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 Roundup 34 19 to 25 August 2000
CONTENTS: SIERRA LEONE: Some 254 ex-government soldiers airlifted to Kenema SIERRA LEONE: UN, government troops beat back RUF attacks SIERRA LEONE: OAU support SIERRA LEONE: New leader for the RUF SIERRA LEONE: Government releases 171 RUF prisoners SIERRA LEONE: Annan meets with UNAMSIL contributing countries LIBERIA: Demonstration against sanctions LIBERIA: Journalists released LIBERIA: Treason trial NIGERIA: Rain destroys farmlands and 150 homes in Zamfara NIGERIA: Government approves about US $15 million to fight erosion NIGERIA: More US aid NIGERIA: Villages to receive electricity COTE D'IVOIRE: General explains his reasons for running for president COTE D'IVOIRE: Muslim leaders complain of harassment BURKINA FASO: Presidential guards get 10-20 years for torture death GHANA: All firearms to be registered GHANA: US $560 million expected from donors in upcoming months GHANA: Cuban doctors expected NIGER: President calls on population to fight desertification WEST AFRICA: Fighting the water hyacinth UNITED NATIONS: More resources sought for peacekeeping SENEGAL: President ready for direct talks with MFDC SENEGAL: MFDC complains to the government over Ziguinchor incident MAURITANIA: Rights groups report abuses by Mauritanian authorities SIERRA LEONE: Some 254 ex-government soldiers airlifted to Kenema Some 254 former government troops were airlifted on Thursday from the Daru Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) camp to Kenema after receiving clearance to join the new Sierra Leone Army, UNAMSIL said. The recruits were taken to join colleagues in Kenema which, like Daru, is in the southeast of Sierra Leone. From there they were to go to the Benguema military training camp, some 37 km southeast of Freetown. UNAMSIL said 22 Revolutionary United Front troops in the Kenema area gave themselves up and turned in 16 AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades to the pro-government Civil Defence Forces. The UN force also said it used its helicopters to help Catholic Relief Services and the UN World Food Programme transport food and medicine to people in Kabala, in the far north. SIERRA LEONE: UN, government troops beat back RUF attacks Sierra Leonean troops and UN peacekeepers beat back an attack on Wednesday by Revolutionary United Front fighters near Port Loko, some 60 km northeast of Freetown, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York. Two Nigerian members of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) were wounded in the four-hour battle along the road between Port Loko and Lungi. Sierra Leone Web reported that the Sierra Leone government forces were attacked at Kabatha Junction, about 129 km north of Freetown. It said both sides suffered an undetermined number of casualties. SIERRA LEONE: OAU support Organisation of African Unity Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim, who ended on Thursday a four-day fact-finding tour to Sierra Leone, pledged continued support to Sierra Leone in its search for peace and its effort to alleviate the suffering of its people, the OAU reported. Salim said the OAU had given Sierra Leone US $100,000 for its disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation programme, another US $100,000 for amputees and $50,000 for the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace. SIERRA LEONE: New leader for the RUF Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has chosen Issa Sesay, its top field commander, as its new leader, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported on Monday. Sesay replaces Foday Sankoh, who has been detained by the authorities since 17 May and is viewed by many as an obstacle to the peace process. "We don't expect him to behave like Sankoh because he knows the consequences," Information Minister Julius Spencer told IRIN on Tuesday. SIERRA LEONE: Government releases 171 RUF prisoners Sierra Leone's foreign minister, Sama Banya, announced on Monday the immediate release of 171 RUF prisoners, as a gesture of the government's goodwill, AFP reported. He told reporters in Freetown, at the end of a day-long visit by presidents Alpha Omar Konare of Mali and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria that 156 RUF detainees would be freed from prisons in Freetown, 11 from the southern city of Bo and four from Kenema in the southeast. SIERRA LEONE: Annan meets with UNAMSIL contributing countries UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday told top military officials of countries that contribute troops to the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) that all contingents must be equally willing to share the risk of the operation. Annan's meeting with the military brass was aimed at improving UNAMSIL's operations. He said many of the force's difficulties resulted from a lack of essential supplies such as tents, vehicles and communications equipment for the 12,180 soldiers. UNAMSIL troop-contributing countries include Bangladesh, Ghana, Guinea, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia and Zambia. LIBERIA: Demonstration against sanctions Up to 2,500 people marched through Monrovia on Wednesday to protest a threat of economic sanctions by the United States and Britain for Liberia's reported involvement in the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, diplomatic sources said. The march, organized by the National Citizens Solidarity Committee, was also aimed at protesting the arms embargo imposed on Liberia by the United Nations in 1992, when President Charles Taylor was a faction leader trying to capture Monrovia. LIBERIA: Journalists released Four foreign journalists charged with espionage in Liberia were released on Friday on the order of Liberia President Charles Taylor, diplomatic sources told IRIN. The four - two Britons, a Sierra Leonean and a South African - were detained on 18 August while making a documentary for Britain's Channel-4 television. Their release was ordered after apologies from the journalists and their lawyers, Justice Minister Eddington Varmah said on BBC. LIBERIA: Treason trial Fifteen overseas-based Liberians, including a former presidential candidate and the brother of late president Samuel Doe have been charged with treason, PANA reported. The justice ministry was quoted as saying that it had gathered "sufficient evidence" that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the others had collaborated with dissidents who had invaded the country's north in 1999 and last month. Johnson-Sirleaf came second to Taylor in elections in 1997 and now lives in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire. Last week, Taylor warned that she and others would be arrested if they attempted to enter Liberia. NIGERIA: Rain destroys farmlands and 150 homes in Zamfara Torrential rain destroyed 10,000 hectares of farmland and property in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara, `The Guardian' reported on Thursday, citing acting Governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi. He told reporters that at least 150 homes and 200 million naira (US $1.9 million) worth of food crops were destroyed. Similarly, flash floods killed four and left 200 homes submerged in the southeastern state of Cross River last week. NIGERIA: Government approves about US $15 million to fight erosion Nigeria's government has approved 1.5 billion naira (about US $15 million) for erosion and flood control in 13 states, PANA reported on Monday. The news agency quoted Special Duties Minister Yomi Edu as saying that the funds would go to projects in the southern states of Bayelsa, Abia, Imo, Cross River, Ekiti, Ondo and Ogun, and to Borno, Niger, Adam Awa, Kogi, Gombe and Kano states in the north. NIGERIA: More US aid On the heels of the award by the US government of US $4.3 million in aid for Nigeria's labour sector, Nigerian officials announced that Washington had pledged an additional US $4 million in aid for a hydroelectric power station. The aid packages coincide with a visit to Nigeria by US President Bill Clinton, who was scheduled to arrive on Friday and stay until Sunday. NIGERIA: Villages to receive electricity Nigeria's government has set aside US $43 million for a project to provide electricity to areas not served by the state-owned National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), Europe Intelligence Wire reports. At least three-quarters of Nigeria's population, estimated at 113-120 million, live in the countryside but more than 80 percent of electrical facilities are urban-based. COTE D'IVOIRE: General explains his reasons for running for president The leader of Cote d'Ivoire's transitional government, General Robert Guei, told supporters at the presidential palace on 19 August that he had decided to seek election not because he wanted power but because the ruling council needed more time to complete its work. Guei heads the all-military Conseil National de Salut Publique (CNSP) that has formed the backbone of the Ivoirian government since the overthrow in December 1999 of president Henri Konan Bedie. Meanwhile the former ruling Parti Democratique de Cote d'Ivoire has elected ex-interior minister Emile Constant Bombet as its presidential candidate over Bedie, who fled to France after his overthrow. Presidential elections are to be held on 17 September. COTE D'IVOIRE: Muslim leaders complain of harassment Representatives of Cote d'Ivoire's Muslims denounced on Thursday what they described as harassment against their community after five imams were summoned by the head of the gendarmerie to discuss allegations against Muslim leader Idriss Kone Koudouss and Alassane Dramane Ouattara, head of the Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR). Koudouss, president of the Conseil Superieur des Imams (COSIM - Superior Council of Imams), was one of the five imams "invited", according to the head of the gendarmes, Colonel Georges Deon, to discuss the allegations on Thursday. The imams said Deon told them Koudouss had allegedly ordered home-made guns in a location in the north of the country. Another allegation was that Ouattara - thought to have much support in the mainly Muslim north - had drawn up, in collusion with the imams, a strategy to destabilise Cote d'Ivoire if he was not accepted as a presidential candidate and, had recruited a thousand mercenaries. The imams said this was the fifth time they had been summoned by the gendarmerie. They charged that their repeated summoning stemmed from a "lack of respect and consideration for Muslim clerics and, thus, the entire Muslim community" and that they believed "these actions are part of an effort to diabolise and discredit Muslim dignitaries and their community". BURKINA FASO: Presidential guards get 10-20 years for torture death A military tribunal in Ouagadougou sentenced three presidential guardsmen to between 10 years and 20 years in prison for the murder in January 1998 of the driver of President Blaise Compaore's brother, Francois, according to news reports. Two others were freed for lack of evidence. The guardsmen were charged with murdering the victim, David Ouedraogo, whom they suspected of stealing 19.8 million CFA francs (US $27,425) belonging to the younger Compaore. The news agency said that four of the soldiers have also been implicated in the killing of journalist Norbert Zongo, who was investigating Ouedraogo's death. GHANA: All firearms to be registered Ghanaian authorities have called for all local or imported firearms to be registered, PANA reported. It also reported the ministry in charge of national security as saying that new measures would ensure that all unauthorised weapons are identified and retrieved, while steps would be taken immediately to ensure compliance with legislation on buying and selling weapons. A ban on the sale of shotguns and cartridges currently in stock is to be lifted from 1 September, with sales being conducted under strict supervision, but a freeze on the importation of shotguns and cartridges remains in effect, PANA reported. GHANA: US $560 million expected from donors in upcoming months Ghana is to receive US $560 million between August and December from international financial bodies and other sources, the "Daily Graphic" newspaper reported Friday. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed in principle to release US $35.1 million, while the World Bank will also disburse US $134.9 million. Another US $260 million is to be free by the first week of October through Ghana Cocoa Board's syndication with international financial institutions for the purchase of cocoa, the daily said. GHANA: Cuban doctors expected Ninety-two Cuban doctors are to arrive in Ghana before the end of the year to help offset a shortage of medical staff in public health institutions, Ghana's 'Daily Graphic' reported on Wednesday. Health Minister Kwaku Danso-Boafo said the doctors had agreed to wages equal to those of their Ghanaian counterparts. NIGER: President calls on population to fight desertification President Mamadou Tandja of Niger has urged the public to plant trees and maintain them so as to help curb desertification, PANA reported. More than half the country is already desert and that area is growing. Deforestation and desertification are exacerbated by the use of wood for fuel in more than 90 percent of households. WEST AFRICA: Fighting the water hyacinth A two-year FAO programme is underway to help communities in Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso get rid of aquatic weeds, mainly the water hyacinth, which clogs waterways, reduces the generating capacity of hydro-electric stations, causes flooding and deprives fishermen of their livelihood. Ricardo Labrado, a weed officer with the FAO's Plant Protection Service, said: "Our objective is to use biological methods to contain the spread of water hyacinth and other aquatic weeds and minimize the damage they cause." UNITED NATIONS: More resources being sought for peacekeeping UN member states have indicated their willingness to provide the resources needed to improve United Nations peacekeeping operations worldwide, the chairman of a panel examining this issue told reporters in New York on Wednesday. The UN Department of Information quoted Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria as saying that the central message his Panel on United Nations Peace Operations had for member states in a 58-page report released on Wednesday was: "Make sure that before you send the UN you understand what the situation is, what the implications are, and you go there with your eyes open." He said the 10-member panel was stunned to learn how poorly equipped the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations was. Particularly shocking, he said, was that the department had just 32 officers at headquarters to provide leadership for 28,000 soldiers around the world, while nine police officers provided leadership for over 7,000 civilian police from 40 countries. SENEGAL: President ready for direct talks with MFDC President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has said he is ready for direct talks with the anti-government Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de la Casamance (MFDC), The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau to end the conflict in southern Senegal, the state owned news agency, APS, reported on Tuesday. At a news conference in Dakar on 18 August following a day-long official visit by Guinea-Bissau President Kumba Yala, Wade repeated his wish to solve the Casamance crisis without more war. SENEGAL: MFDC complains to the government over Ziguinchor incident The Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de la Casamance (MFDC) has protested strongly to the Senegalese ministers of the defence and of the interior against what the guerrilla force calls the impunity exercised by government troops in Casamance. In a statement reaching IRIN on Tuesday, the MFDC accused a special police paramilitary unit, the Groupement Mobile d'Intervention and the army of "killing and wounding" civilians they have vowed to protect. On 13 August, the MFDC said, government troops in Ziguinchor trapped civilians in a crossfire, causing death and material damage. The troops were supposedly firing on suspected MFDC guerillas whose presence, the anti-government force said, was never proven. MAURITANIA: Rights groups report abuses by Mauritanian authorities The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) says it has received information that police in southwestern Mauritania had tortured and otherwise abused 83 black Mauritanians, including 31 women, during and after demonstrations on 17-18 June. The demonstrators had protested in the town of Brakna against the actions of a regional governor who gave his brother a large concession of land belonging to Haratines (descendants of Black slaves) for development. The OMCT, which received the information from an anti-slavery group called SOS-Esclaves Mauritanie, said that despite the protests the governor's brother was still building a water reserve on the land. [Mauritania's people are divided into Beydane or "white" Moors, blacks and people of mixed origin] Abidjan, 25 August 2000; 18:10 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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