UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 469 for 21 May [19990522]

WEST AFRICA: IRIN Update 469 for 21 May [19990522]


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

IRIN-WA Update 469 of events in West Africa (Friday 21 May)

SIERRA LEONE: Agencies say shelter needed as rains approach

Aid agencies have two objectives in Sierra Leone as the rainy season approaches, says the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU). They aim to keep rebuilding destroyed homes in areas that have become safe for resettlement and to provide temporary shelter for displaced people whose home areas are still unsafe.

Although priority is being given to providing emergency shelter, HACU-Sierra Leone says, resettlement options will continue to be explored.

Up to 5,000 homes were destroyed in fighting in Greater Freetown, HACU says, quoting the Ministry of Housing. Agencies have divided affected areas into zones to ensure adequate coverage. Emergency reconstruction has started in Calaba Town in the eastern part of the peninsula. Food, zinc and nails have been distributed to 401 resettling families and there are plans to re-roof 110 low- cost housing units. In parts of the eastern peninsula up to 75 percent of homes were burned down in January when rebels attacked the capital.

HACU says agencies also distributed building materials to war- affected people in eastern Freetown and completed construction at some sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs). With relative security around Waterloo, relief operations have been fully resumed in the camp and the rehabilitation of damaged shelters has begun.

However, concern remains that the number of IDPs in Greater Freetown now exceeds available shelter. New sites are being built. Some 10,000 IDPs in centres, hospitals and clinics are still receiving items such as mats, clothing, blankets and toiletries.

Some 2,767 children still missing

By the middle of May, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) had registered 3,384 children missing since January in the Freetown area. Some 517 had been reunited with their families but 2,767 were still missing.

HACU reports that a meeting between agencies and the Ministry of Social Welfare took place recently on reuniting families in different refugee camps in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

ICRC now back in Freetown

Meanwhile, the two international components of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement returned to Sierra Leone on 17 May to resume operations for tens of thousands of people in need of emergency help, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said recently. Immediate priority will be given to providing temporary shelter for IDPs in Freetown and supplying clinics with basic equipment, it added.

Renewed fighting around Port Loko

There have been reports of renewed fighting around Port Loko, northeast of Freetown, Reuters said on Friday, quoting state radio. It said troops of ECOMOG, the peacekeeping force that backs President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's government, repelled rebel attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, inflicting heavy casualties.

Diplomats attributed the fighting in the last three days to attempts by both sides to gain territory before a ceasefire comes into effect on Monday, Reuters said. The government and the rebels are scheduled to start peace talks on Tuesday in Lome, Togo.

Other news reports said battles flared earlier this week in the eastern provincial towns of Kenema and Mano Junction, which is located in a diamond-mining region. An ECOMOG spokesman was quoted as saying the Nigerian-led force beat back both attacks.

SENEGAL: Thousands of Casamance displaced receive aid

Some 10,500 displaced people around Senegal's southern city of Ziguinchor received 83.5 mt of rice and millet from the ICRC and the Senegalese Red Cross between 11 and 17 May, the organisation said in its latest news report. The displaced persons fled their homes when government troops fought separatists of the Mouvement des forces democratique de Casamance on 29 and 30 April around Ziguinchor airport.

GUINEA BISSAU: Vieira to stand trial

Guinea Bissau's deposed ruler, Joao Bernardo Vieira, will stand trial for treason in a local court, the country's new rulers, the Military Junta and opposition parties decided on Thursday. No date has been set for the trial.

News reports, quoting opposition figure Amile Saad, said Vieira faced charges of acting without parliamentary approval in getting Guinean and Senegalese troops to shore up his government against a 11-month military rebellion.

"He committed a treasonable offence," Saad, secretary-general of the Union for Change party, told reporters after the meeting. Vieira is also accused of failing to stop arms smuggling, allegedly by some of his senior army officers, to rebels in Senegal's troubled Casamance area, the reports said.

The decision to try Vieira followed a week of uncertainty within the opposition block, with some preferring that he leave for exile. Vieira, granted asylum by Lisbon, is still in the Portuguese Embassy in Bissau. An impasse still exits between Lisbon and Bissau over his custody.

Civilians moved from prison to house arrest

Meanwhile, the government on Wednesday transferred 10 Vieira associates from prison to house arrest, Lusa reported. The men, all civilians, included former ministers and presidential advisers.

"This a step toward your freedom, so I ask that you understand this gesture as a gesture of reconciliation," Lieutenant Colonel Emilio Costa, a Junta official, told them at a ceremony. He asked them to do their utmost "to bring peace to Guinea Bissau". Other pro-Vieira civilians remain in prison because they are suspected of "grave crimes", Costa added.

Amnesty calls on international community to support Guinea Bissau

Amnesty International called on the world community on Thursday to help Guinea Bissau rebuild and reform key institutions that protect human rights, particularly the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. "It is also vital that the United Nations proceeds with the proposed deployment of human rights officers," Amnesty added.

The new government has repeatedly vowed to respect human rights, Amnesty said, and has disbanded the security police which was "responsible" for many human rights abuses. Amnesty called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

It urged the new authorities to review the criminal justice system and ensure "a coherent and comprehensive reform of the judicial, law enforcement and penal institutions".

"The failure to protect fundamental economic, social, civil and political rights was one of the causes of the conflict," it said, urging the international community to help Guinea Bissau develop effective institutions for the protection of human rights.

BURKINA FASO: Zongo's suspected killers claim innocence

Soldiers suspected of killing investigative journalist Norbert Zongo have declared their innocence amid public demands for them to be tried for the crime, AFP reported.

The six presidential guards, named by an independent panel of inquiry into Zongo's death, wrote an open letter to the minister of justice claiming they were victims of machinations. In the letter, published by the media, they said there were in the capital, Ouagadougou, on 13 December 1998 when Zongo was killed in an outlying area.

In its report, published two weeks ago, the commission noted "contradictions and incoherences" in the soldiers' explanations of their movements on 13 December.

TOGO: Lome refuses to let Amnesty delegation in

The head of Amnesty International, Pierre Sane, was refused entry into Togo from Ghana on Friday, Amnesty press officer Olivier Jacoulet told IRIN.

Jacoulet said border guards told the delegation they would not be allowed to in, despite their valid visas, because of "current tensions in Lome".

Jacoulet said Amnesty believed the decision was related to a report it published two weeks ago alleging widespread human rights abuses in Togo.

[See separate item issued earlier today by IRIN West Africa]

AFRICA: Sullivan launches Africa investment scheme

Spearheading an African American investment drive in Africa, the Rev. Leon Sullivan launched on Wednesday the "People's Investment for Development" fund, PANA reported. Sullivan signed a $US 2,000 cheque for the scheme, saying Africa no longer needed to depend on rich nations for development aid.

"We do not have to beg anymore," he told the audience at the Africa/African American summit in Accra, Ghana. Sullivan, founder of the biennial summit which began in 1991, said the scheme was a modest beginning of better things to come. Participants immediately pledged $US 150,000 to the effort, which will support 1,000 new small-scale businesses in Africa.

Annan says international business community can also help

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the summit that international big business could be an "important ally" of the UN in developing Africa's business sector, infrastructure and education, as well as tackling and social and other problems.

"There are ample investment opportunities in Africa, provided that potential investors look beneath the surface," he said in his message, delivered by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahima Fall.

In what he said was renewed interest in Africa, he noted that the UN Security Council had held two ministerial-level meetings devoted to Africa and that UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP and UNHCR were active on the continent. In addition, Annan said, countries such as the United States have demonstrated their desire to help Africa, symbolised by President Bill Clinton's visit in 1998 and congressional consideration of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.

The African American community, Annan said, had been successful in raising the profile of African issues in the United States. "This summit in Accra is sustaining that momentum," he said.

Abidjan, 21 May 1999, 19:04 GMT

[ENDS]

[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]

Item: irin-english-876

[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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