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IRIN-WA Update 550 of events in West Africa (Tuesday
14 September 1999)
SIERRA LEONE: Cholera kills 17
A cholera outbreak since 1 September has killed 17 people and infected 352 others, the head of disease prevention and control in Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health, Dr Haroun Thuray, told IRIN. "From 9-10 September, 14 deaths and 29 cases were recorded in Port Loko district alone," Thuray said.
He described the situation in Port Loko as "bad" due to the high fatality rate and the movement of traders into the area from the neighbouring district of Kambia, which placed extra pressure on existing sanitation facilities. Kambia is some 100 km north of Freetown on the border with Guinea.
Thuray said cholera preparedness in Port Loko was poor because aid agencies had been unable to pre-position supplies. "Accessibility has been a problem," he said, "but we hope to have supplies arriving tomorrow (Tuesday)."
A World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman in Freetown told IRIN that WHO was trying to determine whether cholera was also present in other parts of Sierra Leone, particularly Kambia district, which WHO describes as a "reservoir of cholera".
WHO has provided IV fluids, oral rehydration salts and technical guidance to the district medical team in Port Loko and to Lungi hospital, which serves the district, the WHO source said, adding "there is currently sufficient capacity in Sierra Leone to treat 2,000 cases".
[See separate item titled 'Cholera kills 17']
Registration completed in Mile 91 and Yele
CARE staff have completed the registration of internally displaced people in the towns of Yele and in the area of Mile 91, according to a news release issued by CARE USA on Monday.
Until recently, Yele and Mile 91 were inaccessible to humanitarian agencies due to armed conflict in the area.
During the registration process, CARE issued identification cards to families needing emergency relief supplies. The card entitles a family to receive enough food and supplies for a month.
Mile 91 (91 miles east of Freetown) is described by CARE as a "strategic junction" of the country's northern and southern trucking routes.
In a related development, CARE said the distribution of emergency food rations to 97,000 families in the beleaguered town of Makeni was completed more quickly than expected.
"Cooperation with the commanders on the ground has been excellent and a contributing factor to the timely distribution schedule," Nick Webber, CARE country director for Sierra Leone said. "The food distribution was completed far more quickly than originally anticipated," he added.
Food aid agencies sent a 65-truck convoy carrying 1,200 mt of food to Makeni on Saturday, the first time since food aid deliveries were suspended last December due to insecurity.
LIBERIA: Slow start to Sierra Leonean refugee relocation
Although UNHCR received an agreement in principle for the relocation of thousands of Sierra Leonean refugees fleeing insecurity in northern Liberia a month ago, it has yet to obtain clearance from the Liberian government for the move to a safer site nearer Monrovia, UNHCR reported.
Around 5,000 Sierra Leonean refugees have regrouped in Tarvey, some 200 kms from Monrovia in Lower Lofa County. They fled there in August after armed attacks on villages in northern Lofa which forced the relocation of aid workers and left humanitarian stocks and offices looted.
UNHCR is seeking to transfer the 5,000 Sierra Leoneans in Tarvey and another 8,000 who remained in Kolahun in Upper Lofa.
UNHCR has been able to move only 350 particularly vulnerable cases to Sinje, an existing camp which can accommodate another 15,000 - 20,000 refugees, according to UNHCR. There are 90,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia, around 35,000 of whom were in Lofa County before fighting broke out there in early August.
Medical care and supplies, ferried by helicopter, are still available to refugees in Tarvey and Upper Lofa, but UNHCR is concerned for their security and that of aid workers. It also fears that access to the remote area could be cut off by fresh fighting.
MSF, in collaboration with WHO and the Ministry of Health, has launched a vaccination campaign against yellow fever in Lower Lofa County, Star radio reported.
Last month's fighting also caused the suspension of the repatriation of Liberian refugees to Lofa County. However, Liberians continue to volunteer to return to other areas from Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and, since the beginning of September, Sierra Leone.
In all, over 334,000 Liberians have gone home on their own and with UNHCR help since 1997.
WEST AFRICA: Crop, pasture outlook good, despite excessive rains
Despite unusually heavy rains in July in seven Sahelian countries, crop and pasture outlook in the subregion is good, the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System says.
In its latest weather and crop situation report, put out on 10 September, it says the rains especially benefited farmers in Mauritania, northern Senegal and Mali.
"Crop prospects are generally favourable," the agency says.
However, it says excess water may reduce yield potential in flooded fields in low-lying areas. The rains caused "substantial flooding" in Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
The outcome for long-cycle crops in Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger it added, would depend on the continuation of rains in September.
Although rainfall decreased over the Sahel in September, it says, it has been widespread and above average over most parts of Burkina Faso and Chad.
Grasshoppers in this zone thrive on good rains and healthy crops. Infestations of grasshoppers and army worms have been reported in Cape Verde, Niger and Senegal, while stem borers have caused damage on millet in northern Burkina Faso.
FAO warns that although no desert locusts have been reported in any country, small-scale breeding may occur although no significant developments are expected.
BENIN-TOGO: Specialists team up against the Guinea worm
Beninese and Togolese specialists have produced a six-point plan to reduce the already diminishing incidence of the Guinea worm disease in communities along their common border, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
Guinea worm experts from the two countries decided at a two-day meeting last week in Savalou, Benin, that village volunteers, community coordinators and health workers needed to be retrained on proper reporting of the disease.
The Guinea worm parasite - dracunculus medinensis - lives beneath the skin of humans and other vertebrates. It remains a health hazard for the communities concerned, the experts said.
Other preventive measures include getting experts on the disease in both countries to consult each other in their efforts to eradicate the worm. Another recommendation is to mobilise communities to pass on information on Guinea worm sufferers crossing their common border.
The number of villages reporting cases of the disease in Togo has declined. In 1998, the 215 villages reported cases and this year 92. Benin's Ministry of Public Health reported there were 37,474 cases of the disease in 1990 and 695 last year.
AFRICA: War, Peace and reconciliation conference
The International Peace Academy (IPA) is organising a consultation on "War, Peace and Reconciliation in Africa" from 28 November to 2 December, 1999 in Dakar, Senegal, according to IPA.
The conference is being organised in cooperation with
the Council for the Development of Social Scientific
Research in Africa (CODESRIA) with the support of the
governments of Sweden and the Netherlands.
The conference will focus on four major issues: the
insecurity and intractability of war in large parts
of Africa, the challenges of constructing durable peace,
the viability of amnesty, immunity and tribunals on
the path to reconciliation and the prospects of African
solutions to African problems of war.
The consultation aims to integrate the perspectives
of civil society actors and regional and international
policy makers in order to develop a coherent plan of
action for building and maintaining sustainable peace
in Africa.
Abidjan, 14 September 1999; 19:09 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1605
[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, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org 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
Subscriber: afriweb@sas.upenn.edu Keyword: IRIN
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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