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IRIN-WA Update 557 of events in West Africa (Thursday 23 September 1999)
The GAMBIA: Flood damage assessed by UN/ NGO team
Prolonged and heavy rainfall between June and August caused heavy flooding in The Gambia, affecting 27,000 people and damaging roads and bridges in the country's Central River and Upper River divisions.
These were the findings of a three-day interagency assessment mission to the affected areas at the end of August, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
The UN, in coordination with national and local authorities, will assist the victims in these administrative divisions. WFP has distributed 27 mt of cereals and 17.5 mt of oil. UNICEF is providing drugs, health education, water chlorination and sanitation. WHO is giving 860 kg of drugs and UNDP is providing logistical support for the delivery of aid.
The extent of crop damage will be assessed jointly by FAO and WFP in October.
LIBERIA: Floods in Gbarnga
In a similar development, several homes in Gbarnga, in Liberia's Bong County, have been damaged by floods, independent Star radio reported on Wednesday. The flooding was caused by heavy rains which led to the overflow of the Jor River. However, some residents have blamed the flood on sand mining along the river bank. The local Red Cross office has reportedly started to register victims.
Thousands of refugees trek to Tarvey
At least 7,000 Sierra Leonean refugees are still on a five-day trek from Kolahun in Liberia's upper Lofa to Tarvey in lower Lofa, MSF said on Wednesday. The refugees told the UNHCR they were fleeing constant harassment by Liberian security forces.
However, the Paris-based MSF programme director for Liberia, Guillaume Le-Gallais, told IRIN on Thursday that there were still 600 of the most vulnerable refugees in Kolahun.
"They did not leave because they were unable to do so," he said.
Some 16,000 Sierra Leoneans had been living in a refugee camp in Kolahun since February 1998, half of whom reached Tarvey in August, MSF said, following dissident activity in the area.
MSF has established a presence in Gelena village, located in the bush between Kolahun and Tarvey, to provide medical care, food and drinking water for refugees passing through.
[[See separate Item: irin-english -1654 titled 'Thousands of refugees trek to Tarvey ']
GUINEA-BISSAU: Sanha announces candidacy for presidential
elections
Guinea Bissau's interim president, Malam Bacai Sanha,
has announced he will run as the official PAIGC (Partido
Africano da Independcia da Guine e Cabo Verde) candidate
in presidential elections scheduled for 28 November,
news organisations reported.
Founded in 1956, the PAIGC is Guinea-Bissau's oldest political party. It led the nationalist struggle against Portugal until independence was unilaterally declared in 1973.
Investigation launched into mass grave
Guinea-Bissau's attorney general has ordered the exhumation of a mass grave in Bissau containing 14 unidentified bodies, news organisations reported.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office told the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, that investigations were underway into suspected summary executions by officials of former president Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was deposed in May 1999 by sacked armed forces chief Brigadier General Ansumane Mane.
Demining programmes continue
The Ministry of Defence and the NGO HumAid announced their intention to work together to undertake de-mining activity, to mark mined areas, and to conduct public awareness campaigns to encourage inhabitants to respect marked areas, OCHA reported.
UN agencies have also prepared a project document on mine action for submission to the Ministry of Defence and a group formed in March to conduct mine awareness activities in the country has donated marking material to the ministry.
FAO determining areas needing seed inputs for planting season
FAO is currently surveying areas needing vegetable seeds for the coming planting season and identifying NGOs to participate in the distribution. FAO, UNDP and representatives from the Swedish government made an assessment of Ohio and northern regions on 5 September when they met farmer's associations to discuss potential areas in which they might assist.
MALI: Ex-president's death sentence commuted to life
Ex-president Moussa Traore will not walk out of prison a free man but the state will not kill him after sentencing him to death for stealing state funds. Mali's current president, Alpha Oumar Konare, commuted Traore's death sentence to life on Tuesday, the second time he has done so.
Announcing the clemency on Mali's 39th independence anniversary, Konare also commuted to life the death sentences on Traore's wife, Mariam, and his brother in law Abramane Doua, news reports said. All three were sentenced to death for economic crimes on 12 January.
Traore, who ruled the poor landlocked country with an iron fist for 23 years before a coup ousted him, was first sentenced to death in 1997 for "crimes of blood", Reuters reported.
NIGERIA: Gas company vows to meet delivery date, despite riots
Management at Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited has said it would meet delivery dates to its customers in Europe despite this week's demonstrations by communities in the southeastern Bonny producing area, news reports said.
"We are producing six thousand tonnes of LNG per day into a tank and producing at a rate to meet our deadline," Abba Gana, company deputy managing director, said.
However, the Lagos daily newspaper, `The Guardian', reported him as saying production may be hampered if access to nine water wells supplying the liquefaction process were not guaranteed.
Concern about possible disruption of operations have surfaced as a result of riots by youths of the Bonny community. The riots began on Monday when youths stormed the access road between the plant and staff residential quarters at Bonny. The protesters demanded implementation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for jobs and social amenities, AFP reported.
However, `The Guardian said' Gana said the community had failed to meet its obligations under the MOU. For example, he said the company had planned to spend US $6.5 million in water and road projects but the community had failed to provide the land.
The disturbances had raised fears that the US $3.8 billion plant would be unable to begin shipments of liquefied gas to its five European buyers by 1 October, the newspaper said. It listed the companies as ENEL of Italy, ENAGAS of Spain, BOTAS of Turkey, GAZ of France and TRANSGAS of Portugal.
Abidjan, 23 September 1999; 19:25 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1658
[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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