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GUINEA: ECOWAS seeks UN aid to deploy ECOMOG border monitors
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders called on the United Nations on Wednesday to help the deployment of regional troops along the borders between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The call came at a one-day extraordinary summit of the 13-member regional body in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
A communique issued at the end of the meeting expressed "great concern" over persisting tension along the common borders of the three countries and urged their governments "to take individual and collective measures to curb the activities of armed rebel groups operating on their respective territories".
[See separate item titled 'WEST AFRICA: ECOWAS seeks UN aid to deploy on Guinea's borders']
GUINEA: Aid agencies access to camps restricted
The Kissidougou district commissioner has told humanitarian agencies to apply for permission each week to enter refugee camps, the UN reported. The Guinean government official cited ongoing insecurity in the area, located in southern Guinea, as the reason for the measure, which he said would be lifted by the end of April.
Many NGOs in Kissidougou have refused to apply, fearing this would set a dangerous precedent, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs quoted an aid worker as saying in its 2-8 April situation report. Despite this, NGOs' movements had not been restricted as of 5 April, the source added.
GUINEA: ICRC support for IDPs
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has distributed non-food items such as sheets and tools to 100,000 IDPs in Forecariah, Kindia, Dabola, Dinguiraye, Kouroussa, Beyla, Nzerekore and Kissidougou and Toukounou town, OCHA reported in its 2-8 April situation report. The distribution marked the first phase of the exercise. Phase II will target 50,000 of the more vulnerable IDPs, who have begun to register in Nzerekore near the Liberian border and Kissidougou, also in southern Guinea.
LIBERIA: ECOWAS monitoring mission to visit
A mission of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council is to travel to Liberia on 18 April to monitor the implementation of measures the Liberian government has been required to take under a UN Security Council resolution of 7 March relating to the application of sanctions against Liberia.
This was disclosed in a joint communique issued on Wednesday at the end of a one-day extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The mission will comprise Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Togo and the ECOWAS executive secretariat.
Security Council Resolution 1343 (2001) seeks to ensure that Liberia stops supporting Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone. It was passed after UN and other reports accused the Liberian government of backing the RUF and illegally trading guns for diamonds with the rebels.
The resolution requires the Monrovia government to expel all RUF members from Liberia, ban all RUF activity on Liberian territory, stop giving the rebels military and other support and cease the direct or indirect import of uncertified rough diamonds from Sierra Leone.
Liberia's government has also been asked to freeze any funds made available to its nationals or within the country for the benefit of the RUF. The Security Council resolution also demands that the Liberian government ground all Liberia-registered aircraft until it updates its register of aircraft and provides the Security Council with "updated information on the registration and ownership of each aircraft registered in Liberia".
COTE D'IVOIRE: ECOWAS lauds "spirit of concord"
Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Wednesday praised "the spirit of concord displayed during the recent municipal elections in Cote d'Ivoire", held on 25 March. Participants in an ECOWAS extraordinary summit also called on the Ivorian authorities to "continue to promote national reconciliation among the country's sons and daughters". Observers found that the elections were generally fair although they were marred by violence in a few areas in the southwest of the country between people indigenous to the area and migrants from other parts of Cote d'Ivoire who supported opposing candidates.
BURKINA FASO: More deaths from meningitis
The meningitis death toll has continued to rise in Burkina Faso despite assurances last week by health authorities that the epidemic was regressing. The Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that deaths had risen to 1,379, out of 9623 cases. Last week the death toll had passed the 1,000 mark for the first time this year. "Our main problem is that we do not have enough doses of vaccines to have everybody vaccinated in the districts at the same time," the secretary-general of the health ministry, Mathias Some,told IRIN.
[See separate item titled 'BURKINA FASO: Meningitis death toll still rising']
BURKINA FASO: EC funds meningitis campaigns in Chad, Burkina Faso
The European Commission is to commit 1.6 million euros (US $1.42 million) to the fight against meningitis in Burkina Faso and Chad, the EC's humanitarian assistance office, ECHO, reported on Thursday. The funds will be channelled through ECHO, with Médecins Sans Frontières Belgique and Pharmaciens Sans Frontières as implementing partners.
[See separate item titled 'WEST AFRICA: EC funds fight against meningitis in Chad, Burkina Faso']
GUINEA-BISSAU: Parliament puts no-confidence motion on hold
A no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Faustino Imbali that was to have been presented in Guinea-Bissau's parliament on Wednesday was put on hold after opposition parties agreed to postpone it pending a parliamentary debate on political stability, Portuguese radio reported. The opposition, which has a majority of seats in parliament, has not accepted the new prime minister, who took office in late March.
NIGERIA: UN launches good governance campaign
Nigeria and the UN Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) launched a campaign in Abuja on Tuesday to promote transparency and accountability in urban governance, the UN reported in New York.
Speaking at the launch, President Olusegun Obasanjo described 'The Global Campaign for Good Urban Governance' as "one of the best ways to ensure that ordinary Nigerians can fully benefit from the democracy dividend". He reiterated that his government was committed to broadening the democratic process. After several years of non-democratic rule, he added, urbanisation was one of the major challenges facing Nigeria.
HABITAT's Executive Director Ann Tibaijuka said that although Nigeria - like the rest of Africa - was still predominantly rural, it had one of the highest rates of urbanisation in the world. She said the problems of cities and towns across the continent could only be solved by better urban governance.
The three-day launch in the Nigerian capital has highlighted the campaign's goals of promoting partnerships with the private sector, non-governmental organisations and other members of civil society to effect positive change in urban governance. Discussions have also included issues of women in government, poverty reduction, urban safety and security, the UN reported.
NIGERIA: Clashes leave over 30 dead
Unrelated acts of violence in three Nigerian states on Tuesday left up to 25 people dead, 'The Guardian' daily newspaper reported.
In Madiguri, capital of the northern state of Borno State, up to twenty people died after more than 50 people from Niger and Chad clashed with police in the suburb of Wulari over the attempted arrest of some of their kinsmen, 'The Guardian' reported. Police commissioner Uba Bala Ringim said that the men, mainly Tuaregs from Niger, were armed with bows, arrows and cutlasses. He said they attacked some policemen who had gone to arrest Nigeriens and Chadians suspected of assaulting local residents. One police inspector was hacked to death and six other bodies have been recovered while searches are underway for others, Ringim said. Calm has now returned to the affected areas, he added.
In Lagos, an exchange of fire between police and the Yoruba Oodua People's Congress (OPC) led to the death of two OPC members, State Police Commissioner Mike Okiro told reporters. The violence erupted in the suburb of Mushin after OPC members reportedly confronted police whom they suspected of wanting to stop a press conference organised by Gani Adams, leader of a militant faction of the group. Adams, who is wanted by the police, spoke of the OPC's determination to fight for the emancipation of "the Yoruba race from political,social and economic bondage," the daily reported.
In southeast Nigeria, a clash between members of the feuding Ogulaha and Odimodi communities in Forcados, Delta State, claimed three lives. Military personnel deployed to maintain law and order in the region were reportedly hit by bullets fired by the two warring communites, according to 'The Guardian'.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: French funds for development
France will provide a total of 740 million CFA francs (about one million US dollars) for three projects in Equatorial Guinea under agreements signed on Wednesday in Malabo, the French news agency, AFP, reported. Some 400 million FCFA will go towards the establishment and development of a technical and legal service with the agriculture ministry to support the establishment of farmers' cooperatives. A project to rehabilitate and modernise public buildings is to receive 300 million FCFA, while 40 million FCFA will be spent on providing computer-related equipment in four schools, AFP said.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Human rights abuses denounced
Since 1979 (when former ruler Macias Nguema was overthrown), Equatorial Guinea has been building a democracy that respects human rights, Prime Minister Candido Muatetema told the UN Commission on Human Rights on 6 April. Four days later, rights advocates denounced fresh abuses by the military against the inhabitants of Batate on Bioko Island, where the capital, Malabo, is situated.
According to the Asociacion para la Solidaridad Democratica con Guinea Ecuatorial (ASODEGUE), soldiers beat up villagers after youths from Batete stoned a policeman who had slapped the village headman and a local councillor. The two officials had tried to mediate in an altercation that broke out between the policeman and a local taxi driver following a dispute between the latter and a woman of the Fang ethnic group.
The Fang form the overwhelming majority of Equatorial Guinea's people and rulers, but most of the people of the island of Bioko are from a different ethnic group, the Bubi.
ASODEGUE reported that soldiers stripped and beat the headman, councillor and other members of the community. They also extorted money from villagers as well as some nuns and a group of Ghanaians who were building a school in the area. The district commissioner of the area tried to restrain them but they called him a "little Bubi" and ignored him, according to ASODEGUE.
There is no sustained rule of law in Equatorial Guinea, according to the UN special representative for that country, Gustavo Gallon. In a report he presented at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Gallon said the military and the ruling party exercised various de facto and de jure powers to control the population. This has led to continued arbitrary arrest and detention, he said.
Gallon had to base his report on information he received from people in Spain with ties to Equatorial Guinea because the government refused to allow him to visit the country and did not respond to his requests for information.
However, Muatetema told the commission his government was committed to recognising and promoting the human rights of all the country's people. Authorities, he said, were prevented from infringing on people's rights. He also asked for international technical assistance to help his government implement provisions of international human rights instruments.
SAO TOME E PRINCIPE: US and Portugal help fund fight against malaria
The United States and Portugal are helping Sao Tome and Principe fight malaria, which accounts for 40 percent of deaths in the Central African archipelago, the US-based 'Baltimore Sun' quoted the US Embassy in Portugal as saying. The three countries are to devise a three-pronged strategy to prevent, treat and curb the spread of the disease, the paper said. The project, initiated last year, has so far received US $85,000 from the Pentagon.
SAO TOME E PRINCIPE: US $2 million to reduce poverty
The African Development Fund (ADF) has approved a US $2-million loan for Sao Tome's third structural adjustment programme, the ADF announced on Wednesday. The programme will support political and budgetary reforms and promote private-sector activities as a means of creating employment and generating income. The Fund hopes that by the end of this phase, GDP would have increased and the inflation rate would have decreased. The 12-month loan goes into effect in May. The ADF, set up in 1972, is the small-loans branch of the African Development Bank Group. It focuses mainly on poverty reduction.
WEST AFRICA: Thousands seek asylum in Europe
Eight West African nations are among 43 countries heavily represented among asylum-seekers in Europe and Australia, according to statistics provided by UNHCR. Sierra Leoneans topped the list of West African asylum-seekers in 17 European countries and Australia, accounting for 1,440 of the 65,617 applicants registered in January and February 2001. There were also 1,044 Nigerians, 657 Guineans, 451 Malians and 340 Mauritanians.
Another 309 asylum-seekers came from Cameroon, while there were 288 Togolese and 246 Ivorians. Other African countries with sizeable contingents were Somalia (1,617), Democratic Republic of Congo (1,443), Algeria (1,285), Angola (990), Republic of Congo (429), Sudan (414), Rwanda (326) and Ethiopia (282).
The 17 European host countries were Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Swizerland and the United Kingdom.
Abidjan, 12 April 2001; 18:00 GMT
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