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WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Update 591 (Wednesday 10 November 1999)
CONTENTS:
SIERRA LEONE: Ex-SLA go on rampage at Lungi SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh asks RUF to disarm SIERRA LEONE: Church says peace only possible after disarmament SIERRA LEONE: Dire humanitarian situation in the north LIBERIA: Court orders health minister's arrest LIBERIA: Government announces plans for new tax system COTE D'IVOIRE: Trial of opposition politicians resumes
SIERRA LEONE: Ex-SLA go on rampage at Lungi
Former Sierra Leone Army (Ex-SLA) combatants demanding improved living conditions and the payment of salary arrears, rioted on Monday at the Lungi demobilisation camp north of Freetown, media and other sources reported.
Reports said that the inmates looted a local market and businesses, demanded food, medicine and money and complained they had not received their entitlements.
ECOMOG spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade told IRIN the disturbance began during an entitlement-qualifying procedure at the camp with which some of the over 1,000 inmates disagreed.
The exact number of rioters was not clear, there were no reports of casualties and the situation was brought under control after about three hours, Olukolade said. Chief of Defence Staff, General Maxwell Khobe and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) Brigadier Gabriel Mani were expected to address combatants on Wednesday, he added.
The AFRC was the military junta that ruled Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998 in alliance with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The AFRC/RUF and soldiers loyal to it, the ex-SLA, took to the bush when ECOMOG peacekeepers ousted the junta.
SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh asks RUF to disarm
ECOMOG officials and RUF leader Foday Sankoh travelled to the RUF-held areas of Segbwema and Daru in eastern Sierra Leone on Tuesday to persuade combatants to disarm, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade told IRIN on Wednesday.
"Over 2,000 RUF combatants, women and children said they would comply with Sankoh's call to his followers to disarm," he said.
A UNAMSIL report on Wednesday stated that since the start of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programme on 4 November, no RUF fighters had been registered at the Daru camp.
Other operational demobilisation centres at Lungi, Port
Loko South, Port Loko North and Kenema have registered
a total of over 600 former combatants, including AFRC,
RUF and Civil Defence Force (pro-government militias)
fighters.
According to Olukolade, the RUF-ECOMOG trip to the east
is part of an ongoing "sensitisation process"
that will continue on Friday with visits to the northern
town of Makeni and other areas.
The leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, Johnny Paul Koroma, is expected to join the group on Friday, he added.
The DDR programme is expected to last three years.
SIERRA LEONE: Church says peace only possible after
disarmament
The disarmament of all armed groups throughout Sierra Leone is essential to peace, Bishop Giorgio Biguzzi said on Tuesday, according to the Missionary News Agency (MISNA).
"Peace must be defended for the sake of Sierra Leone," the Makeni-based bishop said. Given the suffering of civilians in Northern Province - the majority of the population are displaced and living in extreme poverty - the possibility of another war would be "absurd," Biguzzi said.
SIERRA LEONE: Dire humanitarian situation in the north
Access to areas in the north has remained "difficult and sporadic" and assessments of these areas have revealed "a dire humanitarian situation, particularly in the area of food and health care, the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) said in its report for 24 October - 6 November.
The current situation, it said, highlights the need for "credible and sustainable action on the part of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to facilitate humanitarian work".
Meanwhile in the northwest, Medecins Sans Frontieres is providing limited health and nutritional interventions in Kambia District through supplies brought in by boat. A needs-assessment mission WFP plans to do in the region will take place when security improves. UNICEF has undertaken a comprehensive water and sanitation assessment in the Kailahun area in the east.
Southern, western and parts of eastern of Sierra Leone continue to be calm, providing relatively good conditions for relief operations, HACU said.
LIBERIA: Court orders health minister's arrest
A civil court in Liberia has ordered the arrest of Health Minister Peter Coleman after finding him guilty of contempt for failing to appear in court on Tuesday, news organisations reported.
The charges relate to the health ministry's controversial practice of charging fees for birth certificates. According to AFP, it is only since the end of the civil war two years ago that people have been forced to pay for the document.
Coleman is to be detained for 10 days after the health ministry allegedly failed to comply with a court injunction against the practice. The injunction was issued at the request of the Centre for the Protection of Human Rights, a Liberian rights group.
LIBERIA: Government announces plans for new tax system
Liberia's government will review its tax system jointly with an international accounting firm, Star Radio quoted President Taylor as announcing at a news conference on Tuesday.
Taylor said that the review was necessary to ascertain reports of losses by several businesses operating in the country. He said the review would determine whether taxes should be reduced as it was difficult to believe that businesses sustaining losses would continue to operate in the country.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Trial of opposition politicians resumes
The trial of 19 leading members of the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) resumed in Abidjan on Wednesday amid a heavy security presence.
The 19, including General Secretary Henriette Diabate and RDR members of parliament, are accused of fomenting disturbances that accompanied an RDR protest on 27 October against anti-opposition bias in the state media.
Their trial was adjourned on 3 November after the prosecution applied for more time to prepare its case, and they were remanded into custody after being denied bail.
Abidjan, 10 November 1999; 17:00 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1951
[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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