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 29 15 to 21 July 2000
SIERRA LEONE: MSF concerned over Mile 91 crisis SIERRA LEONE: New wave of displaced persons SIERRA LEONE: Nigerian peacekeeper killed SIERRA LEONE: US to train, equip West African troops SIERRA LEONE: Last batch of detained peacekeepers freed SIERRA LEONE: Logistics support approved LIBERIA: Taylor declares state of emergency in Lofa LIBERIA: Government calls for independent investigator LIBERIA: Millions needed to restore basic services LIBERIA: Interview with UN Representative GUINEA: UNHCR suspends repatriation of Liberians CAMEROON: Congolese Tutsis find refuge in the US NIGERIA: Female genital mutilation outlawed in Cross River NIGERIA: Government cracks down on crime NIGERIA: Lagos House of Assembly backs militia NIGERIA: President warns of secession build-up NIGERIA: Another pipeline explosion claims lives NIGERIA: Fire shuts down fuel stations NIGERIA: Dozens feared dead in boat disaster NIGERIA: Community leaders meet over OPC crisis SENEGAL: Border villages attacked THE GAMBIA: US $2.5 million needed to combat meningitis THE GAMBIA: EU expresses concern over recent confrontations THE GAMBIA: Nine charged with treason CHAD: FIDH wants careful monitoring of pipeline CHAD: Prime Minister visits Bardai following rebel attack COTE D'IVOIRE: Draft constitution modified GHANA: AIDS a campaign issue GHANA: Denmark funds electoral process BENIN: Debt relief worth US $460 million SIERRA LEONE: MSF concerned over Mile 91 crisis Medecins Sans Frontieres expressed concern in a news release on Wednesday over the deteriorating health and security situation in Mile 91, some 145 kms east of Freetown where, it said, over 9,000 people were monitored in just two health clinics in the first two weeks of July, while cases of bloody diarrhoea and severe dehydration had increased. MSF also said that in two weeks, one feeding centre had received 500 malnourished children and 170 severely malnourished ones, and that interviews with mothers showed that the children had become malnourished since arriving in Mile 91. The spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard, said on Tuesday that poor water and sanitation had led to the deteriorating health situation in the town. He also said that the World Food Programme (WFP) and CARE - an NGO - were now distributing 700 mt of food in one-month rations. SIERRA LEONE: New wave of displaced persons Thousands of civilians are reported to be fleeing insecurity in the Tongo Field area of eastern Sierra Leone, a humanitarian source in Freetown told IRIN on Thursday. "An estimated 3,000-5,000, depending on who you talk to, have been displaced to Kenema," an official of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. SIERRA LEONE: Nigerian peacekeeper killed A Nigerian peacekeeper was killed on 16 July in an exchange of fire between UN forces and suspected Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels near Rogberi Junction, some 70 km northeast of Freetown, Fred Eckhard, spokesman of the UN Secretary-General reported on Tuesday. Since 1 May at least seven peacekeepers, one Indian, one Jordanian and five Nigerians have been killed in the line of duty and at least eight others are reported missing, the UN reported. SIERRA LEONE: US to train, equip West African troops The United States has agreed to train and equip seven battalions of West African troops to be deployed as UN peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone, PANA reported Thomas Pickering, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs as saying. Pickering, now on a five-nation West African tour, said in Nigeria at the weekend that the training would begin in August, PANA reported. He said the programme was part of Washington's assistance to West African and UN peace efforts in Sierra Leone. The Nigeria-based Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) recently promised some 3,000 additional troops to help bring peace to Sierra Leone. SIERRA LEONE: Last batch of detained peacekeepers freed The United Nations freed on 15 July some 233 of its peacekeepers and military observers blocked since May by rebels in the eastern Sierra Leone town of Kailahun. During the operation, one UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) peacekeeper was killed and seven injured, UNAMSIL's military spokesman in Freetown, Lieutenant Commander Patrick Coker, told IRIN on Monday. SIERRA LEONE: Logistics support approved A two-year expansion of a special operation providing logistics support for humanitarian activities in Sierra Leone has been approved, WFP reported on 14 July. The operation, whose expansion will cost some US $4.7 million, includes repairing about 425 km of secondary and tertiary roads in the southern and eastern provinces and rehabilitating the Mabang Bridge, some 50 km from Freetown. It also includes buying equipment for the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, purchasing a special equipment vehicle and rehabilitating port facilities in Freetown, WFP said. LIBERIA: Taylor declares state of emergency in Lofa President Charles Taylor declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in Voinjama, the northern Liberian town where his forces are battling dissidents, PANA reported. Taylor said on radio and television that the emergency applied to all areas of Lofa County within the conflict zone, PANA reported. Voinjama is the main provincial town in Lofa, some 220 km north of Monrovia. Liberia does not have a standing army and Taylor called on more militiamen to join the fight against the rebels. Meanwhile, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone agreed at an emergency meeting on Monday in Monrovia of the Mano River Union (MRU), to send a joint team to investigate the fighting in Lofa, diplomatic sources told IRIN. The MRU is an economic integration body made up of the three countries. The 10-member team, comprising three people from each country and one from the MRU secretariat, is expected to submit its findings by 28 July. LIBERIA: Government calls for independent investigator Liberia's government has called for someone of Nelson Mandela's stature to lead investigations into its government's alleged involvement in supplying arms to Sierra Leonean rebels, AFP reported, citing a communique of the Liberian Ministry of Information released on Thursday Liberia also wants the investigator to mediate in its dispute with Sierra Leone - the two countries accuse each other of supporting rebel groups and has called on the United Nations, the Mano River Union, the United States and Britain to monitor the Liberia-Sierra Leone border. Liberia has repeatedly denied allegations that it has been arming the Revolutionary United Front in exchange for Sierra Leone diamonds.On Wednesday Taylor challenged the United States to produce evidence to that effect, PANA reported. On Monday, US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering had warned of "very severe consequences" to Washington's relations with Monrovia if Liberia did not stop trading in diamonds and arms with rebels in Sierra Leone. LIBERIA: Millions needed to restore basic services Millions of dollars are needed to restore basic services in Liberia, where a civil war in 1989-1997 coupled with vandalism destroyed much of the country's infrastructure. For example, repairing the entire electricity generation and distribution system would require US $107.7 million over five years, according to the Liberia Electricity Corporation. [See separate item titled 'LIBERIA: IRIN Focus on the restoration of basic services'] LIBERIA: Interview with UN Representative The Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Liberia, Felix Downes-Thomas, spoke to IRIN on issues ranging from Liberia's development needs and efforts to build peace and security to its relations with the international community. The interview took place on 5 July at the Monrovia headquarters of the UN Peace-Building Support Office (UNOL), which Downes-Thomas heads. [See separate item titled 'LIBERIA: IRIN Interview with the Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Liberia, Felix Downes-Thomas.'] GUINEA: UNHCR suspends repatriation of Liberians Trouble on the border between Guinea and Liberia has led the UNHCR to suspend the repatriation of Liberian refugees, UNHCR announced on 14 July. The UN agency said it was reviewing its plans in case of a new influx of Liberian refugees as occurred in August 1999 when, as now, there was fighting between Liberian security forces and armed dissidents in Lofa County, northern Liberia. The UNHCR said it was monitoring the border near Guinea's Macenta prefecture, which borders on Lofa. Guinea has 125,000 Liberian refugees, of whom 50,000 are in Macenta. CAMEROON: Congolese Tutsis find refuge in the US Some 321 Congolese Tutsis on Wednesday left a camp in Cameroon aboard an airplane chartered by the US government, for new homes in the United States, UNHCR sources reported. They were part of a group of 1,000 who arrived in Cameroon in December 1999 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. NIGERIA: Female genital mutilation outlawed in Cross River A bill banning female genital mutilation (FGM) and marriages involving girls under the age of 18 in Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria was signed into law on Tuesday by Governor Donald Duke, Nigerian newspapers reported. Violators of the law will pay a fine of between 1,000 naira (US $9) and 10,000 naira (US $90) or spend one to three years in prison, 'The Guardian' reported. Another southeastern state, Bayelsa, has also initiated a bill prohibiting FGM. NIGERIA: Government cracks down on crime New anti-crime measures are to be put in place to try and end a rising wave of violence and the general insecurity in Nigeria, news organisations reported on Thursday. President Olusegun Obasanjo has asked Police Affairs Minister David Jemibewon and Inspector General of Police Musiliu Smith to update a weekly security meeting on the fight against crime in the country. The federal government has also reintroduced a motorised 'stop-and-search' operation to be supported by aerial patrols. Other strategies to be implemented by police in their fight against crime include: using reliable informants; raids on criminals' hideouts; increased marine and aerial operations in the oil-producing areas; and more street patrols, according to news reports. NIGERIA: Lagos House of Assembly backs militia The Lagos House of Assembly on Tuesday blamed the police for an upsurge of crime in the state and claimed that crime-fighting vigilante groups like the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) were being killed unnecessarily, 'The Guardian' reported. However, State Commissioner of Police Mike Okiro said clashes between the OPC and the police, during which about 31 people died on Sunday and Monday, had been caused by atrocities committed by the group. He also said police reinforcements had arrived in Lagos, the newspaper reported. NIGERIA: President warns of secession build-up The introduction of Sharia in parts of the north, the crises in the Niger Delta and an upsurge in militant ethnic organisations are all aimed at destabilising Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo was reported as saying. He told members of the Obasanjo Leadership Forum (OLF), who visited him at State House in Abuja on Tuesday, that the government had information that there were already well-orchestrated plots by unnamed sections of the country to secede, 'The Guardian' reported. NIGERIA: Another pipeline explosion claims lives At least 30 people were reported killed when an oil pipeline exploded near Warri, southeastern Nigeria, on 16 July, just a week after a similar fire killed over 200 just 10 km away, news organisations reported. The BBC said the fire started on a river where thieves were reportedly using boats to transport fuel stolen from the pipeline. Meanwhile in a statement at the weekend two groups from the Niger Delta, the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People and the Niger Delta Professionals for Development, called for the constant supervision of pipelines in the region to avoid further disasters, 'The Guardian' reported on Monday. NIGERIA: Fire shuts down fuel stations The Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell said on Friday that it has closed or partially closed three flow stations in Rivers State, southeastern Nigeria, following a fire. A Shell spokesman said that the fire, which broke out on Thursday morning, was probably started by illicit barge operators siphoning fuel at the sites. "An overfly of the affected area showed eight barges revealed as illegal bunkerers," the spokesman told IRIN. NIGERIA: Dozens feared dead in boat disaster A boat sank off Nigeria's southern Atlantic coast near Okposo, leaving some 48 of its estimated 80 occupants dead, news organisations reported on Friday. One of the survivors said the overcrowded boat, a converted fishing trawler with sub-standard facilities, capsized in heavy seas en route for Equatorial Guinea. Most of the passengers were believed to be illegal immigrants, the daily reported. NIGERIA: Community leaders meet over OPC crisis Following violent ethnic clashes last week at a Lagos market, leaders of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC) and the pan-Ndigbo Foundation (PNF) held a peace meeting and resolved to prevent future conflict, 'The Guardian' reported on Friday. The two organisations are made up of members of the Yoruba and Igbo communities. According to a joint statement, their leaders agreed, among other things, to formulate ways to coordinate crisis prevention and resolution at the local government council and state levels. During last week's clashes at the Ojo-Alaba International Market, OPC members killed Igbo traders who they alleged were robbers and Igbos retaliated by killing OPC members. A media source in Lagos told IRIN that up to 15 people were killed on both sides. SENEGAL: Border villages attacked Armed men attacked the border villages of Sankha and Sibithiong in Casamance, southern Senegal, this week and took dozens of cattle, a media source in the Senegalese capital told IRIN on Wednesday. The source said the attackers seized about three herds of cattle (about 100 head, according to local radio), forced three shepherds to accompany them to the Guinea-Bissau border, freed the three and continued on their way with the cattle. The incident occurred in the region of Kolda, not far from its administrative capital, Kolda town, where Red Cross officials began on Monday to distribute millet and rice to 3,446 people displaced by similar attacks from border villages. THE GAMBIA: US $2.5 million needed to combat meningitis The Gambia's Medical and Health Department's Epidemiology and Statistics Unit says it needs US $2.5 million urgently to prepare for a possible meningitis outbreak during the upcoming dry season, `The Independent' of Banjul reported on Thursday. Quoting the head of the unit, identified as K.O. Jaiteh, the newspaper said the money was needed to buy 1.2 million doses of vaccine, needles, syringes, fuel and other items to provide for 105 vaccination teams. This, Jaiteh said, would allow the teams to cover the country in 10 days in the event of an emergency. THE GAMBIA: EU expresses concern over recent confrontations The European Union has called on the government of The Gambia to fully respect the independence of the courts during proceedings against members of an opposition party following clashes between it and the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party. In a statement by the presidency on Tuesday, the EU urged the Gambian authorities to "observe the principles of good governance". It expressed its concern following the charging of opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) leader Ousainou Darboe and 24 of his supporters with the murder of an APRC activist who died in June after fighting between the two rival parties. The accused were later released on bail and the case has been transferred to the Supreme Court in Banjul. THE GAMBIA: Nine charged with treason Nine people, including military officers and businessmen, have been charged with treason for allegedly plotting a coup in The Gambia, AFP reported state radio as saying on Friday. Three of those charged were at large, the radio said. The six others, who appeared before a magistrate, were being held pending their appearance before the High Court next week, AFP reported. CHAD: FIDH wants careful monitoring of pipeline The rights organsiation Federation internationale de ligues des droits de l'Homme (FIDH) called on Thursday for the setting up of a rigorous and independent structure to monitor the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project, AFP reported. It said the independent body should survey the project during its various stages of development and ensure that it helps to combat poverty and achieves "lasting development". At the beginning of June the World Bank agreed to support the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project despite opposition to it within both Chad and Cameroon. The World Bank called the project "an unprecedented framework to transform oil wealth into direct benefits for the poor, the vulnerable and the environment". CHAD: Prime Minister visits Bardai following rebel attack Chad's Prime Minister Nagoum Yamassoum visited the northern garrison town of Bardai at the head of a delegation including the ministers of communication and defence on Thursday, three days after it was attacked by Mouvement pour la justice et la democratie au Tchad (MJDT) rebels, AFP reported. After attacking Bardai on Monday, the MJDT claimed to have captured the town and killed 240 government troops. However, the government denied the claims. AFP quoted military sources as saying that 57 rebels and 13 government troops died in the fighting. COTE D'IVOIRE: Draft constitution modified A referendum on a new draft constitution will be held on Sunday in Cote d'Ivoire. The draft was worked out earlier this year by a constitutional committee that included representatives of political parties and civil society. Under a modification announced six days before the referendum, each presidential candidate in Cote d'Ivoire must have been born to an Ivoirian mother AND father, whereas the draft constitution had previously stated that a candidate's mother OR father must be or have been Ivoirian. Another provision bars anyone who has held another nationality from contesting presidential elections to be held in September. Adversaries of one of the main contenders, ex-prime minister Alassane Ouattara maintain that at least one of his parents came from Burkina Faso and that he has held Burkinabe nationality. GHANA: AIDS a campaign issue Ghana's parliament has urged politicians to make the subject of HIV/AIDS into a campaign issue during the run-up to presidential and parliamentary polls, the 'Daily Graphic' reported on Wednesday. If politicians include HIV/AIDS prevention messages in their campaigns it would help other efforts to eradicate the disease in the country, the House said. GHANA: Denmark's funds electoral process The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), has given Ghana's Electoral Commission 10 billion cedi (US $1.7 million) to support the country's electoral process this year, Accra's `Daily Graphic' newspaper reported on Friday. Of this, seven billion cedis (US $1.2 million) will enable the commission to buy election materials such as cards, cameras and film, Danish Ambassador Ole Blicher-Olsen told the newspaper on Thursday. He said the rest would be used to help seven institutions enhance their election-related activities. BENIN: Debt relief worth US $460 million The World Bank Group's International Development Association (IDA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed to suppport a debt reduction package worth around US $460 million for Benin under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the World Bank said on Tuesday. IRIN-ASIA: Note to subscribers IRIN will shortly be launching a new service focusing on Afghanistan and central Asia. If you wish to subscribe to IRIN-Asia's reports, please send an e-mail to irin@ocha.unon.org Abidjan, 20 July 2000; 18:54 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 "africa-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. 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