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

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Fax: +225 22-41-9339
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 107
19 - 25 January 2002


CONTENTS:

MANO RIVER UNION: EC humanitarian aid worth US $15-million
MANO RIVER UNION: Experts assess impact of conflict on women
MANO RIVER UNION: Refugee transfers, voluntary repatriations
SIERRA LEONE: New report documents war-related sexual abuse
SIERRA LEONE: Rights body welcomes UN Special Court
SIERRA LEONE: Voter registration starts
SIERRA LEONE: Military to be restructured, says President Kabbah
LIBERIA: Amnesty for 10 dissidents
NIGERIA: Clashes with authorities in southeast and north
CONGO-GABON: Ebola update
SENEGAL: Programme to eradicate FGM
WEST AFRICA: US $1.2 million voted for Lake Chad commission

MANO RIVER UNION: EC humanitarian aid worth US $15-million

The European Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday that it has committed 17
million euros (US $15 million) for humanitarian assistance to victims of
the crisis affecting the Mano River countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra
Leone).

The aid, which will be channeled through the EC's humanitarian aid office,
ECHO, will target refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and the
local population in conflict-affected areas. It will be used to fight
malnutrition, boost primary health care, and give support to the child
protection sector and disabled people. It also aims to increase the
availability of clean water, improve sanitation systems and promote
hygiene through education and training at the community level. Emphasis
will also be placed on providing shelter materials and other non-food
items to the large number of IDPs in the region, the EC said.

MANO RIVER UNION: Experts assess impact of conflict on women

The Mano River countries have experienced conflicts of varying intensity
over the last 12 years resulting in massive population displacement, human
rights abuses and widespread destruction. On Monday, two independent
experts began a week-long mission to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia to
assess the impact of conflict on women, and women's role in the
peace-building process.

The former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Elisabeth Rehn, and a member of the Organisation of
African Unity Panel of Eminent Persons who investigated the genocide in
Rwanda, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, will publish their findings in a global
report, sponsored by UNIFEM, to be released in mid-2002.

Rehn and Sirleaf will focus on the issues of displacement, sexual violence
and the exploitation of women. They will also address problems such as
unwanted pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, orphans and widowhood.

It is the first time a full-scale study on the impact of armed conflict on
women and their role in peace-building has ever been conducted, the UN
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) reported.

MANO RIVER UNION: Refugee transfers, voluntary repatriations

Liberians relocated within Guinea

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Guinea was
slated to conduct on Friday its second transfer of Liberian refugees who
recently crossed over into Guinea, UNHCR told IRIN on Friday.

Friday's transfer would follow one conducted on Tuesday during which 462
Liberians were relocated from the volatile border area between the two
countries to Kouankan camp in Macenta, southern Guinea. Those who are
being relocated are part of a new wave of Liberians who arrived in the
border area in the last seven days due to fighting in Lofa County,
northern Liberia.

Sierra Leoneans return from Guinea

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM), repatriated 750 refugees from Conakry, Guinea, to
northern Sierra Leone's Kambia District between 11 and 25 January,
UNHCR-Sierra Leone reported on Friday. Since September 2000, UNHCR and IOM
have helped about 33,000 Sierra Leoneans to return home, UNHCR said.

Sierra Leoneans sign up to leave Liberia

Following a spate of recent spontaneous returns and repeated requests from
refugees that they be helped home, UNHCR will begin repatriating Sierra
Leonean refugees from camps in Liberia in February, the refugee agency
reported on 18 January. Registrations began in January in six Liberian
refugee camps and, so far, there are 2,069 candidates for repatriation.
The numbers are expected to increase substantially as UNHCR begins to
record large families rather than the one- or two-person families that
have been registered so far.

Liberia hosts 38,000 assisted Sierra Leonean refugees in six camps, UNHCR
reported. In addition to improved security in Sierra Leone following the
completion of disarmament, many refugees are returning home so they can
vote in presidential elections scheduled for May 2002.

SIERRA LEONE: New report documents war-related sexual abuse

Internally displaced women and girls suffered high rates of rape and other
abuses during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, Physicians for Human
Rights (PHR) said in a report released on Wednesday.

The report, 'War-Related Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone: A
Population-Based Assessment', said 53 percent of displaced women and girls
who had "face to face" contact with Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
rebels experienced some form of sexual violence. The rate for women who
had had contact with other groups of fighters was six percent. One third
of those who reported sexual assault said they were gang-raped, the
US-based PHR stated in its report. Other types of reported abuses, the
vast majority of which took place between 1997 and 1999, included sexual
slavery, forced marriage and molestation.

The report, which publishes findings from a survey of 991 households, is
the first to evaluate the prevalence of sexual violence during the Sierra
Leonean conflict using population-based random sample methods. It was
released by PHR with the support of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL).

Among its recommendations PHR stressed the need for education and adequate
protection and support for survivors as "thousands of women in Sierra
Leone may be willing to testify to the recently announced Special Court
and the planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission about these crimes".

The entire report can be viewed at: www.phrusa.org.

SIERRA LEONE: Rights body welcomes UN Special Court

Amnesty International (AI) welcomed on Monday the recent establishment of
the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. To be effective, it said, the
prosecutor's independence must be guaranteed, the court adequately funded,
and a clear relationship established between the court and the country's
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. AI said it feared that if these
issues are not addressed, the credibility and effectiveness of the Special
Court could be at stake, and efforts to ensure respect for human rights
and the rule of law in Sierra Leone could be undermined.

The Sierra Leone-based tribunal, set up on 16 January, has the power to
prosecute individuals who bear the greatest resposibility for serious
violations of international and national law which have taken place since
30 November 1996, the date of a failed peace agreement between the RUF and
the government. It will have the power to prosecute those who committed
rape, murder and torture.

[Full story available on http://www.amnesty.org/]

SIERRA LEONE: Voter registration starts

Sierra Leoneans have started registering for presidential and
parliamentary elections billed for May, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL) reported.

The two-week process, conducted by the National Electoral Commission
(NEC), is scheduled to be completed by 7 February. UNAMSIL, which is
providing logistical support, reported that the process was "said to be on
course in many of the regions of the country, with minor delays
elsewhere".

In the towns of Makeni and Magburaka in the northern districts of Bombali
and Tonkolili respectively, scores of residents queued at centres to
register. NEC officials said they plan to turn every registration centre
into a polling station. The commanding officer of the Nigerian battalion
deployed in Makeni, a former rebel stronghold, said that the process was
going smoothly, UNAMSIL reported.

SIERRA LEONE: Military to be restructured, says President Kabbah

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah announced on Monday the restructuring of the
Sierra Leonean military which will consolidate separate command structures
under one authority, Minister of Information and Communication, Cecil
Blake, told IRIN.

Kabbah said that the restructured force, to be known as the Republic of
Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), will replace the existing - and
separate - army, navy, and air force command structures by 1 April. RSLAF
will be divided into two commands based at Cockerill Barracks in the
capital Freetown. The Joint Force Command will be responsible for military
operations and training, while the Joint Support Command will deal with
personnel, logistic support and individual training. The military is
expected to reach a capacity of approximately 11,000 soldiers over the
next couple of years, Blake said.

Japanese aid for the reintegration of ex-combatants

The Japanese government has approved a US $3-million grant for the
reintegration of former combatants and reconstruction over the next three
years, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone reported. The funds will be used to
support reintegration programmes, including self employment, vocational
training and formal education, for some 5,000 ex-fighters in the northern
district of Koinadugu and the eastern districts of Kono and Kailahun.

LIBERIA: Amnesty for 10 dissidents

Ten Liberian dissidents taken prisoner by government forces in Lofa County
in northern Liberia were on Tuesday handed over to their relatives under
an amnesty programme established by President Charles Taylor, the Ministry
of Information reported. A diplomatic source told IRIN that it was the
first time POW's had been amnestied.

At the prisoner release ceremony, Information Minister Reginald Goodridge
called on all dissidents to surrender and join in the rebuilding of the
war-shattered country. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the
UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Mano River
Women's Peace Network.

NIGERIA: Clashes with authorities in southeast and north

Clashes have taken place between local people and the Nigerian authorities
in southeastern and northern Nigeria in the last week, according to news
organisations.

Media reports that several people died following a confrontation on Monday
between the navy and armed militants in the Niger Delta in the southeast
were confirmed by area residents, but denied by Colonel Felix Chukwuma,
the military spokesman in Lagos. The clashes were said to have broken out
when armed militants attempted to board an offshore oil rig near Brass
Island, just off the Atlantic coast. A resident of the island, told IRIN
that at least seven people, including five of the militants and two
members of the navy, were reported killed during the incidents.

In the northern state of Katsina, hundreds of people fled the rural
trading town of Danja fearing reprisal attacks after a mob killed seven
policemen on 18 January, residents said. The incident occurred after a
scuffle between a policeman and a local resident escalated into a fight.
In the ensuing chaos, seven officers and three local people were killed.

Meanwhile, more displaced people recently arrived in the central state of
Benue as fresh threats of reprisals were reportedly issued against Tiv
settlements in neighbouring Taraba State by members of the Jukun
community. A spokesman for Benue's governor said on Saturday that at least
1,000 people had moved into the state from Taraba after being threatened,
according to the Lagos-based Guardian newspaper.

CONGO-GABON: Ebola update

WHO said on Thursday that, up to 20 January, the Gabonese government had
reported 26 confirmed cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, including 23
deaths, while 16 confirmed cases, including 11 deaths had been reported in
the Republic of Congo.

A further 22 suspected cases were under investigation in Gabon, WHO
reported in its latest update on the Ebola outbreak in northeastern Gabon
and across the border in northwestern Republic of Congo. It said an
international team of Ebola experts was operational in the Gabonese
capital, Libreville, in Makokou in the north of the country and in Congo.
Discussions were being held with national authorities on the return of the
team to the Mekambo area, from where they had been moved because of
hostility from villagers who continued performing cultural rites on Ebola
victims, despite attempts by the team to stop the practices.

SENEGAL: Programme to eradicate FGM

Senegal's Ministry of Family Affairs and Early Childhood launched on
Tuesday a national plan of action to eradicate the illegal practice of
female genital mutilation (FGM). The plan, supported by UN agencies -
including UNIFEM and UNICEF - and numerous NGOs, aims to reduce FGM by 90
percent. It prioritises four areas: information, social mobilisation,
education, and institutional frameworks. Senegal's parliament banned the
practice in 1999.

WEST AFRICA: US $1.2 million voted for Lake Chad commission

A 903.97-million-franc CFA (US $1.2 million) budget for 2002 was voted for
the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) during the organisation's meeting
last week in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, LCBC reported on Wednesday.

In their final communique, the commissioners of the six-nation body
reported satisfaction with the results of two technical meetings on the
project to reverse land and water degradation trends of the lake's
ecosystem.

In a paper titled "Human impacts on the Water Resources of the Lake Chad
Basin", researchers Michael Coe and Jonathan Foley said drier climates and
high agricultural demand were the reasons for the lake's dramatic
shrinkage.

In 1963, Lake Chad was about 25,000 sq.km in area. Today, it is about
one-twentieth its size in 1960, the paper said.

[More information available on
http://www.newswise.com/articles/2001/2/CHAD.GSC.html]


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