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LIBERIA: MSF resumes operations in the northwest
Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) has resumed its activity in north-western Liberia, where thousands of refugees and many internally displaced people are in urgent need of help.
MSF suspended its operations because of fighting in August between government forces and insurgents, who took humanitarian workers hostage. AFP reported MSF as saying that its expatriate staff would travel once a week to Kolahun, some 220 km northwest of Monrovia. The NGO said it would be supplying water and medical aid to people in the area.
Due to security concerns, medical supplies are being
delivered by helicopter but MSF said it would not maintain
this form of delivery for long because of its cost.
No easy road ahead
Improving security, repairing an economy battered by war, restoring electricity and water services, and fighting unemployment are some of the challenges that Liberia now faces.
"The economy has not begun," lawyer Marcus Jones said at a recent meeting between President Charles Taylor and representatives of civil society. "It may seem as if the economy has begun for those around the pudding but it has not for those who are down."
Two years after the end of Liberia's 1989-1997 faction war, social services remain poor. Monrovia still has no electricity or piped water-supply system and local sources put both unemployment and illiteracy in the country at 85 percent.
[See separate item titled `LIBERIA: IRIN special report on the challenges ahead']
SIERRA LEONE: Otunnu urges Agenda for Action for children
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict has proposed a special "Agenda for Action for the Children of Sierra Leone" after completing a six-day mission to Sierra Leone and Guinea on 4 September.
"Apart from the imperative of re-establishing credible security and peace, the crisis of the children is the most important challenge facing Sierra Leonean society today," Olara Otunnu said.
The Agenda contains many proposals, including the establishment of a national commission that would focus attention on children's rights and welfare and ensure that their needs are reflected in national priority-setting, policy-making and resource allocation.
Special programmes are needed to rehabilitate persons
without limbs and to provide trauma counselling to
sexually abused girls, according to the proposed Agenda.
Otunnu also called on the leaders of the RUF and Sierra
Leone's former military junta to "acknowledge
fully their role in the horrific atrocities committed
during the war, most of them directed against children
and women".
Hostages return to Freetown
Three Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commanders and two from the former Sierra Leone Army (ex-SLA) returned to Freetown after being released on Monday by ex-SLA soldiers who had abducted them, ECOMOG said in a statement.
The five released were 'Brigadiers' Mike Lamin and Dennis Mingo and 'Colonel' Jackson Swarray, all of the RUF, and 'Colonels' Sentighe Khanu and F. Sessay of the ex-SLA, the West African peacekeeping group said.
The men said they were tied up and beaten by their captors in camps north of Freetown, news organisations reported.
However, Lamin, a senior RUF commander, was quoted as saying they were arrested rather than abducted and that their stay with the ex-SLA helped them understand the demands of the former soldiers.
The kidnapping fueled talk of a rift between the RUF and ex-SLA.
[See separate item titled 'IRIN special report on ex-SLA/RUF "rift"]
GUINEA-BISSAU: Taking precautions against cholera
Health workers in Guinea-Bissau participated in August in a series of seminars on the detection and treatment of cholera, run by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The seminars, which also dealt with preventive hygiene, placed emphasis on early warning and rapid reaction in the event of cholera outbreaks, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in its situation report for Guinea-Bissau for 16-31 August.
Guinea-Bissau had cholera epidemics in 1986, 1987, 1994 and 1996-1997, and they all broke out in October, at the end of the rainy season, according to MSF. It said in a recent release that each epidemic affected more people and a larger area than the previous one.
According to OCHA, the 1997 epidemic caused over 20,000 deaths.
Tuberculosis kits, water
WHO has provided the Ministry of Health with medicines for leprosy and tuberculosis, consisting of enough kits to treat 10,000 persons for three months.
At the end of August, UNICEF began installing eight 20,000-litre water bladders in Bissau neighbourhoods that lack running water.
Humanitarian flights reduced
UN humanitarian flights between Bissau and Dakar will be reduced to once a week (Thursdays) starting 16 September, OCHA reported.
The flights were made twice weekly due to the closure of Bissau's airport to commercial traffic for over one year. International flights to Lisbon resumed on 27 July, but the regional commercial service to Dakar has not yet been restarted, OCHA reported.
NIGER: ECHO to send aid to thousands in the north
People displaced in 1990-1995 by fighting between Tuareg rebels and government troops in northern Niger will receive aid worth 280,000 euro (US $303,000) from the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), an ECHO source told IRIN on Thursday.
The aid will go to income-generating activities, food security, water provision, and the rebuilding of infrastructure. Some 70,000 persons, mainly in Agadez and Tahoua districts, will benefit directly and 150,000 others indirectly.
AI criticises blanket amnesty
Niger's government has rejected Amnesty International (AI)'s criticism of the amnesty granted to participants in coups staged in 1996 and 1999.
AI said in a report published on Wednesday that the blanket pardon institutionalises impunity which, "for years ... has undermined the foundations of the rule of law in Niger".
AI also said that judging from eye-witness testimonies it had obtained, the death of President Ibrahim Bare MaÔnassara and four of his aides during a coup on 9 April "appears to be a premeditated political assassination".
MALI: Railway link with Senegal restored
The railway line from Bamako to Dakar reopened on Wednesday following repairs to two bridges near the western town of Kayes that were damaged by rain just over a month ago, a Malian diplomatic source in Senegal told IRIN. The railway carries about 17 percent of Mali's exports and imports, Reuters said.
MAURITANIA: Council set up to regulate privatisations
Mauritania's government has created a new council to regulate the privatisation of state enterprises, AFP reported the Office of the President as announcing on Tuesday. The four-member council's first task will be to oversee the privatisation of the telecommunications sector, scheduled for early 2000, AFP said.
SAHEL: Food aid appeal for Chad, The Gambia and Mauritania
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it needs more money
to cover a food shortfall of 24,880 mt for thousands
of vulnerable people in Chad, The Gambia and Mauritania.
"So far, to meet the needs of beneficiaries, WFP has been borrowing from other operations," the UN agency said in its emergency report for 29 August to 3 September.
The current operation aims at feeding 292,910 rural
people identified in a joint food-security assessment
carried out in April and May in the three countries
by their governments, WFP, USAID's Famine Early Warning
System, and NGOs.
CAMEROON: Water rationing
Water is now being rationed in Yaounde because of a shortage caused by a leaking pipeline at a treatment plant that the Cameroonian water authority, SNEC, does not have the technological capacity to repair, news organisations said.
IMF approves third annual ESAF loan
Cameroon is to get an additional SDR 54.04 million (US $73.75 million) - US $ 24.58 million of it immediately - from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support its economic and financial recovery programme, the IMF said.
The IMF Board approved the tranche, which falls under
its Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF),
on Tuesday. The three-year ESAF loan
for SDR 162.12 million (US $221.24 million) was first
approved on 20 August 1997 and, so far, some SDR 108.08
million has already been paid out.
NIGERIA: State police US-style?
A constitution review committee is to be set up in Nigeria to debate calls by states and local governments for their own police forces, an idea the presidency is inclined to support, 'The Guardian' newspaper in Lagos reported Information Minister Dapo Sarumi as saying this week.
Innocent Chukwuma of the Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Lagos told IRIN that some states now wanted to have control of state police commands within the federal framework while others, like Lagos and Abia, want forces modelled more along US lines.
Civil society welcomes plan to clean up police
A plan by Nigeria's government to clean up and rebuild the police force so that it conforms to the rule of law and the needs of modern society has been welcomed by local civil society bodies.
"The reorganisation should involve civil society and community groups in every police division," Innocent Chukwuma, executive director of the Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Lagos, told IRIN.
Police Minister David Jemibowon announced last weekend that he would retire 50,000 policemen and recruit 125,000 new men and women.
[See separate Item: irin-english-1561 titled 'Civil
society welcomes plan to clean up police']
Narcotics agency destroys 21,800 kg of drugs
Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has destroyed 21.8 mt of dangerous drugs between January and September,`The Guardian', reported on Wednesday.
Armed robbers kill 20
Robbers armed with machine guns shot dead at least 20 passengers of a bus in northern Nigeria, including a policeman, Reuters reported on Wednesday, quoting local newspapers.
The news agency said the bus was travelling on Tuesday from Lagos to Kaduna in the north when it was attacked, 100 km short of its destination, by robbers believed to be from neighbouring Niger.
Education Fund fraud
The Nigerian Senate will investigate the disappearance of at least 40 billion naira (US $400 million) from Nigeria's education tax fund. Introduced in 1993, the fund requires firms to contribute a percentage of their profits to efforts to improve education.
Additional funds for Health Ministry
Nigeria's Health Ministry is to receive an extra two billion naira (US $20.68 million) in 1999 from a supplementary budget for current and capital expenditure which parliament approved last week, the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Health said.
Flood destroys grain in the north
Rain-fed flash floods have destroyed an estimated seven million naira (US $72,388) of farm produce - mainly millet, groundnuts, corn and beans - in Dutsin-Ma in the northern state of Katsina, the area's representative in the Katsina House of Assembly said. Abuja to sign anti-land mine pact
Foreign Minister Alhaji Sule Lamido said on Monday that the machinery had been set in motion for Nigeria to ratify the Ottawa treaty banning the use production and sale of land mines, `The Guardian' reported on Wednesday.
In a speech read on his behalf at a land mine workshop in Abuja, he blamed Nigeria's failure to sign the convention on the poor relations past military governments had with the international community.
GHANA: Border bridge collapses
More than 100 trucks have been delayed in northeast Ghana by the collapse of a bridge damaged during recent floods at Kulungungu on the border with Burkina Faso, the BBC reported on Thursday.
The bridge, which had reportedly been weakened by vandals stealing parts, is on an important transport route to landlocked Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which depend on Ghana's ports for much of its external trade, according to the BBC.
Fuel prices hiked
Ghana raised its fuel prices by 12 percent on Monday, three months after a similar increase. The state-owned Bulk Oil and Transport Co. attributed the hike to higher prices on the world market.
WESTERN SAHARA: Extension of MINURSO's Mandate Recommended
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday recommended
a three-month extension to 14 December of the mandate
of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
(MINURSO).
The extension, on which the Security Council will decide early next week, is aimed at enabling the United Nations to finish registering voters, processing appeals and repatriating refugees ahead of the referendum, scheduled for the year 2000.
MINURSO was set up under a 1988 Settlement Plan to monitor a ceasefire between the Moroccan army and guerrillas of the Polisario Front fighting for independence for the former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. As at 6 September, 230 MINURSO military observers and troops from 24 countries were involved in monitoring the ceasefire, Annan said in his report.
MINURSO's tasks also include identifying and registering eligible voters. Annan said 80 civilian police observers were assisting the Identification Commission at identification and appeals centres.
Next year's referendum will determine whether Western Sahara is to gain full independence or become part of Morocco. A provisional list of eligible voters was issued on 15 July 1999.
Annan said the Identification Commission expected to finish identifying applicants by year's end, but the number of appeals - 47,796 - was high and would require more time and staff than originally envisaged.
As at 3 September, some 40,440 persons had appealed against their exclusion from the provisional list. The other 7,356 appeals were from people challenging others' inclusion on the list.
UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General calls for shift to prevention
Natural disasters have increased in recent years and there were more wars in 1998 than before, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday, urging the international community to shift from reaction to prevention.
Last year's increase in armed conflicts is particularly worrisome because the incidence of warfare had been on the decline since 1992, Annan added in a report released in New York on Thursday.
In a bid to draw attention to these issues, part of the report has been published as an essay titled 'Facing the Humanitarian Challenge - Towards a Culture of Prevention'.
In his report, Annan deplores the fact that "our political and organizational cultures and practices remain oriented far more towards reaction than prevention".
[See separate item titled 'Secretary-General calls for shift to prevention']
REFUGEES: Thirtieth anniversary of OAU convention
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the OAU Convention on Refugees with an appeal on behalf of the eight million people forced from their homes in Africa.
OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim and UNHCR Sadako Ogata noted in a joint statement that Africa had four million refugees and as many people displaced within their countries by human rights abuses, civil war and other conflicts.
Such large population concentrations put pressure on host countries already facing economic and financial woes and, in the face of what some see as threats to their demographic and social balance, more and more refugees are being turned back at borders, they said.
This, they noted, threatens the very foundation of the Convention which took effect on 20 June 1974 after being adopted by OAU leaders on 10 September 1969 and they urged African nations "to create conditions conducive to the respect of refugee-protection norms".
Ogata and Salim said it was the responsibility of African leaders to find lasting solutions to Africa's refugee problems. They added, however, that given the limited resources of the continent's nations, "the international community, and donor countries in particular, should provide financial, material and moral support for the resolution of these problems.
Nevertheless, they said, while there were still many flash points on the continent, it was heartening to see that thousands of refugees have already returned to countries such as Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique and South Africa.
WEST AFRICA: Telecommunications ministers meet
West African telecommunications ministers met on Friday in Bamako, Mali, to consider ways to improve direct connection among the 16 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), an official of the regional body told IRIN.
They examined issues related to the future of the Special Telecommunication Fund set up to improve direct connections in the subregion. The ministers also reviewed progress in implementing the Intelcom II Programme.
Intelcom II is designed to provide ECOWAS with a modern, reliable telecommunications network able to handle all services including multimedia operations. To this end, ECOWAS has signed a US $222,000 deal with the International Telecommunication Union.
This amount, to be provided by the ITU, is 67.6 percent of the project cost. ECOWAS says it expects to provide the remainder - US $106,400.
ECOWAS comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Abidjan, 10 September 1999; 19:37 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1585
[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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