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WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 44 covering the period 30 October-5 November 1999
CONTENTS:
SIERRA LEONE: UN agencies need US $70.9 million SIERRA LEONE: RUF/AFRC guarantee safety of humanitarian workers SIERRA LEONE: US and Norway announce aid for war victims SIERRA LEONE: British defence official meets Kabbah SIERRA LEONE: AI calls on Commonwealth to ensure peace process LIBERIA: WFP scales down school-feeding programme LIBERIA: Farmers get help to attain self-sufficiency GUINEA-BISSAU: Military Junta promises to stay out of elections GUINEA-BISSAU: Disgruntled soldiers stage brief mutiny GUINEA-BISSAU: Donors contribute to election budget GUINEA-BISSAU: NGOs assess food security needs GUINEA-BISSAU: Humanitarian goods delayed, CARITAS says GUINEA-BISSAU: First round of polio vaccination campaign GUINEA-BISSAU: First step of demobilisation programme underway EQUATORIAL GUINEA: AI calls for release of political prisoners NIGERIA: Twelve die, 56 arrested following riots NIGERIA: Opuama Youths release four of six Shell hostages COTE D'IVOIRE: Trial of opposition politicians adjourned COTE D'IVOIRE: Government reacts to US State Department spokesman WEST AFRICA: Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees ends visit GHANA: Aid needed for 300,000 flood victims
SIERRA LEONE: UN agencies need US $70.9 million
UN agencies are appealing for just over US $70.9 to implement 34 projects next year in Sierra Leone, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday.
[The Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Sierra Leone can be viewed at <http://www.reliefweb.int>
Donor representatives will visit Sierra Leone on 8-11 November "to further demonstrate the commitment of the international donor community to support (its) recovery from eight years of civil war," the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) in Freetown reported.
The mission will include officials from the Britain, Canada, Ireland, Finland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States and will be led by Carolyn McAskie, Deputy UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.
SIERRA LEONE: RUF/AFRC guarantee safety of humanitarian workers
The heads of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Foday Sankoh, and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Johnny Paul Koroma, issued a statement on Wednesday guaranteeing the safety of humanitarian staff and resources even in times of insecurity.
They condemned attacks on humanitarian workers and the looting of resources, ordered that all looted articles be returned immediately to their owners, and threatened to punish any of their followers who violated the safety and security of humanitarian staff and resources.
Wednesday's statement came just a day after UN military observers were detained for four hours in Segbwema in Eastern Province by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels who said they did not have clearance to enter the area.
It also came on the heels of a statement in which the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative, Francis Okelo, said the United Nations was "extremely concerned about the severity of recent ceasefire violations" in Sierra Leone.
"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," Tuesday's statement said.
SIERRA LEONE: US and Norway announce aid for war victims
US President Bill Clinton and Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, announced on Monday a joint initiative to provide prosthetic devices and rehabilitation services for victims of the war in Sierra Leone. Both countries plan to grant up to US $1 million each to support the work of non-governmental and other organisations working with disabled people in Sierra Leone, the US Information Agency (USIA) reported on Monday.
SIERRA LEONE: British defence official meets Kabbah
British Undersecretary of State for Defence Peter Kilfoyle met with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah during a short visit to Sierra Leone this week, presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai told IRIN on Thursday. Kaikai said areas they discussed included general defence methods and ways of sustaining peace and security in Sierra Leone. Kilfoyle, who was in Freetown on Wednesday and Thursday, also met ECOMOG officials.
SIERRA LEONE: AI calls on Commonwealth to ensure peace process
Amnesty International has called on the Commonwealth, one of the guarantors of the 7 July Sierra Leone peace pact to "ensure that the peace process succeeds" and that its signatories respect and protect human rights. The call is part of recommendations AI has prepared for the 12-15 November Commonwealth heads of government summit in Durban, South Africa.
LIBERIA: WFP scales down school-feeding programme
The World Food Programme (WFP) has had to reduce the number of children on a school-feeding programme it runs in Liberia because of insufficient funding. The targeted beneficiaries have been reduced from 510,000 children in 1,734 schools in 1998/1999 to 240,000 children in 956 schools in 1999/2000. The programme's food-for-work component catered for about 30,000 teachers last year, but that number has been cut to 12,500 for 1999-2000.
LIBERIA: Farmers get help to attain self-sufficiency
US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Lutheran World Service (LWS) have launched a project to increase the yields of farmers in Liberia's Bomi, Lower Lofa and Nimba counties, LWS Project Manager Yarsiah Weedor told IRIN on Monday. Weedor said 30,000 farm families were to be covered by the US $1.27 million-project, to which LWS is contributing US $189,590 and USAID the rest.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Military Junta promises to stay out of elections
Brigadier General Ansumane Mane, who overthrew President Joao Bernardo ('Nino') Vieira in May, promised on Monday that the armed forces would not interfere in general elections to be held on 28 November, but warned that the military would watch politicians to ensure that "puppets like Nino Vieira" did not resurface, Lusa reported.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Disgruntled soldiers stage brief mutiny
Disgruntled soldiers on Wednesday blocked access to their barracks in Bissau after firing shots into the air from their Kalachnikovs to demand the payment of salary arrears, media organisations reported.
The soldiers - who numbered around 160, according to the BBC - ended their mutiny after Brigadier General Ansumane Mane, head of the Military Junta that overthrew president Joao Bernardo Vieira in May, promised to settle the salary arrears, the source said.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Donors contribute to election budget
Guinea-Bissau has had commitments from donors totalling more than US $4 million for its 28 November elections, but as at 27 October, not all of the funds had been disbursed, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its humanitarian situation report for 16-31 October.
Sweden has pledged US $1.4 million and the European Union (EU) about US $670,000. The EU has provided another US $2 million through the UNDP, OCHA said. Other pledges include The Netherlands ($465,000), Japan ($240,000)and China ($100,000). Portugal, Brazil and NGOs will be giving in-kind assistance.
Donor countries have also committed funds for electoral observation: France has provided US $160,000, Germany US $55,000, and Sweden US $30,000. The Communidad de paises de lingua portuguesa (PALOP) is providing US $10,000 in kind.
GUINEA-BISSAU: NGOs assess food security needs
Two Belgian NGOs are conducting a three-month mission in Guinea-Bissau with local partners to evaluate medium and long-term needs, particularly with regard to food security, OCHA said in its humanitarian situation report for 16-31 October.
The two Belgian NGOs are Oxfam-Solidarite and Solidarite Socialiste and their mission will end in December 1999.
Meanwhile, WFP distributed food to 1,672 vulnerable people in the Bafata region in October, OCHA said. Food was distributed through CARITAS to malnourished children and a centre for maternal health in Bafata, Bambadinca and Gabu.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Humanitarian goods delayed, CARITAS says
Trucks carrying humanitarian goods took five days to reach Bissau from the Senegal border, OCHA quotes CARITAS as saying. The delay was attributed to demands for tax payment and paperwork as well as the re-establishment of checkpoints on the road linking Senegal to Bissau. The checkpoints are at Bambadinca, some 80 km from Bissau, and between Banana and Gabu about 100-150 km from Bissau.
GUINEA-BISSAU: First round of polio vaccination campaign
Polio vaccination days were held in all regions of Guinea-Bissau on 30 and 31 October by the Health Ministry with support from WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta (USA), OCHA reported.
A second round of polio immunisation, in conjunction with measles vaccinations, is scheduled for December. An estimated 205,000 children under the age of four years are to be vaccinated nationwide.
GUINEA-BISSAU: First step of demobilisation programme underway
A "supervisory working group" on policy and planning issues and a "technical unit" for the management of the demobilisation, reintegration and reinsertion programme were set up in Guinea-Bissau on 12 October, OCHA said in its humanitarian situation report for 16-31 October.
They have been tasked with establishing vulnerability criteria for the demobilisation of former combatants and overseeing a census of the armed forces (army, police, border patrol), scheduled to be slashed from an estimated 23,000 to some 11,000.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: AI calls for release of political prisoners
Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday urged the government of Equatorial Guinea to release all prisoners of conscience, improve the detainees' prison conditions and allow international humanitarian organisations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, access to them.
Amnesty said at least 90 opposition party activists have been held for short periods this year. It also expressed concern about "the appalling prison conditions in which 80 members of the Bubi ethnic group continue to be held after being sentenced in June 1998 by a military court after an unfair trial".
NIGERIA: Twelve die, 56 arrested following riots
Fifty-six people were arraigned in a Lagos court on Tuesday for murder, arson and rioting in the low-income neighbourhood of Ajegunle, where at least 12 people died in weekend clashes between Ijaw and Yoruba youths, according to media sources.
`The Guardian' said the accused were remanded in custody and their cases adjourned until 3 December. Another 55 accused are still at large. Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu on Monday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the neighbourhood.
NIGERIA: Opuama Youths release four of six Shell hostages
Youths from the Opuama community near the Niger Delta town of Warri released on Thursday four of six employees of Royal Dutch/Shell they kidnapped last week, a spokesman for the multinational told IRIN.
The official, Bisi Ojediran, said on Friday that the kidnappers made no monetary demands for the hostages' freedom. Their release was as a result of negotiations with Opuama community leaders, Ojediran said. The remaining hostages are being held in an undisclosed area near Warri.
Ojediran said this was the first time the Opuama had seized Shell employees.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Trial of opposition politicians adjourned
The trial of 19 members of the opposition Rassemblement des Republicans (RDR) party in Cote d'Ivoire was adjourned for a week on Thursday after the state requested more time to prepare its case.
The 19, including RDR Secretary General Henriette Diabate and other senior party members, will return to court on 10 November. They were arrested on 27 October after buses and other state property were damaged during a protest organised by the RDR.
The group - whose arrest, the government said, was pursuant to an anti-vandalism law - has been denied bail.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Government reacts to US State Department spokesman
The government of Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday described as "external interference" a statement by the spokesman of the US State Department, James Rubin, expressing concern over the arrest of 19 opposition politicians in the West African nation.
"It is a mistake for the State Department to say that actions of the judiciary in Cote d'Ivoire 'appear to be aimed at stifling the opposition," read a statement signed by Moise Koffi Komoue, the Ivoirian ambassador to Washington and addressed to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Rubin said on Wednesday that Washington "remains very concerned about recent developments in Cote d'Ivoire".
WEST AFRICA: Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees ends visit
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Frederick Barton on Thursday ended a 10-day visit to West Africa that took him to Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. It was his first survey of field operations since assuming his post in August, UNHCR said.
GHANA: Aid needed for 300,000 flood victims
Plans are being made to provide medicines, water, food and shelter to some 300,000 victims of floods in northern Ghana that killed an estimated 50 people and destroyed houses and farmland, OCHA said in a situation report of 2 November.
The full OCHA report is available on the Internet site: http://www.reliefweb.int
Abidjan, 5 November 1999; 19:00 GMT
[ENDS]
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Item: irin-english-1926
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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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