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WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Update 602 (Thursday 25 November 1999)
CONTENTS:
SIERRA LEONE: Anti-corruption bill debated SIERRA LEONE: Drive to clean-up police SIERRA LEONE: UN reports slow disarming process MALI: President ready to send troops to Sierra Leone CHAD: Government admits casualties in fight with rebel GUINEA-BISSAU: Annan calls for free, fair elections
SIERRA LEONE: Anti-corruption bill debated
Parliament's review of the anti-corruption bill should be over very soon, presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Thursday.
"The initial reaction of parliament was that it was needed," Kaikai said. He added that the bill would likely be ratified "very shortly" and would cover all aspects of public life in a bid to stamp out corruption.
"No-one will be immune, not even the President," Kaikai said.
An independent commission would be created, he added, to help ensure successful implementation of the bill.
Corruption has been a major and ongoing problem in Sierra Leone. For example, the government of former president Joseph Momoh (1986-92) was unable to control corruption, smuggling and high public spending. This was underlined in findings by a commission of enquiry which found that Momoh had also embezzled public funds, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
The civil war, launched by the Revolutionary United Front in 1991 to express its dissatisfaction with the ruling elite in Freetown, has exacerbated the problem of illegal mining and smuggling of diamonds.
SIERRA LEONE: Drive to clean-up police
The British commander of the police force has announced an anti-corruption drive in a bid to restore its reputation, the BBC reported on Thursday.
Inspector General Keith Biddle, who was recently appointed by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to head the police, said that the full weight of the law would be directed at corrupt policemen. The BBC reported him as saying that several policemen were already being prosecuted for corruption and wages had been increased to discourage junior members from stealing.
Corruption is present at all levels within the police, including senior officers hiring our armed police for cash payments down to traffic police extorting money from motorists, the BBC said.
SIERRA LEONE: UN reports slow disarming process
The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) reported on Wednesday that the registration of combatants for the disarmament programme was still slow, Fred Eckhard, UN spokesman for the Secretary-General, said.
Some 1,125 ex-combatants of an estimated 45,000 fighters have disarmed Eckhard said. The disarmed fighters are 102 from the RUF, 523 from the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and 500 from the pro-government Civil Defence Forces. He said 108 were child soldiers.
Dissatisfaction continues at DDR camps
A potentially tense situation was defused last week at the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Camp South in Port Loko, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade told IRIN.
"After persuasion, people were pacified and the situation was brought under control before it became a full-blown riot," he said.
The former rebel inmates were complaining about delays in receiving their allowances and food for their families. There are some 500 people in the camp but, Olukolade said, not everyone was involved.
Their complaints were raised on Tuesday at the regular meeting of the National Committee for DDR (NCDDR) where it was decided that a delegation including the ECOMOG force commander, the US ambassador, the RUF leader and government officials would visit the camp on a "sensitisation" visit, Olukolade said.
On 8 November, ex-Sierra Leone Army (SLA) combatants rioted for several hours at the Lungi Demobilisation Camp north of Freetown demanding improved living conditions and payment of salary arrears.
MALI: President ready to send troops to Sierra Leone
Mali is prepared to send peacekeeping troops to Sierra Leone again, President Alpha Omar Konare told Gabonese Africa No.1 radio on Tuesday.
"We are ready to send troops to Sierra Leone to join the ECOMOG force," Konare said. "It is our duty to be present there and Mali is therefore ready."
Malian units in ECOMOG were all withdrawn in August at the end of their mandated period.
Last week UNAMSIL said its 6,000-strong force would be made up of one battalion each from Kenya and India, which will be followed by a battalion each from Ghana and Nigeria, with one company from Guinea already in Sierra Leone as part of ECOMOG. The Kenyan battalion is due in Freetown on Monday.
CHAD: Government admits casualties in fight with rebel
Government troops have lost eight dead in clashes this month with rebels in the mountainous northern Tibesti region but remain in full control of the area, a ranking official in the Chadian Ministry of Communications told IRIN on Thursday.
The official, who would not be identified, confirmed reports quoting Communications Minister Moussa Dago on Wednesday as saying that 28 soldiers were wounded early November in fighting rebels of the Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJT) in Chad, in the country's northern districts of Omou and Aozou. Dago said the army killed 37 guerrillas in Omou on 2 November, AFP said.
Reuters reported that Dago's comments, aired on state radio, were the first official public reaction to rebel claims on Sunday that it had captured Aozou and killed at least 80 government troops. These rebels, led by former defence and interior minister Youssouf Togoimi, have been fighting the government since October 1998. The movement has vowed to enter the capital, Ndjamena by the end of this year.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Annan calls for free, fair elections
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Wednesday on the parties in Guinea-Bissau, including the military, to ensure that the country's presidential and parliamentary elections are conducted on Sunday in a "free, fair and transparent manner".
In a statement issued in New York through his spokesman, Annan pledged continued UN support for the electoral process. He also said the UN would help the new civilian government foster a climate of peace and reconciliation, "conducive to economic reconstruction and development".
The UN has a Peace-building Support Office in the country called UNOGBIS and Interim President Malam Bacai Sanha has asked for its mandate to be extended a year from 31 December.
The elections, a landmark in the country's political life, were to have take place in March, under the Abuja peace accord signed between the Military Junta and the government of Joao Bernardo Vieira who was eventually overthrown two months later.
Guinea-Bissau closed its borders and airport on Wednesday for the elections.
Abidjan, 25 November 1999; 19:03 GMT
[ENDS]
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Item: irin-english-2040
[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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