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 51 16-22 December 2000
CONTENTS: GUINEA: Millions risk death from yellow fever GUINEA-LIBERIA: US $1.5m EU grant to fight yellow fever LIBERIA: Largest hospital closed LIBERIA: Taylor urged to expel RUF LIBERIA: Thousands in pro-Taylor demonstration SIERRA LEONE: UN panel reports on gem, arms trafficking SIERRA LEONE: RUF head denies setting conditions on UNAMSIL SIERRA LEONE: Ukraine peacekeepers begin deployment SIERRA LEONE: Gurkhas to train army SIERRA LEONE: ICRC to help 200,000 IDPs WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS troops to monitor Guinea border NIGERIA: Niger Delta Commission inaugurated NIGERIA: Inquiry into alleged massacre launched NIGERIA: Police arrest 500 suspected pipeline vandals GHANA: Police chief won't resign over serial killings GHANA: Opposition urges Muslims to ignore persecution rumours COTE D'IVOIRE: EU to discuss ties with Abidjan GUINEA-BISSAU: Yala gets OAU support SENEGAL: Government and MFDC renew peace talks THE GAMBIA: Opposition to sue government MAURITANIA: Detained youths end hunger strike GABON: New forestry bill underway BENIN: Bill to ban circumcision tabled GUINEA: Millions risk death from yellow fever Millions of Guineans risk dying from yellow fever unless a massive effort is made to deliver vaccines, Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday. The medical charity said 493 cases of the disease had been identified in the districts of Mamou, Labbé and Kankan. It said the global mortality rate was around 40 percent, but could be as high as 80 percent in Guinea currently. Although MSF and Guinean medical teams are vaccinating up to 15,000 people per day, MSF said, "These actions are simply not enough." Even if all worldwide stocks of yellow fever vaccine were taken into account, the current campaign would still require an additional 1.5 million doses of vaccine for the 2.5 million people at risk, according to MSF. GUINEA-LIBERIA: US $1.5 million EU grant to fight yellow fever The European Commission (EC) has approved a grant of US $1.5 million for an emergency yellow fever vaccination campaigns in Guinea and Liberia, according to an European Union statement released on Thursday. Vaccination will be carried out by Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) and Hopital sans frontieres (HSF). Additionally, the EC will provide US $1.2 million for a vaccination project in the western Guinean areas of Kindia and Mamou as well as Labe and Kankan in the east, the regions most affected by the outbreak. The money will also be used to buy and transport 300,000 additional doses and syringes for these areas. At least 187 people had died by 17 December. Funds left over could be used to prevent the spread of the disease in currently unaffected areas. In Liberia, where the epidemic has affected Grand Cape Mount County and the Sorogbwema and the Makpele areas, the EC has proposed a grant of US $270,000 to buy 150,000 additional doses and cover the cost of the vaccination campaign. LIBERIA: Largest hospital closed Liberia's 600-bed John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, the country's largest, was closed on 17 December because of a lack of drugs, equipment, and fuel to run its generator, humanitarian sources told IRIN. "Patients were sent home or to other hospitals in the country," one source said. The shortages have plagued the hospital since President Charles Taylor was elected three years ago. Employees, angered by delayed salaries and poor conditions at the facility, began a work slowdown two months ago. Wounded soldiers also protested the conditions. The government has reportedly received US $2 million from Taiwan to help reopen the hospital. LIBERIA: Taylor urged to expel RUF A coalition of Liberian civic, religious and political groups have again asked Liberian President Charles Taylor to expel members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which has been waging war against successive governments in Sierra Leone for the past nine years, PANA reported. Taylor admits his close historic links with the RUF but denies his administration has been supplying the rebels with arms to overthrow the elected government in Freetown. Liberia's Interfaith Council is also calling on the government to repatriate all foreign combatants in Liberia's security forces whose presence has not been sanctioned by their governments and international protocols. One political analyst in Monrovia told IRIN that the council was highly respected locally and had been involved in reconciliation efforts. LIBERIA: Thousands in pro-Taylor demonstration Up to 4,000 people marched through Monrovia on Wednesday in support of Liberian President Charles Taylor and in condemnation of sanctions imposed on his government. The march, organised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also drew some civic organisations, trade unions and representatives of the country's 14 counties, according to news reports and diplomatic sources. The United States imposed visa restrictions on Liberians in October for Taylor's alleged involvement in diamonds and arms smuggling with Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front, a charge Monrovia has constantly denied. The UN applied an arms embargo in 1992. Additional sanctions are being considered. SIERRA LEONE: UN panel reports on gem, arms trafficking A UN panel investigating illicit arms and diamond dealings with anti-government forces in Sierra Leone has recommended measures to curb the trade and protect other countries with nascent legitimate industries. In a summary of its report made public on Wednesday, the panel recommends that in the absence of a global certification system for diamond-producing countries all exporting countries in West Africa should adopt Sierra Leone's certification systems. The panel says the recommendation is "with special and immediate reference to Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, as a protective measure for their indigenous industries" and to prevent them from being exposed to conflict diamonds. "If this has not been completed within a period of six months the Security Council should impose an international embargo on diamonds from these countries," it says. Arms The panel also says Liberia has been actively supporting Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front - an anti-government force - at all levels providing training, weapons, logistics, a staging ground for attacks and a safe haven for retreat. "There is also conclusive evidence of supply lines to Liberia through Burkina Faso," the panel says. Weapons supplied to Burkina Faso by governments or private arms merchants, it says, "have been systematically diverted" for use in the conflict in Sierra Leone. For example, it says, a shipment of 68 mt of weapons arrived at Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, on 13 March 1999, the bulk of which was trans-shipped within days to Liberia aboard a BAC-111 owned by an Israeli businessman of Ukrainian origin, Leonid Minin. SIERRA LEONE: RUF head denies setting conditions on UNAMSIL Revolutionary United Front (RUF) interim leader Issa Sesay has denied setting conditions for the deployment of UN troops in rebel-controlled territory in Sierra Leone, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York on Monday. Sesay's clarification came on Wednesday in a meeting with the UN Mission Force Commander, Lt-Gen Daniel Opande. Sesay described as unauthorised the statement attributed to him and posted on a web site claiming to be that of the RUF. However, media sources say the site is registered to Fatou Mbaye Sankoh, the Senegalese-American wife of Foday Sankoh. Among the alleged conditions, posted on this site, was the release of RUF leader Foday Sankoh from prison. SIERRA LEONE: Ukraine peacekeepers begin deployment A ship carrying an advanced party of Ukranian peacekeepers and equipment has left Ukraine for Sierra Leone, ITAR-TASS reported on Monday. The Geroi Shipki - meaning heroes of the Shipka - is expected to dock in Freetown in early January with 244 vehicles and armoured cars, the Russian news agency reported. The peacekeepers are to prepare the location for the 800-member Ukranian battalion to UNAMSIL which is due for full deployment before the end of January, the news agency reported. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the Security Council extend UNAMSIL's mandate for another three months so it can deploy to rebel-controlled areas of the country. SIERRA LEONE: Gurkhas to train army Some 300 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles are to be deployed in Sierra Leone where they will form the next Short-Term Training Team for the Sierra Leone Army, the British Ministry of Defence said. The Gurkhas, who earned a reputation of courage and discipline in World War Two, will build on the success of a training syllabus which has been carried out since June by successive British contingents. "This deployment is a further sign of Britain's continued support for Sierra Leone in its fight against the rebels and reaffirms the policy of focusing on training the Government of Sierra Leone forces," the ministry said on Friday. SIERRA LEONE: ICRC to help 200,000 IDPs The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plans to assist some 200,000 displaced people in need of emergency aid in Sierra Leone in 2001, the organisation said in the latest report on its humanitarian activities in West Africa. The report, issued on 15 December, said Sierra Leone had about 500,000 internally displaced people, of whom an estimated 200,000 (34,000 families) have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the year. WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS troops to monitor Guinea border Four West African states have agreed to provide troops to monitor Guinea's borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone, where insurgents threaten to widen a growing conflict in the region. The executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Lansana Kouyate, told the BBC on Wednesday that of the four states Mali, Nigeria and Senegal had confirmed their offers during last week's ECOWAS summit in Bamako, the Malian capital There was no immediate announcement of the number of troops nor the kind of equipment to be deployed. Although the undertaking would be risky, Kouyate said, the region had to act if the domino effect - that started with Liberia - was to be stopped. In Geneva on Tuesday, UNHCR spokesman Chris Janowski said the organisation hoped the planned deployment would stabilise the region enough for aid agencies to resume operations. Fighting in Guinea between government troops and insurgents from Liberia and Sierra Leone prompted the decision to deploy. The assailants, some of whom are reportedly Revolutionary United Front rebels from Sierra Leone, have caused tens of thousands of Guineans and refugees to flee their homes and camps. The attacks have also caused a public backlash against Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees in Guinea. NIGERIA: President inaugurates Niger Delta Commission President Olusegun Obasanjo has inaugurated the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) marking the beginning of his long-delayed modernisation plan for the country's underdeveloped southern oil region, local newspapers said on Friday. The inauguration of the body, headed by senior presidential aide Onyema Ugochukwu, on Thursday, followed confirmation of the president's appointees to the commission's board by the country's legislature earlier in the week. "I will want the board to give the issue of development of a master plan for the region a very high priority," Obasanjo was quoted as saying by the privately-owned Lagos newspaper, 'The Guardian'. Other newspapers also carried the report. The commission's formal dedication comes on the heals of a demand by a committee of professionals of the southeast Igbo people that President Obasanjo's government take urgent measures to rebuild infrastructures damaged in the civil war 30 years ago, when the region attempted to secede as the Republic of Biafra. Obasanjo was a war-time commander for the federal forces in the region and was also once a military head of state. NIGERIA: Inquiry launched into alleged massacre The Benue State government in Nigeria's central region has launched an inquiry into an allegation that security forces last week shot dead more than 10 people near the village of Shawa, where a fuel pipeline was found ruptured, officials said on Monday. Community leaders were said to have complained to the state government that members of the Special Task Force on Pipeline Vandalisation had visited their village early last week and asked to be taken to the burst pipeline. "They were led to the site by scores of local people, including the plain curious. But on getting to the site they were asked by the security operatives to run for their lives and as they ran they allegedly opened fire on them, killing more than ten people," a senior official of the Benue State government told IRIN. NIGERIA: Police arrest 500 suspected pipeline vandals Police have arrested at least 500 people across Nigeria suspected of involvement in vandalising pipelines to steal fuel, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday. The independent 'Guardian' cited police sources as saying joint efforts with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to curb a rash of pipeline ruptures recorded recently in different parts of the country had yielded positive results. The report said that the NNPC was also complementing police efforts with a large-scale operation to excavate and replace old and rusty pipelines, which have also been blamed for some of the leakages in its pipeline system. Fifty people were arrested in Lagos while scavenging fuel from a site where a ruptured pipeline caught fire recently, killing more than 60 people. Hundreds of people have died from similar fires in the past two years in different parts of the country. GHANA: Police chief won't resign over serial killings Ghana's Inspector General of Police, Peter Nanfuri, told reporters in Accra on Wednesday it would be cowardly, defeatist and a disgrace for him to resign over the unsolved serial murder of 30 women despite increasing public pressure for him to quit, PANA has reported. The latest victim in the killings, which go back three years, was found early on Monday along a major highway linking the capital to the eastern port city of Tema. At least six women have been found murdered this year alone. All have been naked with torn clothes left nearby. Women's groups accuse the government of not doing enough to arrest the killer, the news agency said. GHANA: Opposition party urges Muslims to ignore persecution rumours Ghana's opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), favoured to win run-off presidential elections set for 28 December, has urged the country's mainly Muslim northerners to ignore rumours spreading in the region that they would be marked for persecution if the NPP wins, state radio has reported. A report broadcast on Monday quoted a statement by the NPP spokesman in the northern town of Tamale, Ameyaw Haruna, as accusing activists of the ruling National Democratic Congress of making the allegations, and urged the public to disregard them as unfounded. As in most West African countries, the northern part of Ghana is mainly inhabited by Muslims, while Christians and adherents to traditional beliefs are dominant in the south. COTE D'IVOIRE: EU to discuss ties with Abidjan The 15 European Union countries have agreed to hold talks to determine trade relations with Cote d'Ivoire in light of recent controversial legislative elections, PANA reported on Wednesday. The proposed consultation is in accordance with the May 2000 Cotonou Agreement, which cites good governance, respect for human rights and democracy as the basis for EU-ACP trade relations. After their own consultation, the EU would meet with Cote d'Ivoire and three ACP states to decide on the terms of the trade relations, PANA reported. If there is no breakthrough in negotiations after 30 days, the EU could consider sanctions on Cote d'Ivoire. GUINEA-BISSAU: Yala gets OAU support OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim has pledged "support and solidarity" to Guinea-Bissau's president in the aftermath of the country's recent political crisis, PANA reported. It said OAU special-envoy Daniel Antonio delivered the message to President Kumba Yala on Monday. Salim said the OAU had begun consultations with donors to support post-conflict national reconciliation. Yala recently survived an insurrection by former army chief General Ansumane Mane. The government reported on 30 November that Mane had died in clashes with loyalist troops. SENEGAL: Government and MFDC renew with peace talks Representatives of the Senegalese government and the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) met briefly in the southern town of Ziguinchor on Saturday, media organisations reported. The meeting marked the resumption of the peace process in Casamance, southern Senegal, where the MFDC has been fighting for an independent state since 1982. However, the parties did not hold formal peace negotiations. AFP quoted the government as saying a date would be fixed for a second meeting. The liberation of prisoners, the return of displaced people and the implementation of development projects in the Casamance will constitute key issues in upcoming meetings, according to AFP. THE GAMBIA: Opposition party to sue government The Gambia's United Democratic Party (UDP) said it will sue the government for sacking the chairman of the country's Independent Electoral Commission, Bishop Solomon Johnson, 'The Point' reported on Wednesday. The UDP said President Yahya Jammeh's removal of Johnson was in "total violation of the constitution". The UDP appealed to other political parties to join it in an alliance, the Banjul newspaper reported. Jammeh removed Johnson after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the commission which had taken the government to court over its refusal to organise local elections under existing laws. MAURITANIA: Detained youths end hunger strike Three Mauritanian youths on Sunday ended a four-day hunger strike, Cheick Kamara, president of the Association mauritanienne des droits de l'homme (AMDH) told IRIN on Monday. The men, alleged members of a clandestine organisation, ended their strike after the government met their demands for family visits and better treatment, he said. The youths were arrested in early December amid a wave of political unrest. They have been accused of "threatening national security" and instigating an anti-government graffiti campaign, Kamara said. They had been part of a group of 20 who were arrested, he said, but the others were released. GABON: New forestry bill underway Gabon's parliament is considering a bill that aims to bring its forestry law in step with international conventions and better protect the country's 20 million hectares of woodland, a senior official of the water and forestry department told IRIN on Wednesday. "The bill proposes a new forestry code that emphasises good, durable management of the forests," Alphonse Owele, the department's deputy director general, said from Libreville. BENIN: Bill to ban circumcision tabled The government has tabled a bill before the Supreme Court to ban female circumcision - the last stage in passage before the bill comes into effect, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Thursday. PANA reported the minister of social protection and family affairs, Ramatou Baba-Moussa, as saying the bill, which has already gone through the National Assembly, provides for prison sentences of between six months and three years for people engaging in the practice also known as female genital mutilation. Abidjan, 22 December 2000; 20:14 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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