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.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 57
27 January - 2 February 2001


CONTENTS:

GUINEA: UNICEF deploys in Forecariah District
GUINEA: UNHCR reduces relief effort in southwest 
GUINEA: IOM repatriates 4,800 Sierra Leoneans
NIGERIA: Court dismisses suit against Sharia
NIGERIA: Militants vow to remain at Shell facilities
NIGERIA: Panel defers ruling on Ogoni hangings
NIGERIA: Head of Anglican Church on two-week visit
SIERRA LEONE: Ex-fighters repair roads
SIERRA LEONE: Oxfam grant for adult literacy
SIERRA LEONE: Briton appointed UNAMSIL Deputy Special Representative
SIERRA LEONE: British defence minister arrives
SIERRA LEONE: Elections postponed
SIERRA LEONE: Group set up with Guinea to avoid civilian deaths
LIBERIA: Government protests against alleged attack on embassy in Guinea
LIBERIA: Minister says 10 died in Guinean air raid
LIBERIA: Taiwan medical team arrives
BURKINA FASO: UNICEF to fund poverty-alleviation programme
BENIN: US $142,857 to fight leprosy
CAPE VERDE: New PAICV government sworn in
MALI: European Union supports health sector
MALI: 100,000 receive trachoma medication
NIGER: Tourists survive attack by bandits
NIGER: Military learn humanitarian law
COTE D'IVOIRE: Opposition member arrested
SENEGAL: Student dies in campus clash
WEST AFRICA: UNICEF exceeds polio immunisation target
WEST AFRICA: Speaker of parliament says his priority is peace

GUINEA: UNICEF deploys in Forecariah District

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on Monday that it was
deploying in Forecariah district in Guinea to help some 53,000 internally
displaced persons (IDPs) from areas affected by insecurity along the border
with Sierra Leone and Liberia.

UNICEF said it would improve sanitation, educational facilities,
immunisation and nutrition for children in the area.

UNICEF has disinfected most of the wells in western Forecariah into which
corpses were thrown following invasions in September by armed dissidents
from Sierra Leone and Liberia. The agency has erected tents for classrooms
and
playgrounds for over 21,000 infants, while health workers have been trained
to immunise 30,000 children and provide them with Vitamin A.

GUINEA: UNHCR reduces relief effort in southwest 

UNHCR scaled down its relief effort in southwestern Guinea following rebel
attacks on Sunday in the border area of Guekedou, UNHCR's Peter Kessler
said. "Most of UNHCR's staff operating from the regional base in Kissidougou
have been withdrawn northwards," the UNHCR spokesman said on Tuesday. He
said the attacks dashed hopes for quick access to an estimated 250,000
people stuck in the Parrot's Beak, a thumb of Guinean territory that juts
into Sierra Leone. UNHCR is building camps in Borea and Kuntaya, 60 km and
82 km north of Kissidougou, to house refugees to be relocated from Guekedou
and the Parrot's Beak. 

GUINEA: IOM repatriates 4,800 Sierra Leoneans

Some 4,800 Sierra Leoneans have returned home by ferry since the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) started repatriating refugees
from Guinea by sea on 9 January, IOM said on Tuesday. 

NIGERIA: Court dismisses suit against Sharia

A high court in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara has dismissed a suit
filed by three Christians challenging the legality of the state's decision
to impose Islamic law, 'The Guardian' daily reported on Friday.

NIGERIA: Militants vow to remain at Shell facilities

Ijaw militants have vowed to continue occupying three oil-pumping facilities
owned by Royal Dutch Shell in the Niger Delta until their demands for jobs
and amenities for their communities are met, 'The Guardian' reported on
Friday. The Lagos daily said negotiations between Shell and the militants,
who have occupied the facilities since 25 January, had broken down. The
government has moved troops into the area but has instructed them not to
engage the youths while a peaceful solution was being sought, the daily
reported.

NIGERIA: Panel defers ruling on Ogoni hangings

Nigeria's Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (HRVIC) has
postponed to an unspecified date a ruling it was to have made on Wednesday
on the legality of the 1995 execution of author Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight
other members of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP).

The hanging was ordered by late military ruler Sani Abacha after a trial
generally considered flawed. They were convicted for the mob killing of four
Ogoni leaders opposed to MOSOP.
 
'The Guardian' newspaper reported on Thursday that representatives of MOSOP
and relatives of the four men signed a peace agreement brokered by the
HRVIC. They also agreed to fight together against environmental degradation
caused by oil production on their land and to seek greater autonomy for
their 500,000-strong minority.

The HRVIC was set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo to investigate human
rights abuses committed since January 1966 and to foster national
reconciliation. On 24 January, it heard the testimonies of seven Ogoni women
who said they were raped by soldiers Abacha deployed in their district in
1993 and 1994.
 
NIGERIA: Head of Anglican Church on two-week visit

The Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who heads the world's 70 million
Anglicans, arrived in Nigeria on Wednesday on a two-week pastoral visit,
media organizations reported. Carey went to Kaduna on Friday and was
scheduled to visit another northern state, Zamfara, on Saturday. Zamfara was
the first Nigerian state to impose the Sharia.
  
SIERRA LEONE: Ex-fighters repair roads

The Sierra Leone Roads Authority has contracted 15 ex-combatants to repair a
30-km feeder road, the state-owned news agency, SLENA, reported. 

The former fighters were trained in road maintenance by the authority before
setting up three construction companies, each of which has been contracted
to recondition a 10-km stretch of the road within six months. 
 
SIERRA LEONE: Oxfam grant for adult literacy

An adult education drive in the Sierra Leonean districts of Waterloo and
Koya has received an 80-million-leone (US $42,127) donation from the British
NGO, OXFAM, SLENA reported on Monday. The project is being run by the
Partners in Adult Education Coordinating Office (PADECO), a local agency
that has started a test-run with 1,000 adult learners in the area.  

SIERRA LEONE: Briton appointed UNAMSIL Deputy Special Representative

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced on Wednesday the appointment of
Alan Doss, a Briton, as his Deputy Special Representative at the UN Mission
in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).  

Doss will work under Special Representative Oluyemi Adeniji and alongside
Deputy Special Representative Behrooz Sadry, who handles political
and administrative affairs.  

UNAMSIL said Doss was expected to help the government of Sierra Leone 
extend its authority and institutions throughout the country, stabilize
areas under its control, rehabilitate national institutions and, in due
course, plan and organize elections. He is also expected to plan and
supervise the implementation of reintegration projects and peace-building
initiatives.  

SIERRA LEONE: British defence minister arrives

British Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon visited Sierra Leone on Wednesday
and Thursday to inspect British troops, view progress made in training the
new Sierra Leonean army and meet Sierra Leonean and UN officials. Britain
has already trained some 6,500 Sierra Leonean troops and is due to finish
training another 1,500 by the end of September. 

SIERRA LEONE: Elections postponed

Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah has sought parliament's approval
for a six-month postponement of legislative and presidential elections
scheduled for March because of continuing insecurity in parts of the
country, news organizations reported.

SIERRA LEONE: Group set up with Guinea to avoid civilian deaths

Guinea and Sierra Leone have set up a joint body to ensure that Guinean
forces avoid causing civilian casualties when in hot pursuit of rebels in
Sierra Leone, presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Thursday. 

"We will work together to deal with the crisis and ensure that civilian
lives are not endangered," the Sierra Leonean official said. 

Civilians were reported to have died during recent retaliatory strikes by
Guinean forces against the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone.


LIBERIA: Government protests against alleged attack on embassy in Guinea

The Liberian government has protested to the Economic Community of West
African States and the United Nations that its embassy in neighbouring
Guinea was attacked, a local radio in Monrovia reported President Charles
Taylor as saying on Monday.

According to Radio Liberia International, Taylor also told parliament
Liberian diplomats were arrested and manhandled by Guinean security
personnel.

LIBERIA: Minister says 10 die in Guinean air raid

Liberia's defence minister, Daniel Chea, said at least 10 people were killed
by Guinean helicopter gunships on Monday in an attack on the northern border
town of Solumba, news organizations reported. Chea said artillery units had
been ordered to bring down any helicopter that entered Liberia's airspace.

LIBERIA: Taiwan medical team arrives

A team of 27 medical workers from Taiwan have arrived in Liberia to provide
free treatment in rural areas until 11 February, AFP reported on Tuesday.
The French news agency, quoting the head of the medical team, Ho Mei-shang,
said the volunteers included eight doctors, three pharmacists, two
laboratory technicians, five nurses, eight student doctors and a medical
support staff.  

BURKINA FASO: UNICEF to fund poverty-alleviation programme

UNICEF is to provide 27 billion fCFA (about US $40 million) for a five-year
poverty-alleviation programme in Burkina Faso under an agreement signed on
Thursday with the Burkinabe government, UNICEF said in a communique. The
programme is aimed, among other things, at improving the living conditions
of children and women and promoting their rights.

BENIN: US $142,857 fCFA to fight leprosy

Benin has set aside 100 million F CFA (US $142,857) for the management of
its 4,500 leprosy patients in 2001, PANA reported officials of the National
Leprosy Eradication Programme as saying.

PANA quoted the coordinator of the programme as saying the country was
working on a strategy to bring the leprosy prevalence rate within the
internationally recommended level of one infection per 10,000 persons by
2004. 
 
CAPE VERDE: New PAICV government sworn in

A new government took over in Cape Verde on Thursday with the swearing in of
Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves, whose African Party for the Independence of
Cape Verde (PAICV) won parliamentary elections in January, news
organizations reported.

MALI: European Union supports health sector

The European Union (EU) will finance a four-year, US $9.6-million project to
improve Malians' access to quality health care and drugs under an agreement
signed on 16 January by EU and Malian representatives, the EU's advisor on
health in Bamako , Patrick Maillard, told IRIN on Tuesday. 

MALI: 100,000 receive trachoma medication

Some 100,000 Malians have received Zithromax, an antibiotic against
trachoma, under a campaign launched on 15 January that aims to distribute
the drug to 200,000 people in six weeks, Christian Stengel of the
International Trachoma Initiative told IRIN on Wednesday. 

NIGER: Tourists survive attack by bandits

A group of US and Austrian tourists have survived an attack by Malian-based
Tuareg bandits in the Air mountains of northern Niger, humanitarian sources
quoted state radio as reporting on Friday. 

The radio reported that the army had been sent in pursuit of the attackers,
whose exact strength was unknown. AFP, quoting an unnamed military source,
reported them to be around 20. They attacked tourists in the northern town
of Iferoune and stole four of their all-terrain vehicles and 45 million
francs CFA (about US $64,000) in cash.  

NIGER: Military learn humanitarian law

Some 90 military officers in northern Niger participated in a course in
humanitarian law run by the ICRC on 15-23 January. ICRC said an initial
4,000 copies of the 'Soldier's handbook' were presented to the army chief of
staff for distribution to the rank and file.
 
COTE D'IVOIRE: Opposition member arrested

A diplomatic advisor to Alassane Ouattara, leader of the opposition
Rassemblement des republicains (RDR), was arrested on Wednesday during a
raid on his home by gendarmes (militarised police), news organizations
reported. The official 'Fraternite Matin' daily said on Thursday that
Jean-Jacques Bechio was arrested, along with six other persons, after the
gendarmes found shotguns, rifles, ammunition, binoculars and other military
equipment in his
home. A number of other RDR officials have been held in detention since a
failed coup d'etat on 7-8 January.

SENEGAL: Student dies in campus clash

Senegalese universities and high schools were closed on Thursday in memory
of a first-year law student who died on the previous day from gunshot wounds
sustained during a clash between university students and security forces,
news organizations reported. 'Le Soleil' reported that the clash occurred
near the campus of Dakar's Cheick Anta Diop University, where students have
been protesting for the past three weeks to press demands for lower food and
housing bills and more financial aid. 
 
WEST AFRICA: UNICEF exceeds polio immunisation target

UNICEF said its polio immunisation target for 18 West African countries in
2000 was exceded by 14 percent as at November, according to details released
on 24 January.

A total of 76.9 million children were vaccinated against the polio virus
between January and November. The original target population had been
estimated at 67.4 million. Immunisation coverage last year was 16.7 percent
better than in 1999, the figures also show.

However, the third in a series of National Immunisation Days against polio
organized by UNICEF on 20-26 January in Nigeria, encountered some resistance
in parts of the north. Immunisation officials said they were turned back by
some families who believed the vaccines contained HIV or birth control
agents.

WEST AFRICA: Speaker of parliament says his priority is peace

The newly elected speaker of the parliament of the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS), Ali Diallo, has said that his priority is to
bring peace and security to the region, PANA reported on Monday. Diallo, a
Malian, was elected speaker at the first plenary session of the regional
parliament, which ended on 25 January in Abuja.
  

Abidjan, 2 February 2001; 17:20 GMT


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