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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 92
29 September - 05 October 2001


CONTENTS:

SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament slows down in rebel stronghold
GUINEA: President to seek third term
WEST AFRICA: Mano River Union security update
WEST AFRICA: US humanitarian assistance in the Mano River area
LIBERIA: Courts reopen after week-long boycott
LIBERIA: MSF returns to IDP camp
COTE D'IVOIRE: IMF worried about economic downturn
GHANA: Census of unemployed youths to begin next week
BENIN: US support for NGOs, community groups
NIGER: MSF opens feeding centres
NIGERIA: Paramilitary training for 100 Congolese policemen
NIGERIA: Obasanjo announces commission to curb unrest
THE GAMBIA: Supporters of presidential candidates clash
GUINEA-BISSAU: Political uncertainty continues
SENEGAL: IMF loan
SENEGAL: Wheelchairs for the disabled
MAURITANIA: Election campaign kicks off

SIERRA LEONE: Disarmament slows down in rebel stronghold

The UN Security Council expressed concern on Wednesday at the slow pace of
disarmament in Bombali District, northern Sierra Leone.

Disarmament started in Bombali on 21 September, but only 12 Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) fighters and two from the pro-government Civil Defence
Forces (CDF) had handed in their weapons by 2 October, UN Mission in
Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) spokesperson Margaret Novicki said.

The RUF had said its fighters had not been disarming because they were
unhappy with the location of the disarmament centre. According to Novicki,
work is being done on an alternative site.

UN Security Council President Richard Ryan said in a statement on
Wednesday that concerns raised by the RUF were being addressed and were no
excuse for delaying the disarmament process. He said the RUF could air its
concerns at its regular tripartite meetings with UNAMSIL and the
government of Sierra Leone. The next tripartite meeting is due on 11
October.

GUINEA: President to seek third term

Guinean President General Lansana Conte declared on Tuesday that he was in
favour of a revision of the country's constitution that would enable him
to run for a third term, media organisations reported. He also announced
that Guineans would decide by referendum on the proposed revision.

His announcement confirmed rumours that his Party for Unity and Progress
(PUP - Parti pour l'unite et le progres) had been contemplating such a
decision for weeks. Opposition parties had already said they were against
a revision of the constitution. They created an alliance called the
Movement Against the Referendum and for Democratic Change to mobilise
Guineans against the ruling party's plan.

Guinea's constitution was revised in 1992, nine years after Conte to power
in a coup. He was elected president in 1993.

WEST AFRICA: Mano River Union security update

Defence and security ministers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
appeared to have made progress on mechanisms to improve the security
situation along their borders but subsequent statements by senior
officials have indicated that their work is far from complete.

The ministers travelled last week to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for a
three-day meeting of the joint security committee of the Mano River Union
(MRU), which comprises the three countries. According to the meeting's
final communique, they agreed on the deployment of joint patrols along
their borders. They also agreed on the modalities for the repatriation of
refugees, a frequent exchange of visits and the sharing of intelligence on
all security concerns.

Liberian President Charles Taylor told the ministers on 28 September, the
final day of their meeting, that he was reopening Liberia's borders with
Sierra Leone and Guinea, which he had closed in March after declaring
their ambassadors personae non gratae.

Taylor also lifted restrictions placed earlier this year on the movement
of diplomats and UN officials. Radio Liberia International (RLI) said the
restrictions had been imposed "for security reasons" because of the war
between pro-and anti-government forces in Lofa County, northwestern
Liberia.

Tension has been high between Guinea and Liberia this year, with Monrovia
accusing the authorities in Conakry of supporting the rebels in Lofa while
Guinea's government accused Liberia's of backing dissidents that attacked
border areas in the south of the country.

Guinea's border areas have been relatively quiet in recent months.
However, President Lansana Conte said on Tuesday that while the dissidents
had been beaten back, Guineans should remain vigilant. "In fact, the
moment of calm that we are experiencing now can either lead to definitive
and lasting peace or serve as a period of tactical withdrawal of the enemy
who would later try to take us by surprise," he said in an Independence
Day address.

In Monrovia, RLI reported on Wednesday that Liberian Defence Minister
Daniel Chea had told a visiting UN delegation that Liberia was still under
attack by dissidents from Guinea.

WEST AFRICA: US humanitarian assistance in the Mano River area

The United States, through the US Agency for International Development
(USAID), has spent more than US $126 million over the past 12 months on
relief efforts in the countries of the Mano River Union - Guinea, Liberia
and Sierra Leone, the agency reported on Wednesday. Just over US $75
million, went to activities in Sierra Leone, US $41 million was earmarked
for Guinea while Liberia received US $9.6 million, USAID said in a report
titled "Mano river Countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) - Complex
emergency."

[The full report is available at
http://www.usaid.gov/hum_response/ofda/manoce_sr1_fy02.html]

LIBERIA: Courts reopen after week-long boycott

Liberian lawyers on Wednesday called off a week-long boycott prompted by
the detention of bar association president Emmanuel Wureh, news
organisations reported. Detained for "contempt" by the lower chamber of
parliament, Wureh was released on Tuesday after serving one week of the
three-month sentence and paying a fine of about US $99 for referring to a
legislator as "unworthy to represent the Liberian people", PANA reported.
It said two officials from Monrovia's lawyers' association received
similar fines for describing Wureh's detention as "unconstitutional and
excessive" and for calling the boycott.

LIBERIA: MSF returns to IDP camp

A Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) team that recently returned to the Jenne
Manna camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northwestern Liberia
found that many of the new IDPs were in need of food, according to MSF's
Marie-Noelle Rodrigue.

"Many of the new arrivals are weak: they spent days and days walking
through the bush," Rodrigue said in the latest MSF newsletter, issued on 1
October. Some, from Foya in the north, transited via Sierra Leone where
they were forcibly recruited into rebel forces while others travelled
through Guinea. The IDPs spoke of insecurity, harassment and food
shortages during their journey to the camp, MSF reported.

Fighting between pro- and anti-government forces near Jenne Manna forced
the medical aid organisation to evacuate its expatriate staff from the
camp about a month ago. Since then, houses have been burned and people
kidnapped. The whole area near the Sierra Leonean border is extremely
volatile and there is no security guarantee for the local population,
Rodrigue said.

COTE D'IVOIRE: IMF worried about economic downturn

The executive directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have
expressed concern about the continued deterioration of Cote d'Ivoire's
economic and financial situation over the last three years. A report
issued after consultations with the Ivorian authorities noted that the
country's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was projected to decrease by
about 1 percent in 2001. Gains expected in manufacturing and services will
not be enough to offset negative growth in agriculture, according to the
report, which was released to the public on Tuesday.

[The report can be read at
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn201/pn01103.htm

GHANA: Census of unemployed youths to begin next week

Ghana's authorities are to begin registering all unemployed youth in the
West African nation on Monday, a local radio station reported. JoyFM
quoted Deputy Government Spokesman Kwabena Agyepong as saying that the
objective of the census was to provide up-to-date data on the unemployment
rate in Ghana. He also said those registered would undergo a three-week
training programme to enhance their employment chances.

BENIN: US support for NGOs, community groups

Seven non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Benin are to receive about
US $55,000 for micro-projects in areas such as infrastructure development
and the promotion of democracy and human rights, under an agreement they
signed on 28 September with the US government.

The agreement is aimed at enabling the NGOs to help the most vulnerable
sectors in society to be better able to help themselves and strengthen
their awareness of factors that hamper their development. According to the
US ambassador to Benin, Pamela Bridgewater, the seven NGOs are the second
batch of organisations to benefit from the programme. The first were 11
NGOs and community groups who received financing on 5 July.

NIGER: MSF opens feeding centers

Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) says it is building a therapeutic feeding
centre for malnourished children in Maradi, a town in the south of Niger
that has been affected this year by severe drought and crop shortages.

MSF has already opened two other therapeutic feeding centres in Niger
since July. The first is in Dakoro, 500 km east of the capital, Niamey,
while the second is in Maradi, 550 km east of the capital. The centres
have looked after hundreds of children, most of whom arrive in "alarming"
nutritional health, according to MSF, which said 225 children were treated
for "severe malnutrition" in late September in Maradi.

NIGERIA: Paramilitary training for 100 Congolese policemen

A team of 100 policemen from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
arrived in Nigeria this week for four months' training in basic policing,
crime detection and controlling riots at a paramilitary police college,
police officials said.

NIGERIA: Obasanjo announces commission to curb unrest

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Monday that he planned to set
up a special security commission to deal with increasing ethnic, religious
and communal unrest in Nigeria. He said during an Independence Day
broadcast that the violence recorded in the past two years was "a national
disgrace" and had made it necessary to set up "a Commission on Security to
advise the government on ways and means of strengthening overall security
for our people". Widespread violence across ethnic and religious lines as
well as within ethnic groups has claimed thousands of lives since 1999.

THE GAMBIA: Supporters of presidential candidates clash

Supporters of the two frontrunners in The Gambia's presidential elections,
incumbent President Yaya Jammeh and Ousainou Darboe, clashed on Wednesday
in Farafenni, in the centre of the country. Police said eight other
clashes occurred between followers of the two candidates between 26
September - when campaigning started - and 2 October. Jammeh is the
candidate of the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and
Construction. Darboe is supported by his United Democratic Party and other
parties. Three other candidates are contesting the election, to be held on
18 October.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Political uncertainty continues

Uncertainty reigned in Guinea-Bissau this week as what started out as a
tussle between President Kumba Yala and a section of the judiciary
threatened to spread to parliament, where the ruling Social Renovation
Party (PRS - Partido da Renovacao Social) is in the minority.

Legislators had planned to hold an extraordinary session to discuss recent
decisions by President Kumba Yala that have been widely criticised in
political and legal circles. However, the speaker of parliament, Jorge
Malu of the PRS, postponed the meeting indefinitely, resisting opposition
calls for the session to be held as planned.

Opposition leaders met on Tuesday and announced that they would send a
letter to the international community to urge it to intervene. However, up
to early Friday, the letter had not been sent, informed sources said.

RDP reported an opposition spokesman as saying that Tuesday's meeting had
been aimed at uniting opposition parties against what they see as a threat
to democracy. Moves by Yala that have aroused much criticism include a
decision in August to suspend the activities of the Ahmadiyya Muslim group
and to expel its leaders. These moves were deemed unconstitutional by a
Bissau court. Similarly, both the judiciary and parliament said that his
subsequent decision to dismiss four judges of the Supreme Court, including
its president, Emiliano Nossolini, ran counter to the constitution.

Judges launched a 30-day strike in protest against the dismissals on 25
September. They were joined by prosecutors, who began a 10-day strike on
Monday in solidarity with the judges.

In a report on Guinea-Bissau which he presented to the UN Security Council
on Monday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the situation as
"volatile". He said a crisis had emerged between the various branches of
the state over their constitutional responsibilities.

He also said that opposition calls for the resignation of Prime Minister
Faustino Imbali's government had rendered the latter "practically
non-functional", while delays in investigations into the disappearance of
US $17 million from the treasury had eroded the government's credibility.

SENEGAL: IMF loan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on 28 September the
disbursement of US $12 million to Senegal under its three-year Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. The IMF said on Monday
that the money would allow Senegal to continue poverty reduction efforts
and sustain its economy which, according to Deputy Managing Director
Eduardo Aninat, "continues to grow at a solid pace". The Fund also hopes
the money will be used to address deficits accumulated by public
companies. Senegal is eligible to receive about US $138 million under the
three-year PRGF, approved in April 1998. So far, it has drawn US $101
million, the IMF said.

SENEGAL: Wheelchairs for the disabled

Wheel Chair Foundation, a US organisation, has donated 240 wheelchairs to
Senegal's National Association of the Disabled for distribution to
schoolchildren, workers and others, 'Le Soleil' daily reported on Friday.
At the handover ceremony, held on Thursday in Dakar, Senegalese First Lady
Viviane Wade urged the authorities to build special ramps to make schools,
universities and other buildings more accessible to the physically
handicapped.

MAURITANIA: Election campaign kicks off

Fifteen political parties, including the ruling Democratic and Social
Republican Party (PRDS-French acronym), started campaigning on Wednesday
for Mauritania's legislative and municipal elections, to be held on 19
October. More than one million voters have registered for the polls.

Abidjan, 5 October 2001; 19:20 GMT


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