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 135
03 - 09 August 2002


CONTENTS:

NIGER: Mutiny peters out as loyalists gain upper hand
CAMEROON-CHAD: NGOs want environmental, other risks addressed
LIBERIA: Relative calm in the west
SIERRA LEONE: Homes for the homeless
GAMBIA: Media law, crackdown cause anxiety
GHANA: Some US $300 million in EC aid
GUINEA: Refugees relocated inland
NIGERIA: Postponement of local elections and other developments
COTE D'IVOIRE: Government of national unity, ADB funds
MALI: Floods

NIGER: Mutiny peters out as loyalists gain upper hand

Loyalist troops in Niger recaptured two garrisons in the east of the
country, Diffa and N'Guigmi, that had been seized by army mutineers.

Soldiers in Diffa, 1500 km east of the capital, Niamey, followed by others
in N'Guigmi and N'Gourti, 130 and 250 km farther east, started a mutiny on
31 July to press demands for improved living conditions and the payment of
overdue allowances. They took civilian and military authorities hostage
but later freed some of them.

The government decreed a state of emergency in the region and arrested
some army officers in Niamey whom it suspected of supporting the mutiny.
On Wednesday, the ruling Alliance des forces démocratiques called on the
government to set up a martial court to try the mutineers and their
accomplices. However, human rights groups appealed to the government not
to do so. The Collectif des organisations de defense des droits de l'homme
(CODH) au Niger said the government should instead set up an independent
commission of inquiry to clarify events surrounding the mutiny, and call
an extraordinary session of parliament to the issue.

CODH called for the repeal of a presidential decree of 5 August limiting
freedom of the press, saying it was unconstitutional and contradicted
international instruments ratified by Niger. The human rights umbrella
group urged the population to oppose the decree.

International media watchdog, Reporters sans Frontieres, also called for
the withdrawal of the decree, which bans "the propagation by any
communication media of information or allegations that could jeopardise
national defense operations". Any media house that violated the ban would
be suspended or temporarily closed and its equipment seized, the decree
said.

[For further details see:  Do not court martial mutineers, rights groups
urge Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29271
Annan condemns army mutiny
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29246
State of alert threatens independent media- RSF
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29227
President urges mutineers to rejoin their units
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29204
Loyal troops quell mutinies in capital, east
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29181
Mutineers detain prefect... dignitaries
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29138 ]

CAMEROON-CHAD: NGOs want environmental, other risks addressed

Cameroonian NGOs warned this week that environmental, health, social and
other concerns stemming from the construction of a pipeline from oilfields
in southern Chad to the Cameroonian port of Kribi should be addressed
before the facility became operational.

The Cameroonian Foundation for Women's Rationalised Action on Environment
and the Foundation for Environment and Development in Cameroon said
traditional fishing, vulnerable populations, and coastal and other
ecosystems were threatened by the project and their protection needed to
be ensured. Potential spills were identified among sources of concern.

However, news agencies quoted Emmanuel Noubissié Ngankam, head of the
project's operations at the World Bank, as saying that "as far as rules on
hydrocarbon spilling risks are concerned, ... much care has been taken".

The World Bank approved the project in June 2000, despite opposition from
civil society organisations in both Chad and Cameroon. The bank said it
was "an unprecedented framework to transform oil wealth into direct
benefits for the poor, the vulnerable and the environment".
[For more see
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29242 ]

LIBERIA: Calm reported near border with Sierra Leone

Relative calm returned to western Liberia and some people who had fled to
neighbouring Sierra Leone were gradually returning to their villages,
humanitarian sources in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, said on Friday.

On Monday, three UN bodies led by the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) went on a fact-finding mission to areas around
Sinje, which borders on Sierra Leone. Sinje had been inaccessible for the
past one-and-half months after an attack on the area on 20 June by
Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels.

"The security situation on the main road from Monrovia towards the border
with Sierra Leone is calm," a humanitarian source told IRIN.
[For full story see LIBERIA: Relative calm in the west
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29270 ]

SIERRA LEONE: Homes for the homeless

World Vision reported on Monday that it had launched a project to
rehabilitate homes destroyed in eastern Sierra Leone's Kono District
during the country's rebel war. It said the project used a community-based
approach: families used local materials such as sticks and mortar made of
mud to build their homes and the NGO provided corrugated iron sheets for
roofs and roofing nails.

Leslie Scott, national director for World Vision in Sierra Leone, said
that in an initial assessment of two of Kono's 14 chiefdoms, 1,600
shelters were registered. "With funding we have received so far we can
safely target 400 units," Scott added.  "We are hoping that by the end of
the rainy season [November 2002] we may have attracted funding for the
remaining shelters."
[For more see Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29213 ]

GAMBIA: Media law, crackdown cause anxiety

The Commission for the Protection of Journalists and Amnesty International
this month urged Gambian President Yahya Jammeh not to sign into law a new
media bill which, they said, gave excessive powers to a proposed media
commission and would restrict freedom of expression.

The bill would give the state-appointed commission the right to license
and register journalists, impose heavy fines and suspensions for failure
to register, force reporters to reveal confidential sources, issue arrest
warrants to journalists and formulate a journalistic code of ethics, CPJ
said.

Amnesty also expressed concern at the arrest of three journalists between
19 July and 3 August in connection with reports that displeased the
government, and urged Jammeh to abide by international commitments to
uphold freedom of expression.

The Gambia Press Union has threatened to challenge the bill's
constitutionality in court if Jammeh signs it. [For more information, see
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29245
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29161 ]

GHANA: Some US $300 million in EC aid

The holding of local elections and a pledge of assistance by the European
Commission (EC) were among significant developments in Ghana this week.

Local elections

Local elections held on Tuesday in Ghana were postponed in some of the
country's districts, including six in the Northern Region that have been
under a state of emergency following the murder of a traditional ruler on
27 March. The polls were also postponed in some districts in the Eastern,
Western and Central regions, and Greater Accra. The chairman of Ghana's
electoral commission said the printing of ballot papers for several
districts had been delayed, but that the affected areas would vote on 13
August.
[For more see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29208 ].

EC aid

On Wednesday, the EC announced on Wednesday a five-year country support
strategy (2002-2007) worth 311 million euros (US $303 million) aimed at
helping Ghana's efforts to achieve equitable economic growth, accelerate
poverty reduction and sustain democracy. The assistance will go mainly to
rural development, road transport, macro-economic, governance and
environmental activities, the EC said. [More at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/stratpapers/index ]

GUINEA: Refugees relocated inland

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on
Wednesday that 1,126 Liberian refugees had been moved from areas near
Guinea's southern border to camps in Albadaria, in the centre of the
country. Their convoy was the third since relocation started last week
under the auspices of UNHCR and the Guinean government.

Before receiving the go-ahead from the Guinean government for the
relocation, UNHCR had had difficulty deciding where to shelter the
newcomers as two camps for Liberian refugees near the southern border of
Nzerekore - Kouankan and Kola - were full. Nearly 24,000 new Liberian
refugees had been transferred this year to Kouankan, Kola and a transit
centre at near the Liberian border.

More than 80,000 Liberians have fled to neighbouring countries since 2001,
UNHCR said. It said the number of new arrivals in Guinea could double if
the situation continued to deteriorate in Liberia and if the influx
continued.
[To view original report, go to
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29247 ]

NIGERIA: Postponement of local elections and other developments

Local government polls in Nigeria have been postponed while, other
significant developments included a crackdown by police in the
southeastern state of Abia against a crime-fighting vigilante group, a new
national irrigation system, cholera in the north and a significant
reduction in gas flaring. However, protests continued in the southeast,
where police shot and killed a woman outside the office of a transnational
oil company.

Woman shot dead during protest oustide Shell office

One woman was shot dead on Thursday in Nigeria's southern oil town of
Warri when groups of women protesters besieged the premises of oil
transnationals Royal/Dutch Shell and ChevronTexaco, witnesses said.

They said two groups of women numbering about 2,000 each from the nearby
Itsekiri and Ijaw communities arrived at the entrances of the regional
offices of both companies early in the morning, denying employees access.
They carried placards denouncing environmental pollution which they blamed
on the companies.

"At the entrance to Shell's office a policeman shot dead one woman as they
were driving us away," one of the protesters told IRIN.
[For full story see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29269 ]

Polls postponed indefinitely

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo announced on 3 July that local
government elections scheduled for 10 August would be postponed
indefinitely on the decision of the country's 36 state governors.
Insufficient preparation and especially the need for more time to draw up
a new voters' roll were among reasons given. The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) said that because of a delay in the release of
funds by the federal government it had been unable to start the voters'
register. [For more see
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29170 ]

Police vs Bakassi Boys

Police in Abia State, southeastern Nigeria, this week closed five
detention centres run by the Bakassi Boys, a vigilante group backed by the
state government but accused of extrajudicial killings. The spokesman of
the national police, Haz Iwendi, said 46 illegally detained people,
including eight women, were set free and 33 members of the group arrested
in the operation. Iwendi said one person died and 11 policemen were
injured in a shootout between the vigilantes and policemen, who recovered
12 locally made shotguns and pistols, one pump-action rifle, cartridges
and seven swords. The Bakassi Boys group was formed in 1999 by traders in
Abia State to combat violent crime. Other eastern states later employed
their services. [For more see
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29244 ]

National irrigation system

Minister for Agriculture Adamu Bello, announced on Wednesday that 500
Chinese water experts would arrive in October to start building 3,000
earth dams in the country's 774 local government councils with support
from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The US $20 million project,
to be completed by 2006, is expected to end Nigeria's dependence on
rain-fed agriculture.
Under the project agreement, four Nigerian trainees will be attached to
each Chinese expert.
[ For more see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29243 ]

Cholera kills 20 in Kebbi

At least 20 people have died from cholera in Kebbi State, northern
Nigeria, state radio said on Tuesday. Radio Nigeria reported Kebbi's
health commissioner as saying that more than 150 people in the northeast
of the state had been infected. The commissioner said medical teams had
been sent to the affected areas with an adequate supply of drugs.
[For more see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29215 ]

Gas flaring substantially reduced

Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Rilwanu Lukman said on Monday that
Nigeria had substantially reduced the volume of gas flared in its
oilfields. In 1999, 71 percent of its natural gas was burned off, Lukman
told a conference of the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Abuja. Since
then, new gas utilisation schemes had reduced the amount to 51 percent.
Over the years, inhabitants of the Niger Delta, the country's oil region,
have blamed flaring by transnationals for air pollution, acid rain, and
reduced agricultural yields.
[For more see http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29190 ]

COTE D'IVOIRE: Government of national unity

The formation of a government of national unity through a cabinet
reshuffle was the most significant development this week in Cote d'Ivoire,
which also received one of its biggest loans from an international lender
in recent weeks.

New government

The 37-member reshuffled cabinet, announced on 5 July, is the first since
presidential elections in October 2000 in which all main political parties
are represented. The ruling Front Populaire Ivoirien has 20 ministers,
while four are from the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR)
led by former prime minister Alassane Ouattara. This is the first time the
RDR is participating in government since the 2000 elections, won by
Gbagbo.

Seven ministers are from the former ruling Parti democratique de Cote
d'Ivoire (PDCI) and two are from the Parti ivoirien du travail. One post
was awarded to the Union pour la democratie et la paix en Cote d'Ivoire
(UDPCI), led by ex-military leader General Robert Guei. It was not certain
whether the UDPCI, which had two ministries in the previous cabinet, would
accept the post.
[ For more see Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29207 ]

ADB lends US$72 million

The African Development Bank (ADB) said it would give Cote d'Ivoire three
loans totalling US $72 million under an agreement signed on Tuesday. The
money will be used for programmes to improve the education system, boost
rural development within the framework of decentralisation and poverty
reduction, encourage macro-economic growth, agriculture, private-sector
growth, increasing efficiency in public expenditure and improve delivery
of education and health services.
[For details see Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29209 ]

MALI: Floods

Three people died and many others lost their homes in Mali following heavy
rains and floods in the northern locality of Goundam and the capital,
Bamako, in late July and early August respectively, the ministry of
security and civilian protection reported.

About 90 mm of rain fell in Goundam on the night of 26 to 27 July, causing
most of its houses to crumble. Two people died. Security and civilian
protection minister Souleymane Sidibé visited the area, taking emergency
aid of more than 200 mt of cereals. The homeless were taken in by
neighbours whose homes had remained intact.

One death was registered in Bamako, where about 81 mm of rain fell on 1
August. Almost the entire town was flooded as were many other communities
along the River Niger. No deaths were reported in these communities, but
there was heavy material damage, especially to houses. Most of the
homeless have found shelter in classrooms, the ministry of security and
civil protection said.
[For full report see Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=29188 ]


IRIN-WA
Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
Email: IRIN-WA@irin.ci

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to
change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . 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 2002


distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International Disaster Information
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
                                          web: www.cidi.org
                                     listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
West Africa                      www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/wafrica