UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
IRIN-WA Update 586 [19991103]

IRIN-WA Update 586 [19991103]


U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 21 73 54 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Update 586 (Wednesday 3 November 1999)

CONTENTS:

SIERRA LEONE: UN concerned about ceasefire violations SIERRA LEONE: Deputy HCR optimistic over refugee return SIERRA LEONE: AI calls on Commonwealth to ensure peace process GHANA: Aid needed for 300,000 flood victims GUINEA-BISSAU: Military promises to stay out of elections GUINEA-BISSAU: Unity government achieves its goals, Fadul says GUINEA-BISSAU: Disgruntled soldiers stage brief mutiny GUINEA-BISSAU: Gambia, Guinea-Bissau meet on investments

SIERRA LEONE: UN concerned about ceasefire violations

The United Nations is "extremely concerned about the severity of recent ceasefire violations" in Sierra Leone, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative, Francis Okelo, said on Tuesday.

The violations he cited include active combat, movement of troops and weaponry, human rights abuses against civilians, systematic assault on humanitarian personnel and assets and continued detention of abductees, particularly women and children, according to a statement issued in Freetown.

"It has become clear that the RUF/AFRC leadership is not complying with the provisions of the Lome Peace Agreement or cannot adequately control its field commanders and combatants," the statement said.

Okelo said the international community would not accept any subversion of the peace process and would help the government in every conceivable way to maintain stability. He stressed the need for sustained and concerted action at the national, subregional and international levels to prevent any attempts to undermine the peace agreement.

Recent reports of ceasefire violations have been condemned by humanitarian, human rights and civic groups, the statement said.

Okelo also welcomed the inauguration of a government of national unity that includes ex-rebels and which was sworn in on Tuesday. "It is hoped that this will signal a renewed and sincere commitment by the RUF and AFRC to the Lome peace process," he said.

The former rebels who have now become ministers are Mike Lamin (Trade and Industry), Alimamy Palo Bangura (Energy and Power), Peter Vandy (Lands, Housing, Country Planning and Environment) and A.B.S. Jomo-Jalloh (Tourism and Culture).

Four deputy ministers are from the RUF/AFRC: Emmanuel Fabai (Rural Development and Local Government); Susan Lahai (Transport and Communications); Idriss Kamara (Labour, Social Security and Industrial Relations) and Francis Musa (Agriculture, Forestry and Marine Resources).

SIERRA LEONE: Deputy HCR optimistic over refugee return

The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Frederick Barton, said he found a strong commitment to peace, stability and eventually refugee return, during meetings last Friday and Saturday with key political players in Sierra Leone, UN spokesperson Kris Janowski reported on Tuesday.

Barton was referring to meetings he had on Friday and Saturday with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the leaders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Foday Sankoh and the former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Johnny Paul Koroma.

According to Janowski, Sankoh told Barton: "I started this war so when I say it is finished I know what I am saying."

Prior to arriving in Freetown, Barton was in Guinea where he met Sierra Leonean refugees who asked him when they could return. He said that while their return was unlikely in the immediate future, it was becoming a less remote prospect as peace slowly returned to the country, Janowski reported.

Barton, who has also visited Guinea and Liberia, is now in Cote d'Ivoire. On Thursday, he ends his 10-day tour of West Africa, his first survey of field operations since becoming deputy high commissioner in August, the UNHCR said.

SIERRA LEONE: AI calls on Commonwealth to ensure peace process

Amnesty International, is calling on the Commonwealth, as a signatory and moral guarantor of the Sierra Leone peace accord signed in Lome on 7 July, "to ensure that the peace process succeeds and that the parties to the agreement respect and protect human rights," an AI statement said.

Amnesty said it intended to urge Commonwealth heads of government, when they meet in Durban, South Africa, on 12-15 November, to contribute towards the disarmament and demobilisation of former child combatants and programmes to meet their social, psychological and material needs and reintegration into society.

Another recommendation AI said it would deliver to the heads was: "Support the establishment of an effective international mechanism for investigating human rights abuses in order to establish accountability and bring perpetrators to justice".

It will also recommend that the Commonwealth "ensure that an effective international human rights presence remains for as long as necessary and that it receives strong political support and adequate resources from the international community".

GHANA: Aid needed for 300,000 flood victims

Plans are being made to provide medicines, water, food and shelter, in order of priority, to 300,000 flood victims in five of Ghana's 10 regions, OCHA said in a situation report of 2 November.

It said that after a joint multi-disciplinary team completes a needs assessment survey which it would begin this week, "details on quantity and duration of the emergency operation are expected to become available".

However, OCHA said that at the end of October some 290,000 people were thought displaced and 50 dead from the floods in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern Regions and parts of Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions.

The rain-caused floods also destroyed 31,000 homes and 117,000 acres (47,350 hectares) of farmland, and most health posts, schools and other public facilities no longer function.

Ghana's National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is leading relief operations. The government, OCHA said, has already spent US $5 million providing food, medicines and non-food items to the victims.

Six UN agencies are engaged in the international emergency response, while the Swedish aid agency, SIDA, is to give medical help, shelter and food to the affected population.

The full OCHA report is available on the Internet site: http://www.reliefweb.int

GUINEA-BISSAU: Military promises to stay out of elections

Brigadier-General Ansumane Mane, who overthrew President Joao Bernardo ('Nino') Vieira in May, has promised that the armed forces will not interfere in upcoming general elections.

However, he warned that the military would watch politicians to ensure that "puppets like Nino Vieira" did not resurface, Lusa reported.

In a four-hour meeting on the 28 November polls, which he had on Monday with presidential hopefuls, Mane called on the parties to campaign with "the greatest respect and within the law". He urged them "not to use threats or lies" and to uphold the country's good image, Lusa said.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Unity government achieves its goals, Fadul says

Guinea-Bissau's Francisco Fadul said on Tuesday his government had achieved most of its goals since he became interim prime minister on 18 February, Lusa reported.

The goals include the reconciliation of opposing forces in the nation of 1.2 million people after a military uprising ousted President Joao Bernardo Vieira from power on 7 May. Lusa quoted Fadul as saying that national reconciliation "should not be an act of force but rather one of agreement, deliberation and freedom of society".

Fadul is not a candidate in elections to be held on 28 November.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Disgruntled soldiers stage brief mutiny

Disgruntled soldiers on Wednesday blocked access to their barracks in Bissau after reportedly firing shots into the air from their Kalachnikovs to demand the payment of salary arrears, media organisations reported.

A humanitarian source in Bissau reported the soldiers as saying they would speak to none other than Brigadier Ansumane Mane. They ended their mutiny after Mane, who heads the Military Junta that overthrew president Joao Bernardo Vieira in May, promised to settle the salary arrears on Thursday, the source said.

The BBC said about 160 soldiers were involved in the mutiny.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Gambia, Guinea-Bissau meet on investments

Officials from Guinea-Bissau's Ministry of Economy and Finance began meetings on Wednesday with representatives of The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry on ways to attract Gambian investors to Bissau.

The meeting has been billed as setting the stage for a visit by a Gambian business delegation to Bissau to explore opportunities for reconstruction after the country's military revolt, Gambia Radio and Television Service reported.

Abidjan, 3 October 1999; 19:00 GMT

[ENDS]

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Item: irin-english-1910

[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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