Open Skies aviation agreement reached on 16 March that will eliminate within six years all restrictions on air services between the two countries, USIA said. BENIN: Nigeria offers assistance to army Nigeria has offered to help Benin develop its armed forces as a way of enhancing relations between the two neighbouring countries, PANA reported on Wednesday. Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff Vice-Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi told Benin's Chief of Air Staff Colonel Taffa Adams in Lagos that the two countries shared common interests which made collaboration between their armed forces essential. NIGERIA: Army to lay off 5,000 soldiers Under a plan to restructure the Nigerian army, some 5,000 soldiers will lose their jobs by the end of the year, PANA reported the Army Chief of Staff as saying on Wednesday. Lieutenant-General Victor Malu said the aim of the restructuring "is to have a highly professional, highly trained and highly mobile army, vast in information technology that can meet the requirements of a rapidly changing battlefield." The army's strength is estimated at some 80,000, PANA reported. NIGERIA: Cholera outbreak in Kano Over 1,000 people have been affected by a cholera outbreak since mid-May in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a news release on Wednesday. By the end of June there were over 1,200 cases and 23 deaths, MSF said. Cholera is endemic in Kano State, where over 7,000 cases were treated last year, MSF added. NIGERIA: Curfew in Ondo State The authorities in the southwest Nigerian state of Ondo have imposed a 6.00 p.m to 7.00 a.m curfew in the town of Ikare-Akoko following reports that 20 people died in clashes between supporters of two rival monarchs there, 'The Guardian' reported on Wednesday. The fighting, which began last weekend, dates back to 1992 when one of the monarchs in question was recognised by the government even though the other was reportedly already the traditional ruler, the daily reported. NIGERIA: Government places embargo on foreign loans Nigeria's government has banned all its agencies and parastatals from borrowing from abroad, except soft loans at rates as low as 0.75 percent, in a bid to manage its US $32.8-billion external debt, 'The Guardian' reported on Monday, quoting the special adviser to the president, Philip Asiodu. The government was, however, negotiating a US $1 billion loan with the World Bank, which Asiodu said, was to help fund its poverty alleviation programme. NIGERIA: Wage talks collapse, strike spreads Talks in central Nigeria's Plateau State between the local government and its workers collapsed on Thursday while civil servants in two other states joined an ongoing strike sparked by a minimum-wage dispute, 'The Guardian' reported on Friday. Workers in the southwestern state of Oyo and Katsina in the north shut down their respective government's operations despite a plea by the authorities to allow a skeleton staff in essential services, the daily said. The strike began 22 June and, by Monday, it had spread to around one-third of the 36 states in the country, AFP reported. NIGERIA: Mass burial as strike continues Lagos State authorities have carried out the mass burial of over 1,000 people whose relatives were unable to claim their bodies from strike-hit city hospitals and mortuaries, AFP reported officials as saying on Wednesday. "We buried them yesterday, about 1,200 corpses," Segun Ayobolu, Lagos State spokesman said. NIGERIA: Government worried over rise in violent crime The Nigerian government said in late June that it was worried by an increase in violent crime and promised "far-reaching security strategies" under a five-year development plan for the police that begins this year and is aimed at halting the trend, a daily newspaper reported on Monday. Under the plan, the police will receive arms and ammunition, communications equipment and professional training, 'The Guardian' reported. The government has already bought vehicles and equipment worth the equivalent of some US $23 million to allow 24-hour patrolling of areas designated as crime "flashpoints," the newspaper said. Police Affairs Minister David Jemibewon said the civilian government had recruited 33,000 people into the police force, which numbers some 134,000 for a population of over 110 million, Radio Kaduna reported. SENEGAL: Case against Hissene Habre dismissed Human rights groups have vowed to appeal against the dismissal on Tuesday of torture charges against former Chadian President Hissene Habre, who lives in exile in Dakar, PANA reported. The three-judge Indicting Chamber ruled that Senegal had no jurisdiction to pursue charges that Habre tortured hundreds of people during his 1982-1990 rule because the crimes were not committed in Senegal. However, rights organisations said Senegal was obliged, under the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture which it ratified in 1986, to prosecute alleged torturers who enter its territory. GUINEA-BISSAU: Sustained support needed, UN says Guinea-Bissau needs sustained support from the international community as it seeks lasting peace, stability and better living standards for its people, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report released on Friday. The report covers developments over the past three months and gives an overview of the activities of the UN Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), set up to support the transition to democracy in the country, where a military rebellion that began in June 1998 led to the overthrow of an elected government in May 1999. In his report, the Secretary-General welcomed the military's repeated commitment to withdraw from the political process and accept the authority of the democratically elected institutions. He urged that these commitments be translated into concrete action without further delay. Annan appealed to the international community to provide financial and material support for restructuring the armed forces which, he said, was crucial for the democratization process. He also called for assistance for Guinea-Bissau to implement its rehabilitation, reconstruction and development priorities, and said that endemic poverty remained its most debilitating social and economic problem. GUINEA: Opposition cries foul as ruling PUP wins landslide Guinea's ruling Parti de l'Unite et du Progres (PUP) won a resounding victory at municipal elections held on 25 June, but opposition parties have cried foul and are threatening to stay away from parliamentary polls next month. Results published on Friday by the Ministry of Territorial Administration show that the PUP won 31 of the 38 municipalities in the country, AFP reported. Five went to the opposition Union pour le Progres et le Renouveau (UPR), and one each to two other parties. MALI: New laws on party financing, media The state will reserve 0.25 percent of tax earnings for political parties in Mali, under laws passed last week by parliament, news organisations reported. Parties that present justified accounts within a given period will receive 20 percent of the total allocation, while 40 percent will go to those with seats in the national assembly and 40 percent to municipal councillors, AFP said. CHAD: Government says it repulsed rebel attack Chad's government says that its forces have repulsed an attack by the country's main rebel group on one of its positions in the extreme north, the BBC reported. However, the Mouvement pour la democratie et la justice au Tchad (MDJT), led by former defence minister Youssouf Togoimi, denied in a communique that it had attacked government positions, AFP said on Friday. The government had charged that some 200 MDJT rebels attacked one of the army's positions in the Tibesti region on Wednesday. The army repelled the attack, took prisoners and captured two vehicles, the BBC said. Togoimi's forces have been fighting the government from its northern base since October 1998. NIGER: Kadhafi supports trans-Saharan railway Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Kadhafi, has expressed support for a proposed Trans-Saharan railway line, saying it would facilitate the movement of peoples and goods between countries bordering the Sahara desert, PANA reported. Addressing a crowd of thousands of people on Sunday in Zinder, 900 km east of Niamey, Kadhafi said the distance between the peoples and countries who share the Sahara desert needed to be bridged. Abidjan, 7 July 2000; 18:20 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 . 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