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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 89
15 - 21 September 2001


CONTENTS:

SIERRA LEONE: Peace process gains momentum
SIERRA LEONE: Political parties want electoral commission dissolved
GUINEA: Up to 70,000 affected by floods
COTE D'IVOIRE: Red Cross helps IDPs, supports fight vs yellow fever
NIGERIA: Red Cross helps victims of communal fighting in Jos
NIGERIA: Fighting the traffic in women, children
NIGERIA: Former military leaders fail to appear before commission
BURKINA FASO: Academic heads election commission
BURKINA FASO: Sweden funds poverty alleviation programme
BENIN: WFP food for vulnerable populations
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: President dissolves cabinet
CHAD: Former president expelled from opposition coalition
CHAD: ADB approves $11.6 m for rural development project
WEST AFRICA: Cholera kills over 100 in four countries
WEST AFRICA: Support for anti-terrorism effort - Senegal, Liberia

SIERRA LEONE: Peace process gains momentum

Sierra Leone's peace process gained momentum this week with the extension
of disarmament to two new districts, the deployment of more UN troops in
the diamond-rich east of the country and the reunification of former child
fighters with their parents.

The Joint Committee on Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
agreed at a meeting on Tuesday to start disarmament, preceded by a
sensitisation programme, on 24 September in the southern districts of
Bombali and Bo. Tuesday's meeting was to have taken place over two weeks
ago but was postponed due to an RUF boycott.

Following a discussion on the low turnout of combatants in the northern
district of Koinadugu, the committee - comprising the RUF, government and
UNAMSIL (UN Mission in Sierra Leone) - agreed to extend disarmament there
by two weeks.

Despite the slowness of the disarmament in Koinadugu, its launch a few
weeks ago enabled the Caritas-Makeni child protection agency to start
tracing the families of separated children in the district. On Monday, 15
former child fighters were reunited with their families on Monday in
Kabala, Koinadugu District. Some of the children, who were meeting their
families for the first time in more than five years, did not recognise
their relatives, UNAMSIL said.

A total of 76 children whose families had been traced to Koinadugu were
flown by UNAMSIL to Kabala.  More families were expected to arrive from
different chiefdoms within the district to identify their children,
according to Bituin Gonzales, UNAMSIL's child protection adviser.

UNAMSIL's deployment continued with the arrival of some 300 Zambian
peacekeeping troops on 14 September in the diamond-rich eastern area of
Tongo Fields, until recently an RUF stronghold. UNAMSIL's mandate was to
have ended on 30 September but the UN Security Council extended it on
Tuesday to 31 March 2002.

The Security Council expressed concerned about a serious shortfall in a
multi-donor trust fund for Sierra Leone's disarmament, demobilisation and
reintegration programme and urged the international community to support
it generously. The Council also said it was deeply concerned at reports of
widespread human rights abuses and attacks against civilians by rebel and
pro-government forces and other armed groups and individuals.

SIERRA LEONE: Political parties want electoral commission dissolved

A body representing some of Sierra Leone's registered political parties
has called for the dissolution of the National Electoral Commission (NEC)
before elections to be held next year. The All Political Parties
Association (APPA) said on Wednesday that it had no confidence in the
composition of NEC which, it said, should be reconstituted in the interest
of fair play, transparency and credible elections, the BBC reported.

GUINEA: Up to 70,000 affected by floods

Tens of thousands of people have been affected by the worst floods in 10
years in the Kankan region of eastern Guinea, the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday in a situation
report.

The floods occurred after the River Niger and its tributaries - the
Sankarini, Fie, Milo and Djon - overflowed. They have affected up to
70,000 people, 40,000 of whom have been displaced, OCHA reported the
Guinean authorities as saying. The worst hit prefectures are Mandiana,
Kouroussa, Kankan, Siguiri and Kerouane. Many areas are still inaccessible
and distribution of aid to the population has been suspended, OCHA said.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Red Cross helps IDPs, supports fight vs yellow fever

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has given emergency
supplies to 1,400 people of Malian origin living in five camps in Bouake,
central Cote d'Ivoire, after being displaced by ethnic violence in the
area around Lake Kossou, further to the south, ICRC said.

The violence flared up in August between indigenes and people of Malian
origin who have lived as fishermen on the shores of the lake for over a
generation. ICRC said thousands of people of Malian origin were forced to
seek refuge in nearby cities. Most were accommodated by relatives or
friends.

Meanwhile, the Ivorian Red Cross, supported by the International
Federation of the Red Cross, is deploying 660 volunteers to help raise
public awareness about yellow fever so that up to three million people can
be vaccinated against the virus by 29 September, the Federation reported.
It said it had launched an appeal for 250,000 Swiss francs to buy vaccines
and fund the public education campaign.

Five people have died from yellow fever and 72 confirmed cases of the
virus have been registered in Abidjan, the economic capital. Participants
in the vaccination campaign include the Red Cross, other NGOs, the
Ministry of Health and UN agencies.

NIGERIA: Red Cross helps victims of communal fighting in Jos

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in conjunction with
the Nigerian Red Cross began distributing relief supplies on Tuesday to
some 15,000 people "who are now in safety" after being displaced by
fighting between Christians and Muslims in Jos, central Nigeria. ICRC said
it gave blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheeting, buckets, soap and
cooking utensils to the displaced persons, who had lost everything in the
fighting, which erupted on 7 September. It quoted sources close to the
government as reporting 500 dead, while the Red Cross counted 928 people
injured. "Hundreds of vehicles were set alight and some neighbourhoods
were completely destroyed," the ICRC said. State media said on Sunday that
police had arrested about 300 people in connection with the clashes.

NIGERIA: Fighting the traffic in women, children

More than 200 victims of traffickers of women and children have been sent
back to Nigeria from various countries within one month, according to
reports received by a presidential committee set up to fight the
trafficking of human beings, its chairman, Musa Elayo Abdullahi, said.

President Olusegun Obasanjo established the committee on 23 August when
the president of the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication
Foundation presented 33 victims of human trafficking to him. Abdullahi,
who is also minister of state for justice, said his committee had received
reports of 262 more victims repatriated between 21 August and 15 September
from countries such as Algeria, Benin, Niger, Saudi Arabia and Spain.

A bill on the establishment of a national agency that would deal with the
trafficking of persons and child labour is now under preparation in
Nigeria.

NIGERIA: Former military leaders fail to appear before commission

Former military rulers Muhammadu Buhari (1984-1985) and Ibrahim Babangida
(1985-1993) failed to appear on Tuesday before a panel investigating three
decades of human rights abuses in Nigeria. On Monday, another former
military ruler, Abdulsalami Abubakar (1998-1999), also failed to show up.
Summoned in connection with the death in custody of opposition politician
Moshood Abiola, he sent his attorney to answer questions on his behalf.
However, the lawyer for the Abiola family said he needed to appear in
person.

BURKINA FASO: Academic heads election commission

A representative of civil society has been appointed president of Burkina
Faso's independent national electoral commission, CENI. Moussa Tapsoba of
the Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche sur la Democratie et le Developpement
Economique et Sociale (GERDDES) heads a 15-member body evenly divided
between the presidential bloc, opposition parties and civil society.
GERDDES does research on democracy and social and economic development.
Other sections of civil society represented on the commission are
religious and human rights groups and traditional chiefs. CENI's main task
is to organise legislative elections to be held in April-May 2002.

BURKINA FASO: Sweden funds poverty alleviation programme

Sweden will provide Burkina Faso with the sum of 2.8 billion fCFA (about
US $ 4 million) for a poverty alleviation programme under an agreement the
two countries signed on Tuesday. The agreement is the first between
Burkina Faso and Sweden since the launch in July 2000 of a strategic
anti-poverty framework worked out by the Ouagadougou government, the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

BENIN: WFP food for vulnerable populations

The World Food Programme (WFP) is to provide Benin with US $ 3 million
worth of food, services, equipment and non-food supplies annually for four
years under an accord signed on Thursday in the economic capital, Cotonou.
WFP said the programme, which actually began a few months ago, will be
executed primarily in parts of the north and centre that are most prone to
food insecurity. The beneficiaries will be mainly women and children.

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: President dissolves cabinet

The new president of Sao Tome and Principe, Fradique de Menezes, this week
dissolved the cabinet of Prime Minister Guilherme Posser da Costa.

The Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported de Menezes as attributing his
decision to a lack of agreement at negotiations on a cabinet reshuffle.
Posser da Costa said the main bone of contention had been a presidential
demand for the dismissal of key ministers.

De Menezes was sworn in on 3 September after winning presidential polls on
29 July. He comes from the Independent Democratic Alliance (ADI), which is
also the party of his predecessor, Miguel Trovoada.

Posser da Costa had become prime minister in early 1999 after his Movement
for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP) won 31 of the 55 seats
in parliament. The MLSTP had also won the previous legislative election,
in 1994, and had cohabited with Trovoada since then.

CHAD: Former president expelled from opposition coalition

Former Chadian President Goukouni Oueddei (1979-1982) has been expelled
from an overseas-based opposition coalition, the Coordination of
Opposition Armed Movements and Political Parties, Radio France
Internationale (RFI) reported. Coalition chairman Antoine Bangui said
Goukouni had made contact with other Chadian politicians without informing
him and was playing into the government's hands.

CHAD: ADB approves $11.6 m for rural development project

The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of about US $11.6
million for a project to reduce rural poverty in Biltine Department,
eastern Chad. The project aims to increase farmers' incomes, improve
access to health by 20 percent and raise access to education by 10 percent
within six years, the Bank said in a press release on Wednesday.

WEST AFRICA: Cholera kills over 100 in four countries

Over 100 people have died from cholera this year in five West African
countries, according to statistics from the World Health Organisation and
health authorities in two of the affected countries, Benin and Guinea.

WHO said that Burkina Faso reported 55 cases, including three deaths
between 14 July and 4 September; Cote d'Ivoire registered 897 cases,
including 47 deaths up to 12 August; and 13 cases including three deaths
were reported in Niger between 27 August and 2 September 2001.

In Benin, 57 people died from cholera between January and 9 September,
according to the Health Ministry, which said there were 2,176 cases. A
health consultant in Guinea reported 151 cases, 12 of them fatal,
according to AFP.

WEST AFRICA: Support for anti-terrorism effort - Senegal, Liberia

West African states continued this week to express support for the global
fight against terrorism in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks on
the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the United States.

In Paris, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade proposed the creation of an
African pact against terrorism which, he said, would help the continent
"to team up with the world coalition against this evil", Radio France
International (RFI) reported. Wade said the African pact would work in
coordination with the other organisations "in providing information or
taking actions". Each African state, he said, would pledge not to indulge
in terrorism, or to harbour terrorists, and would accept African or
international inspection of its territory "if there are indications that
terrorist activities are being prepared there".

In Liberia, parliament passed a resolution on Tuesday supporting a pledge
made last week by President Charles Taylor to help Washington fight
terrorism. According to pro-government Radio Liberia International, the
legislators presented the resolution to Taylor on Thursday.

The legislators also called on the government to "work towards providing
security protection for all embassies and foreign missions accredited near
Monrovia as well as foreigners residing in the country", the radio
reported.


Taylor, for his part, said that the legislature's action had strengthened
his administration's resolve to cooperate with all global efforts to
combat terrorism. He said steps were being taken in line with the contents
of the resolution, adding that permission had been granted for the US to
use Liberian land and airspace "when the need arises".

Some callers on a popular talk show were less supportive of the United
States, making statements on Monday which the government described as
"anti-American". The authorities reacted by arresting the show's host, Max
Jlateh, and the station, DC 101, went off the air. The government said the
views aired were not in line with Liberia's national security interests
and that they gave the impression it did not sympathise with the US
following the attacks. Jlateh was released on Tuesday and DC 101 resumed
its broadcasts.

Abidjan, 21 September 2001; 19:15 GMT


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


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