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SIERRA LEONE: RUF rebels arrested off Lungi
Some 42 unarmed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in two boats were spotted by a British helicopter off the Lungi Peninsula north of Freetown, forced to land at a wharf, arrested and then handed over to the Sierra Leonean authorities, the UN reported.
SIERRA LEONE: DDR camps deserted by most ex-fighters
Fewer than a quarter of the ex-combatants who had surrendered their weapons before Sierra Leone's DDR programme was disrupted in early May are still encamped, the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) said.
In its latest information bulletin, issued on 12 July, it said under 6,000 former fighters out of some 24,285 who had disarmed before the resumption of fighting between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and pro-government forces, remained in DDR camps.
There are an estimated 45,000 combatants in Sierra Leone.
SIERRA LEONE: Rights groups call on UN to move on TRC
Three rights groups on Friday urged the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to resume preparations for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Sierra Leone, ARTICLE 19 reported.
The groups are ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression and the Sierra Leone Working Group on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
TRC preparations were suspended when the Lome Peace agreement between Sierra Leone's government and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) virtually collapsed in early May.
SIERRA LEONE: Humanitarian convoy arrives in Bo
A humanitarian relief convoy escorted by UNAMSIL peacekeepers arrived safely in the southern Sierra Leonean town of Bo on Thursday, sources in Freetown told IRIN. It was the first time in about two weeks that such a convoy had travelled to the area.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a situation report for 26 June to 9 July that plans to assist up to 150,000 new internally displaced people (IDPs) had been curtailed or suspended because security had deteriorated in the main areas of IDP concentration.
The most affected area, it said, was around the town of Mile 91, east of Freetown, where insecurity has halted a plan of action to help more than 40,000 IDPs who fled the north after fighting between pro-government forces and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels.
While the Southern Province continued to be free of fighting, humanitarian agencies were constrained by the "ongoing harassment by the CDF (Civil Defence Forces), especially with respect to vehicle commandeering", OCHA said in its report. OCHA also said that children were reportedly being recruited into the Kamajor society, the main group in the CDF, in the southern area of Moyamba.
Meanwhile, agencies operating in the south drew attention at a National Child Protection Committee meeting on 6 July to continuing tension surrounding children associated with the RUF returning to CDF strongholds, UNICEF reported.
SIERRA LEONE: Anaemia prevention project launched
An Anaemia Prevention and Control Project (APCP) targeting some 25,000 pregnant and lactating women is being piloted for 18 months in the southern district of Bo and in Freetown, UNICEF reported in its 4-10 July situation report. The project, launched on 7 July, is a response to the high rate of anaemia, some 86 percent, among pregnant women in Sierra Leone, according to a study carried out in 1998 by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF.
SIERRA LEONE: Agreement on need to beef up UNAMSIL
Members of the UN Security Council agreed on Tuesday following closed-door consultations and a briefing on the situation in Sierra Leone by Hedi Annabi, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, that the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) needed to be strengthened immediately, the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) reported. In a 19 May report, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed that UNAMSIL's authorised strength be increased from 13,000 to 16,500.
However, the US Ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke said after the meeting that Washington wanted more details from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations on what the strengthened force would be asked to do before signing off on what he saw as another costly increase, news organisations reported.
He also said that Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh and others should be tried under international auspices but without setting up a new UN war crimes tribunal, which would be expensive, time-consuming and slow.
SIERRA LEONE: ECOWAS calls for release of peacekeepers
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Tuesday demanded that the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) "immediately and without conditions" restore the freedom of movement of the 233 UN staff it has blocked since May in Kailahun, eastern Sierra Leone, the UN said. The call followed discussions on Monday between UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives of ECOWAS countries, including Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo, the UN reported.
SIERRA LEONE: No surrender by 'West Side Boys'
UN military observers deployed in Masiaka have reported that none of the 'West Side Boys' militia have surrendered their weapons in response to an ultimatum Sierra Leone's government issued last weekend on state radio, UNAMSIL spokeswoman Hirut Befecadu said in Freetown on Tuesday. The government had ordered the militia, made up of former members of the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) loyal to ex-junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma, to report with their weapons to UN peacekeepers in Masiaka by Tuesday or face punishment. Some of them are ready to surrender, AFP reported, but are being intimidated by others to prevent them from giving up their arms.
SIERRA LEONE: Rights body concerned over civilian deaths
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern on Wednesday that there have been civilian casualties and displacements following attacks on suspected rebel positions by a Sierra Leonean government helicopter gunship. Some 27 people died and 50 were wounded following attacks in May and June on the northern towns of Makeni, Magburaka and Kambia, HRW reported. The NGO also condemned the practice of both pro-government and rebel forces of extorting "taxes" from fleeing civilians.
SIERRA LEONE: UNAMSIL troops low on food
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) turned down a request by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to replenish, by helicopter, the supplies of UN personnel in the eastern area of Kailahun, the UN announced on Tuesday. The UN has been unable to resupply 233 peacekeepers and military observers blocked by the RUF in Kailahun for a considerable amount of time, the associate spokesperson of the Secretary-General, Marie Okabe, had said on Monday. "They now have ten days worth of rations left," Okabe said.
LIBERIA: Government orders draft to fight dissidents
All able-bodied men of military age have been ordered to report to military bases for enlistment to help fight Liberian dissidents in the northern county of Lofa, President Charles Taylor said on Tuesday. Liberia's government claims the dissidents entered Lofa from Guinea, whose government has denied allowing its territory to be used as a springboard for attacks against Liberia.
Speaking at Roberts International Airport directly after talks with Presidents Alpha Omar Konare of Mali and Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone, Taylor said he would write to the UN Security Council to complain about the incursion and ask the world body to lift its embargo on arms sales to Liberia.
A man identified as Emmanuel Moore has claimed to be the spokesman of the dissidents, who call themselves Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, a diplomatic source said. Moore claimed the capture of Voinjama, the Lofa county capital, and four other targets, an assertion which Liberian military analysts dismissed as "falsehoods and fabrication", the diplomat said.
The clashes in Lofa, which started on Saturday, led the only aid agency operating in upper Lofa County, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to suspend its operations there.
NIGERIA: Government recovers US $66 million in loot
Nigeria's government announced on Thursday that, for the first time since the return to civilian rule in May 1999, it had recovered money - US $66 million - illegally transferred abroad under previous military regimes, news reports said.
NIGERIA: Government sets up arms proliferation committee
Nigeria's defence minister, Theophilus Danjuma, inaugurated on Tuesday in Abuja a National Committee on the Proliferation and Illicit Trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons, news organisations reported. Its brief includes tracing the sources of illegal arms, gathering information on the illicit weapons trade in Nigeria and around its borders, recommending measures to deal with the problem and overseeing the implementation of the recommendations, PANA said.
NIGERIA: Court orders Mobil to pay compensation
Nigeria's appeal court has ordered Mobil Nigeria Unlimited oil company to pay 6.9 million naira (about US $67,600) in compensation to 693 people affected by a 1998 oil spill in the southeastern state of Akwa Ibom, 'The Guardian' reported on Thursday.
NIGERIA: Police heads to explain rising crime to cabinet
Nigeria's government has summoned Police Minister David Jemibewon and Inspector General of Police Musiliu Smith to appear before the cabinet on 19 July to answer questions on rising crime, AFP on Wednesday reported Information Minister Jerry Gana as saying.
NIGERIA: Lagos workers suspend strike
Civil servants in Lagos State suspended a three-week-old strike on Tuesday to restart minimum wage negotiations with the state government, 'The Guardian' reported. Adams Oshiomhole, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), announced the suspension of the strike after talks with Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu. Oshiomhole said the strike would only be called off when an agreement had been reached.
NIGERIA: Christian youths boycott national service
Thousands of young Christians in Nigeria have refused to be sent on compulsory non-military national service to states which have adopted Islamic law, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The National Youth Service Corps which oversees the scheme is reported to have been overwhelmed by students who are afraid of Sharia's penalties, including flogging and amputation.
NIGERIA: Environment - Niger Delta, a high-risk region
More than 4,000 oil spills officially recorded in Nigeria's Niger Delta in over four decades of oil production attest to the level of degradation of probably the most endangered oil-bearing environment in the world. Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, who revealed these statistics during a recent visit to Norway, blamed the situation on the 'dismal' performance in the delta of oil multinationals, which he accused of not meeting international standards in their operations in the area.
[See separate item titled 'NIGERIA: IRIN Focus on the Niger Delta environment']
NIGERIA: Many feared dead from pipeline fire
Some 250 people - as many as 300 by some accounts - died when a pipeline exploded near Warri in the oil-producing Niger Delta region of southeastern Nigeria, media sources in Lagos told IRIN on Tuesday. The police were reported to have sealed off the area and firefighters were still trying on Tuesday to control the blaze, believed to have started on Sunday.
NIGERIA: Committee on corruption to be set up
Nigeria's federal government is to set up a transparency monitoring committee to help enforce a new anti-corruption law in the country, PANA reported President Olusegun Obasanjo as saying last weekend. He announced the formation of the committee, set up to monitor the activities of top officials in the executive arm of the government, on Saturday at a retreat in Abuja for ministers and permanent secretaries, the news agency reported. The anti-corruption bill was signed into law in mid-June.
BURKINA FASO: Debt service relief
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have deemed Burkina Faso eligible to receive a total of US $700 million in debt service relief, the World Bank reported on Tuesday. This halves the country's debt service obligations over the coming years, the bank said
COTE D'IVOIRE: Political situation generates much interest
In the aftermath of protests by a section of the military in Cote d'Ivoire on 4 and 5 July, a number of foreign nations and groups have issued statements on the situation in the West African nation.
The European Union said on 10 July that it "deeply regrets the many acts of violence committed, in particular against the civilian population and businesses" during the disturbances and it hoped there would be no delay in the electoral process and that the referendum due to be held on 23 July 2000 would take place on schedule.
US Ambassador George Mu told journalists on Tuesday that, in a meeting he had with Ivoirian leader General Robert Guei he emphasised that "the best way to achieve stability is to continue on the democratisation process that he has put in place". He added: "Our position is that we do not expect Guei to present himself as a candidate for the upcoming elections".
AFP reported that African leaders attending the 36th summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) were also worried about the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, and that a ministerial delegation was expected to visit the country immediately after the summit.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Spate of arrests in connection with mutiny
Cote d'Ivoire's authorities said on Tuesday that 35 members of the military, including eight officers and six non-commissioned officers, had been detained at the Abidjan military prison, MAMA, for their part in a mutiny on 4-5 July.
The state-owned 'Fraternite Matin' daily reported navy Lieutenant Kessi Kouame, government commissioner to the Abidjan military court, as saying that the charges against them included plotting against the state and breach of state security, common crimes such as theft, and military offences like rebellion. The highest-ranking detainees are four colonels.
On Sunday, Guei had said that mutineers would be tried by a special military court, which was inaugurated on Thursday and will start work on 19 July. Repeating earlier claims that politicians were behind the protest, he said it was "regrettable and unthinkable for soldiers to allow themselves to be manipulated by ambitious politicians who are only thinking of destroying our beautiful country".
"The delinquent soldiers who thus auctioned off their honour and dignity (and) violated the rules of military discipline and virtue...," he said "will be judged by a special military tribunal so as to be severely punished by the law before being dismissed from the armed forces".
On Monday, the co-ruling Conseil National de Salut Public (CNSP), an all-military body headed by Guei, gave soldiers and civilians with illegal weapons, including those stolen during the mutiny, 48 hours to hand them in to the authorities.
TOGO: EU welcomes independent electoral commission
The European Union (EU) on Wednesday welcomed the setting up of an independent electoral commission in Togo and called on its members and their parties "to do their utmost to ensure that this commission can begin its work".
The call, made in a communique on 12 July, follows disagreement between members of the Conseil electoral national independant (CENI) over who should be its chairman and how it would work. The communique recalled that the establishment of the CENI made it possible to plan the date of general elections in Togo and it urged Togo's parties "to reach an understanding enabling them swiftly to make the arrangements still needed for these elections to be held..."
Presidential elections held in Togo in mid-1998 were deemed unfair by the opposition, which refused to take part in subsequent polls. However, discussions in a paritary committee made up of ruling party and opposition representatives led to an agreement that included the formation of the CENI, sworn in on 30 June.
GAMBIA: Government launches probe into alleged coup plot
Gambia's authorities have began a probe into allegations that officers and individuals close to its ruling party were planning a coup against President Yahya Jammeh, AFP reported. Public Prosecutor Joseph Wowo said on Wednesday that several people had been arrested but he gave no details. Court proceedings are due on 15 August, Wowo said.
SENEGAL: Mine kills one, several wounded
One civilian was killed and "several wounded" on Friday when a minibus set off an anti-personnel mine in Soucouta, near the southern Senegalese town of Ziguinchor, Alioune Tine, the executive secretary of a leading local human rights body, told IRIN.
This was the latest in a string of incidents this week in the 18-year war between the state and the Mouvement des forces democratiques de Casamance (MFDC), which wants an independent state in Casamance, southern Senegal.
Tine heads the Rencontre africaine pour la defense des droits de l'homme, which monitors the fighting in Casamance closely. He said armed elements thought to be from the MFDC had attacked the village of Babanda, just northwest of Ziguinchor, on 7 July.
In addition, the BBC reported that on Wednesday the Senegalese air force bombed suspected guerrilla targets in Casamance, along the border with Guinea-Bissau. The BBC said the air raid followed an attack by "separatist rebels".
On 7 July, the UN Security Council expressed concern about mounting tension on the border between Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, calling on the two countries "to exercise restraint and take steps to de-escalate tensions along their shared border", UN News reported.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Security Council expresses financial support
Members of the UN Security Council on Friday appealed to the international community to give Guinea-Bissau's government financial and material support so that it can restructure its armed forces, Security Council President Ambassador Patricia Durrant said. They stressed that restructuring the military was crucial to the country's democratization process, and that it was important to implement a plan to demobilise some members of the armed forces.
Following an 11-month army mutiny, Guinea-Bissau was ruled by a military-backed regime from May 1999 to February 2000, when an elected government took over, but relations between the civilian and military authorities continue to be tense.
MALI: Corruption in public bodies
The anti-corruption commission in Mali has published its fourth report which reveals embezzlement and mismanagement within several state-owned companies and other public bodies, the BBC reported on Sunday. President Alpha Konare launched an anti-corruption drive last year and since then some 15 senior officials have been arrested, the BBC reported.
AFRICA: Heads adopt African Union
African heads adopted 26 draft political, economic and financial decisions forwarded to them by their foreign ministers at this week's Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit in Lome, Togo, but the main attraction was an initiative aimed, among other things, at forging Africa's unity and enhancing its position in today's globalised world.
Of the 33 heads of state and government who attended the 10-12 July summit, 27 signed the draft African Union Treaty at Wednesday's closing ceremony. The aims of the Union include unity and solidarity between Africa's countries and people, achieving the continent's political and socio-economic integration as soon as possible, promoting peace and stability in Africa, and promoting as well as supporting scientific and technological research aimed at development.
[See separate item titled 'AFRICA: Leaders stop short of abolishing borders']
Abidjan, 14 July 2000; 18:55 GMT
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