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IRIN-WA Update 385 of Events in West Africa (Thursday 21 January)
Freetown port still insecure, WFP says
Insecurity at the main port in the capital Freetown continues to prevent humanitarian agencies from providing urgently-needed food aid to tens of thousands of people trapped by fighting in the city, WFP said today (Thursday). In a press release received by IRIN, WFP said gunfire could still be heard day and night in the port area of eastern Freetown. The West African intervention force ECOMOG said yesterday it had gained control of the port after heavy fighting with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, according to news agencies. The WFP statement said the port area had been badly damaged and warehouses burned down. The security situation has not allowed aid workers to check on aid agency warehouses. Meanwhile, a WFP spokesman told IRIN today that a ship carrying about 1,800 MT of rice donated by Italy for distribution to Freetown's war-affected population had reached the Guinean capital Conakry.
No security guarantees from warring parties
The absence of a guaranteed safe passage for relief workers, despite numerous appeals by aid agencies, was also seriously hindering humanitarian assistance efforts, WFP said in today's statement. "Guaranteed safe passage and respect of humanitarian principles must also be given by all parties to the conflict to avoid risking the lives of our staff," WFP Regional Manager Paul Ares said in the statement. The statement added that the ECOMOG ban on the use of telecommunications equipment by aid workers was also severely hampering humanitarian work.
Some 40,000 people crammed into stadium
Residents of the east side of Freetown were particularly hard hit by the fighting as assailants stole virtually all their possessions and burned down their homes, WFP said. Many fled to the western and central parts of the capital and are now living in abandoned buildings or makeshift camps. Some 40,000 people are now estimated to be crammed into Freetown's main stadium without food and medical facilities, WFP added. News agencies said yesterday that some markets in Freetown had reopened but high prices of basic goods were unaffordable for many people. Humanitarian sources said Connaught hospital was barely functional and there was a serious shortage of surgical supplies there. Meanwhile, volunteers today began burying an estimated 1,100 corpses that had been collected from the central districts of Freetown, the German news agency DPA said.
A UN inter-agency mission flew to Freetown today to assess the humanitarian situation in the city, WFP said.
Burkina Faso favours peace talks
Burkina Faso feels the war in Sierra Leone cannot be ended simply by military means and the preferred option is for the Freetown government and the RUF to hold talks, Foreign Ministry officials told IRIN today. Burkina Faso chairs the Organisation of African Unity which, a government official said, would only intervene where subregional bodies, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), failed to resolve political problems.
"As a subregional member (of ECOWAS) Burkina Faso can only express its position," an official said.
Okelo says Nigerian role in peace central
UN Special Envoy for Sierra Leone Francis Okelo told reporters yesterday (Wednesday) that the country had a key role in resolving the conflict in Sierra Leone, news organisations reported. Speaking on Nigerian state television following discussions in Abuja with Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Ignatius Olisiemeka, Okelo said: "It (Nigeria) has played a central role in the restoration of peace. Quite naturally, quite logically, it has to play a central role in the restoration of peace."
The discussions centred on the contributions ECOMOG was making to end the rebellion in Sierra Leone. Okelo said he was invited by Olisiemeka to brief Nigeria on the UN involvement in Sierra Leone, the humanitarian situation and ways of ending the conflict, Reuters said.
Nigeria contributes the bulk of the ECOMOG force in
Sierra Leone estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000.
British envoy visits Freetown
Britain's High Commissioner in Sierra Leone, who visited Freetown briefly yesterday, told Reuters "we need to help galvanise the government of Sierra Leone and the people to help them get back on their feet".
Britain has given or pledged US $3.2 million to support ECOMOG which is trying to put down a rebellion against the legitimate government in Freetown. Sir Peter Penfold, temporarily operating out of neighbouring Guinea, told Reuters the British government has been "fully supporting" ECOMOG, flying in logistical equipment, communications and vehicles.
He was speaking after visiting Freetown's main stadium.
Rebels hunting down journalists, press watchdog says
Local journalists in war-torn Sierra Leone have been hunted down and some killed in cold blood by RUF and rebel army elements, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said yesterday.
Rebels who attacked Freetown on 6 January, it said, were armed with a list of journalists "who were to be eliminated" for their perceived anti-RUF coverage of the war. CPJ, based in New York, named journalists Jenner "J.C." Cole, and Mohammed Kamara of station SKY-FM as people summarily shot dead by the rebels.
CPJ said media houses were either burned or otherwise damaged in an effort to silence reporters. The only radio station still broadcasting is the pro-government FM 98.1, transmitting from New England near the ECOMOG stronghold of Wilberforce Barracks. However, no original local news is being broadcast. The radio is airing religious music, presidential and government statements and BBC African Service news programmes.
GUINEA BISSAU: UN sending electoral needs team
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to send an electoral needs assessment team to Guinea Bissau, his spokesman Fred Eckhard said yesterday in New York. The 10-day mission will begin at the end of January and review what assistance the UN could offer the country during presidential elections due in March.
Under the peace deal signed by the government and self-styled Military Junta in November 1998 in Abuja to end a five-month rebellion, legislative and presidential elections are to be held by the end of March 1999.
ECOWAS says 1,450 peacekeepers enough
An offer by four West African states to jointly field 1,450 troops for a subregional interposition force in Guinea Bissau should be adequate to ensure peace in the recently troubled nation, ECOWAS Executive Secretary Lansana Kouyate told AFP yesterday.
Speaking from ECOWAS headquarters in the Nigerian capital, Kouyate said 112 soldiers would be in place before the end of January to be joined soon after by another 600, AFP reported. The force is to be deployed under the Abuja accord and will replace Senegalese and Guinean troops who came to support Vieira's government.
Meanwhile, a Military Junta official in the Guinea Bissau capital, Bissau, told Lusa, the Portuguese news agency, that ECOWAS wanted a government of national unity to be installed before the end of the week. However, on Monday, Lusa quoted the Guinea Bissau prime minister-designate, Francisco Fadul, as saying neither he nor the transitional government would take office before all Guinean and Senegalese troops had left the country.
NIGERIA: Rules set for presidential election
The next president of Nigeria must be a Nigerian citizen aged 40 or over and educated to at least School Certificate level. The rules for the presidential elections were announced yesterday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The candidate must also be a member of one of Nigeria's three registered political parties, sponsored by that party and must pay the agency a non-refundable fee of 100,000 naira (around US $1,200), the rules said. The three eligible parties are the People's Democratic Party (PDP), All People's Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD). The Secretary of INEC, Adamu Bawa Mu'azu, told IRIN today he believed leaders of the three political parties were satisfied with the guidelines.
Meanwhile, state and governorship elections in Bayelsa state will now take place on 30 January, AFP reported yesterday, quoting the head of INEC. The elections were suspended earlier this month due to civil unrest in the state.
GUINEA: Concern over child trafficking
The Committee on the Rights of the Child said yesterday Guinea needed to "seriously oversee" the process of adoption of children from Guinea to other countries to help prevent illegal child trafficking. The 10-member committee of human rights experts made its preliminary observations after reviewing how Guinea was implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a UN press release said. The government should not leave adoption cases "only to diplomatic channels", the committee added. During the debate, held in Geneva, the Guinean delegation said lack of resources had hampered government efforts to properly control some institutions sheltering children. The committee also recommended that Guinea improve its education system, prohibit corporal punishment and review current national legislation to bring it in line with the child's rights treaty. (For more information, please see http://www.unhchr.ch)
Abidjan, 21 January 1999, 19:30 GMT
[ENDS]
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 20:38:55 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.ocha.unon.org> Subject: IRIN-West Africa Update 385 for 1999.1.21
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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