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IRIN-WA Update 426 of events in West Africa (Friday 18 March)
SIERRA LEONE: Food-aid ship arrives in Freetown
A cargo ship carrying 1,100 mt of food aid arrived today (Friday) in Freetown, according to a WFP press release received by IRIN. It is the the first time that WFP has been able to use the main port in Sierra Leone's capital since the last outbreak of fighting on 6 January.
"This shipment will enable us to replenish our food stocks and respond to the needs of the displaced people living in makeshift camps all over the capital," Paul Ares, the WFP Regional Manager for coastal West Africa, said.
The ship is carrying 500 mt of WFP food aid which, according to the WFP, will be enough to feed 22,000 people for two months. It is also carrying 600 mt of rice donated by Italy to the Sierra Leonean government, the statement added.
WFP's warehouses in Freetown were looted in January and some 2,300 mt of food was taken. "Despite the looting of our food aid, WFP and other aid agencies managed to feed thousands of needy people using existing relief supplies stocks," Ares said.
Since the end of the fighting in Freetown, WFP and other aid agencies have assisted over 100,000 people who were living in temporary shelters in and around the city, including the sports stadium, schools, churches and mosques, the statement said. Most of the people receiving aid lost their homes and possessions during the fighting or were injured or mutilated.
Towns such as Bo and Kenema in the interior of the country
have dwindling food stocks as the needs of civilians
continue to rise, it added.
UNICEF cautiously optimistic following children's release
UNICEF Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, expressed cautious optimism yesterday (Thursday) over the consistent and apparently growing numbers of children who have been released by rebel forces to the agency.
"Last week, there were two releases of 31 and 20 abducted children, including a one-month old baby and the baby's mother," Bellamy said in a statement. "Just last month, 34 children were released through the auspices of ECOMOG."
Bellamy also expressed hope that a "changed environment" might lead to increased access by humanitarian agencies to areas of the country which are currently closed. "Increasing confidence creates the stage for more direct access to women and children caught behind frontlines," she said.
Some 92 children have so far been returned this year through a network developed and supported by UNICEF, the statement said.
UNICEF has continued to operate where possible, distributing vaccines, basic medical supplies and has participated in interim-care programmes for dislocated children and those released by the rebel forces, the statement said. The agency is developing programmes to provide emergency schooling for IDPs and other vulnerable children, as well as psychological support for teachers and pupils.
Bellamy added that special emphasis will be place on counselling girls who have been raped and on social reintegration of children associated with the fighting forces.
During much of the conflict in Sierra Leone there has been an almost total disregard of international conventions designed to protect civilians, women and children in particular, from the horrors of war, the statement said.
Contributions to peacekeeping fund
Meanwhile, as of 28 February 1999, contributions received for a Trust Fund to Support United Nations Peacekeeping-related Efforts in Sierra Leone totalled some US $2.1 million, according to a 4 March report by the United Nations Secretary General on the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL). The report said authorised expenditure amounted to about US$ 0.1 million.
SAO TOME/PRINCIPE: Government Gets Thumbs up from Parliament
A four-year government programme presented by Prime Minister Guilherme Posser da Costa was yesterday approved unanimously by the parliament of Sao Tome and Principe even though some legislators expressed reservations about it, according to news reports.
According to Lusa news agency, the programme sets as priorities the strengthening of government institutions, the fight against poverty and the stabilisation of the economy of the archipelago, which has about 126,000 inhabitants and lies off the coast of Gabon.
The Alianca democratica independente (ADI), which has 16 seats in the 55-member parliament and supports President Miguel Trovoada, said the programme had "shortcomings" and called for "more rigour, dialogue and transparence" from the government.
The Partido da Convergencia democratica (PCD), which has eight seats, said the programme lacked direction, AFP reported.
In presenting the government's programme, Posser da Costa, who was appointed in December 1998 following legislative elections held the month before, promised "to establish a dynamic and active partnership with the National Assembly so that we can resolve our country's problems together".
He commented at the end of the three-day parliamentary debate that the legislators "showed maturity by approving this programme", according to AFP.
NIGERIA: Obasanjo says he ready to work with IMF - If...
Nigerian president-elect Olusegun Obasanjo today told visiting International Monetary Fund Managing Director Michel Camdessus he was ready to work with the Fund "as long as" it helped Abuja achieve its goals, Reuters reported.
However, Reuters said Obasanjo did not specifically state his commitment to an IMF-monitored programme agreed in January by the outgoing military administration.
In Abuja yesterday, Camdessus told the international business community that the Fund was ready to help Abuja "if Nigeria implements the plan it submitted", AFP said. That plan is for a programme of agreed economic policies that would be monitored by IMF staff.
Military leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar said yesterday he hoped to sign a three-year IMF deal before leaving office on 29 May. His finance minister, Ismaila Usman, told the same business leaders that Nigeria wanted an IMF-approved Medium Term Ecomonic Strategy (MTES) package, after implementation of the SMP. AFP said the MTES was a prerequisite for seeking debt relief.
Usman said Nigeria's foreign debt stood at US $28.8 billion. He added that MTES would set out government economic policies, from privatisation to economic diversification, monetary and other macroeconomic targets, spending priorities in key sectors and transparency in government accounts.
GUINEA BISSAU: President says election likely in July
Guinea Bissau's President Joao Bernardo Vieira announced on Wednesday that delayed general elections were likely to take place in July, according to news reports.
Vieira made the announcement during a brief trip to Dakar, Senegal, where he also thanked President Abdou Diouf for supporting his country during a recent armed forces revolt, news reports said. He met Diouf a day after Senegal completed the withdrawal of troops it had sent to Bissau last June to protect Vieira against the rebels. According to Reuters, Vieira said his government would complete arrangements for the return of refugees who fled to Senegal during the civil war as part of the preparations for the elections.
General elections were scheduled to have taken place this month under a regional accord signed in Nigeria in November. However delays in implementing the peace process, including the withdrawal of Senegalese troops, made a March election impossible.
A national unity government formed under the accord and including the rebels took office in Bissau last month.
ADB: Loans for Mauritania, Chad
The African Development Fund has approved a loan of Units of Accounts (UA) 17.30 million and a grant of UA 3.06 million to finance a rural development project in Chad, the African Development Bank (ADB)announced yesterday.
The UA 20.36-million package is equivalent to US $ 27.8
million.
The Fund has also approved a US $ 13.8-million loan
that will finance a health and social welfare project
in Mauritania, the ADB announced.
The main aim of the project in Mauritania is "to improve social well-being and the state of health" . It will seek to boost the "effectiveness of the fight against illness and promote social action," the ADB said in a communique.
The project in Chad is aimed mainly at increasing food and livestock production and improving general living conditions.
The total value of the ADB's operations in Mauritania and Chad since 1974 amounts to US $ 321 million and US $ 365.5 million respectively.
German funds for Burkina Faso
Meanwhile, Germany's Cooperation Ministry announced yesterday that it has earmarked 41 million euros (about US $ 45 million) for development programmes in Burkina Faso in 1999/2000, according to AFP.
The funds will go mainly to agriculture, health, water supply, anti-desertification efforts and assistance to artisans, AFP said.
EU assistance for Mali
AFP also reported that the European Union (EU) is to spend 85 million euros to improve access to remote parts of Mali. The money will be used to surface or repair about 700 km of roads in the regions of Kayes in the west, Mopti in the centre and Tombouctou in the north, AFP quoted Malian officials as saying on Sunday.
A tarred road from Bamako to Kay increasing food and
livestock production and improving gento Dakar port
in Senegal.
Abidjan, 19 March 1999, 17:45
[ENDS]
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:44:31 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 426 for 19 March [19990322]
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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