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IRIN-WA Update 560 of events in West Africa (Tuesday 28 September 1999)
Annan recommends 6,000 peacekeepers for Sierra Leone
Secretary-General Annan, has recommended that the Security Council establish a new, robust UN peacekeeping force for Sierra Leone to help implement the Lome peace agreement, signed in July by the government and the RUF.
In a report released on Monday, Annan says that one of the main purposes of the proposed 6,000 strong force, will be to help the government disarm and demobilise an estimated 45,000 ex-combatants, many of them children. Another is that the force, to be called the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), will be expected to "create the conditions of confidence and stability required for the smooth implementation of the peace process". It will replace the current UN observer mission known as UNOMSIL.
UNAMSIL should comprise six infantry battalions backed by specialised support units. These include logistics, communications, engineering and air and other transport units, Annan says.
Each battalion will be 750-strong. The specialised support units should have about 250 personnel each. Annan recommends that the UN force be supplied with armoured personnel carriers and a helicopter-borne rapid reaction unit of 200 soldiers. The number of military observers should also be expanded from the currently authorised 210 to 260, the report said.
Annan says that it would be advantageous to have a substantial number of ECOMOG troops incorporated into the new UN force.
The force will not be mandated to ensure the security of Freetown, the international airport at Lungi or provide security for the government. Those tasks will remain ECOMOG's, Annan says.
Support for disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
It was important for the international community to
contribute to the trust fund established by the World
Bank to support the disarmament, demobilisation and
reintegration of ex-combatants, Annan said. More than
the US$ 19 million contributed so far will be needed,
he added.
Return of Sankoh, Koroma crucial to peace process
He also appeals to the leaders of the RUF and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Foday Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma, to return to Freetown soon, as this was essential for the effective implementation of the peace agreement.
Humanitarian needs "largely unmet"
Three months after the agreement by the parties to the Lome peace process to allow unhindered humanitarian access throughout the country, the needs of more than 2.6 million Sierra Leoneans in RUF/AFRC-controlled northern and eastern regions of the country are "largely unmet", Annan says. Part of UNAMSIL's mandate, he says, will be to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, humanitarian assistance needs are expected to triple as aid agencies gain access to parts of Sierra Leone which were previously "closed". Annan has asked donors to contribute generously to the new Sierra Leonean Appeal, to be launched in November, as the current appeal has only received 27 percent of the US $22 million requested.
The return of over a million internally displaced persons as well as half a million refugees has yet to begin. However, Annan says, UNHCR is drawing up plans for a mass voluntary repatriation of refugees in consultation with the governments concerned.
UNITED NATIONS: Benin, Gambia call call for quicker response to African crises
International response to African conflicts needs to be speeded up, The Gambian president and the Beninese foreign secretary said in statements to the UN General Assembly this week.
Both countries contrasted the timely international efforts to restore peace to Kosovo and East Timor with the slow or sometimes lack of response to African conflicts.
"We insist that one life in Angola or elsewhere in Africa is no less important than one life in Kosovo or East Timor," Yahya Jammeh, president of The Gambia, said."The Security Council must, therefore, be even-handed and establish principled criteria for humanitarian intervention."
Security Council should be reformed, West African leaders say
The UN Security Council should be reformed, leaders from Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal said in addresses to the General Assembly this week.
President Lansana Conte of Guinea, said that the Council should become more "democratic" while the Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso, Youssouf Ouedraogo, said that its functions should be revised. The Foreign minister of Senegal, Jacques Baudin, called for the Council to have greater authority, more legitimacy and more credibility.
AFRICA: Annan calls for support
African countries adopting positive political and economic changes deserve more support from the international community, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his latest report on the continent.
"What the outside world may not have noticed is that much of what it has been calling for is now happening," he said.
Many African countries were liberalising their economies, removing exchange controls, privatising state firms, building communications infrastructure and reforming legal and regulatory frameworks. Democratic elections were becoming the norm, he said, citing Nigeria as a recent example and South Africa, which has held two democratic elections since the end of apartheid. Good governance, accountability, transparency and the rule of law were, he said, taking root.
He called for decisive action in providing overseas development aid and debt relief to the continent, and emphasised the need for more humanitarian aid. At the end of August, he said, the UN had received just half of the US $800 million it needed for humanitarian efforts in Africa. In some of the most acute emergencies, he said, less than one quarter of aid needed had been received. Annan said partnerships with Africa should, in addition to money, include training, technology and political engagement.
CAMEROON: Water shortage posing health problems
Yaounde's water shortage is posing increasing health and sanitation hazards to the city's 1.2 million inhabitants, sources in the Cameroonian capital told IRIN on Monday.
"The situation in hospitals, schools and government buildings is particularly acute," one source said.
The shortage is due to a damaged pipeline some 50 km south of Yaounde which the Cameroonian water authority, SNEC, says it is unable to repair. The government announced rationing on 8 September but the piped water supply dried up last week.
"At present people collect water in three ways," a diplomatic source told IRIN. "Through natural wells, having it trucked in and stored in their own tanks or by putting out buckets to collect rain water."
In the first week of September, the World Bank informed SNEC of the implications of the water shortages on the health of the population.
Although the shortages have been alleviated because they occurred during the rainy season, local observers have expressed astonishment that the leak in the pipeline has not yet been repaired.
A French team arrived one week ago to try to fix the
problem, a local source told IRIN. President Paul Biya
has announced in the local media that the problem will
be resolved by 6 October.
LIBERIA: Liberians in US donate $100.000 in medicines
A Liberian organization in the United States has donated medical supplies worth US $100,000 to residents of Nimba County, independent Star radio reported on Monday.
The items were donated by the Nimba Educational and Medical Fund to improve health services in the county, it said, citing the chairman of the organisation's Humanitarian Committee, Cyril Lurlay. He said the organisation planned to make another shipment in November.
Abidjan, 28 September 1999; 16:50 GMT
[ENDS]
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Item: irin-english-1676
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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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