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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 78
23 - 29 June 2001


CONTENTS: 

SIERRA LEONE: Annan expresses guarded optimism
LIBERIA: European Commission wants talks on rights, corruption
GUINEA-BISSAU: Insecurity persists
GUINEA: Certificate of origin for diamonds
COTE D'IVOIRE: EU agrees to gradual resumption of aid
NIGERIA: Police send in reinforcements to quell ethnic clashes
NIGERIA: Liberians allowed in
BENIN: Japan donates funds for fighting child trafficking 
MAURITANIA: HRW condemns repression
NIGER: Penal code to be reformed
WESTERN SAHARA: UN defends new proposal
WEST AFRICA: 17,000 mt of food needed, WFP says
WEST AFRICA: Floods kill dozens, threaten thousands more

SIERRA LEONE: Annan expresses guarded optimism

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed cautious optimism that
Sierra Leone is moving towards peace in his latest report to the Security
Council on the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

He called on both the government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) to continue their pursuit of peace in good faith, adding that
considerable efforts still had to be made to maintain the recently
achieved momentum. UNAMSIL needed to continue deploying its troops across
Sierra Leone, especially in "the key diamond-producing areas in the east
of the country" and "towards the borders with Guinea and Liberia," said
the report, dated 25 June.

Annan also called on the leaders of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia to
work towards restoring lasting peace in the region, which would allow its
many displaced people and refugees to return home.

Catholic church appeals for fund

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's Catholic Church has launched an international
appeal for funds to rebuild the education sector, especially in the former
rebel-held north and east of the country where fighting destroyed many
school buildings, the Missionary News Agency (MISNA) reported on Tuesday.
 
LIBERIA: European Commission wants talks on rights, corruption

The European Commission has called for consultations with Liberia in the
light of the worsening situation in the areas of human rights, democratic
principles, rule of law and corruption, the Commission reported on
Tuesday. A communication to this effect, adopted on Tuesday, was scheduled
to be submitted for decision to the EU Council of Ministers.

According to the Commission, the political situation in Liberia has
deteriorated significantly, freedom of the press has been severely
undermined, human rights activists have been threatened and attacked and
there is concern about the transparent management of public funds by the
Liberian government.
 
The consultations, which would focus on the problems identified and the
measures to be taken to resolve them, would also serve as the basis for
reassessing EU co-operation with the country.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Insecurity persists

Guinea-Bissau's armed forces shelled positions held by a faction of
Senegal's Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) along the
border between the two countries on Monday and Tuesday, sources in
Ziguinchor, the main town in southern Senegal, told IRIN.

The sources said the Guinea-Bissau military bombarded the positions of
MFDC commander Salif Sadio from the town of Sao Domingos, less than 10km
south of the border. The Guineans were supported by a rival faction of the
MFDC loyal to Leopold Sagna, the sources said. Sagna has reportedly been
detained for months by Sadio.
 
The MFDC has been fighting since 1982 for self-rule for Casamance, which
is in southern Senegal.
  
Just days before the fighting, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had
reported that the biggest security threat to Guinea-Bissau came from MFDC
activities on its northern border. "Armed skirmishes between rival
factions of the MFDC continue, sometimes on Bissau-Guinean territory, and
have caused additional security problems, especially when innocent
civilians have been killed or hurt as a side effect of the fighting," he
reported to the Security Council on 22 June.

Annan said that since March, when he issued his last report on the
country, Guinea-Bissau also saw prolonged and considerable friction
between President Kumba Yala and the legislature over the appointment of
Prime Minister Faustino Imbali, further indicating the fragile state of
the country's democratic process.
  
GUINEA: Certificate of origin for diamonds

The government of Guinea has started issuing certificates of origin for
diamonds originating from the country in compliance with United Nations
guidelines aimed at stemming the flow of conflict diamonds from Sierra
Leone and Liberia, state radio reported on Monday. The report quoted
Guinea's Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Cheick Amadou Camara,
as saying that the measure, which distinguishes the country's diamonds
from UN-prohibited exports from neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone,
would help restore peace in the war-torn region.
 
COTE D'IVOIRE: EU agrees to gradual resumption of aid

The European Union (EU)'s Council of Ministers decided on Monday to
gradually resume aid to Cote d'Ivoire after concluding that the West
African nation had taken significant measures to straighten out its
socio-political problems. The resumption of full co-operation will depend
on a further review of the situation in January 2002, according to an EU
news release.

The ministers said on Monday that a number of points continued to give
cause for concern and required continued monitoring. Among other things,
they said "the investigations and legal proceedings concerning ... acts of
violence carried out during the year 2000 must be launched and/or
accelerated". These include massacres in October, in which dozens of
people were reported to have died.

About 150 people claiming to be victims of last year's abuses have sued
President Laurent Gbagbo, Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou, Defence
Minister Moise Lida Kouassi and former junta leader General Robert Guei
for crimes against humanity. They filed the suit on Thursday in a Belgian
court. Lida Kouassi and Boga Doudou have denied the accusations.

On Friday, Amnesty International urged the government to speed up the
investigation into, and punish, last year's human rights violations so as
to "end impunity which has existed in Cote d'Ivoire for the last 10
years".

Amnesty's recommendations came at the end of a 12-18 June mission in
Abidjan during which the investigators met with victims, their relatives,
and government officials, including Gbagbo. The team collected evidence on
torture, rape and other abuses, including the death of 57 persons whose
bodies were found in an Abidjan neighbourhood in late October 2000.

Amnesty commended the government for opening investigations into the mass
killing but stressed that more remained to be done, including sensitising
security forces to the need to respect individuals' rights.

NIGERIA: Police send in reinforcements to quell ethnic clashes

Fresh police reinforcements have been sent to Nasarawa State in central
Nigeria to quell more than two weeks of ethnic clashes that have claimed
scores of lives, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Thursday.

PANA reported Nasarawa Police Commissioner Umar Suleiman as saying new
contingents of police had been dispatched from Abuja and Lagos to stop the
fighting that has pitted Tivs against Hausa-speakers since 12 June.

The fighting followed the killing by unknown gunmen of a prominent Hausa
traditional ruler, Musa Ibrahim, along with members of his entourage. His
people blamed Tivs and carried out revenge killings, forcing many to flee
to nearby Benue State, where Tivs are in the majority.
 		
Radio Nigeria said mobs swept through the Nasarawa capital, Lafia, on
Tuesday, attacking members of rival ethnic groups, burning houses, putting
thousands of people to flight and killing more than 25. PANA reported that
up to 200 people have been killed in the violence. More than 35,000 people
have been displaced, Red Cross sources were reported as saying.

NIGERIA: Liberians allowed in

A group of Liberians arrived on Tuesday in Lagos, Nigeria, after spending
three weeks at sea. Their ship, the MV Alnar Stockholm, left Monrovia on 1
June. It was denied entry by the authorities in Ghana, Togo and Benin
before Nigeria decided on humanitarian grounds to allow it to dock in
Lagos.
  
BENIN: Japan donates funds for fighting child trafficking

The government of Japan this week donated US $980,000 to Benin to support
its efforts to reduce poverty and combat child trafficking, 'La Nation', a
Beninese daily, reported. A grant of US $240,000 is to go towards
supporting poverty-reduction schemes implemented at the local level and
funding activities aimed at human capital development. A grant of US
$740,000 is to be used to enhance children's access to health care, fight
child trafficking and reintegrate former victims of trafficking into
society.
 
MAURITANIA: HRW condemns repression

Human Rights Watch condemned on 22 June the ongoing repression of
Mauritania's opposition parties and political and rights activists,
including the recent imprisonment of three members of the opposition Front
populaire (FP).

In a letter addressed to President Ould Taya, the international rights
watchdog said the imprisonment of the detainees was politically motivated.
HRW said their detention confirmed a pattern of repression and harassment
since 1998.

HRW called for the "unconditional release" of the detainees, including FP
leader Chbih Cheikh Ould Malainine. It urged President Ould Taya to
promote liberties and democratic principles, stop the repression of those
whose views differ from his government's and resolve the issue of
thousands of black Mauritanians forced to flee the country a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Mauritania's Ministry of the Interior has censored the latest
issue of the independent weekly 'L'Eveil-Hebdo' which was due on
newsstands on Thursday, AFP reported the weekly's publishing director, Sy
Mamoudou, as saying. Mamoudou said the move could be tied to two articles
by his weekly on the arrest of a group of counterfeiters, AFP reported.
 
NIGER: Penal code to be reformed

The inclusion of new offences such as war crimes and crimes against
humanity are among amendments proposed by the government to Niger's penal
code, PANA reported on Sunday, quoting the Niger news agency, ANP. The
code has never been significantly updated since independence from France
in 1960, ANP said. The modified code would also punish female genital
mutilation and sexual harassment. Other offences it envisions include
voluntary transmission of AIDS, which would be punishable by prison terms
of two to four years.

WESTERN SAHARA: UN defends new proposal

A new UN proposal on Western Sahara has been described by its proponents
as an attempt to facilitate negotiations and end the conflict.
 
"We are not asking in this proposal that anyone give up anything," James
Baker III, the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, told
reporters after briefing the Security Council on Tuesday. "We are asking
that the parties are willing to come to the table and talk."
 
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 22 June that the plan would allow
the people of Western Sahara the right to elect their own executive and
legislative bodies and to have exclusive competence over local government
and a range of economic, legal and social affairs. It provides for a
referendum within five years on the final status of the territory which
was annexed by Morocco in 1975.

News organisations have reported that under the new autonomy plan rejected
by POLISARIO and accepted by Morocco, defence, foreign affairs and the
currency would remain under Moroccan control.

WEST AFRICA: 17,000 mt of food needed, WFP says
 
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has called on donors to
cover an expected shortfall in food aid by September for refugees and
displaced people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. WFP's regional
director for West Africa, Arnold Vercken, said assessments by the agency
showed an extra 17,000 mt of food with an estimated value of US $10
million was needed in the three countries up to the end of the year.

WEST AFRICA: Floods kill dozens, threaten thousands more

Many people in West African cities are threatened by rain-induced floods
which have already claimed lives in Ghana and Cameroon, according to news
organisations and environmentalists.

In Limbe, southern Cameroon, floods on Wednesday have killed at least 19
people while many others were missing, Reuters quoted state radio as
reporting on Friday. It said most of the victims were killed in
landslides. Also on Wednesday, at least seven people are reported to have
died in Accra, Ghana, after six hours of rains swamped neighbourhoods in
low-lying areas, forcing people to take refuge on roofs and rendering an
estimated 5,000 persons homeless.

Heavy rains have also been registered in other West African capitals such
as Abidjan, where floods occurred in low-income neighbourhoods in 1999
during the main rainy season. The season usually begins in July in
Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.

The Benin capital, Cotonou, is among the vulnerable areas. A source at
Benin's state environmental agency told IRIN that July's heavy rains are
usually accompanied by floods. These result from factors including a high
water table, the resultant saturation of the ground and inadequate
drainage systems.

People most at risk include the thousands who live in unplanned
settlements in marshy areas near Cotonou's lagoons. Those living in
makeshift shelters in gullies and on hillsides in various poor
neighbourhoods throughout the region are also considered vulnerable.

Deforestation has been cited as another factor that contributes to
flooding. AFP reported Liberian Agriculture Minister Roland Massaquoi as
saying that that massive logging in Liberia was changing weather patterns
and giving rise to destructive floods that have been affecting several
towns and villages.
   
Abidjan, 29 June 2001; 19:25 GMT


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