UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN Update 480 for 7 June [19990608]

IRIN Update 480 for 7 June [19990608]


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 480 of events in West Africa (Monday 7 June)

NIGERIA: President lays out his blueprint

Setting the tone for the way he plans to clean up Nigeria during his first four-year term, President Olusegun Obasanjo called on the National Assembly on Friday to repeal or amend all laws inconsistent with democracy.

In a speech to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, broadcast nationwide, Obasanjo also presented his blueprint for ending corruption, revamping the economy, and rehabilitating the country's badly battered infrastructure.

[See separate item titled "President lays out his blueprint"]

WEST AFRICA: Taylor stresses need for "true" regional force

Liberian President Charles Taylor called on Monday for the formation of a West African force to keep the peace in the subregion.

"A true West African force would have all the characteristics of the 16 countries in the West African subregion," Taylor said at a news conference in Abidjan, one of four capitals he visited during a tour of West Africa on 4-7 June.

[See separate item titled "Taylor stresses need for regional force"]

GUINEA BISSAU: Deposed president travels to Gambia

Guinea Bissau's deposed president, Joao Bernardo Vieira, arrived in The Gambia on Sunday, a senior official in the Gambian Foreign Ministry told IRIN.

"He is not feeling well and we are trying to arrange treatment," the official said on Monday. The official did not know how long Vieira would stay in the Gambia but felt he would be there "for some time".

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Verisimo Siabra Correia was sworn in on Saturday as Guinea Bissau's new armed forces chief of staff, according to AFP.

[See separate item titled "Deposed president travels to Gambia"]

GUINEA BISSAU: Delegation visits Senegal

A government delegation from Guinea Bissau, led by former Prime Minister Victor Saude Maria, travelled to Dakar on Friday, according to news organisations.

Saude Maria said on Africa No. 1, a Gabon-based radio station, that Guinea Bissau should intensify ties with its partners, "especially with neighbouring countries such as Senegal and Guinea". He also said that institutions in Guinea Bissau were functioning well and that nothing could prevent presidential elections from being held on 28 November.

A diplomat in Dakar told IRIN that the delegation met President Abdou Diouf and other high-ranking officials. The primary purpose of the visit was "to consolidate ties between Senegal and Guinea Bissau," the source said.

SIERRA LEONE: Food aid arrives in Bo

The World Food Programme (WFP) delivered 146 mt of emergency food to Bo, some 170 km south east of Freetown, the UN agency said on Monday in a news release.

"More than 60,000 displaced people in the southern towns of Bo and Kenema depend on this food," Paul Ares, the WFP regional manager said. The food aid, the first WFP delivery in five months, is enough to feed 40,000 people for one week.

It was shipped on the 'Bulk Challenge' from Freetown to the port of Nitti, some 200 km south of the capital, and then transported northeast by road to Bo. The ship carried 800 mt of food belonging to the WFP and three other aid agencies.

"All indications are that their situation will become critical in the coming weeks if food is not quickly distributed to them," Ares said. Food shipments through Nitti will continue, he added, until WFP can use the Freetown-Bo road.

Last April, WFP food stocks ran out in Kenema, some 60 km east of Bo, and, as a result, 51,000 displaced people in the town and nearby Blama received only half of their one-month ration. In Bo, where some 10,000 displaced people depend on food aid, stocks were running out fast, WFP said.

On 4 June, the government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) promised safe access for humanitarian agencies to all areas under their control.

UN welcomes breakthrough at talks

Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira De Mello, commended both parties at the peace talks in Lome on the agreement guaranteeing safe and unhindered access for humanitarian agencies, according to a statement on Monday.

"It is hoped that this agreement will enable us to have access to those in desperate need of assistance and ensure the safety of aid workers and the security of humanitarian relief goods," Vieira De Mello said. He urged the government of Sierra Leone and the RUF to "make every effort in ensuring its immediate and effective implementation."

At least 2.6 million Sierra Leoneans, representing some 55 percent of the population, are in areas which have been inaccessible to aid agencies.

GUINEA: Finding ways to overcome hurdles to relief work

Humanitarian officials took part in a logistic workshop on 15-16 May in Gueckedou, near the border with Sierra Leone, to find solutions for the problems affecting relief work in Guinea, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported.

The recommendations from the workshop include increasing storage capacity at distribution points, opening additional distribution points in the large camps along the Gueckedou-Kissidougou highway and reorganising camps to reduce their number, the WFP said in its latest update.

The relief operation covers 450,000 Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees.

A committee consisting of representatives from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), WFP and other partners was formed to oversee the implementation of the recommendations, WFP said.

NIGER: Opposition demands investigation into massacre

The opposition Front Democratique du Nouveau (FDR) in Niger has called for the establishment of an independent commission of enquiry into a mass grave discovered on Boultoungoure Island in Lake Chad, according to 'l'Alternative', an independent newspaper in Niamey.

In a letter to the Ministry of Justice, FDR leader Issa Lamine, also called for "an end to the rule of impunity which has a tendency to take root in our country".

The graves contained the bodies of some 150 ex-rebels from the Toubou ethnic minority, who were members of the FDR. They were killed more than two months after a peace agreement was signed in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, between the FDR and the Niamey authorities, but responsibility for the massacre has not yet been determined.

AFRICA: Religious Leaders Form Alliance Against AIDS

Religious leaders and medical experts from various African nations have formed a new body to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the Pan African News Agency (PANA) reported.

The International Religious Alliance on HIV/AIDS for Africa, was formed on Friday, at the end of a three-day workshop in Senegal. It will be based in Dakar under the auspices of two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in AIDS-control work: Jamra, which is a Muslim NGO, and the Catholic SIDA Service, PANA reported.

Jamra's Latif Gueye, the Alliance's Secretary General, said the new body will work closely with scientists in prevention efforts at the grassroot level, and fight the stigmatisation of people living with HIV/AIDS through associations of religious leaders to be created in every country.

GHANA: German funds for education and infrastructure

Germany has signed a DM 90 million loan and grant agreement with Ghana, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. It said DM 50 million of this amount would constitute the grant.

The money will go to improving water supplies in the Eastern and Volta regions, the Takoradi Technical Institute, roads and transport. Rehabilitation of the Tema-Sogakope-Aflao road will take up DM 76 million of the money. The funds will also support decentralisation and democracy.

Abidjan, 7 June 1999, 19:02 GMT

[ENDS]

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

Item: irin-english-978

[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

Previous Menu Home Page What's New Search Country Specific