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WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Update 573 for West Africa (Friday 15 October 1999)
CONTENTS:
SIERRA LEONE: Over 3,000 refugees return to Kailahun SIERRA LEONE: Agricultural newsletter started FOOD: Five West African nations lead the way in reducing hunger WEST AFRICA: Even rainfall in the Sahel HEALTH: UN Secretary-General congratulates MSF on Nobel award
SIERRA LEONE: Over 3,000 refugees return to Kailahun
Over 3,000 refugees have returned from Liberia to Kailahun district in eastern Sierra Leone, the UNHCR representative in Freetown, Kingsley Amaning, told IRIN on Friday.
"UNHCR is currently making further investigations to clarify the extent of return," Amaning said.
He added that most of the returnees were in "relatively good condition" because they had been able to cultivate land near the refugee camps in Vahun - in the troubled county of Lofa in northern Liberia - from where they had come. However, most had not returned to their original villages in Kailahun.
Amaning said that lack of shelter was a crucial issue as a huge amount of damage had been inflicted on buildings in villages and settlements in the area during the course of Sierra Leone's eight-year war.
"UNHCR needs to establish a permanent presence in Kailahun to monitor refugee return," Amaning said, "but we cannot do so in the current climate where there is no administrative presence, no political, security or judicial structures and a prevalence of armed groups."
"It is crucial that we have regular access to populations in need for humanitarian purposes," he said.
SIERRA LEONE: Agricultural newsletter started
The first edition of a monthly newsletter to highlight agricultural relief and rehabilitation activities in Sierra Leone by the government, UN agencies, international organisations and NGOs has been distributed.
"This newsletter is expected to serve as a medium of information exchange for agricultural agencies and to improve coordination in this sector," Zein Muzamil, FAO Emergency Coordinator in Freetown, told IRIN.
He added that production of the report was a joint effort between the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and the Environment, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and FAO.
FOOD: Five West African nations lead the way in reducing hunger
Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, The Gambia and Nigeria have achieved among the largest reductions in undernourishment worldwide during the 1990s, FAO reported in the first edition of 'The State of Food Insecurity in the World', issued on Thursday.
The number of undernourished people in the developing world fell from 830 million to 790 million between 1990/1992 and 1995/1997, the report said. However, this progress in combating hunger has been uneven.
While the number of people who are chronically undernourished decreased by 100 million in 37 countries, including the West African five, it increased by almost 60 million in the rest of the developing world, FAO says.
Ghana had the best record in reducing hunger in West Africa "thanks to a strong economy and dramatic increases in yield of staple food crops." However, in Central, East and Southern Africa, the proportion and numbers of undernourished people generally increased.
Much of the data used in the report was compiled through the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS). This is a new programme for improving and linking national and global information systems that gather and analyse data ranging from health and climate to markets and household food security.
WEST AFRICA: Even rainfall in the Sahel
Rainfall was evenly distributed in September in most of the Sahel, the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) said in its latest situation report.
There was abundant rainfall in Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal in the first 20 days of September, said the 11 October report. In the next 10 days, the rains stopped in northwest Senegal and central Chad but continued elsewhere, it added.
High water levels in the Senegal and Niger rivers caused floods, especially in Mauritania, it said. On Wednesday, AFP quoted Communications Minister, Rachid Ould Saleh, as saying Mauritania would not seek external aid for its flood victims.
Satellite photos for the first 10 days of October, GIEWS said, showed cloud cover over most producing areas of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Senegal. However, there were fewer clouds over north-eastern Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger.
"Overall, good harvests are anticipated in most countries," according to the report.
However, pest infestations - grasshoppers, blister beetles and floral insects - have been reported in Cape Verde, Niger and Senegal. GIEWS said a "small outbreak" of desert locusts was reported in northern Mali and, to a lesser extent, Mauritania but no significant developments were expected elsewhere.
HEALTH: UN Secretary-General congratulates MSF on Nobel award
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday congratulated Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) on its selection by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize.
"This well-deserved honour is a victory for the right of every victim of a natural or man-made disaster to receive life-saving assistance as quickly and efficiently as possible," he said.
"This prize is also testament to what can be achieved when a group of committed and idealistic medical professionals band together to serve humanity, often under difficult and even dangerous conditions," Annan said.
MSF "is a valued partner of the United Nations humanitarian community, and I wish them even greater success in the years to come," he said.
ABIDJAN, 15 October 1999; 19:00 GMT
[ENDS]
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Item: irin-english-1790
[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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