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IRIN-WA Update 524 of events in West Africa (Monday 9 August)
SIERRA LEONE: Government hopes hostages will be freed soon
The government of Sierra Leone hopes the remaining hostages held by former Sierra Leonean Army (ex-SLA) rebels will soon be freed, although there have been no new developments since Sunday, Information Minister, Julius Spencer told IRIN on Monday.
"We are hoping that they will be released soon," Spencer said, adding that the hostages freed so far, about half of those taken, were all in good health.
According to Spencer, rebels released seven UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) military observers, two soldiers from the ECOWAS Peace Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), four civilians and six drivers on Sunday. Negotiations involving the government, UNOMSIL and others are still ongoing to try and secure the release of the remaining hostages.
According to Spencer, 14 ECOMOG soldiers, two Sierra Leonean soldiers, four UNOMSIL observers and one civilian are still in captivity.
However, one of the hostages released on Sunday, radio journalist Pasco Temple, said some 20 ECOMOG soldiers and officers were still being held, while a British Foreign Office spokesman said three British UNOMSIL officers and one other UNOMSIL observer were still in captivity, sources in Freetown told IRIN.
[See separate item titled 'Government hopes hostages
will be freed soon']
UNHCR meeting on voluntary repatriation
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representatives from four countries met in Abidjan last week to update a plan for the voluntary repatriation of refugees following the signing of the Lome peace accord, according to a UNHCR communique sent to IRIN on Monday.
Refugees in the four asylum countries - Guinea, Liberia,
Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone - are linking their
repatriation to progress on disarmament and demobilisation
on the ground. Moreover, not all returnee areas outside
of Freetown, the capital, and Bo, the second largest
town, are accessible to humanitarian workers, the UNHCR
said.
The meeting, which took place on the 6-7 August, concluded
that UNHCR will do the following:
disseminate copies of the peace accord to refugee communities and organise meetings to discuss its content;
begin to facilitate repatriation 30 days following the return of RUF leader Foday Sankoh to Freetown and the formation of the new power sharing government;
initiate the signing of tripartite agreements with relevant countries to assist mass voluntary repatriation;
launch the official organised voluntary repatriation, expected to last two years, at the beginning of February and, in the interim, strengthen UNHCR's presence in Sierra Leone, including the opening of new offices in major returnee areas.
There are some 500,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in neighbouring countries. Half of them are expected to repatriate voluntarily, 30 percent under a facilitated scheme which does not involve providing transport while the remaining 20 percent will require transport, UNHCR said.
The operation plan, currently being prepared in consultation
with implementing partners, should be ready by September
1999, UNHCR said.
CHAD: Government sends peace envoys to meet rebel leader
Chadian President Idriss Deby has sent peace envoys to meet rebel leader Youssouf Togoimi in the northern area of Tibesti, Communications Minister Moussa Dago told IRIN on Monday.
The delegation comprises respected parliamentarians and traditional authorities from the Tibesti, the mountainous desert region where Togoimi, a former cabinet minister, began his rebellion in late 1998.
"The objective of the mission is to find out what
Togoimi wants," Dago said.
[See separate item titled 'Government sends peace envoys
to meet rebel leader']
MALI: A thousand made homeless by floods
Floods caused by heavy rains have left at least a thousand people homeless in the Malian capital, Bamako, news reports said at the weekend. The BBC reported on Friday that two people were killed as the floods ravaged 100 homes in this city of some 880,000 people.
One child, 7, was swept away by flood waters, Reuters said quoting officials.
The railway linking Bamako to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, has also been cut. Reuters quoted the state railway network, RCFM, as saying that it could take 30 to 45 days to repair two bridges swept away by the floods on 1 August at Kayes, 422 km northwest of Bamako.
AFRICA: FAO says nearly 10 million people need emergency food aid
Nearly 10 million people in sub-Saharan Africa need emergency food assistance, according to a report released on Monday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In Somalia alone, "one million people are facing serious food shortages, with over 400,000 at risk of starvation."
The report, Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa, says the food outlook in Somalia for 1999 and beyond is "extremely grim, due to the cumulative effects of adverse weather, the long running civil war and uncontrolled crop pests and diseases".
The current main season cereal crop has failed due to erratic and insufficient rainfall, armyworm outbreaks and unusually high temperatures. It is the seventh consecutive poor harvest since 1996, says the report.
(for more details and breakdown by country, see http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/countrystories/other/19990809.htm)
CAMEROON: Volcanic activity around Lake Nyos
A team of experts from the Mines, Water and Power Resources Ministry left the capital, Yaounde, on Friday for Lake Nyos to investigate reports of volcanic activity there, Reuters reported on Monday.
Reports from Bamenda in Northwest Province, some 70 km south of Lake Nyos, indicated rumblings at the lake on 2 August and an explosion the following day while farmers and fishers in the area said there are dead fish floating in the lake, according to Reuters.
In 1986 some 1,800 villagers died after inhaling toxic
fumes which bubbled up from the depths of the lake
and asphyxiated those living nearby. The lake is on
the same geological fault line as Mount Cameroon which
erupted in March this year destroying about 100 buildings
and making around 20 families homeless.
NIGERIA: Recce group deployed in troubled riverine community
A Nigerian army reconnaissance group has been sent to a troubled riverine community in Ondo State, where fighting flared up last week between people of the Ilaje and Ijaw ethinc groups, AFP reported.
A spokesman for the 2nd Mechanised Division in Ibadan, Major Ayo Olaniyan, told AFP on Monday that the divisional commander, Major General Ekpo Artchibong, had moved to the Ondo state capital, Akure, to direct operations.
Clashes between Ijaws and Ilaje resumed on Thursday despite an agreement from community leaders that fighting should stop, AFP said.
The conflict first erupted in September 1998 over control of land, after rumours that Western oil companies had shown interest in the area. Ownership of oil land often leads to substantial financial compensation to local communities.
Abidjan, 9 August 1999, 18:20 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1388
[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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