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WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Update 601 (Wednesday 24 November 1999)
CONTENTS:
NIGERIA: US $50 million emergency fund voted for Delta NIGERIA: President meets oil executives on Delta crisis AFRICA: Mechanism to monitor good governance set up GUINEA-BISSAU: Nation votes for democracy on Sunday SIERRA LEONE: UN welcomes the RUFP LIBERIA: Finance Ministry investigating loss of US $200,000
NIGERIA: US $50 million emergency fund voted for Delta
Frustrated by the slow pace of national assembly approval for development of the Niger Delta, the federal government approved on Tuesday at least US $50 million in emergency funds to the troubled south-east, news reports said, quoting presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe.
He told reporters in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Tuesday the federal government could no longer wait for the assembly to pass the bill on the Niger Delta Development Commission.
"The situation, the degradation, the suffering, the pains that exist in the Niger Delta are such that one will not wait," he said.
Therefore, the government will immediately begin construction of roads in the impoverished Bayelsa State, link the state to the national electricity grid and establish a technical training school for youths in the Delta oil town of Bonny, Rivers State.
NIGERIA: President meets oil executives on Delta crisis
Applying another measure to bring peace and development to the Niger Delta, a meeting convened by President Olusegun Obasanjo decided on Monday that governors of oil producing states, key players in the oil industry must meet every month to review efforts at rapid development of the volatile region.
State owned Nigerian Television Authority reported that the decision was taken on Monday at the end of a meeting Obasanjo held with senior government officials, principal officers of the National Assembly, his party officials and oil company executives.
Although vowing to act tough against crime in the region, Obasanjo called on concerned parties to expedite action on whatever they were doing to solve the many problems of the oil producing states. He told oil companies to find more ways to hire indigenes of the area. For example, he suggested indigenes be hired for positions in public relations offices as a way of bridging the communication gap between oil firms and the communities.
Nigeria's 108 million people rely heavily on the oil states which produce 95 percent of the country's foreign revenue.
AFRICA: Mechanism to monitor good governance set up
A mechanism designed to monitor and promote good governance in Africa, called the African Observatory on Governance, was established on Wednesday at the end of a three-day conference in Abidjan.
"The Observatory's task is to develop a composite indicator of governance," Achi Atsain, president of the West African Economic Association, said at a news conference.
Atsain's organisation was the main organiser of the conference which focused on good governance and sustainable development which, Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan said, "shows that Africa is taking seriously the issue of good governance and democracy".
Duncan added, "We need to ensure that the observatory is operational, efficient and can be put in place quickly." He said the Observatory would promote mutual help among African countries and facilitate rational use of all the continent's resources.
A conference source told IRIN that the mechanics of the Observatory had not yet been worked out but it was likely that the ADB would flesh out some of its ideals.
[For the full report see item titled `AFRICA: IRIN Focus on good governance]
GUINEA-BISSAU: Nation votes for democracy on Sunday
Few dispute the fact that the main issues now in Guinea-Bissau include lasting peace and stability, observers say, but there is less consensus on the identity of the person the 500,000 voters will choose on Sunday to steer their nation on a peaceful, stable course.
Representatives of political parties said they had registered no significant incidents of violence during the election campaign and that they hoped things would remain that way after the polls. "Whichever party wins," the leader of the Frente da Liberacao da Guine (FLING), Catengul Mendy, told IRIN, "stability is a point on which there should be a consensus."
Guinea-Bissau and its 1.2 million people have had to live with instability for much of its recent past. A liberation war started in 1963 ended in independence in 1974. Six years later, in 1980, President Luis Cabral was overthrown by Joao Bernardo Vieira, who survived two alleged coup attempts before the bulk of the armed forces, grouped under the self-styled Military Junta, rose up against him on 7 June 1998.
[See item titled `GUINEA-BISSAU: IRIN Focus on Elections']
SIERRA LEONE: UN welcomes the RUFP
The UN welcomed the provisional registration on Monday of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) as a political party, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) said.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Francis Okelo, said that he hoped the registration of the Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP), would "signal a renewed commitment by Chairman Foday Sankoh and his followers to the consolidation of the rule of law, peace and stability in Sierra Leone".
In the UNAMSIL statement issued on Monday, Okelo urged Sankoh and other parties to abide by the Lome Peace Agreement, particularly with regard to the disarmament and demobilisation of all former combatants in the country.
Concern over continuing human rights abuses
Okelo also expressed "deep concern" on Monday over continuing reports of human rights abuses committed by rebels on civilians, mainly in Northern Province.
He cited a human rights assessment mission on 18 November to Port Loko, some 50 km north of Freetown, which confirmed that killings, rapes, abductions and house burning were occurring on an almost daily basis in the villages surrounding the main Lungi-Port Loko road and in other parts of Northern Province.
International NGO ambushed by rebels in Port Loko District
On 17 November, a vehicle belonging to international NGO Children's Aid Direct carrying out humanitarian operations in Port Loko District, was intercepted by former rebels, according to a report by the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU). The occupants were stripped, beaten and forced to march into the bush. They were released the following day. This is the first attack on an international aid agency outside a combat situation for over a year and, HACU said, "has severely jeopardised operations in the area".
In his statement, Okelo appealed to all parties to release all remaining abductees throughout the country. In spite of the commitments made in Lome for the release of all prisoners of war and non-combatants, UNAMSIL said, a large number of people including over 2,000 children, are believed to be still detained in various parts of the country.
Insecurity in Kabala area
A one-day UN humanitarian mission went to Kabala, some 220 km north of Freetown, on Tuesday, to report on the situation there and make recommendations on a future course of action, HACU said.
Insecurity continues to grow in the Kabala area where RUF rebels continue to push ex Sierra Leone Army soldiers from their bases in the north, HACU reported. Many of these soldiers are now in Kabala and have surrendered their weapons to loyal SLA troops while others remain on the outskirts of town and have been responsible for looting, HACU said. Fighting in the region between Makeni and Kabala has resulted in the movement of 1,000 civilians north into Kabala, it added.
A high incidence of abduction, looting rape and physical attacks against civilians has been reported this month in the Kabala region, the spokesman for the Secretary-General said on Tuesday.
UN disarmament research mission
A two-week mission by the UN Institute of Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) to promote new ideas for peace and disarmament ended on 14 November, HACU reported. One of the two team members, Robin Poulton, said that if disarmament is to continue at a fast pace then there must be a visible sign that the people can appreciate and suggested a symbolic burning of 100 weapons as a "Smoke of Peace".
The slow implementation of the DDR programme has led to speculation over the willingness of the parties to the conflict to support the process. Observers say that speeches by RUF leader Foday Sankoh during recent "sensitisation" trips to Buedu, Makeni and Segbwena have centred more on his role as leader than on encouraging disarmament.
The UNDP and the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone are launching a nationwide campaign against small arms, HACU reported.
FAO delivers equipment to fishing communities
A UN Food and Agricultural Organisation project is assisting war-affected fishing communities in the Freetown Peninsula, Pujenhun, Bonthe and Moyamba districts in the south of Sierra Leone.
Some 200 families are benefiting from the ongoing distribution
of project supplies which include fishing boats, outboard
engines, nets and fish smoking ovens. The project
also provides training in fish processing and marketing,
HACU said.
LIBERIA: Finance Ministry investigating loss of US $200,000
Authorities in the Finance Ministry are investigating the disappearance of US $200,000 intended to pay teachers in Lofa County, independent Star Radio reported on Tuesday.
The money disappeared over the weekend. Three Finance Ministry employees are reportedly helping with the investigations, Star said. However, the deputy finance minister told the radio that it would be premature to comment on the matter, while investigations were being carried out.
Abidjan, 24 November 1999; 20:10 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-2031
[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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