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SIERRA LEONE: WFP distributes food to over 75,000 people
The World Food Programme said on Friday it distributed 619 mt of assorted food commodities to 76,396 beneficiaries in Sierra Leone from 29 November to 6 December. Most of these distributions were near or in Freetown. The largest amount of food - enough for 20,000 beneficiaries - went to the IDP Camp in Port Loko, some 60 km northeast of Freetown.
WFP completed a joint distribution with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) a day before UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited the camp, where he met the WFP team and its newly arrived country director, Louis Imbleau. WFP said an estimated 1,200 former refugees were arriving by boat in Freetown each week from Guinea as a result of a CRS/CARITAS project that is funding transport. So far, 12,000 returnees have arrived in Lungi from Guinea and are receiving WFP food aid assistance, it said.
SIERRA LEONE: Russian army officials visit Freetown
Col-Gen Vitaly Pavlock arrived in Sierra Leone on 4 December at the head of a six-member delegation to inspect the Russian air group assigned to the UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). According to UNAMSIL, the delegation will also meet UN military and civilian personnel. It is scheduled to leave on 19 December. The Russian contingent, which is based in the town of Lungi, north of Freetown, consists of 115 servicemen and four Mi-24 helicopter gunships.
SIERRA LEONE: Czech Republic donates US $54,800
The Czech Republic, through UNICEF's National Committee, has donated US $54,800 to Sierra Leonean children, Jagmeet Uppal, a communication officer for UNICEF, told IRIN.
The money is to help children who have been victims of the rebel war, he said. Some of it will be used to improve water and sanitation facilities in the two camps in Freetown and the southern town of Bo that host large numbers of child victims. Uppal said the rest will be allocated to two local NGOs - Famili Homes Movement and Christian Brothers - to support the reintegration and rehabilitation of child ex-combatants.
COTE D'IVOIRE: Human rights group denounces abuses
A human rights organisation in Cote d'Ivoire says 33 persons died in unrest in Abidjan between Monday and Wednesday, while others have disappeared.
The Mouvement ivoirien des droits de l'homme (MIDH) said the unrest started after security forces targetted demonstrators who had gathered for a meeting of the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) to protest against the rejection of its leader, Alassane Ouattara, as a candidate for Sunday's parliamentary poll.
The MIDH said security forces shot at demonstrators, and detained people during and after the meeting, including persons who had not demonstrated but belonged to a "target population" because of their religion, regions of origin or surnames. It said some people were detained illegally and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment.
MIDH said "the attempt by the population to resist force with force, as well as (a) call by the head of state for the security forces to have no restraint," led to increased violence. The organisation said it "condemns these attacks on human rights and dignity" and called for a commission of inquiry into the abuses. The body should be headed by the International Federation of Human Rights, MIDH said.
It called on President Laurent Gbagbo to rise above partisan conflicts and find a suitable political solution to Cote d'Ivoire's political crisis.
COTE D'IVOIRE: EU, US criticise Ouattara's exclusion from poll
The European Union (EU) said on Thursday that it deplored "the restrictions imposed on voters' freedom of choice" by the Ivoirian Supreme Court's decision to bar Alassane Dramane Ouattara from running for election to parliament on Sunday.
The EU said the decision "mars preparations for those elections as it could lead to the absence of a significant portion of Cote d'Ivoire's electorate from the electoral process". It urged the Ivorian authorities "to do everything possible to re-establish national cohesion and take account of the balance of all the country's political forces". It also called on "the authorities and on all political forces to act responsibly and ban all forms of violence".
The US State Department said the decision "calls into question the government's commitment to promoting genuine national reconciliation." Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker said on Thursday: "We continue to urge all parties to participate in the December 10 elections and call on the government to ensure these elections are free, fair, transparent and inclusive."
AFRICA: NGOs prepare plan to help curb small arms proliferation
Civil society groups began meeting in Lome on Thursday to fine tune plans to support a continent-wide effort to curb the proliferation and trafficking of small arms in Africa.
The meeting ends on Saturday with the presentation of a Civil Society Action Plan in Support of the Outcome of the OAU Ministerial Conference on Small Arms, held on 29-30 November in Bamako, Mali.
Issues being discussed include promoting transparency and confidence-building measures in Africa through, for example, an Africa-wide small arms and light weapons register and database. Participants have also been preparing recommendations on civil society's role on national and regional mechanisms for fighting the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Africa.
The meeting is organised by the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa in collaboration with Oxfam Great Britain, Norweigian Initiative on Small Arms, Norwegian Church Aid, ICRC, International Alert, Group for Research and Information on Peace and Security.
Abidjan, 8 December 2000; 17:55 GMT
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