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IRIN-WA Update 521 of events in West Africa (Wednesday 4 August)
SIERRA LEONE: Census of people whose limbs were amputated
A census of people who suffered limb amputations during Sierra Leone's civil conflict is now taking place to determine their health needs, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Freetown (ICRC) told IRIN on Wednesday.
"The government has called on all people to present themselves across the country," Paul Fruh, dissemination delegate for the ICRC said. "Once the results of the census are known, the ICRC will address the priority issue of assessing numbers of people who need emergency surgery to clean up wounds before artificial limbs can be fitted."
The ICRC will soon send a surgical team to Kenema, some 190 km east of Freetown, to assess and deal with urgent surgical needs there. Discussions are taking place between the ICRC and the government over establishing a surgical centre at an existing health clinic in Goderich in Freetown's West End. It is hoped that the centre will become a teaching facility at some point, Fruh said.
"As well as knowing the numbers affected, we also have to prepare people psychologically for the fitting of limbs, particularly in the case of children," Fruh said. "For them it is a continuous process as limbs have to be replaced every year."
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has been accused of amputating the limbs of civilians to terrorise the population during the conflict. The RUF has denied this.
Thousands of people are thought to have lost one or more limbs during the civil war, Reuters said. No official figure has been established as government and aid workers were until recently excluded from large areas of the country under rebel control.
The RUF and the government signed a peace deal in Lome on 7 July.
Hundreds of Nigerians leave
Some 420 Nigerians affected by the war have left Sierra Leone, the Nigerian High Commission in Freetown told IRIN on Wednesday.
"The initial projection was 750, but we think that some people changed their minds after the signing of the peace treaty," a High Commission source said. Some of those affected by the conflict lost property and businesses, he added.
The Nigerians left Sierra Leone on Tuesday by ship.
Boat sinks leaving many dead
Around 30 people are thought to have died after a crowded boat was caught in a storm and capsized off the Sierra Leone coast, Reuters reported the police as saying on Wednesday.
Some 15 people, including the crew, survived Monday's accident off the port of Pepel, about 25 km northeast of Freetown, Reuters reported.
GUINEA-BISSAU: Lisbon to provide uniforms for police
Portugal will provide uniforms for Guinea-Bissau's 4,000-strong police force and technical support for the planned revision of the country's public security legislation, Lusa quoted Bissau's internal administration minister, Caetano Intchama, as saying on Monday.
He said this was agreed during a recent visit to Lisbon and talks with his Portuguese counterpart, Jorge Coelho, according to Lusa.
China grants US $6.5 million in emergency aid
China has given Guinea-Bissau US $6.5 million to build houses for veterans of the independence war against Portugal and to repair rural roads, Lusa reported the Guinea-Bissau Finance Ministry as announcing on Monday.
Lusa said the grant followed the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Bissau in 1998, after the West African country severed ties to Taiwan.
NIGERIA: Military regime did not steal $400 million, government says
Presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe has described as "false and mischievous" allegations that the military administration of General Abdulsalami Abubakar misappropriated 32.5 billion naira (US $400 million) just days before leaving office, `The Guardian' reported on Wednesday.
AFP, quoting the `Vanguard' newspaper, had reported Energy Minister Bola Ige as saying the military leaders siphoned the money on phony projects.
Okupe said most of the media running the story also reported that the money was returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria because it was no longer needed.
Senate president under probe
The upper chamber of Nigeria's national assembly voted unanimously on Tuesday to probe an allegation that Senate President Evan Enwerem has a criminal record, which would disqualify him from his post, news reports said.
`The Guardian' reported on Wednesday that the committees investigating the case - ethics and privileges, judiciary and security, and intelligence - had seven days, as of Tuesday, to report their findings. The House of Representatives is also debating the issue.
The accusation against Enwerem appeared in the current edition of weekly news magazine, `TELL'. AFP reported the magazine as saying that Enwerem was convicted in 1945 of stealing while he was a revenue clerk under the colonial British administration. Enwerem's aides have denied the charges.
One senator, Idris Abubakar, described the allegation of embezzlement and falsification of age as "not too pleasant", coming on the heels of the conviction of House of Representative speaker Salisu Buhari.
However, Senator Arthur Nzeribe, who said he knew Enwerem very well,`The Guardian' reported, stressed: "I can state emphatically that he is not an ex-convict and any investigation will turn out negative."
Ex-Representative speaker fined US $20
Buhari received a 2,000-naira (US $20) fine or 12 months imprisonment for forgery and perjury, for which he was convicted last week, news reports said on Wednesday.
Passing judgement on Tuesday, Chief Magistrate Mohammed Kolo of the Abuja Chief Magistrate's Court said he imposed a light sentence because Buhari was a first-time offender and had pleaded guilty. Buhari, who was 29 years old, had said he was 36 in order to meet the 30-year minimum age to be speaker of this house.
He also claimed, falsely, to have attended the University of Toronto, Canada.
Buhari resigned two weeks after admitting claims by the media that he lied in order to serve in the assembly.
Abidjan, 4 August 1999; 18:22 GMT
[ENDS]
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Item: irin-english-1360
[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 or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 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
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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