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 31 29 July to 4 August 2000
CONTENTS: SIERRA LEONE: UN commander asks for more troops SIERRA LEONE: More 'West Side Boys' surrender SIERRA LEONE: Diamond panel to start work soon SIERRA LEONE: UNICEF targets teenage mothers SIERRA LEONE: Annan recommends extension of UNAMSIL's mandate SIERRA LEONE: Humanitarian workers released SIERRA LEONE: CDF unrest in Daru SIERRA LEONE: Jammeh donates US $10,000 SIERRA LEONE: OAU calls on SC to review UN mandate SIERRA LEONE: Government controls centre and south SIERRA LEONE: WFP road projects completed LIBERIA: President says 47 dissidents killed in Lofa NIGERIA: Militant Delta youths hold Shell workers hostage NIGERIA: Delta Community wants insurance for oil damage NIGERIA: More states adopt Sharia NIGERIA: Anti-corruption law translated into seven languages NIGER: US $159,660 needed for homeless thousands CAMEROON: Floods swamp sections of economic capital CHAD: No attack in the south, government says COTE D'IVOIRE: Mutineers on trial COTE D'IVOIRE: Human rights groups condemn repression GUINEA-BISSAU: Former Vieira loyalists returned to prison SENEGAL/GUINEA-BISSAU: Accord reached on border security SENEGAL: Floods destroy homes SENEGAL: Anti-malaria campaign launched GHANA: Annan commissions peacekeeping centre BENIN: President grants prisoners amnesty SIERRA LEONE: UN commander asks for more troops The commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, Major General Vijay Jetley, said in New York that he had asked the Security Council for more troops. "I did make a statement that there is a requirement of many more troops over there -- many more troops to be given to us as quickly as possible -- but I didn't make any number guessing," news organisations reported Jetley as saying after attending a council meeting on Sierra Leone. The Security Council met on Thursday to consider the UN Secretary-General's report on Sierra Leone issued earlier this week and to discuss a draft resolution on the extension and strengthening of the current mandate of UNAMSIL. UNAMSIL's authorised strength is 13,000. In a report in May, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended increasing it to 16,500. SIERRA LEONE: More 'West Side Boys' surrender Some 100 persons, members of the 'West Side Boys' (a militia made up mainly of ex-Sierra Leone Army soldiers) and their families have surrendered to UN troops, UNAMSIL Spokesperson Hirut Befecadu told IRIN on Thursday. SIERRA LEONE: Diamond panel to start work soon A new five-person panel on Sierra Leone set up by the United Nations is expected to report to the UN Security Council by the end of October on issues such as the link between the trade in diamonds and arms with Sierra Leone and the adequacy of air traffic control systems in the region to detect aircraft suspected of trafficking arms across borders. The panel, chaired by Martin Chungong Ayafor of Cameroon, includes experts in diamonds, arms and transportation, international crime and aviation. SIERRA LEONE: UNICEF targets teenage mothers A joint project between UNICEF and Leonenet Street Children's Project (a US-registered charity with a presence in Sierra Leone) has been launched to improve the quality of life for teenage mothers in the West African nation, the UN children's agency said in its 25 -31 July situation report. Twenty-five teenage mothers are enrolled in the programme, which consists of basic numeracy, literacy, skills training and basic nutrition information. Another seven girls from a home run by the Roman Catholic Church with UNICEF support have been enrolled in a tailoring school and six in a hairdressing school, the report added. UNICEF also reported that it has provided its regional office in the southern town of Bo with 70 bicycles for distribution to social workers so as to improve the supervision and monitoring of child protection programmes in southern Sierra Leone and in the eastern district of Kenema. SIERRA LEONE: Annan recommends extension of UNAMSIL's mandate UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended an extension by six months of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), whose mandate expires on 7 August. The recommendation came in a report on the mission, which he submitted on Monday to the Security Council. The report also draws attention to the continuing suffering of Sierra Leoneans from the ongoing fighting in many parts of the country and voices deep concern over reports of abductions, rape and sexual abuse, destruction and looting of civilian property, and forced recruitment of children. Annan said he fully supported efforts to hold accountable and prosecute those responsible for such crimes and called on all parties to end the culture of violence and violation of human rights. SIERRA LEONE: Humanitarian workers released Four Sierra Leonean aid workers missing since 21 July have been found, the NGO Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone (CHASL) reported on Tuesday. They were captured by the 'West Side Boys', a group made up mainly of former Sierra Leone Army (ex-SLA) soldiers, on their way to the southern town of Mattru and released on Monday, Marion Morgan, executive director of CHASL, said. SIERRA LEONE: CDF unrest in Daru Members of the Civil Defence Force (CDF) fired shots on Sunday near the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) camp in the eastern town of Daru, but the situation was quickly brought under control, UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) spokesperson Hirut Befecadu reported. The CDF responsible for the unrest were disarmed by UNAMSIL forces and the matter was later taken up with their commander, she said, adding that the overall situation in the country was calm. Also in Daru, two more Revolutionary United Front (RUF) ex-combatants reported for disarmament on Sunday, bringing to 579 (345 from the ex-Sierra Leone Army and 222 from the RUF) the number of ex-fighters who have done so, Befecadu said. SIERRA LEONE: Jammeh donates US $10,000 Gambian President Yayah Jammeh has made a personal donation of some US $10,000 to the Murray Town Amputee camp in Freetown, the Sierra Leone News Agency reported on Monday. More than 1,300 amputees, war wounded and their families live in the camp, according to Kanja Sesay of the Committee for Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Reconstruction. SIERRA LEONE: OAU calls on SC to review UN mandate The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on Friday urged the UN Security Council to increase the size of its force in Sierra Leone and change its mandate from peacekeeping to peace enforcement, AFP reported. The request to the UN came after a high level meeting of the OAU's central organ for conflict prevention which also called for the provision of adequate logistical support for the UN mission, the French news agency said. SIERRA LEONE: Government controls centre and south The Sierra Leonean government controls a broad swathe of central and southern Sierra Leone but the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) controls much of the north, the spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard, said on 28 July. UN troops in the east are concentrated at Daru, he said. The main cluster is in the west around Freetown, Eckhard added. Meanwhile the Sierra Leone government has relaxed an overnight curfew by one hour, news organisations reported state radio as saying on 30 July. The curfew, which starts at 11:00 p.m, will now end at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6.00 a.m. SIERRA LEONE: WFP road projects completed Road rehabilitation projects supported by WFP through food-for-work programmes in the southern chiefdoms of Ribbi, Bumpe and Kongbora in Moyamba District have been completed, the World Food Programme said in its emergency report of 26 July. Some 168 mt of food were distributed to 600 female and 400 male beneficiaries, after the rehabilitation of about 79 km of roads linking the area to the main route to Freetown and other towns in the province, WFP said. LIBERIA: President says 47 dissidents killed in Lofa President Charles Taylor said on Wednesday in Monrovia that Liberian government troops had killed 47 dissidents and lost 12 of their men since fighting broke out on 8 July in the northern county of Lofa, PANA reported. Taylor said "scores" of wounded Liberian dissidents were receiving medical care in neighbouring Guinea. At least 50 wounded government troops were hospitalised at the John F. Kennedy Medical Centre in Monrovia but critical cases were flown out of the country for advanced medical care. NIGERIA: Militant Delta youths hold Shell workers hostage Militant youths held about 165 workers hostage since Monday on oil rigs in Bayelsa State, southeastern Nigeria. A Shell spokesman in Lagos told IRIN the youths agreed on Wednesday to release them, but up to mid-afternoon on Friday there had been no indication that they were freed. A meeting is to be held on 15 August to discuss the youths' demand of immediate employment with the contractors providing security and catering services to the oil company, Shell said. NIGERIA: Delta Community wants insurance for oil damage Communities living in the oil-producing Delta State have asked the federal government to provide them with a comprehensive insurance scheme against personal injury and damage to property following oil spills, 'The Guardian' reported on Wednesday. The appeal, made by a delegation of the Ughelli community in Delta State to the state governor, noted that such an insurance policy would encourage the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries to be more cautious in their operations, the daily said. "This is pertinent because every town in Ughelli produces large quantities of crude oil and natural gas," the Ughelli statement said. They also want adequate compensation paid to the families of those who died in fires as well as those whose farmlands, ponds and livestock have been destroyed. NIGERIA: More states adopt Sharia Two more states in northern Nigeria adopted Islamic Sharia law this week, bringing the total so far to six, media organisations reported. Islamic law went into effect in Katsina on Tuesday while Jigawa adopted it on Wednesday. Four other northern Nigerian states imposed Sharia earlier this year: Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger and Kano. NIGERIA: Anti-corruption law translated into seven languages Copies of a new Anti-Corruption Act translated into seven local languages are to be distributed in Nigeria as part of a campaign to sensitise the population to the government's anti-corruption crusade, 'The Guardian' reported on Tuesday. NIGER: US $159,660 needed for homeless thousands Niger needs at least US $159,660 dollars to care for thousands of people made homeless by heavy rain this year in the southern departments of Maradi and Dosso, east of the capital, Niamey, the country's disaster early warning office said in a release faxed to IRIN on Thursday. The money will go toward buying items ranging from anti-malarial drugs to mats and food, Niger's System d'alerte precoce (Early Warning System) said. It said 4,156 persons had been affected by rain-induced floods which killed two people, injured three, destroyed 332 homes and swamped more than 1,800 ha of farmland in 30 villages. CAMEROON: Floods swamp sections of economic capital Heavy rains have flooded parts of Douala, a city of some two million residents and Cameroon's economic hub. However, fewer than 500 people have been left homeless, the governor of Littoral Province, Emmanuel Eban Otong, told IRIN on Friday. He said: "The affected homes were those built illegally along the estuary" of the Wouri River that runs through the city. He also said the rains had diminished. Sources at the official newspaper, `Cameroon Tribune', told IRIN at least three people had died and two had been hospitalised. They also said that the Ndogpasse Bridge just outside Douala had collapsed. The bridge links the city to the capital, Yaounde, some 199 km to the east. CHAD: No attack in the south, government says A senior Chadian official denied on Thursday media reports of a rebel attack near the southern town of Gore. On Wednesday, AFP had cited a local newspaper, `Le Progres', as reporting that armed elements of a guerrilla group led by Moise Kette had attacked a truck 35 km from Gore, a town in the region of Logone Orientale, killing two people and wounding six. However, the official, who asked not to be identified by name, said the area was peaceful following an agreement last week between the government and Kette's Comite de sursaut national pour la paix et la democratie (CSNPD). COTE D'IVOIRE: Mutineers on trial The trial of 45 out of 51 soldiers arrested in the wake of an army mutiny on 4-5 July in Cote d'Ivoire began on Friday at the army headquarters in Abidjan. The charges against them include theft, armed robbery, revolt and insubordination. State television reported on Friday that the trial is scheduled to last about three weeks. The other six suspects, all colonels, are to be tried later for violating state security, local newspapers reported. COTE D'IVOIRE: Human rights groups condemn repression Cote d'Ivoire's human rights league, la Ligue Ivoirienne des Droits de l'Homme (LIDHO), has condemned the repression unleashed on demonstrators on Monday and a decision by the ruling CNSP to reinstate a travel ban on politicians. The declaration, dated 31 July, followed the beating, humiliation and detention by the military of young people who had tried to stage a demonstration in favour of statements by French Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin. A BBC reporter covering the demonstration, Mohamed Fofanah Dara, was beaten up and hit on the head with a rifle butt by soldiers who "ignored his status whereas (he) showed them his press card", the BBC said in a letter of protest addressed to Guei. Among other things, Josselin had called on the Ivoirian government not to exclude eligible candidates from the presidential race in September. This led some groups to demonstrate last week against him and the French government. Cote d'Ivoire's leader, General Robert Guei, on Monday called for an end to "all demonstrations of hostility against France and its diplomatic representations" in the country following the protests sparked by Josselin's declarations. LIDHO also condemned the travel ban reimposed on politicians on Friday, one day after it was lifted, as a violation of freedom of movement. GUINEA-BISSAU: Former Vieira loyalists returned to prison Former military officers loyal to ousted president Joao Bernardo Vieira have been returned to prison on the insistence of military chiefs who toppled him in May 1999, AFP reported. The decision to return the 31 officers to prison was taken in a meeting between President Kumba Yala and the military brass, AFP said, quoting authorised sources. They are accused of having smuggled arms to the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance, which is fighting for an independent state in southern Senegal, it added. SENEGAL/GUINEA-BISSAU: Accord reached on border security Army chiefs from Guinea-Bissau and Senegal agreed on Thursday to set up a joint intelligence system to check cattle rustling along their common border, according to news reports. The accord was reached in Bissau by the head of the Senegalese military, General Babacar Gaye, and his Guinea-Bissau counterpart, Colonel Verissimo Correia. In a joint statement, the two delegations also agreed that the intelligence unit would help retrieve goods stolen from Senegalese villagers. The raids prompted the villagers to close the border near Kolda, a town in the southern area of Casamance, in July. SENEGAL: Floods destroy homes Several villages were submerged in flash floods on 28 July in the region of Linguere, 275 km northeast of Dakar, destroying homes, farmlands and wells, the independent `Sud Quotidien' newspaper reported. Following years of scant rainfall, most farmers had moved into wadis and other relatively moist areas. They were caught unawares by the heavy rain, which filled up the river beds, destroying communities in their path. The worst hit is the village of Thiel which, the Dakar daily said, received a record 114.5 mm of water since 28 July. SENEGAL: Anti-malaria campaign launched A medical team led by Health Minister Abdou Fall on Monday began a nationwide malaria sensitisation campaign in Senegal, a media source told IRIN. The campaign includes visits to each of the country's 10 regions, PANA reported on 29 July. It said some 800,000 cases of malaria, about 7,000 of them fatal, are registered in Senegal each year. To combat the disease, it said, the Ministry of Health is to make chloroquine available to the population from August through December, when transmission of the malaria parasite is at its highest. In addition, some 20,000 impregnated mosquito nets and insecticides will be distributed during this campaign. Maternity wards, Koranic schools and communities in flood-affected areas where malaria prevalence is high will get nets free of charge. Another 300,000 impregnated nets will be sold to the public at subsidised rates, PANA said. GHANA: Annan commissions peacekeeping centre UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan commissioned an international peacekeeping training centre on Tuesday, in a ground-breaking ceremony at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Teshie, just outside Accra, the UN said. The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre will be placed at the disposal of African armies. The Economic Community of West African States' Defence and Security Commission on 19 July designated it a training facility for the subregion's peacekeeping force, ECOMOG. BENIN: President grants prisoners amnesty President Mathieu Kerekou granted amnesty to prisoners on Tuesday to mark Benin's 40th independence anniversary, PANA reported. In a message to the nation on Monday, he highlighted issues such as the state of the economy. He also urged Beninese to fight ethnocentrism, regionalism and instead focus on a common vision for the nation. 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