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 94
13 - 19 October 2001


CONTENTS:

WEST AFRICA: Regional polio campaign kicks off
THE GAMBIA: Voters go to the polls
AFRICA: Anti-terrorism meeting
NIGERIA: Nearly 300 arrested over Kano riots
NIGERIA: Army says 23 soldiers killed by militia
NIGERIA: Fake drugs worth millions destroyed
SIERRA LEONE: Over 200 RUF disarm
SIERRA LEONE: UN urges civilians to work with police
WEST AFRICA: WFP food situation update
WEST AFRICA: Government food security initiatives
COTE D'IVOIRE: Ex-president returns
LIBERIA: Civil aviation reforms
WEST AFRICA: AI alleges rights abuses in Liberia, Chad
CHAD: Health workers on strike
GUINEA-BISSAU: Annan recommends extension of UNOGBIS

WEST AFRICA: Regional polio campaign kicks off

WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and numerous other international and
national partners launched on Friday a regional health campaign aimed at
eradicating polio, the UNICEF office in Sierra Leone told IRIN. The
campaign, which will last seven days, aims to immunise 80 million children
under five years old across 16 countries in West Africa.

The National Immunisations Days (NIDs) are a "synchronised" effort by the
countries to eliminate the disease by 2002. The number of new cases has
drastically reduced over the last ten years, with so far only 20 new cases
reported in the region for 2001. However West Africa, notably Nigeria,
still remains one of the areas most affected by the poliovirus. NIDs
campaigns reached some 76 million children last year. This year, the
organisations hope to reach children in nomadic camps, refugee areas,
volatile border areas as well as other previously unreachable areas. A
second round is slated for next month.

Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, along with other dignitaries,
UN officials and health officials from the region, attended Friday's
opening ceremony at Lungi, just north of the Sierra Leonean capital
capital Freetown.

The campaign will take place in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote
d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania,
Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

THE GAMBIA: Voters go to the polls

Voting in the Gambian presidential poll closed on Thursday afternoon and
counting was still underway on Friday, news organisations reported.

The five candidates contesting the poll are President Yahya Jammeh, of the
ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction, Ousainou
Darboe a human rights lawyer heading a civilian coalition, Sheriff
Mustapha Dibba of the National Convention Party, Hamat Bah of the National
Reconciliation Party and Sidia Jatta of the People's Democratic
Organisation for Independence and Socialism. To avoid going to a second
round the leading candidate must gain 51 percent of the poll.

Voting was reported to have taken place peacefully on Thursday with a high
turnout of 89.71 percent, the BBC reported. However the three-week
campaign leading up to the poll was punctuated with reports of violence
and at least one death among opposition supporters. A late decision on
Wednesday night by the electoral commission allowing anyone to vote
providing they had a voter's card and their name appeared on the draft
list of the final voters' register provoked complaints by some members of
the opposition.

Early results in the count are pointing to a victory by Jammeh.

AFRICA: Anti-terrorism meeting

Twenty-seven African countries gathered on Wednesday for a one-day meeting
in Dakar to re-affirm the continent's common stance against terrorism,
media organisations reported. The meeting, convened by President Abdoulaye
Wade of Senegal, follows the 11 September atacks in New York and
Washington in which over 5,000 people died.

The countries concluded the meeting with the Dakar Declaration. Having
been "profoundly preoccupied" by the past weeks' developments, the
Declaration said, "we vehemently condemn all acts of terrorism on the
African continent or in any other part of the world". They urged all
African countries to ratify the Organisation for African Unity convention
against terrorism as well as other anti-terrorism conventions and
mechanisms set by the United Nations. The participants also called for an
OAU extraordinary summit to review progress in the fight against terrorism
and to ensure that the current developments have the least effect on the
continent, media reports said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a message delivered on his behalf by
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ibrahima Fall, urged
the summit's participants to adhere to all legal instruments designed to
fight terrorism. However, he said, it should not be used as an excuse to
ignore other pressing issues, including the fight against poverty and
disease.

Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Sierra Leone
were among participating countries.

NIGERIA: Nearly 300 arrested over Kano riots

A total of 286 people have been arrested and more than 150 charged over
riots that rocked Nigeria's northern city of Kano last weekend leaving at
least 32 people dead, police authorities said on Wednesday. Humanitarian
sources and residents say up to 200 people were killed in the violence
that followed a demonstration by Muslims in Kano on 12 October to protest
U.S. air strikes against Afghanistan.

President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Kano, northern Nigeria's biggest city,
on Tuesday to assess the extent of the damage and condemned the violence,
urging Nigerians not to associate Islam with violence.

Red Cross officials in the city said at least 17,000 displaced people were
receiving relief assistance from the agency. Many of them are Christians
of the Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups from the south, who dominate commerce
in the city and were the main victims of the rioting. Police and other
security agencies are maintaining a nationwide alert to avert the outbreak
of reprisal attacks against northern Muslims resident in the mainly
Christian south of Nigeria. A statement on Wednesday by the Oodua People's
Congress, which purports to defend the interests of the southwest Yoruba
ethnic group, said the group intended to carry out revenge attacks against
Hausa-speaking northerners.

NIGERIA: Army says 23 soldiers killed by militia

Nigerian army authorities have confirmed that 23 soldiers were killed last
week by a local militia. They had been taken hostage while on a mission to
end communal fighting between Jukun and Tivs ethnic communities in the
central region of Taraba State, eastern Nigeria.  A statement released by
the army in the capital, Abuja, also said that investigations have begun
into the circumstances of their death to determine if they went beyond
their briefs while on the mission. Troop reinforcements have been sent
into the area to hunt down the killers and impose some order in the
region, long wracked by inter-ethnic violence.

NIGERIA: Fake drugs worth millions destroyed

Nigeria's national agency in charge of controlling and administering food
and drugs (NAFDAC) on Saturday destroyed fake, sub-standard and
adulterated drugs worth 685 million naira (about US $6.2 million), 'The
Guardian' newspaper reported. It quoted the director-general of NAFDAC,
Mrs. Dora Akunyili, as saying that the drugs were recovered from dealers
and warehouses. Sampling tests for the drugs have already been conducted
and "they were all found to be fake", Akunyili said.

SIERRA LEONE: Over 200 RUF disarm

More than 200 Revolutionary United Front (RUF) combatants presented
themselves for disarmament on Tuesday in Makeni town hall in northern
Bombali district, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) said. The
combatants, including 27 women and 16 children, turned in a range of
weapons to UNAMSIL's military observers. They included AK-47s,
self-loading rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunitions, UNAMSIL
reported.

Disarmament in Bombali had been stalled following various grievances
voiced by the RUF including their dissatisfaction with the choice of
location for handing over weapons. At the end of last Thursday's meeting
of the Joint Committee on Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
(DDR), comprising the government, UNAMSIL and RUF, the parties agreed to
complete disarmament in Bombali by 31 October. They also agreed to
complete disarmament in the northern district of Koinadugu and the
southern districts of Bo and Moyamba.

SIERRA LEONE: UN urges civilians to work with police

UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for Governance
and Stabilisation Alan Doss on Tuesday urged civilians in Kono District in
eastern Sierra Leone to work together with the newly deployed Sierra Leone
Police (SLP). Addressing a police parade in Koidu, Doss called on
civilians to cooperate closely with the advance group of some 70 SLP
officers who deployed on Monday, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)
reported. Doss told the officers that if their presence was successful it
would be a major boost to the peace process. It is the first such
deployment since war began 10 years ago. An estimated 180 officers are
expected to be stationed in the diamond-rich district, the UN reported.

WEST AFRICA: WFP food situation update

The overall nutritional situation in refugee camps in Guinea has been
"quite stable" this year, according to an emergency report issued by the
World Food Programme (WFP) on 12 October. It noted that rates of moderate
acute malnutrition were under five percent in all camps and rates of
severe malnutrition less than one percent. The agency described the
security situation in Guinea as stable except in Kissidougou, southern
Guinea, where it continues to deteriorate. WFP distributed some 432 tons
of food in Guinea and assisted over 21,400 persons earlier this month.

In Sierra Leone, WFP is expecting numerous "pipeline breaks" in its food
distribution programmes in the coming months, the report said. The UN
agency said that by December 2001, it expects a cereal short fall of 3,427
tons. "WFP has no sufficient stocks of oil to meet delivery requirements
for October, with the next shipment expected in February 2002," it said.
It also expects shortfalls in sugar - some 247 tons - and in salt by
December.

The agency carried out food distributions to a number of beneficiaries in
various programmes in different parts of the country in early October.
Recipients included primary school students, malnourished children under
five years in therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres, farming
families, and amputees and their dependents.

In Liberia delivery of food commodities to schools for the academic year
2001/2002 began in the southeastern counties of Maryland, River Gee, Grand
Kru and Grand Gedeh on 1 October, WFP said.

WEST AFRICA: Government food security initiatives

The Federal government in Nigeria has introduced a special food programme
which will cost about N6.2 billion (US $45 million) in a bid to tackle a
possible food crisis in the country, 'The Guardian' newspaper reported on
Wednesday. The programme was set up following an increase in the cost of
staple food and the recently released Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) report which said that only 20 percent of the 120 million Nigerian
population was food-secure, the paper said. A meeting held recently in
Kano State, northern Nigeria, attended by all the states of the
federation, said the programme will target food security, aqua-culture,
inland fisheries, animal disease and pest control, and agricultural
commodities and food storage management.

In Ghana the government is to receive about US $434,000 from the
Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice Scheme (CLGGPS) to build food
storage facilities in the country's 110 districts in the next five years,
the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reported on Wednesday. The five-year CLGGPS
fund would help build infrastructure and human capacities in the districts
to ensure that enough food is stored following good harvests, GNA reported
the rural development minister as saying.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Ex-president returns

Cote d'Ivoire's former president Henri Konan Bedie returned to Abidjan on
Monday following an invitation by the Ivorian government to attend a
national reconciliation conference which aims to find solutions to the
country's main political and social problems. Bedie fled to France after
being ousted in December 1999 by the military in the country's first coup
d'etat.

Bedie's return could contribute to lessening political tensions, Ouraga
Obou, dean of the faculty of law and political science at the University
of Abidjan, told IRIN on Tuesday. It is still not certain when Bedie will
attend the two-month long forum, which opened on 9 October, but
negotiations are ongoing for an eventual participation. Behind the scene
talks are also continuing to have opposition leader Alassane Ouattara and
former military ruler General Robert Guei attend the forum, Ouraga said.
Guei replaced Bedie as leader and ruled from December 1999 to October
2000.

LIBERIA: Civil aviation reforms

The government of Liberia is making efforts to reform its civil aviation
administration with the help of the UN International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO), UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report
issued on Monday in New York.

Annan's report followed a request by the UN Security Council for
information on steps Liberia has taken to improve its capacity in air
traffic control and surveillance in compliance with the sanctions imposed
in March 2001 in Council Resolution 1343. That resolution had demanded
that Liberian authorities ground all Liberia-registered aircraft operating
within its jurisdiction until they update their register of aircraft, and
provide the updated information to the Council. It also required that the
government, among other things, cease its support for the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone, expel all RUF members from Liberia,
and stop the import of illicit diamond from Sierra Leone.

WEST AFRICA: AI alleges rights abuses in Liberia, Chad

Amnesty International (AI), has accused Liberian security forces of
commiting widespread human rights violations, including torture,
repression and rape and has castigated the government for lack of justice
for the victims.

"The security forces have targeted critics of the government, including
students, journalists and human rights defenders, and used torture as a
weapon of repression," the organisation said in a report issued on Monday
ahead of a UN Security Council's debate on Liberia this month. AI accused
the government of failing to bring perpetrators of rights abuses to
justice. It noted that in recent months, dozens of women fleeing insecure
areas in northern Liberia have reported cases of torture by the security
forces, including rape, gang-rape and death threats.

Meanwhile Chad's minister of communication, Moktar Wawa Dahab, denied a
recent report by AI in which the human rights organisation accused the
government of perpetuating human rights violations begun under the regime
of ex-president Hissene Habre. Dahad, who is also the government
spokesman, told IRIN that "one should not confuse the regimes of Habre and
[current President] Deby", because, "it is like night and day."

Dahab said the country has made positive strides in human rights, press
freedom, adding that the country has no specialised detention centres for
opponents of the government. "We've made lots of progress with regard to
democracy since Deby took power in 1990" Dahab said, in contrast to
Habre's regime which he described as "one of the most abject dictatorships
in the world".

The AI report, released on Tuesday, focused on the extradition of Habre so
that he could stand trial for "gross human rights abuses" in a third
country. Habre, exiled in Senegal since 1990, has been accused of torture,
killings and extrajudicial executions during his eight-year rule by a
collective of Chadian victims. Habre ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990.

CHAD: Health workers on strike

Health professionals in Chad's public health sector are continuing their
one-week strike over non-payment of salaries and remunerations. The
strike, which started on Monday, has been widely observed throughout the
nation, sources in Chad told IRIN. Government hospitals and health
facilities have been operating on reduced staff, with few services
administering care to patients, Sylvestre Ngueto of CILONG, an umbrella
NGO organisation in the capital N'djamena, told IRIN. The government cites
budgetary constraints under a structural adjustment programme set up by
the IMF and the World Bank as reasons for non-payment of salaries.
Negotiations are ongoing between the two parties.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Annan recommends extension of UNOGBIS

The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the Security
Council extend the mandate of the UN Peace-building Support Office in
Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) until 31 December 2002, a UN statement said on
Monday. In a letter dated 12 October to the President of the Security
Council, Richard Ryan, Annan said that the overall situation in
Guinea-Bissau remained "dangerously unstable". The UN office, whose
current mandate expires on 31 December 2001, has been actively involved in
peace-building efforts since mid-1999, the UN statement said.


IRIN-WA
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Fax: +225 22-41-9339
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

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


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