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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 75
2-8 June 2001


CONTENTS: 

SIERRA LEONE: Advance party of Pakistani troops arrive
SIERRA LEONE: UN issues new report on peacekeeping
SIERRA LEONE: World Bank convenes donors meeting 
SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament in Kono next priority
SIERRA LEONE: British engineers defuse 112.5 kg bomb
SIERRA LEONE: Rebels free another 150 children
SIERRA LEONE: IRC ready to receive former child soldiers
SIERRA LEONE: Security Council urges more funds for refugees
GUINEA: Major highway reopens
GUINEA: Man claiming to be rebel leader shows up in Mali
GUINEA: Some 600 soldiers train in humanitarian law
LIBERIA: UN publishes travel ban list 
SENEGAL: More returnees from Guinea-Bissau
SENEGAL: US $3.9 million for national health project
BENIN: IOM resettles 51 refugees
BENIN: US charity treats prisoners
NIGER: Fewer cases of measles reported
NIGERIA: Police arrest woman with 16 children
NIGERIA: US training for police 
NIGERIA: Christians vow to resist Sharia law
NIGERIA: Borno State appeals for World Bank loan

SIERRA LEONE: Advance party of Pakistani troops arrive

An advance party of 265 Pakistani officers and men arrived in Freetown on
Thursday, the first group of 4,000 Pakistani peacekeepers expected to join
the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

UNAMSIL reported on Friday that the contingent, commanded by Brig-Gen
Shuja Pasha, was temporarily stationed at Hastings awaiting the arrival of
the main body. These soldiers will arrive in stages beginning on 12 July
through 22 August.

SIERRA LEONE: UN issues new report on peacekeeping

A new report on UN peacekeeping issued on Thursday recommends improved
consultations between the Security Council and troop-contributing
countries among the ways to strengthen field operations, UN Mission in
Sierra Leone said.

The report, the first by the Security Council Working Group on
Peacekeeping Operations, also supports establishing regional peacekeeping
training centres to increase international cooperation for operations. In
addition, the group suggests troop-contributing countries cooperate in
training, logistics and equipment.

Moreover, the group asks the Secretary-General to convene assessments
meetings with troop-contributing countries at various stages of an
operation. It says these countries should conduct reconnaissance visits to
the mission area and prepare contingency plans and exit strategies for
volatile situations.

Council set up the group, chaired by Ambassador Curtis A. Ward of Jamaica,
in January to examine the relationship between the Council,
troop-contributing countries and the UN Secretariat.

SIERRA LEONE: World Bank convenes donors meeting

A meeting of the Sierra Leone Multidonor Trust Fund, organized by the
World Bank, will be held at the World Bank Office in Paris from 11-12
June. The meeting is being convened to replenish the fund that had been
established to support the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
process in Sierra Leone.

UNAMSIL, the Sierra Leone government, its lead agencies involved with the
demoblisation and rehabilitation process as well as the Revolutionary
United Front will be represented.

Donor countries and organizations that are listed as attending are China,
Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the
United States, the Canadian development agency, CIDA; the US Agency for
International Development, the UN Development Programme, the International
Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Monetary Fund, the
Food and Agriculture Organization and the OECD.

The meeting will chaired by the World Bank Representative for Sierra
Leone, Peter Harrold.

SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament in Kono next priority

UNAMSIL Force Commander Lt-Gen Daniel Opande said on Tuesday that
disarmament of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighters and a
pro-government militia in Kono District was "the most pressing" task for
the UN mission at the moment.

There are 1,700 RUF and 1,300 pro-government Civil Defence Forces fighters
waiting to disarm in this sector. A UNAMSIL source said the National
Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration was building
a camp at Yengema, Kono District, to host the fighters.

"Both groups will be encamped together," the source added.

There have been several ceasefire violations in Kono which Opande said
were resolved through negotiations.

Opande said aside from disarmament, UNAMSIL had been conducting extensive
patrols throughout the country: from Kailahun, Daru and Koidu in the east;
to Makeni, Magburaka, Kabala, Kamakwie in the north; and to Pujehun and
Bonthe in the south.

"We have exhausted the areas that we have never been to before," he said.

SIERRA LEONE: British engineers defuse 112.5 kg bomb

British army Royal Engineers have defused a 112.5 kg bomb in the
northwestern town of Kambia, state radio reported on Thursday.

AFP reported that the bomb was discovered by Sierra Leonean troops after
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels evacuated the town following an
agreement reached 15 May to cease hostilities. AFP reported that British
sappers and Sierra Leone soldiers defused 13 bombs in the northwestern
district of Port Loko.

SIERRA LEONE: Rebels free another 150 children

Another 150 children regained their freedom on Monday in the eastern town
of Kailahun when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) handed them over to
the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Oluyemi Adeniji.
This was the second release in two weeks of children pressed into the
service of the RUF. On 25 May, 591 children, mostly boys, were handed to
UNAMSIL.

SIERRA LEONE: IRC ready to receive former child soldiers

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it is ready to receive
another 100 former child soldiers who are part of a larger group released
recently by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The committee, from its New York headquarters, reported that an exact date
had not been set for the children to be handed over to the IRC in the
southeastern town of Kenema, where the organization has an interim care
centre. The children expected there are from the eastern districts of Kono
and Kailahun. Those from the Southern Province will be taken to IRC's
facility in the southern town of Bo.

IRC said it would provide counseling and other psychosocial services,
education, skills training and social activities useful for the
reintegration of these children into society. The committee is also to
begin a tracing service to reunify the children with their families.
During the past year, the IRC has helped 1,000 former child soldiers and
separated children in Sierra Leone.

SIERRA LEONE: Security Council urges more funds for refugees

The UN Security Council called on the international community on Wednesday
to contribute money for relief aid to refugees and internally displaced
people in West Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone.

Council President Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh made the appeal after a
briefing was given to the Council on the situation in Sierra Leone and on
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's report on refugees and internally
displaced people.

GUINEA: Major highway reopens

A road linking Conakry to Freetown has now been reopened after years of
closure by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, a source at an
official news organization in Guinea told IRIN on Monday. "Passengers can
again move freely along this route," the source said.

The section of road that had been subject to RUF attacks ran from the
Guinean border town of Pamelap to Kambia in Sierra Leone. The highway is
to be patrolled jointly by Guinean and Sierra Leonean troops, who will
also oversee border security, the source said.

GUINEA: Man claiming to be rebel leader shows up in Mali

A man claiming to be the leader of Guinea's rebels told 'l'Independant' in
Bamako that his group was made up of people who escaped after two aborted
attempts to overthrow the government of President Lansana Conte, the
Malian newspaper reported.

Nfaly Kaba, alias 'Fatoulaye', told the bi-weekly newspaper that he was
the head of l'Union des Forces pour une Guinee nouvelle and that the
group's armed wing was headed by a Major Gbago Zoumanigui. AFP reported
that Zoumanigui was the leader of Guinea's failed army mutiny of 2
February 1996. He served as adviser to former Guinean prime minister
Diarra Traore who was killed after a failed coup in July 1985.

GUINEA: Some 600 soldiers train in humanitarian law

More than 600 Guinean troops received training on human rights and the
conduct of warfare during the second half of May, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported on Thursday.

Four seminars were held for 170 officers in Faranah, Kissidougou and
Guekedou, while four one-day workshops were run for 450 soldiers of other
ranks. The programmes were organized by the ICRC in conjunction with
Guinea's Ministry of Defence and the Red Cross Society of Guinea.

"A total of nine seminars and nine workshops on the topic are to be held
throughout Guinea in 2001," ICRC reported.

LIBERIA: UN publishes travel ban list

Liberian President Charles Taylor tops a list of 136 state officials,
advisers and associates banned by the United Nations beginning on 7 May
from travelling abroad because of links between the government in Monrovia
and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone.

The Security Council Committee list issued on Tuesday includes Taylor's
wife Jewell, his two ex-wives, his son Charles "Chuckie", ministers,
advisers and arms smugglers. Others are arms traffickers Victor Bout,
identified by Reuters as a Tajik national, Lebanese businessman Talal
el-Ndine, and the director of the Gambia New Millennium Air company, Baba
Jobe. Also listed are Leonid Minin, who holds Bolivian, Greek, German,
Israeli and Russian passports, and Dutch national Gus Kouen-Hoven, owner
of Hotel Africa in Monrovia.

The measure and an embargo on trade in diamonds from Liberia are aimed at
forcing Monrovia to sever ties with the RUF, which Liberia insists it has
done.

SENEGAL: More returnees from Guinea-Bissau

One of the most pressing needs in readiness for the large number of
Senegalese refugees expected to return from Guinea-Bissau is food stocks,
the head of a Zinguinchor chapter of the NGO, CONGAD, told IRIN on Monday.

The official, Martin Mane, said 100 refugees had returned home since
Guinea-Bissau troops burnt villages populated by Casamance refugees,
during a search for members of the Mouvement des forces democratiques de
Casamance (MFDC). The group is fighting for the independence of Casamance,
a region in southern Senegal.

Mane said NGOs were worried that there might not be enough food to go
around if large numbers of refugees started returning at the same time.
Some NGOs have been donating food and non-food items. The Christian
Children's Fund, for example, has provided 50 treated mosquito nets, 30
mattresses, one metric ton of rice, medicines, and the equivalent of US
$75 for buying firewood.

Other NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services, the Association des Jeunes
Agriculteurs de Casamance (Casamance Young Farmers Association), and
CONGAD and state services have also made donations.

CONGAD belongs to the Cellule Régionale de Coordination pour les réfugiés,
les rapatriés et les personnes déplacées, a body comprising
representatives of state institutions and NGOs that coordinates action in
favour of refugees, IDPs and returnees.

SENEGAL: US $3.9 million for national health project

Donors have agreed to give Senegal an additional US $3.9 million to
implement the remaining projects of the first phase of a national health
programme due to end in 18 months, the state-owned Dakar daily, 'Le
Soleil', reported on Thursday.

The money for this phase, launched in 1998, will be used to improve
education, health and social security as well as reduce poverty. The sum
will also be used to hire more medical staff, speed up administrative
procedures, and launch the second phase of the programme that is to run
from 2002-2007.

BENIN: IOM resettles 51 refugees

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees have helped resettle a second group of refugees
from camps in western Tanzania to Benin, IOM said on Tuesday. The group
included 35 Burundians and Congolese, raising to 51 the number of refugees
who have been resettled in Benin recently: a first group of 16 was
accepted into the country on 27 May.

IOM reported that "many refugees" in western Tanzania have said they want
to be resettled in Africa, where their integration prospects are better,
rather than in North America.

BENIN: US charity treats prisoners

A US charity, International Prisons Fraternity (IPF), has provided medical
care and drugs worth 30 million CFA francs (US $38,945) to 3,000 prisoners
in Benin, the Panafrican News Agency reported on Thursday.

PANA said IPF volunteer doctors, dentists and nurses arrived in Benin on
25 May and have treated prisoners in the main city of Cotonou as well as
Abomey, Lokossa and Parakou. Ailments covered by the group working with
its local affiliate, Fraternite Beninois Prisons, included kidney
infections, malaria, scabies, hypertension and eye diseases, the report
said.

NIGER: Fewer cases of measles reported

Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) says there has been a marked reduction in
the number of measles and meningitis cases reported recently in Niger,
where many people were infected by the two diseases earlier this year,
especially in the capital, Niamey, and the towns of Maradi and Tahoua.

MSF reported only "a slight increase" of measles in Tahoua, 375 km
northeast of the capital, where 111 new cases have been identified. MSF
medical teams have scoured the country, vaccinating 600,000 people against
meningitis and 700,000 against measles to ensure there is no epidemic in
2002, the medical charity reported.

NIGERIA: Police arrest woman with 16 children

Police in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, have arrested a well-known
businesswoman after she was found with 16 minors suspected to be victims
of child trafficking, local newspapers reported on Wednesday.

The reports said the children, aged between one year and four years, were
hidden behind plastic crates in a mini-bus and were discovered during a
routine police search at a checkpoint.

A Lagos newspaper, `The Guardian', reported that the woman told police
that the children had been rescued from destitutes and drug addicts and
that she had "adopted" them out of humanitarian concern.

NIGERIA: US training for police

The United States is planning to train the Nigerian police so that the
force can be a more effective check against violent crime, US Ambassador
Howard Jeter said on Tuesday. He told reporters in Lagos that a US
delegation had already visited Nigeria and met with officials "about what
the US might do". He added that a report on the outcome of the visit was
under consideration by the US government.

NIGERIA: Christians vow to resist Sharia law

Christians in the northern state of Borno said on Sunday they would
disobey Sharia law, which took effect there on 1 June, especially since
they were not consulted on its implementation, AFP reported.

The Borno chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria said in a
statement that it rejected assurance by Muslims that Christians would not
be affected by Sharia. The close daily contact between the two communities
made it impossible for Christians to remain unaffected, it said.

At least 10 Nigerian states have already started to implement Sharia,
while Gombe and Bauchi Have announced plans to do so.

NIGERIA: Borno State appeals for World Bank loan

The government of Borno State in northern Nigeria has applied to the World
Bank for a US $7-million loan to revamp its health care system, 'The
Guardian' quoted Borno Health Commissioner Mohammed Makinta as saying. The
sum would be used to update existing health facilities, including seven
referral hospitals, build new ones and train and hire staff. The state
would contribute an additional $1 million to the project, the daily
reported.

Abidjan, 8 June 2001; 17:45 GMT
  

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