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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa
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WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 20 covering the period 15-21 May 1999
SIERRA LEONE: Cautious response to ceasefire
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 help.
Safe, unhindered access by humanitarian organisations to all people in need is one of the six points of the ceasefire agreement signed on Monday in Lome by President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and rebel leader Foday Sankoh.
Residents of the eastern towns of Bo and Kenema face a food crisis since stocks are running low and the insecurity on the main Freetown-Bo highway has continued to constrain food aid deliveries.
The ceasefire is to take effect on 24 May but Reuters reported that some people expressed concern that the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) might not have enough control over its rebels. Others voiced similar fears about the pro-government Civil Defence Force (CDF), which includes the Kamajors.
In fact, there were reports on Friday that fighting
had resumed around Port Loko, some 50 km northeast
of Freetown, between ECOMOG troops and rebels, with
the West African peacekeepers repelling RUF attacks
on Wednesday and Thursday.
Meanwhile, killings documented in a report by the Humanitarian
Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU)for the period 1
to 17 May indicate a pattern whereby people are herded
into a village and then killed, tortured or abused.
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.
Masiaka and surrounding area
Initial inter-agency assessments in Songo, some 40 km east of Freetown, Mile 36, Mile 38, Masiaka (about 55 km east of the capital) and surrounding villages 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.
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.
Meanwhile, between 26 April and 16 May, 42 new war casualties, including eight amputees and children with axe wounds to the head, arrived at Connaught Hospital in Freetown.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), too, said - in a statement on Monday -that the rebels committed "scores of atrocities" against civilians in recent weeks. HRW based its charge on the testimonies of survivors who described decapitations, amputations of hands, mouths and ears and scores of abductions of women and children by the RUF around Port Loko and Masiaka.
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 cases of diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera reported on the island were caused by a lack of clean water, poor environmental sanitation and overcrowding: some 5,000 IDPs have joined the population of 2,500 on the island.
The problem was aggravated by a lack of drugs. By the end of April, 23 people had died from diarrhoea and dysentery. 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. HACU
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 meets 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. The committee decided to extend its scope to cover violations by other pro-government armed groups such as the CDF and the Sierra Leone Army, HACU reported.
The RUF spokesman, Omrie Golley, told IRIN on Monday the rebel group was setting up an independent commission to investigate reports of atrocities committed by its forces.
GUINEA: RUF rebels kill two in border village
Sierra Leonean rebels shot dead two villagers and burned
their bodies in an attack on Dinde, a village in the
west Guinean district of Tassin, UNHCR reported officials
in the area's main town, Forecariah, as saying.
The 15 May attack was the fourth this year in the border prefecture of Forecariah, which includes Tassin, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Tuesday. The authorities in Forecariah said the attackers also burned huts and stole a large quantity of food and cattle from Dinde.
The rebel attack has renewed distrust among villagers towards Sierra Leonean refugees in a nearby camp in Tassin, whom they suspect of harbouring rebels, UNHCR said.
OAU gives US $250,000 in emergency aid
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), has given Guinea US $250,000 for emergency projects, PANA reported last weekend.
OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim presented the donation to Guinean Ambassador Mamadi Diawara in Addis Ababa, saying the gift was "a practical symbol of Africans expressing concern and solidarity" for each other in times of need. Diawara said Guinea would use the money to dig wells and for tree-planting projects.
LIBERIA: Taylor accuses ECOMOG of training men to overthrow him
President Charles Taylor has accused the West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, of training men to overthrow his government, according to news organisations.
Taylor reportedly told journalists at a news conference on Monday that ECOMOG's former base, where arms and ammunition retrieved by the peacekeepers during a disarmament campaign are stocked, was to play an important role in a planned attack.
UN team on information-gathering mission
Meanwhile, a five-member UN team visited Monrovia this week to gather information on fighting last September between government forces and supporters of former faction leader Roosevelt Johnson, a UN official told IRIN on Tuesday.
During the fighting, shots were reported fired at the US embassy.
The team, headed by James Ngobi, a former Director in the UN Department of Political Affairs, was sent at the request of the Liberian government.
TOGO: Lome refuses to let Amnesty delegation in
The head of Amnesty International, Pierre Sane,was prevented on Friday from entering Togo from Ghana, Amnesty press officer Olivier Jacoulet told IRIN.
"A delegation of four people, including Pierre Sane ... arrived at the border today and were prevented from entering Togo," Jacoulet said. They were told by border officials that they were not allowed through, despite all holding 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. News organisations reported on Thursday that six lawyers were to sue the international watchdog on behalf of the Togolese government, which has denied the allegations in the report.
Sane was to have met President Gnassingbe Eyadema in Togo's capital on Friday to discuss human rights issues. Jacoulet said Sane received a telephone call early Friday from Togo's ambassador to Ghana telling him Eyadema had cancelled the meeting.
NIGERIA: Commonwealth ban lifted
Nigeria is being allowed back into the Commonwealth after a suspension of more than three years and will formally rejoin on 29 May, the day a new civilian government takes power, according to a statement the Commonwealth Secretariat issued on Tuesday.
New government will not inherit an empty treasury, minister says
The country's incoming civilian rulers will inherit foreign reserves of over US $ 4 billion come 29 May, 'The Guardian' quoted Finance Minister Malam Ismaila Usman as saying on Wednesday. Critics have accused the military rulers of looting the treasury.
New constitution unveiled
Nigeria's new constitution, unveiled by its outgoing military government, goes "some way" towards meeting the demands of communities in the oil-rich but volatile Niger Delta, news organisations said.
It reportedly gives Nigeria's 36 states a greater share of the national income, with each receiving at least 13 percent of all wealth they produce - up from the current 10 percent.
Tension continues in Niger Delta
Meanwhile, Ijaw militants in the Niger Delta region warned foreigners to leave the area and threatened to seize land before the civilian government took over, news reports said.
The youths have accused oil companies of degrading the environment and their livelihood.
Meanwhile, Victor Fodeke, a member of the African Environment Action Network (EANET-Africa) has described environmental problems in the Niger Delta as a national security issue, 'The Guardian' newspaper said on Monday.
Fodeke said a survey by EANET-Africa had shown that the crisis in the Delta stemmed from degradation in oil-producing areas, the inadequate treatment and disposal of oil waste, the continued pollution of rivers, ground water and natural resources and, consequently, the disruption of social and economic activities.
He said the incoming government should shift policy
away from the present dependence on oil and gas to
an agriculture-based economy, and create a Ministry
of Environment and Natural Resources.
NADECO to check on new government
Nigeria's National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) says it aims to serve as a watchdog over the incoming government, `The Guardian' reported on Monday. It quoted NADECO's Frederick Fasehun, who attended a meeting of the coalition in Washington D.C. last week, as saying that NADECO would ensure there was justice, fair play and equity in the country.
Ghanaian fishermen demand compensation for oil spill
Some 2,000 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' reported on Thursday. They said they had been excluded from compensation payments even though they produced up to 95 percent of seafood and own most of the fishing boats in the state.
AFRICA: Africa/African-American Summit
Rev. Leon Sullivan launched a People's Investment for Development fund on Wednesday at the Fifth African/African-American Summit in Accra with a cheque for US $2,000, saying Africa no longer needed to depend on rich nations for development aid.
Participants immediately pledged US $150,000 for the
fund, which will support 1,000 new small businesses
in Africa.
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 a message delivered on his behalf.
For his part, Rev. Jesse Jackson, the US special envoy for democracy in Africa, promised Wednesday in Accra to mobilise one million dollars in investments in the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), PANA reported.
And 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 performance.
BURKINA FASO: Opposition parliamentarian freed
Opposition parliamentarian Herman Yameogo, arrested
on Monday following violent protests in the south-western
town of Koudougou, was freed on Thursday afternoon,
a media source told IRIN from the Burkinabe capital.
His liberation came after the speaker of the Burkinabe assembly, Melegue Maurice Traore, asked the government to free him since he had parliamentary immunity.
Yameogo, one of nine opposition members of Burkina Faso's
111-seat parliament, was held after protesters burnt
homes in Koudougou to press demands for the arrest
of six presidential guards suspected of killing independent
journalist Norbert Zongo in December.
An independent commission found that Zongo "was
murdered for purely political reasons" and for
his commitment to investigative journalism. In its
report, it described the six guards - who have since
said they are innocent - as "serious suspects".
Defending Yameogo's arrest, Security Minister Djibril Bassole said the state had evidence that he had incited the protesters.
However, Traore told journalists on Thursday that "even if there is evidence against him (Yameogo), the government can have him put on trial, but only after requesting the National Assembly to lift his parliamentary immunity".
Meanwhile, a strike called for Thursday by a collective of human rights groups, opposition leaders and journalists to press for Yameogo's release was "only moderately followed", the media source told IRIN.
GUINEA BISSAU: Junta wants ECOMOG to help organise elections
Military Junta spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Zamora Induta said on Tuesday in Lisbon that the West African Peace Monitoring Group, ECOMOG, will help Guinea Bissau's government prepare general and presidential elections scheduled for 28 November, AFP reported.
Induta was one of four members of the Military Junta who held talks on Monday and Tuesday with Portuguese officials on the fate of deposed Joao Bernardo Vieira, Lusa reported.
ECOMOG has 600 men in Guinea Bissau, where it was deployed to oversee the November 1998 peace accord between the Vieira administration and the Military Junta.
After Vieira's overthrow on 7 May, critics questioned the need for the ECOMOG force, comprising troops from The Gambia, Togo, Niger and Benin, which said it would withdraw its men as soon as possible as they were no longer needed.
Fadul apologises for damage to embassies
Interim-President Malam Sanha apologised on Monday for damage done to the Cuban, French, Senegalese and Swedish diplomatic missions and residences in Bissau during the overthrow, Lusa reported.
Vieira to stand trial
Meanwhile, the junta and opposition parties decided on Thursday that Vieira would stand trial. News reports quoted opposition politician Amile Saad as saying that the charges against him would include acting without parliamentary approval in getting Guinea and Senegal to send troops to back him against military rebels.
Conditions difficult for hundreds of prisoners
Some 500 civilian and military prisoners detained by the Junta are living "in difficult conditions" but their lives are not endangered, AFP quoted the president of the Guinea Bissau Human Rights League, Ignacio Tavarez, as saying.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)'s regional delegate in Senegal, Gilbert Delechat, told IRIN on Tuesday that on 12 and 13 May the ICRC registered 572 prisoners, whom it provided with soap, jerrycans and other material to clean their cells. "The visits continue," he said.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Disaster averted
Local firefighters assisted by their French counterparts and other Ivoirian services on Tuesday won a five-day battle against a huge fire at the Gestion des Stocks petrolieres de Cote d'Ivoire (GESTOCI), a major fuel depot in the Vridi industrial zone here. The fire had threatened to spread to an adjoining oil refinery.
WESTERN SAHARA: UN sets date for referendum
The UN Secretary General has announced 31 July 2000 as the date for a referendum in the disputed Western Sahara, a UN official told IRIN on Wednesday. The poll will decide if the territory will integrate with Morocco or become independent.
Abidjan, 21 May 1999, 20:13 GMT
[ENDS]
[ UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-875
[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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