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IRIN-WA Update 468 of events in West Africa (Thursday 20 May)
SIERRA LEONE: Cautious response to ceasefire
ABIDJAN, 20 May 1999 (IRIN) - Humanitarian sources in Freetown told IRIN on Thursday they hoped a ceasefire announced by government and rebel representatives would allow people affected by the insecurity to receive much needed assistance.
"The most important impact of this agreement, from a humanitarian point of view, is in terms of improved access allowing safe delivery of supplies," a humanitarian source told IRIN, expressing a view echoed by several other aid organisations in Freetown.
Safe, unhindered access by humanitarian organisations
to all people in need was one of the six points of
the ceasefire agreement signed on Monday in Lome, Togo,
by President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and rebel leader
Foday Sankoh.
[See separate item issued earlier today by IRIN West
Africa]
A pattern of human rights abuses
Meanwhile, a report by the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU), covering the period 1 to 17 May, highlighted a pattern of human rights abuses following recent fighting around Songo, Masiaka and Port Loko.
Documented cases of killings in the last three weeks indicate a similar pattern where people are herded into one village from surrounding areas, and then a number of them are killed, tortured or abused. Women and children appear more vulnerable as they are less able to escape.
HACU said 12 people were reported killed in Madigba in the second week of May, including eight children. It added that 13 women and children were reported killed in the village of Mangarma, near Port Loko, some 50 km northeast of Freetown.
Masiaka and surrounding area
Initial inter-agency rapid-assessment reports have been carried out in Songo - some 40 km east of Freetown, Mile 36, Mile 38, Masiaka - some 55 km east of Freetown and surrounding villages. Reports indicated that the RUF occupation caused "considerable suffering amongst the civilian population who were either forced to support the rebel forces or to live in bush camps", according to HACU. People in the main villages appeared to have nutritional and medical problems.
At the time of the visit, Masiaka town was still empty. Concentrations of displaced people were seen at Mile 36 and Mile 38. ECOMOG and villagers estimated that another 5,000 to 10,000 people were still in the bush.
New war casualties arrive in Freetown
Between 26 April and 16 May, 42 new war casualties, including eight amputees, arrived at Connaught Hospital in Freetown. In three documented cases, children were found with severe axe wounds to the head.
Humanitarian concerns on Tasso Island
Humanitarian concerns have developed on Tasso Island in the Western Area, HACU said, citing a report by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) which undertook an assessment mission there in May.
It said that reports of diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera on the island were caused by a lack of clean water supply, poor environmental sanitation and overcrowding by internally displaced persons (IDPs): some 5,000 IDPs have joined the population of 2,500 on the island. The problem was aggravated by a lack of drugs. Deaths resulting from diarrhoea and dysentery amounted to 23 by the end of April. During its mission, the team treated 1,104 patients at the Community Health Post.
Emergency responses will include immediate support to
the local community health services, health education
campaign on cholera prevention and control and a rapid
nutritional assessment of IDPs, the report said. It
added that the island's eight wells could serve its
entire population of 7,500 but would need rehabilitation.
The UN has provided a helicopter, with operational and
maintenance support including two pilots and two engineers,
to the Sierra Leonean government to support its humanitarian
operations.
ECOMOG Civil Military Relations Committee meet for first time
The first meeting of the ECOMOG Civil Military Relations Committee, set up in April to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by ECOMOG took place on 11 May at the force's headquarters.
Committee members decided to extend their scope to cover violations by other pro-government armed groups such as the CDF and the Sierra Leone Army, HACU reported. It also decided to hold workshops and seminars to sensitise the public about their rights and explain procedures for lodging complaints if harassed by security forces.
The United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) Human Rights Unit is acting as an observer in the committee to maintain its independence and impartiality regarding local judicial procedures.
The RUF spokesman, Omrie Golley, told IRIN on Monday it was setting up an independent commission to investigate reports of atrocities committed by its forces.
NIGERIA: Ghanaian fishermen demand compensation for oil spill
Thousands of Ghanaian fishermen in Nigeria's Akwa Ibom State have gone to the Federal High Court in Lagos to seek compensation for an oil spill in January 1998, `The Guardian' newspaper of Lagos reported on Thursday.
The 2,000 fishermen said they had been excluded from compensation payments even though they produced up to 95 percent of sea food and own most of the fishing boats in the state.
"Who then should have incurred more losses as a result of the oil spill?" said Kwabena Osarfo, president of the state branch of the National Association of Ghanaian Communities in Nigeria.
New government will not inherit an empty treasury - minister says
Nigeria's incoming civilian rulers will not find an empty treasury when they take over power on 29 May after 15 years of uninterrupted military rule, Finance Minister Malam Ismaila Usman said on Wednesday.
`The Guardian' quoted him as saying that at the end of April Nigeria's foreign reserves stood at over US $4 billion. He described as incorrect the notion that the previous administration, led by the late General Sani Abacha, had left some US $7 billion in reserves.
Critics have accused Abacha's successors, the current military rulers, of looting the treasury before civilians take control of the country. Rather, he said, the government had been forced to complete priority projects and meet obligations before the new administration assumed power.
These included US $250 million for the repair of Kaduna oil refinery, US $300 million for a liquefied natural gas project, and US $325 million to increase the capacity of electricity power generation plants.
Fuel tanker drivers on strike over compensation claim
Fuel tanker drivers in southwest Nigeria have gone on strike demanding government compensation for vehicles destroyed or damaged in violent clashes with Lagos cattle dealers in February, AFP reported officials as saying on Wednesday.
The drivers, who come under the main oil sector union, NUPENG, refused to load fuel at the Apapa and Lagos satellite depots, belonging to the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) on Tuesday causing shortages at most city filling stations.
The drivers said 18 of their vehicles and two furnished offices were burnt completely. In addition, 25 tankers and five official cars were damaged, `The Guardian' reported.
AFRICA: African Americans promise US $1 million for GSE
A prominent US civil rights leader attending the Fifth African, African-American Summit in Accra has promised to encourage African Americans to invest in the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), PANA reported.
"I intend to mobilise next week about one million dollars from members of the delegation as well as other colleagues back in the United States to buy shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange," the Reverend Jesse Jackson, US special envoy for democracy in Africa, said.
Jackson, accompanied by US Secretary of Labour Alexis Herman and other officials, gave the undertaking on Wednesday while visiting the exchange in Accra. Jackson said the planned share purchases were an effort to develop a relationship between the GSR and the Wall Street Project, PANA reported.
A meeting is scheduled for January 2000 between the Wall Street Project and some US stock markets, PANA added, at which Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia are invited to build linkages.
Rawlings seeks urgent action on Africa's debt
Opening the summit on Wednesday, Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings called on the international community to take urgent action to reduce Africa's debt, the Ghana Broadcasting Service reported. Debt reduction, he said, would enable the continent to improve its economic performances.
In this regard, he also urged African states to create the necessary climate to attract foreign investment. One of these measures, he said, was for governments to reduce the cost of transacting business in Africa.
Abidjan, 20 May 1999, 20:00 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-869
[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
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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