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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 68
14 to 20 April 2001


CONTENTS:
 
GUINEA: Food delivered to remote camp, UNHCR prepares for relocations
GUINEA: Seminars on war surgery 
SIERRA LEONE: UN peacekeepers push deeper into RUF territory
SIERRA LEONE: Discussions resume on war crimes tribunal
SIERRA LEONE: 3,000 IDPs return home
LIBERIA: Refugees, IDPs flee Lofa 
LIBERIA: Sanctions team visits
LIBERIA: UNICEF donates communications equipment to health centres
LIBERIA: Pipe-borne water supply resumed
COTE D'IVOIRE: Pro-children campaign launched
SENEGAL: MFDC chief asks fighters not to disrupt election
GAMBIA: Amnesty for policemen linked to massacre
BURKINA FASO: Italy pledges US $150,000 to fight meningitis
NIGERIA: Rights panel meets
NIGERIA: Flood kills four
NIGERIA: Islamic vigilantes attack hotels  
NIGERIA: Regional hospitals to be built
CHAD: Canal to be built to save Lake Chad
BENIN: No evidence of child trafficking found on ship 
WEST AFRICA: Red Cross to meet on child slavery 
AFRICA: Governments urged to ratify child labour pact
AFRICA: Ten countries take part in joint manoeuvres

GUINEA: Food delivered to remote camp, UNHCR prepares for relocations

The restoration of relative calm in southwestern Guinea has enabled the
World Food Programme (WFP) to provide emergency food rations to 25,000
refugees in Kolomba camp, located in the Parrot's Beak, WFP said in a
communique on Thursday. The food and other relief items are being
delivered by the French NGO 'Premiere Urgence'.

Kolomba had been cut off from humanitarian assistance since an upsurge of
fighting in December 2000 between government forces and insurgents. It is
situated at the tip of the Parrot's Beak, a wedge of land that juts into
Sierra Leone.

Despite recent improvements, the security situation in the area remains
fragile, with limited access for UN humanitarian workers. A UNHCR team
travelled to the Parrot's Beak on Monday in preparation for the urgent
relocation of refugees prior to the start of the rainy season. The team,
accompanied by Guinean officials, discussed the relocation plans with
refugee leaders at Kolomba.

GUINEA: Seminars on war surgery

Seventy Guinean surgeons participated this month in two seminars meant to
prepare them to care for war-wounded patients, the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported this week. The seminars, organised by the
ICRC in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the Guinean army's
medical services department, dealt with ballistics, treatment of the most
frequent wounds and the possible after-effects of such injuries, ICRC
said. They were held on 11-12 April in Conakry and 14-15 April in the
southern town of Nzerekore.

SIERRA LEONE: UN peacekeepers push deeper into RUF territory

Advance parties of Nigerian and Bangladeshi peacekeepers arrived on
Tuesday in the central Sierra Leonean towns of Makeni and Magburaka, the
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported in a news
release.
 
The deployment to the towns - held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
- is the latest move in UNAMSIL's ongoing efforts to re-establish its
presence throughout the country, the UN mission said on Wednesday. The
operation was expected to be completed by the end of the week, according
to UNAMSIL. Deputy Force Commander Maj-Gen Martin Luther Agwai said at a
news conference on Tuesday that the pending arrival of more than 4,000
peacekeepers from Pakistan would further boost UNAMSIL's military
strength.

Meanwhile, Zambian UN peacekeepers deployed over the weekend to Mano
Junction, a town along the strategic route to the diamond-producing areas
north of the southeastern town of Kenema. And on Tuesday, a Ghanaian
battalion conducted a long-range patrol to Kailahun in the Eastern
Province.

SIERRA LEONE: Discussions resume on war crimes tribunal

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's legal counsel, Hans Corell, convened a
meeting on Tuesday of interested UN member states to discuss a proposed
special court to try war crimes committed in Sierra Leone since 30
November 1996, the UN Department of Public Information reported.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said the meeting reviewed the budget and
practical planning for the court. It also agreed to set up a management
committee composed of major donors to the court and members of the UN
Secretariat, who will work together as the Court is established.

The Department of Legal Affairs will draw up the terms of reference for
the Committee and will meet again with member states by the end of April
"to get it up and running," the spokesman said.

SIERRA LEONE: 3,000 IDPs return home

The International Office for Migration (IOM) helped transport some 3,000
IDPs and returning refugees this week to Songo and Mile 38, respectively
50km and 60km east of the capital, Freetown, the IOM reported on Friday.

Resettlement kits containing food and non-food items such as blankets,
tarpaulin, buckets, cooling utensils and soap were distributed by the
government and other agencies to heads of families.

The first phase of the operation is expected to last up to three weeks.
IOM initially expects to transport some 12,000 IDPs to various drop-off
points. Most of the people assisted by IOM have spent more than three
years in camps in Greater Freetown, where there are about 48,000
registered IDPs.

LIBERIA: Refugees, IDPs flee Lofa; Minister shot dead

Liberians and Sierra Leonean refugees have been displaced by fighting in
Lofa County, northern Liberia, between government forces and insurgents,
the UN reported on Wednesday. Some have been crossing into eastern Sierra
Leone and although the number is not large, the movement has increased
since the middle of last week, the UN said. The Liberia Refugee
Repatriation and Resettlement Commission estimates the number of displaced
persons in and from Lofa at about 8,000. Meanwhile, Minister of Youth and
Sport Francois Massaquoi died on Monday after being shot by insurgents who
fired on a helicopter in which he was travelling as it prepared to land in
the Lofa capital, Voinjama.
 
LIBERIA: Sanctions team visits

A four-person delegation from the UN Security Council's Committee on
Sanctions Against Liberia arrived in Monrovia on Wednesday. Committee
chairman Kishore Mahbubani said the team's job was "to look into the
implementation of sanctions, their effectiveness and their impact".

The Security Council voted on 7 March to impose sanctions on Liberia in
response to evidence of Monrovia's involvement in arms and diamonds
trafficking with Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels.
The sanctions, including a 12-month ban on diamond imports from Liberia
and a restriction on travel by Liberian government and military officials
and their spouses, take effect on 7 May unless Monrovia proves it has
stopped supporting insurgents in the region.

The committee has listed 26 members of the RUF that it wants the Liberian
government to expel. They include people who, according to the committee,
spend much time in Monrovia or visit Liberia frequently and conduct RUF
business there, as well as RUF commanders now fighting in Guinea.

LIBERIA: UNICEF donates communications equipment to health centres

UNICEF says it has provided and installed five HF radios with solar panels
and other accessories at medical centres in five districts in the central
county of Nimba in order to facilitate communication with the hospital in
Saniquellie, the county's main town. About 10 radio operators were also
recruited and trained, UNICEF said in its March situation report on
Liberia.


LIBERIA: Pipe-borne water supply resumed

The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) is once more supplying
safe, pipe-borne drinking water to central Monrovia after repairing water
treatment and pumping facilities damaged during the Liberian civil war,
UNICEF reported. The restoration of the facilities was made possible
through assistance from the European Community and the Liberian
government.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Pro-children campaign launched

The Ivorian government launched a national campaign for children on
Thursday, renewing its pledge to improve their living conditions as
demanded by the UN Convention on the Rights of Child signed in 1989.

The campaign falls under the umbrella of a worldwide, multi-sector
initiative known as the Global Movement for Children (GMC) headed by
Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel. It aims to remobilise governments, public
and private entities, NGOs, individuals and others to work towards the
convention's implementation.

SENEGAL: MFDC chief asks fighters not to disrupt election
   
The head of a movement fighting for self-rule for the Casamance area in
southern Senegal on Thursday called on his followers to lay down their
guns during campaigning for legislative elections to be held on 29 April,
AFP reported.

Father Augustin Diamacoune, secretary-general of the Mouvement des forces
democratiques de Casamance (MFDC), also asked MFDC fighters not to disrupt
the election and to allow people and vehicles to circulate freely in the
area.
 
Since Diamacoune signed peace accords with Senegal's government on 16 and
23 March, there have been four attacks on vehicles in Casamance, including
one on 14 April in which three people died. Suspicion has fallen on the
MFDC. However, Diamacoune blamed bandits for the latest attack, on 17
April, in which a convoy of election campaigners was attacked and robbed.
 
Meanwhile, Diamacoune had a meeting with President Abdoulaye Wade on
Tuesday. BBC said the meeting in Ziguinchor - the main town in Casamance -
was aimed at consolidating the peace accords.

GAMBIA: Amnesty for policemen linked to massacre

Members of Gambia's security forces found responsible for the death of
about 14 people last year, have been granted amnesty under a law passed on
Thursday by parliament, AFP reported. The law entitles the president to
grant amnesty "for any fact, matter or omission of act, or things done or
purported to have been done during any unlawful assembly, public
disturbance, riotous situation or period of public emergency", AFP
reported.

The legislation has been backdated to 10-11 April 2000, when security
forces violently suppressed a demonstration that students had organised to
protest against the death of one of their colleagues. A team commissioned
to investigate the incident identified the officers responsible in its
report, submitted to the government in September.

BURKINA FASO: Italy pledges US $150,000 to fight meningitis

The Italian government has granted Burkina Faso some US $150,000 to help
fight a meningitis epidemic, AFP reported on Wednesday. The money will go
towards sustaining vaccination programmes and medical care for victims,
Italian cooperation said in a communique. The Health Ministry announced on
Thursday that deaths had risen to 1520.
  
NIGERIA: Rights panel meet

A Nigerian human rights panel opened discussions in the southeast of the
country on Wednesday with a promise that a bloodbath such as the Biafra
war (1967-1970) will never happen again, AFP reported.

The commission will "propose (to government) ways and means of ensuring
that there will be no more military incursions into governance, no more
coups, no more pogroms and no more civil wars," panel chairman Chukwudifu
Oputa told the opening session in the city of Enugu, some 516 km east of
Lagos.

The panel, set up in 1999 to look into rights violations dating back to
Nigeria's first military coup, in 1966, began hearings across the country
last year. Oputa said the panel would seek to "reconcile those who feel
alienated by past political events to heal the wounds inflicted on our
people and restore harmony in our country," AFP reported.

NIGERIA: Flood kills four

At least four people were killed on Monday by a flood that resulted from a
rainstorm in Oke-Odo, Lagos State, 'The Vanguard' newspaper reported. The
victims, who included a woman and her baby, were trying to cross a flooded
gutter when strong currents swept them away, the daily reported
eyewitnesses as saying. Other people sustained injuries during the storm
and several market stalls were destroyed, it said.

NIGERIA: Islamic vigilantes attack hotels

Islamic vigilantes have attacked at least eight hotels and restaurants in
Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city, on suspicion that they stocked
alcoholic drinks, residents said on Wednesday. The attacks by the Hisba,
as the vigilantes are called, occurred between Friday and Monday. They
prompted state governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to call a security meeting on
Tuesday to deal with the situation.

NIGERIA: Regional hospitals to be built

Nigeria's government plans to build eight new hospitals, the 'Guardian'
newspaper reported Minister of Health A.C. Nwosu as saying at the weekend.  
Three would be built in the north and five in the south, including three
in the southwest. Over 1.5 billion naira (about US $14 million) has
already been earmarked for the three hospitals in the northern region, the
Lagos daily reported.

CHAD: Canal to be built to save Lake Chad

A 120-km canal connected to the two basins of the River Congo is to be
built soon to prevent Lake Chad from completely drying up, AFP reported
the executive secretary of the Commission for Lake Chad Basin, Ahmed Sani
Adamou, as saying on Thursday. The lake has receded by 20 km in the past
few years and this has brought about population movement, destroyed much
of the vegetation and fauna, and turned the surrounding area into one of
Chad's poorest. The commission, which comprises Niger, Chad, Nigeria and
Cameroon, was created to find ways to prevent the lake from drying up.

BENIN: No evidence of child trafficking found on ship

A ship that had been suspected of carrying child labourers docked in the
port of Cotonou on Tuesday, with far fewer children than expected. There
were about 140 persons on board, including just over 20 children
accompanied by their parents. Earlier reports that the ship was carrying
some 250 children - presumed victims of child traffickers - had caused an
international outcry.

WEST AFRICA: Red Cross to meet on child slavery
 
Red Cross societies from 16 West African nations and their counterparts
from industrialised countries meet next week in Dakar, Senegal, to
consider measures for fighting child trafficking, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced on Tuesday.
One of the ideas they will discuss is a proposal to set up teams to
monitor the subregion's main ports and to expand dissemination of
information about child labour and trafficking, the Federation said in a
news release. According to UNICEF, some 200,000 children are trafficked
every year in West and Central Africa.
 
AFRICA: Governments urged to ratify child labour pact

African governments were urged to ratify the ILO's Convention 182 on the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour at an Organisation of
African Unity (OAU) meeting held on 9-14 April in Yamoussoukro, Cote
d'Ivoire.

Delegates at the 24th session of the OAU's Labour and Social Affairs
Commission noted that only 20 African governments had ratified the
convention, which seeks to protect children from the situations akin to
slavery to which many are subjected in various parts of the world.

AFRICA: Ten countries take part in joint manoeuvres

About 2,000 soldiers from 10 African countries were deployed on Thursday
in Kara, northern Togo, for military manoeuvres that were scheduled to
begin on Friday at various points along the borders between Togo, Ghana
and Benin.

The manoeuvres are part of 'Operation Cohesion Kazah 2001', which ends on
24 April and simulates a peacekeeping and peace monitoring operation in an
African state in which rebels are fighting the regular army. It began on
17 April with a humanitarian operation in which about 100 mostly military
doctors provided free medical care to the local population, according to
the Republic of Togo, an online information service.

Participating countries are Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Chad,
Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.


Abidjan, 20 April 2001; 16:20 GMT

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