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

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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 66
31 March to 6 April 2001


CONTENTS:

SIERRA LEONE: US $13-million loan to help revive economy  
SIERRA LEONE: UNHCR donates fishing equipment to returnees
SIERRA LEONE: Diamond mining monitors learn to fight smuggling
SIERRA LEONE: Nearly 300,000 children receive polio vaccine
SIERRA LEONE: Senior UN official visits
SIERRA LEONE: RUF blocks return of 4,000 refugees
SIERRA LEONE: RUF still raping, abducting and killing, HRW says 
SIERRA LEONE: Security Council extends UN mission
SIERRA LEONE: UNAMSIL deploys to Mange
SIERRA LEONE: Over 6,600 ex-refugees return to Daru, Kenema 
SIERRA LEONE: Government declares the south and west safe
SIERRA LEONE: Demobilisation update
GUINEA: Soldiers prevent refugees from going to Conakry
GUINEA: Amnesty wants UNAMSIL mandated to protect Guineans, refugees
LIBERIA: Government releases journalists
LIBERIA: Thousands flee fighting
GUINEA-BISSAU: Opposition wants Yala to drop new prime minister
GUINEA-BISSAU: Special office created to oversee maritime sector
NIGERIA: Government to set up 200 health centres in 12 months
NIGERIA: Two reported killed in Ogoniland clashes
NIGERIA: Governors reject planned scrapping of anti-banditry unit
BURKINA FASO: US and Germany contribute to fight against meningitis
COTE D'IVOIRE: Calm returns to troubled area, authorities say
MAURITANIA: US $6.47 million for food security
THE GAMBIA: New arrivals from Casamance reported
CAMEROON: Prisoners want better conditions
CAMEROON: Demonstrations against forced disappearances
WEST AFRICA: Rolling back polio 

SIERRA LEONE: US $13-million loan to help revive economy  

The African Development Fund has approved a loan of some US $12.92 million
to an economic rehabilitation and recovery programme in Sierra Leone, the
African Development Bank (ADB) reported on Wednesday.

SIERRA LEONE: UNHCR donates fishing equipment to returnees

Five fishing boats and engines worth some US $40,000 have been donated to
returnees from camps in Guinea, UNHCR Assistant Public Information Officer
Nyambe Blake told IRIN on Thursday from Freetown. "It's part of our
ongoing reintegration programme helping people move back into society,"
she said. The boats and fishing equipment, including ropes, nets and jerry
cans, were donated by UNHCR in collaboration with FAO and the Sierra
Leonean government. The handing over ceremony took place at Banda, a
fishing village near Lungi, north of Freetown.

SIERRA LEONE: Diamond mining monitors learn to fight smuggling

A three-day training workshop to improve mine-monitoring officers' ability
to tackle diamond smuggling ended at the US Embassy in Freetown on
Wednesday, the Sierra Leone News Agency reported. The workshop,
facilitated by USAID, was part of an ongoing effort to improve the
management of Sierra Leone's diamond resources.

SIERRA LEONE: Nearly 300,000 children receive polio vaccine

A total of 296,017 children under five years were vaccinated against polio
during the second round of immunisation days in rebel-held territory in
Sierra Leone, UNICEF announced in its 20-26 March situation report.

Ninety percent coverage was achieved in the 52 targeted chiefdoms in seven
districts: Bombali, Kambia and Koinadugu, in northern Sierra Leone; Port
Loko, northeast of Freetown; the central district of Tonkolili, and
Kailahun and Kono districts in the east of the country.

During the first round in the same areas on 16 and 17 February, 289,777
children, some 87 percent of those targeted, were immunised.

SIERRA LEONE: Senior UN official visits

UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette arrived in Freetown on
Wednesday and was scheduled to leave on Saturday. Explaining the purpose
of her visit, she told President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on Thursday that she
was particularly interested in the United Nations' economic, social and
humanitarian activities in Sierra Leone and how the UN and government
could coordinate their efforts more effectively, UNAMSIL reported.
Frechette also discussed Sierra Leone's peace process with other top
government officials and met UN staff as well as the diplomatic corps. She
was scheduled to visit humanitarian projects and UNAMSIL peacekeepers in
Lungi, near Freetown, and Lunsar, some 80 km northeast of the capital.

SIERRA LEONE: RUF blocks return of 4,000 refugees

Guinean forces and Kamajor militias fought RUF rebels who tried to prevent
some 4,000 refugees from returning to Sierra Leone last week, a Sierra
Leonean military source told IRIN on Wednesday. The source said the
refugees, who had been living in the Parrot's Beak area in southern
Guinea, were being escorted by Sierra Leonean Kamajor militiamen, and
Guinean troops. The Guineans retaliated by using ground forces to attack
the rebel-held district of Kono, a diamond-mining area, according to the
source.


SIERRA LEONE: RUF still raping, abducting and killing, HRW says

Sierra Leone's RUF rebels are raping, abducting and killing refugees
fleeing camps in Guinea, thereby casting doubt on the viability of a
proposed safe passage for the refugees through RUF lines, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday. HRW said it had documented the
abuses from December 2000 to mid-March in Koinadugu, Kailahun and Kono
districts, eastern Sierra Leone. The report is accompanied by the
testimonies of victims.

[The report and the testimonies can be read on
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/04/refugee-0403.htm ]

SIERRA LEONE: Security Council extends UN mission

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on 31 March to
extend the mandate of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone by six months and
authorise an increase in its military strength to 17,500. The Council
asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to continue seeking additional
properly trained and equipped forces to bolster the military component of
UNAMSIL, now about 12,000. Meanwhile, Pakistan is to send a contingent of
over 4,000 soldiers to join UNAMSIL, UN deputy spokesman Manoel de Almeida
e Silva said on Thursday in New York.
 
SIERRA LEONE: UNAMSIL deploys to Mange

UN peacekeeping troops are firmly in control of Mange, Kambia District,
after deploying to the town some 89 km northeast of Freetown, UNAMSIL
reported. A company from the Nigerian 8th Battalion was sent to the town
on Wednesday, marking the second forward movement by UNAMSIL peacekeepers
since they occupied the strategic town of Lunsar on 14 March, the UN
Mission reported.

SIERRA LEONE: Over 6,600 ex-refugees return to Daru, Kenema

Some 3,136 people fleeing fighting in Guinea's Parrot's Beak area returned
to the town of Daru in eastern Sierra Leone in March, the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in its situation
report of 11-31 March. Many of the returnees were exhausted and needed
medical care. UNHCR and the International Medical Corps provided
high-density rations to the returnees and vulnerable ones received medical
care and food, the report stated. UNHCR also registered 3,558 former
refugees in Kenema.

SIERRA LEONE: Government declares the south and west safe

Sierra Leone's government has declared the western and southern areas of
the country safe for resettlement, along with four chiefdoms in Port Loko
District, northeast of Freetown, OCHA reported.

Almost three-quarters of the north remained inaccessible to humanitarian
agencies, although a recent improvement in security allowed UNAMSIL and
humanitarian agencies to visit the towns of Makeni, Magburaka and Lunsar.

Six chiefdoms in Kenema District remained unsafe. The diamond mining area,
Kono, and the eastern district of Kailahun (except Daru) are classified as
"totally unsafe", OCHA reported.

SIERRA LEONE: Demobilisation update

Sierra Leone's National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and
Reintegration has discharged 436 former fighters from their demobilisation
centres, OCHA reported. The ex-combatants, it said, have been enrolled in
various programmes for their reintegration into society.

Meanwhile, World Relief has begun a six-month formal technical training
programme in carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical installation for
100 ex-fighters and war-affected people in Kaffu Bullom Chiefdom, north of
Freetown, OCHA reported. The NGO is also providing material support for
930 other former fighters undergoing a similar six-month vocational skills
training and job-placement programme in Port Loko and Lungi, also north of
Freetown.

GUINEA: Soldiers prevent refugees from going to Conakry

Nearly 1,000 refugees from Massakoundou, close to Guinea's border with
Sierra Leone, who tried to reach Conakry by bus were turned back by
Guinean soldiers who said they had no authorisation to travel, UNHCR
reported on Tuesday. The refugees had wanted to join an International
Organisation for Migration boatlift from Conakry to Freetown which, UNHCR
reported, has taken 30,000 people back to Sierra Leone since September
2000.

GUINEA: Amnesty wants UNAMSIL mandated to protect Guineans, refugees

Amnesty International said on Thursday that troops of the UN Mission in
Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and a proposed ECOWAS force should be mandated to
protect tens of thousands of refugees and Guinean civilians fleeing
fighting between Guinean troops and insurgents from Sierra Leone.

It also wants the peacekeepers to be authorised to do strong human rights
monitoring. Amnesty's appeal came after an assessment mission it sent
recently to southern Guinea found "overwhelming evidence of violence from
so many directions".

Refugees interviewed recounted experiences of torture and rape, and
reported disappearances by Guinean forces. However, most of the complaints
were of atrocities - killings, rapes and abductions - perpetrated by the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) against Guineans during RUF incursions in
mid-December 2000 in southern Guinea.
 
LIBERIA: Government releases journalists

The Liberian government on 30 March dropped its case against four detained
journalists and ordered their release, media organizations reported. The
four were charged with espionage on 22 February after their Monrovia-based
daily, 'The News', reported that President Charles Taylor's government had
spent US $50,000 to repair helicopters while civil servants had gone
months without pay.

The government interpreted the story as an attempt to reveal national
defence information to a foreign power at a time of military or diplomatic
confrontation: relations between Guinea and Liberia have been hostile for
months.

The journalists were released after writing a letter of apology,
accompanied by a covering letter from the Press Union of Liberia, to the
Ministry of Justice, the media reported.

LIBERIA: Thousands flee fighting

Thousands of civilians have been fleeing heavy fighting between government
troops and insurgents in upper Lofa County, northern Liberia, Defence
Minister Daniel Chea told reporters on Wednesday. He said the civilians
were going to lower Lofa County.

Chea described the fighting - in Foya and Kolahun - as serious but denied
claims that the insurgents, who call themselves Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy, had seized control of a vast swathe of
territory. Chea said government troops still controlled the provincial
towns of Voinjama, Vahun and Zorzor. He blamed the cross-border attacks on
Guinea, which has made similar charges against Liberia.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Opposition wants Yala to drop new prime minister

Guinea-Bissau's opposition parties continued this week to reject the
appointment of Prime Minister Faustino Imbali, news organisations
reported. In a letter on Tuesday to President Kumba Yala, they said
Imbali's government did not meet the conditions needed to create a climate
of peace, stability and national reconciliation, AFP reported. The parties
also called for "serious and responsible" dialogue between the government
and the opposition. Opposition parties hold a majority of the seats in
parliament. They had already rejected Imbali's nomination during
discussions with Yala ahead of the prime minister's appointment on 20
March.
 
GUINEA-BISSAU: Special office created to oversee maritime sector

Guinea-Bissau's head of state, Kumba Yala, has created a special unit
within the office of the president to oversee the maritime sector,
Portuguese radio, RDP, reported. The office will be headed by Pedro
Pereira Bareto, a reserve officer and former director of the port of
Bissau. The fisheries sector is among the highest foreign exchange earners
in Guinea-Bissau. It has also been plagued by poaching. Last year Yala
dismissed the head of the navy, Lamine Sanha, for releasing a Korean
trawler caught fishing illegally in the country's waters. Sanha initially
refused to vacate his post, which led to a face-off between Yala and the
military. Sanha eventually backed down.
 
NIGERIA: Government to set up 200 health centres in 12 months

Close to 200 health centres will be opened this year under a governmental
plan to establish one in each ward in Nigeria, the chairman of the
National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti,
said on Wednesday.

NIGERIA: Two reported killed in Ogoniland clashes
   
Two people were killed in fighting over land rights between communities in
Ogoniland, in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, AFP reported witnesses as
saying on Wednesday. The clashes between the Deyor and Deken communities
lasted from Saturday to Tuesday, AFP reported. It said such disputes have
been going on for years in Ogoniland. The Ogoni made world headlines in
1995 when nine minority rights campaigners from their community, including
environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed by the military.

NIGERIA: Governors reject planned scrapping of anti-banditry unit

A plan by Nigeria's federal government to scrap Operation Flushout II
(OFOT), a joint army/police unit that fights banditry in the northeast of
the country, has been rejected by the area's governors, 'The Guardian'
reported.

Local and cross-border banditry are rife in the northeast and, at a
meeting they held recently in Damaturu, capital of Yobe State, the
governors said the bandits would operate unchecked if the unit were
abolished. They said OFOT should be strengthened rather than scrapped.

Other security measures suggested by the governors included the provision
of helicopters for aerial surveillance by the unit. They said this would
help security forces dislodge the bandits from their hideouts in Adamawa,
Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states.

BURKINA FASO: US and Germany contribute to fight against meningitis

The United States and Germany have given Burkina Faso 43 million francs
CFA (US $60,000) to buy more vaccines against meningitis, which has killed
about 1,000 people in the country, AFP reported Burkinabe officials as
saying on Thursday. About three million people had already been
vaccinated, AFP reported. The German donation amounted to 25 millions
francs CFA and the United States 18 million francs CFA.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Calm returns to troubled area, authorities say

Over 2,000 persons have been displaced following unrest during municipal
elections on 25 March in Zouan-Hounien, a district in southwestern Cote
d'Ivoire, an official source reported.

According to Cote d'Ivoire's Office National de Protection Civile
(National Civil Protection Office), a rumour that Malinkes were attacking
Yacoubas led to the displacement of 2,153 persons.

The rumour started after a voter from the Yacouba community, indigenous to
the area, was seriously wounded in a fight in a polling station with an
election officer of the Malinke ethnic group from the north. {Malinkes
also live in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.)

Of the displaced persons, 1,380 are Ivorians, while there are 96 Malians,
600 Guineans, 68 Liberians, four Burkinabe and five Cameroonians.

The displaced have been taken in by host families, according to the Civil
protection office, which said Zouan-Hounien was now calm.

MAURITANIA: US $6.47 million for food security

The African Development Fund (ADF) has agreed to lend Mauritania US $6.47
million for a five-year livestock development and farm management project
to ensure food security, the African Development Bank reported on
Wednesday. The money would support livestock productivity by making
grazing areas more fertile, increasing water supply and improving farm
infrastructure. The project is slated to start in May.
 
THE GAMBIA: New arrivals from Casamance reported

News organisations in Banjul have reported that more people have been
crossing into The Gambia from Casamance, southern Senegal, following
fighting between suspected members of the Mouvement des forces
democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) and the Senegalese armed forces. The
'Daily Observer', a Banjul newspaper, reported an immigration spokesman as
saying that, on 27 March, his department registered over 100 Casamance
refugees who had crossed the border. The MFDC - which has been fighting
since 1982 for self-determination for the Casamance - signed peace accords
with the government on 16 and 23 March.

CAMEROON: Prisoners want better conditions

Inmates of Yaounde's central prison on Tuesday petitioned Justice Minister
Robert Mbappe for improved conditions and more humane treatment, AFP
reported. They complained about lack of medical care, poor food and
overcrowding. They also asked for speedier trials so as to alleviate the
congestion in the facility, only 300 of whose prisoners have been
convicted while 3,000 are awaiting trial, AFP said.
 
CAMEROON: Demonstrations against forced disappearances

Police in Cameroon's commercial capital, Douala, dispersed demonstrators
on Sunday and Monday as opposition politicians, NGOs and neighbourhood
residents continued protests against the disappearance of nine youths from
the city's Bepanda neighbourhood, news organisations reported. The youths
went missing on 28 February after the Commandement Operationel, a special
crime-fighting unit, arrested them on suspicion of stealing a gas
canister.

WEST AFRICA: Rolling back polio

New cases of polio in West Africa went down from 150 in 1999 to 20 last
year, the World Health Organisation's regional representative, Mame
Thierno Aby Sy, told IRIN on Tuesday. However 17 countries in West and
Central Africa are still "at risk of the disease", he said.

WHO was part of a panel of five international organisations, including
UNICEF, that briefed media and donors on the progress of their joint
polio-eradication campaign. When the two UN agencies, the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International and USAID launched
the campaign in 1988, some 350,000 people were infected worldwide. Now
there are 3,500 cases.

The drop in West Africa is partly due to synchronized national
immunization days conducted in October and November 2000. Some 77 million
children under five years were vaccinated, including 2.4 million who had
not received the vaccine before. This reduced the prevalence rate by 80
percent, Sy said. In 1999, 66 million were vaccinated.

The panel appealed to the international community and donors for financial
aid, and urged regional governments to focus more attention on victims. It
also called on local media to become active promoters of the campaign,
which needs US $400 million for eradication worldwide.

Abidjan, 6 April 2001; 15:25 GMT


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