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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 88
8 - 14 September 2001


CONTENTS:

MALI: Bamako flooded
MALI: US funds for 2002 elections
SIERRA LEONE: Annan recommends six-month extension of UN mission
GUINEA-BISSAU: RSF reacts to threats against journalists
COTE D'IVOIRE: Mass vaccination campaign planned
GHANA: Disaster-response unit to be expanded
NIGERIA: Government team investigates religious clashes in Jos
NIGERIA: Governors want more revenue for states
NIGER: IPEC takes children off farms and into schools
CHAD: Many reported dead or missing in floods
SENEGAL: Anti-tank mine kills two
WEST AFRICA: FAO reports mixed performance by farm sector
WEST AFRICA: Widespread condemnation of attacks in the United States

MALI: Bamako flooded

Thousands of people have been displaced by floods in Mali's capital this
week after a dam overflowed near the city, flooding the rivers Niger and
Senegal, the BBC reported on Friday.

Homes, hotels and other buildings have been submerged in Bamako's worst
floods in 40 years, BBC said. Mali's interior and energy ministers have
toured the city to assess the situation. Local authorities have started
accommodating some victims in schools and other temporary shelters, news
organisations reported. The mayor's office in Bamako has ordered several
tonnes of cereals for the victims and the authorities are identifying new
shelters, PANA said.

Bamako residents have blamed the energy ministry for precipitating the
disaster by opening the floodgates of the Selingue hydro-electric dam
following heavy rains, BBC said. However the ministry said that it had
warned residents of the impending floods, PANA reported.

MALI: US funds for 2002 elections

The US government has released about US $120,000 for voter education and
sensitisation campaigns in Mali, where elections are to be held in 2002.
This is the first disbursement from a US $750,000 pledge for
election-related activities in Mali, the US Embassy in Bamako said in a
communiqué on Friday. Technical assistance to the Interior Ministry, media
support and training, and support to political parties are also to be
covered by the aid package. The pledge had been announced by US Secretary
of State Colin Powell when he visited Mali in May as part of a four-nation
African tour.

SIERRA LEONE: Annan recommends six-month extension of UN mission

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended the extension by a further
six months of the mandate of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)
which, he said, would continue to help the country complete its
disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme and
implement a ceasefire signed in Abuja late last year.

In a 7 September report to the UN Security Council, Annan also said
UNAMSIL would support preparations for elections on 14 May 2002. Annan
said he would report later to the council on the additional resources
UNAMSIL needed to support Sierra Leone's government in the electoral
process, including, if necessary, more troops. UNAMSIL's military strength
was 16,644 as at 5 September, while its approved ceiling is 17,500.

Annan said recent progress in the peace process has meant that UNAMSIL has
had to take on new tasks such as transporting released child soldiers and
abductees and giving additional logistical assistance to the DDR
programme. He expressed "cautious optimism" but warned that the months
leading up to elections "could be fraught with tensions that could
adversely affect the recent impressive gains in the peace process".

Annan expressed concern over violence against women and the "precarious
humanitarian situation" in parts of the country. Relief organisations have
voiced similar concern, including Medical Emergency Relief International
(MERLIN), which recently sent an assessment mission to the eastern mining
town of Tongo Fields. Merlin's Sheku Conteh told the BBC there were no
health facilities in Tongo Fields, water and sanitation were very poor,
and people were suffering from diarrhoea, lassa fever, scabies and
malnutrition.

Concern for the situation in Sierra Leone has also been expressed by
Canada's envoy, David Pratt. Sierra Leone Web, an online news service
provider quoted Pratt as saying in a report published on 7 September in
Ottawa that financial aid for good government and long-term economic
development were vital for the success of the "enormous investment in
peacekeeping and emergency aid" to Sierra Leone. "If, after the emergency
abates, Sierra Leone becomes a neglected donor backwater once again, the
chances of a return to violence will be high," he said.

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's parliament voted on Friday to extend by six
months a state of emergency imposed in early 1998 when West African troops
restored President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who had been overthrown in
mid-1997.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Media watchdog reacts to threats against journalists

Reporters without Borders (RSF-reporters sans Frontieres) expressed
concern on Tuesday about threats which, it said, Guinea-Bissau's attorney
general, Caetano Intchama, had made against journalists from a private
radio station.

RSF said Intchama went to Radio Pidjiquiti and threatened its workers
after they refused to give him the tapes of a programme on which
journalists had commented on his appointment last week as attorney
general. In a letter to Intchama, RSF asked him to apologise to the
newsroom of Radio Pidjiquiti and publicly declare his commitment to press
freedom.

Intchama had been prime minister in Guinea-Bissau's coalition government
until March when pressure from the ruling party forced President Kumba
Yala to replace him. Last week's appointment came amid signs of increasing
tension between Yala and the judiciary.

In late August, the Supreme Court ruled that a presidential decision to
expel the Ahmadiyya Muslim group was unconstitutional. Yala reacted by
describing the Supreme Court's judges as corrupt and mediocre. On 7
September, the deputy president of the Court, Venancio Martins, said the
institution would sue Yala for slander and interference in the internal
affairs of the judiciary. On Monday, Yala dismissed Martins and two other
Supreme Court judges.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Mass vaccination campaign planned

A mass campaign to vaccinate Abidjan residents against yellow fever is to
begin on 17 September, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on
Wednesday. WHO recently launched an appeal for US $2.9 million to cover
the cost of the campaign after the Ivorian authorities appealed for help
against an outbreak of yellow fever. Thus far France, the European
Commission, WHO and UNICEF have pledged US $600,000 to cover the
operational costs of the campaign and vector control activities, WHO said.

GHANA: Disaster-response unit to be expanded

Ghana's National Emergency Response Unit, responsible for managing
disasters, is to have a permanent presence "in the shortest possible time"
in all 10 regions of the country, according to Edward Akita, the deputy
minister of defence. The unit, run by the armed forces, was set up because
of a disaster on 9 May at the Accra soccer stadium in which 126 fans were
killed in a stampede, Ghana Review International reported on Tuesday.
Akita said the disaster had revealed the weakness of the emergency
management system, the Web-based news service added. The unit has 10
ambulances and two helicopters.

NIGERIA: Government team investigates religious clashes in Jos

A delegation from Nigeria's federal government travelled this week to the
centre and north of the country following clashes between Muslims and
Christians in the central state of Plateau.

The team's brief included assessing the crisis in Jos, capital of Plateau
State, and holding consultations with representatives of various bodies
there, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) reported on Wednesday.
Other states on its agenda included neighbouring Bauchi, Jigawa and Kano,
NTA said.

More than 51 people are reported to have died in the clashes in Plateau,
which occurred between Friday and Wednesday. Many others were displaced.

NIGERIA: Governors want more revenue for states

Governors of Nigeria's 17 southern states on Monday proposed a new revenue
allocation formula after rejecting one recently worked out by the federal
government's Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, news
organisations reported.

The commission had proposed that 41.3 percent of national revenue be
allocated to the federal government, 31 percent to states, 16 percent to
local governments and 4.7 percent to a special fund.

However, the governors proposed at a one-day meeting in Abuja that 36
percent should go to the federal government, 36 percent to states, 25
percent to local governments, 1 percent to the federal capital and 2
percent to the environment, PANA reported.

NIGER: IPEC takes children off farms and into schools

The International Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour (IPEC) has
launched a project aimed at getting 500 child labourers into schools and
technical training centres in five villages in Tillaberi, southwestern
Niger, IPEC National Administrator Ibrahim Souley Balla told IRIN on
Thursday. The children, some as young as six years old, work mainly on
grain farms. IPEC is donating a cereal mill to the area, thus reducing the
need for the type of manual labour done by the some 1,400 underage workers
registered there.

US $28,000 has been allocated for the one-year project, Balla said. He
added that IPEC and its partners were prioritising education as a way to
reduce child labour in Niger, where only 35 percent of children of school
age actually go to school.

CHAD: Many reported dead or missing in floods

Some 129,500 people have been affected by floods in Chad, and 100 are
reported dead or missing, the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report dated 11 September.

The floods were brought on by torrential rain which caused rivers to burst
their banks, according to the report, which was based on information
provided by the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in the Chadian capital,
N'Djamena. The worst affected areas are Tandjilé, Logone Occidental and
Logone Oriental in the south, Baguirmi in the west and Ouaddai in the
east, OCHA said, adding that about 10,500 houses were reported damaged and
thousands of domestic animals missing.

[The full report is available on the OCHA Internet website at
http://www.reliefweb.int ]

SENEGAL: Anti-tank mine kills two

Two people were killed on 8 September when an anti-tank mine exploded in
southern Senegal's Casamance area, 'Le Soleil' newspaper reported. The
state-owned Senegalese daily reported that the explosion occurred when a
truck drove over the device at Djibélor-Baraf, five kilometres from
Ziguinchor, the main town in Casamance.

WEST AFRICA: FAO reports mixed performance by farm sector

West Africa had mixed food-production results in the past two years, the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes in its latest annual
report, issued on Tuesday.

While Sahelian countries experienced record production in 1999, the
figures are expected to be below average for 2000 due to drought,
according to 'The State of Food and Agriculture 2001'. Coastal countries,
such as Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo, expect positive
production growth for 2000, as in the previous year. However, Sierra
Leone's food situation remains critical because of insecurity, the UN
agency said.

The 295-page report notes that HIV poses the greatest threat to West
Africa's food security because, as able-bodied farmers fall victim to the
virus, food production declines.

[The report can be viewed at
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X9800E/X9800E00.HTM ]

WEST AFRICA: Widespread condemnation of attacks in the United States

West African presidents joined other world leaders in condemning Tuesday's
attacks in the United States and presented their condolences to the
government and people of the United States.

The World Trade Center in New York City, USA, was destroyed and the
Pentagon in Washington DC seriously damaged when three commercial
airliners hijacked by unknown terrorists slammed into them on Tuesday. A
fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania, near New York. Preliminary
reports put the number of people dead at over 4,700 in the attacks.

Condemning the attack, the government of Nigeria, said it "would stand
firmly in support of all efforts to track down the perpetrators and bring
them to book". 'The Guardian' of Lagos reported President Olusegun
Obasanjo as saying in a brief broadcast: "If this can happen to the most
powerful nation in the world, then those of us who are less powerful
should watch it. We must make sure that we are always at alert. We must
never be caught unguarded."

Obasanjo led Nigerians in the observance of a minute's silence, Togo's
government decreed a day of mourning, and other states expressed horror
and reprobation, and pledged support for efforts to bring the perpetrators
to justice. In Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaore asked delegates at
the 106th conference of the Interparliamentary Union to observe a minute's
silence on Thursday in memory of the victims of the attacks.

In Conakry, the secretary-general of Guinea's Presidency said "we are
ready to be by the side of the peace and freedom-loving Americans who are
victims of such barbarity". We "bow our heads in memory of the dead and
all the affected families," he added. "May the victims rest in peace and
may America be avenged."

Other states that came out against the attacks included Chad, Cote
d'Ivoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra
Leone and Togo.

Deploring the acts, President Omar Bongo of Gabon said: "I think that
those who committed these acts must know that soon or later, a power like
the United States will carry out justice."

Abidjan, 14 September 2001; 18:45 GMT


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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