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 21 73 54 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org
WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 13 covering the period 27 March - 2 April 1999
SIERRA LEONE: New ECOMOG head stresses professionalism, discipline
The new head of ECOMOG in Sierra Leone has urged his soldiers to operate professionally, stressing that the force has to be disciplined to keep its good reputation, according to an ECOMOG press release received on Friday by IRIN.
All ECOMOG soldiers must respect human rights and obey the laws of armed conflict, Major General Felix Mujakperuo said. He was speaking on Thursday in his first address to his peacekeepers.
Mujakperuo replaced Major General Timothy Shelpidi this week as commander of the West African peacekeeping force.
Soldiers must be firm but polite and humane in their dealings with civilians, he said, noting that the assistance of the population is "crucial to the success of (ECOMOG's) operation, particularly in the area of providing vital information in support of the force's efforts", the press release stated.
However, he warned that "soldiers must guard against civilians who always want to use ECOMOG personnel for selfish ends" and that the peacekeepers "must not allow themselves to be dragged into settling private scores by individuals..."
Meanwhile AFP reported on Wednesday that Mujakperuo has promised to increase security in Freetown and prevent another rebel invasion of the capital. He said he would instill more discipline in his troops and prevent a recurrence of "security lapses" which made the rebel invasion of Freetown possible in January, AFP reported. He also pledged to reduce the killing of unarmed civilians and "work hard to become the last ECOMOG commander in Sierra Leone and ensure peace".
ECOMOG soldiers killed in rebel ambush
A group of Guinean soldiers from ECOMOG were ambushed by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and some 30 were killed or injured, MISNA reported on Wednesday.
ECOMOG spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Olukulade, confirmed to IRIN that "we had some story of an ambush in that area over a week ago, but the casualties were not so high." He declined to comment further on the number of casualties.
Mange is situated in western Sierra Leone, about half-way between Kambia and Port Loko.
SIERRA LEONE: Emergency immunisation campaign against measles
Over 5,500 children have been vaccinated against measles in Blama, Kenema District, some 240km east of Freetown, Yves Horent, programme coordinator for the emergency medical relief agency, MERLIN, told IRIN on Thursday.
In cooperation with the Health Ministry and UNICEF, there are three medical teams currently working in Kenema District, and an immunisation campaign has started in Kenema town. "There is an outbreak," Horent said, "but it is under control."
According to figures published last week by MERLIN, over 100 children were in a measles isolation unit in Kenema town and around 50 in Blama.
Meanwhile 15 people have died in a cholera outbreak in Moneykoi, a village in the northern district of Bombali, according to AFP. It attributed the outbreak to contamination in wells and a nearby stream and said the victims were displaced people.
Kabbah meets with Christian and Muslim representatives to talk peace
A "successful" meeting was held on Tuesday between President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, government officials and a delegation of the Inter Religious Council (IRC) of Sierra Leone, Alimamy Philip Koroma, General Secretary of the country's Council for Churches, told IRIN on Thursday.
The meeting, held at the presidential lodge in Freetown, was a continuation of the efforts by the IRC "to focus on the peace process in Sierra Leone," Koroma said. Also attending it were representatives of two international organisations - the World Conference on Religion and Peace and Norwegian Church Aid. Koroma said the IRC resolved to use its international contacts to gain access to other organisations and help further the peace process.
Sankoh may soon regain freedom
Rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, may be released for the sake of peace, according to 'The Guardian', an independent Nigerian newspaper, reported Tejan Kabbah as telling one of its reporters in an interview in Freetown.
Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai confirmed to IRIN that a meeting had taken place between a Nigerian journalist and Kabbah at State House, but he was unable to confirm that Sankoh may soon be released.
According to 'The Guardian', Kabbah said that if, during talks with the RUF, the government finds out that the only way to bring peace to Sierra Leone is to release Sankoh, then "if that is the price we have to pay for peace we have to consider that".
'The Guardian' also reported that, Kabbah rejected the idea of sharing power with the rebels.
Kamajors say they have recaptured key town
The Kamajors, a civilian militia force loyal to President Tejan Kabbah, on Sunday retook Mile 91, a town in central Sierra Leone, after five days of fighting, news organisations reported this week. However, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Olukulade told IRIN he could not confirm the reports. LIBERIA: No support for dissidents, says Sierra Leone ambassador
Sierra Leone's ambassador in Monrovia, Dr.Kemo Salia Bao, says his government will not allow "dissidents" to use its territory to attack Liberia, independent Star radio reported.
Bao was speaking after a meeting on Tuesday with Liberian Information Minister Joe Mulbah.
According to Star, he said there would be exchanges of visits by Sierra Leonean and Liberian government officials, and interaction would be encouraged between journalists in an attempt to "build confidence" between the two countries.
Mulbah assured that Liberia would not be used by anyone to destabilize Sierra Leone and, according to Star, he called for the establishment of training centres on the border to encourage ex-fighters to engage in "productive activities."
Information Minister reacts to US criticism
Meanwhile Mulbah said he was "taken aback" by comments by Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Star Radio reported on 26 March.
Rice had warned Liberia last month to stop supporting the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)in Sierra Leone and said the United States was considering a wide range of measures against Liberia if it continued to support the rebels.
Mulbah said the United States had failed to show the facts of Liberia's support to the rebels and he repeated the government's denial that it supports the RUF, according to Star Radio.
Concern over condition of Liberian children
A child rights advocate has expressed concern about the condition of Liberian children, which he described as "appalling", and called for urgent action to address their problems, according to a report on Monday by Star radio.
James Torh made his comments at a workshop on the rights of the child, held in Tubmanburg at the weekend and organised by FOCUS, a child rights group of which he is the executive director.
Local officials attending the workshop cited increases in teenage pregnancy, wayward children and school drop-outs as problems which needed urgent action in order to safeguard the children's future, Star said.
Japanese aid for refugees
Japan's government has decided to donate US $1.34 million to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help Liberian refugees, according to a press release from the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The aid will be used to supply food, pharmaceutical products and transport for the refugees. It will also go towards providing them with daily necessities, restoring and establishing water-supply facilities, and restoring medical facilities and shelters, according to the release..
BURKINA FASO: Court declines to handle key murder case
A criminal appeal court in Ouagadougou on Wednesday declared itself incompetent to rule on a murder charge laid against Francois Compaore, the brother of Burkina Faso's president and referred the case to a military court, AFP reported.
The decision came as a disappointment to human rights activists, who had previously been denied permission by the authorities to hold a sit-in outside the court, a media source told IRIN by phone from Ouagadougou.
Human rights groups plan to stage a protest on 24 April against the court decision and against impunity, the source told IRIN.
Compaore was charged with the murder of his driver, David Ouedraogo, which occurred in early 1998, according to AFP. Ouedraogo died after being tortured at the headquarters of the presidential security forces in the capital, various news media reported. He had been accused of stealing 70 million CFA francs (about US $120,000) from his boss.
The charred body of a journalist who had been investigating the affair, Norbert Zongo, and those of three other persons were found last December in Zongo's car, which was not damaged, AFP said. After widespread protests, a commission was appointed in January to investigate his death.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso's government has decided to revoke the headquarters agreement it signed with the Inter-African Human Rights Union (UIDH)in 1995. Notice of the revocation was sent in mid-week to UIDH president Halidou Ouedraogo.
The move is reportedly linked to the fact that Ouedraogo, who is also head of the Burkinabe human rights movement, is a leading figure in a group on NGOs and political parties that have been pressing from Zongo's death to be clarified.
BENIN: Elections
Voters in Benin went to the polls on Tuesday to choose 83 legislators from among 2,905 candidates in the third parliamentary election since the reintroduction of multiparty democracy there in 1990.
Of the 35 parties and political alliances registered for the election, around 20 were from the Mouvance presidentielle, the alliance that supports President Matthieu Kerekou.
Kerekou, a former military ruler who lost presidential polls in 1991 but was voted back in in 1996, has no party of his own.
The main rivals of the Mouvance presidentielle are the Renaissance du Benin (RB), led by ex-president Nicephore Soglo, and the Parti du Renouveau democratique (PRD), headed by Adrien Houngbedji, a former prime minister.
No party had a majority in the outgoing parliament.
NIGERIA: Scores feared dead in boat disaster
About 300 people were feared dead after an overcrowded ferry boat sank off the south-eastern coast of Nigeria, AFP reported local officials as saying on Friday.
The upturned hull of the boat, the MV George, was seen by fishermen at around 21:00 GMT on Thursday floating at sea about 60 nautical miles along the coast from Port Harcourt, a local martime union official, Bolingo Loveday, said.
No survivors were reported after a lengthy search by the fishermen, Loveday told reporters in Port Harcourt, from where the boat had set out at about 1600 GMT on Thursday, according to AFP. It had about 300 people aboard, 100 more than its authorised capacity, including many women and children heading home for the Easter weekend,Loveday said.
The privately owned boat had run into a violent tropical storm almost immediately after leaving harbour, the fishermen who returned to port late on Thursday told reporters.
Up to early Friday afternoon, no survivors had been seen nor were any bodies found by speedboats sent out early Friday morning by the maritime union to search for them.
Obasanjo talks democracy with US, UN, Cuban leaders
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's president-elect, said he had "a warm reception" at the White House on Tuesday when he explained the move to democracy in his country, according to news reports.
"We discussed the transition in Nigeria. President Clinton reaffirmed the interest of the US in democracy in Africa," Obasanjo told reporters after his half-hour meeting.
The meeting "highlighted the broad and increasing cooperation between our two governments," according to a White House statement quoted by Reuters.
The talks also covered Nigeria's regional peacekeeping work and its economic reforms. According to Reuters, African analysts said they expected Obasanjo to seek more US assistance for ECOMOG, the Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force now deployed in Sierra Leone. Obasanjo has promised he will keep Nigerian troops there for "as long as they're necessary," according to news reports.
Obasanjo also had a meeting yesterday in New York with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. According to a UN statement, they reviewed a series of problems and conflicts on the African continent.
Obasanjo talked about "steps he wished to take to make Nigeria more open to investment" and said he "was seeking support for this initiative in a series of visits to various countries". He also appealed for a reduction of Nigeria's foreign debt to help advance democracy, various media reported.
The president-elect arrived on Thursday in Cuba for a 24-hour visit, according to AFP. He was scheduled to meet Cuban President Fidel Castro on Friday evening, AFP reported.
Naira devalued
Nigeria's government has devalued the naira by 4.6 percent to 90 to the US dollar. The previous rate was 86 to the dollar.
The devaluation was made last week, according to PANA, which cited reports from Lagos as saying that the central bank took the measure to reduce the high demand for hard currency at the weekly currency auction of the country's autonomous foreign exchange market.
However, some observers linked the devaluation to the recent visit of an International Monetary Fund team, led by its managing director, Michael Camdessus, PANA said.
GHANA: Security agents investigating bomb blast
Security agencies in Ghana said Thursday they were investigating the detonation of an explosive device at the home of a high court judge who tried a treason trial recently, PANA reported on Friday.
PANA reported the police as saying in a statement that the explosion in Justice P.K Owusu-Sekyere's house occurred on Wednesday and caused some damage to the building but no one was hurt.
Owusu-Sekyere chaired a panel that tried five persons charged with treason last February and sentenced four to death. The fifth was acquitted and discharged.
Rawlings promises to step down, calls for debt relief
President Gerry Rawlings has said that he will abide by the constitution of Ghana and step down when his term of office ends in the year 2000, Ghanaian radio reported on 26 March.
Rawlings, who was addressing students at Bordeaux University while on a four-day visit to France that ended on 27 March, described as "baseless" suggestions that he would step down only for his wife to succeed him.
Addressing a news conference at the end of his visit, he said an inititative by Europe to reduce Africa's debt could give the continent a "great deal of breathing space", PANA reported.
Opposition retains parliamentary seat
Ghana's opposition New Patriotic Party retained its parliamentary seat in Accra in a by-election on Friday, thus preventing the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) from obtaining a two-thirds majority, PANA reported.
Such a majority in the 200-member parliament would have given the NDC the power to amend sections of the constitution, PANA said.
Ghanaian, Ethiopian carriers conclude agreement
Ghana Airways and Ethiopian Airlines have signed a cooperation agreement to develop and better harmonise their operations on the Africa/North America route, according to PANA, which said the agreement was disclosed on Wednesday in Addis Ababa.
The agreement's provisions include schedule harmonisation and joint use of aircraft to develop and better utilise new routes and markets, including East-West African routes, PANA quoted Ethiopian Airlines as saying in a press release.
According to the agreement, signed on 18 March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines will also make its maintenance and training facilities available to Ghana Airways.
MALI: Local elections postponed for the third time
Local elections originally set for January 1998 in rural communes in Mali have been postponed for the third time.
The polls will now be held on 2 May in the southern regions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso and Segou, and on 6 June in Mopti, Tombouctou, Gao and Kidal in the north.
The elections are being held at different times in the north and south to make it easier for the authorities to organise them in the country's 682 new rural municipalities, Souleymane Drabo, editor-in-chief of 'l'Essor' newspaper in Bamako, told IRIN. These were created as part of a process of decentralisation, he said.
The local elections were to have been held in January 1998, but faulty voters' lists led to a first postponement to May 1998. After the lists were redone, an opposition boycott led to a second postponement - to 18 April and 23 May in the south and north respectively.
Elections in Mali's 19 urban communes were held last year.
The latest postponement was made at the request of a group of 17 opposition parties which asked the government on 20 March for more time to complete their campaigns, Drabo said.
SENEGAL: Information Network On Waste Management
Environmentalists in Dakar have created an information network to raise public and government awareness about the dangers of incinerating waste, according to PANA.
The formation of the Reseau senegalais d'information sur les Dechets (RSID) was prompted mainly by the envisaged installation of incinerators at all the country's major hospitals, the news agency reported on Monday.
MAURITANIA: Ex-president acquitted
A Nouakchott court this week acquitted ex-president Ahmed Ould Daddah and another opposition politician of encouraging intolerance and disturbing public order and security, AFP reported.
Ould Daddah, leader of the Union des forces democratiques (UFD)and UFD member Mohameden Ould Babah, had been arrested in December, kept under house arrest, freed in mid-January and then charged after they accused the government of agreeing to accept Israeli nuclear waste in Mauritania.
Diamond deposits discovered
Meanwhile, geologists have discovered diamond deposits in northern Mauritania, PANA reported the country's minister of communication, Rachid Ould Saleh, as saying.
Saleh said during a news briefing in Nouakchott on 24 March that the find was being assessed to see "whether the quantity discovered is marketable", according to PANA.
WESTERN SAHARA: UN Security Council extends MINURSO mandate
The UN Security Council this week approved a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) by one month to 30 April 1999.
MINURSO's mandate includes monitoring a ceasefire as well as identifying and registering qualified voters for a referendum - to be held by next year - that will decide whether Western Sahara should gain full independence or become part of Morocco.
The Council said in its resolution that the aim of the extension was "to allow for an understanding to be reached among all concerned on detailed modalities for the implementation of the identification and appeals protocols, including a revised implementation schedule ..."
Morocco annexed part of the former Spanish colony in 1975. Since then, the Polisario Front has been fighting for its independence.
The extension of MINURSO's mandate had been recommended last week by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
GABON: One baby in 10 dies
About one in every 10 babies in Gabon does not live to see its first birthday, while 600 mothers die for every 100,000 live births, according to UNICEF's office in the Central African nation.
The "infant and maternal mortality rates have declined continually since independence," UNICEF-Gabon said in a report released recently. "Nevertheless, these rates are still as high as in countries that devote fewer resources to public health..."
According to UNICEF-Gabon, the poor indicators stem from "errors in the choice of strategies, insufficient co-ordination of social policies and inefficient resource management".
To improve the well-being of children and women, the allocation, use and management of resources need to be improved, according to UNICEF.
Infants die mostly as a result of premature births, low weight at birth,diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory infections, malnutrition, anaemia and measles.
The direct causes of maternal mortality are mainly haemorrhage, infections, hypertension, malaria and anaemia. Indirect causes include ignorance of the needs of pregnant women, malnutrition, insufficient monitoring of risky pregnancies "and, especially, induced abortions", according to the document.
"Although abortion is prohibited by law, it is estimated that one in two women has had at least one abortion," said the report.
SAO TOME/PRINCIPE: IMF pacts top priority for new finance minister
Sao Tome and Principe's new planning and finance minister, Adelino Castelo David, said Tuesday that his top priorities would include implementing agreements with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, according to Lusa.
The island nation hopes to begin renegotiating its foreign debt of some US $300 million with the two institutions in June, Lusa reported.
David was sworn in on Tuesday. He replaces Afonso Varela, who resigned for "personal reasons" in the wake of a treasury bill scandal he had been appointed to investigate.
CAMEROON: Mount Cameroon still restive
Tremors continued to be felt on Mount Cameroon on Thursday, following Sunday's eruption which caused people to flee their homes in and around the nearby town of Buea, although many reportedly returned.
A relief official told IRIN on Tuesday that local radio had reported that no one had died or been injured as a result of the eruption, but that around 20 families had lost their homes. However, 'Le Messager' newspaper reported that about 100 buildings had been destroyed and that there had been around 50 tremors on Sunday and Monday.
AFP reported on Friday that tremors had also been felt on Thursday and that more houses had been damaged.
The eruption, Mount Cameroon's sixth, had sent people in and around Buea, which lies close to the volcano, fleeing to Douala and the petroleum mining centre of Limbe to the south. Buea, a town of around 250,000 people, is some 60 km west of Douala.
WEST AFRICA: Regional centre for space education
Four English-speaking African countries have agreed to set up a regional centre for space and technology education, PANA reported this week.
Officials from ministries of science and technology in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia initialled the agreement at the weekend in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, while a UN expert on space applications, Abiodun Adigun, signed for the United Nations, PANA reported.
The programme, aimed at developing space science and technology education in Africa, will be based in Ile-Ife.
Abidjan, 2 April 1999, ENDS]
[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci for more information or subscription. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. Mailing list: irin-wa-weekly]
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org appeal fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - West Africa - http://www.vita.org/humanitarian/wafrica