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IRIN-WA Update 539 of events in West Africa (Monday 30 August)
LIBERIA: UNHCR recommends relocation of Lofa refugees
The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recommended the relocation of some 5,000 Sierra Leonean refugees registered in the Targbe area of lower Lofa County in Liberia.
The refugees fled to Targbe in recent weeks because of fighting in upper Lofa between Liberian government troops and insurgents.
UNHCR reported that its recommendation was made on the basis of a humanitarian mission conducted at the weekend in lower Lofa. "We are very concerned by the well-being of the refugees as well as the safety of our colleagues," Abou Moussa, UNHCR Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said.
The executive director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC), Alexander Kulue, told IRIN plans were underway to relocate the Sierra Leoneans from Lower Lofa to Camp Sinje - in Cape Mount County - which already hosts 8,000 refugees.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing emergency food aid to more than 25,000 Liberians displaced by the fighting in upper Lofa, according to a WFP news release.
[See separate Item: irin-english-1508, titled 'UNHCR recommends relocation of Lofa refugees']
SIERRA LEONE: Plans finalised for Sankoh's return
Final plans have been made for the return to Freetown of the leaders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Foday Sankoh, and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Johnny Paul Koroma, the ECOWAS Peace Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) said at the weekend.
ECOMOG said Sankoh and Koromah's arrival was "expected to give a fresh tempo" to the implementation of the 7 July Lome peace agreement that ended the war between the Sierra Leone government and the RUF/AFRC.
In a statement from its Freetown headquarters, ECOMOG said arrangements for the reception of the two men were ordered by Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Sankoh, who was condemned for treason before the peace accord, is to chair a commission for the management of strategic resources, national reconstruction and development, with vice presidential status.
A meeting was held on Friday to work out details on accommodation, security communication and transportation for Sankoh, Koroma and their aides, ECOMOG said.
The meeting, chaired by ECOMOG force commander Major General Gabriel Kpamber and Sierra Leone National Security Adviser Sheka Mansaray, was also attended by Sierra Leone's chief of defence staff, inspector general of police and other defence, police and ECOMOG officials.
The forum also agreed that all former combatants who decided to "come out of the bush" must register with either ECOMOG or UNOMSIL, the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone.
ECOMOG pledges to continue helping police
Meanwhile, Kpamber said on Thursday that ECOMOG would continue to help Sierra Leone's police fight rising postwar crime. He was speaking at the introduction of the new inspector general of police designate, Keith Briddles.
Briddles is a member of a task force that the Commonwealth has provided to help rebuild Sierra Leone's police, which was dislocated by the war, especially during the RUF's invasion of eastern Freetown in January.
ECOMOG and the police are conducting joint patrols - codenamed "Operation Clean City" - in a bid to curb armed robbery and other serious crime in Freetown.
CHAD: WFP to provide food for Sudanese refugees, Chadians
The World Food Programme (WFP) is to provide food aid for nearly 30,000 people in eastern Chad under an agreement with the government of the Central African country, WFP reported.
The US $2.6-million deal, signed on Friday, provides for 2,590 mt of cereals, beans and oil to be distributed by the UNHCR to 23,000 Sudanese refugees and 6,500 Chadians.
"The refugees, mostly women and children, have fled conflict between the Arab and black African communities in Sudan's western region of Darfur," the WFP said. Refugees arrived in several waves, the first of which was in January 1998.
SENEGAL: US $5 million BOAD loan for water project
Senegal is to receive a loan of three-billion francs CFA (US $4.8 million) from the Banque Ouest Africaine de Development (BOAD) for a water-supply project, the bank said.
The loan, signed on Friday in Lome, will help finance Phase II of the Kassack North project, which will bring water to 400 hectares of land and also entails the construction of two drinking water supply systems.
When completed, it will enable its beneficiaries to produce an additional 2,600 mt of rice and 3,800 mt of vegetables each year, according to the BOAD.
CHILDREN: UNICEF welcomes Security Council resolution
The UN Security Council's adoption of a resolution on children in armed conflict is a ground-breaking decision that puts the plight of tens of millions of youngsters victimised by war at the centre of the international peace and security agenda, UNICEF says.
It "is a major boost to efforts to protect the rights of millions of children who are killed, maimed, orphaned and driven from their homes by conflicts around the globe," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said on Friday.
The 25 August resolution recommends the prosecution by governments of people who recruit children as fighters and the provision of special protection for children against rape and other abuses. It also recommends the incorporation of children's welfare into peace negotiations and calls on the UN Secretary-General to make sure that peacekeeping forces receive special training in child protection.
"UNICEF has fought long to end the recruitment of some 300,000 child soldiers around the world," Bellamy said. "This resolution strengthens our campaign to disarm, demobilise, rehabilitate and reintegrate these youngsters."
Countries in which UNICEF has assisted demobilisation programmes for child soldiers include Angola, Eritrea, Liberia, Mozambique Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
NIGER: Eight register for November presidential poll
Niger's political parties have nominated eight candidates for presidential polls scheduled for 17 October, news organisations have reported.
The deadline for the nominations was on 27 August and the Cour d'Etat - roughly equivalent to a constitutional court - is expected to vet the candidates over the next few days.
The eight - proposed by seven parties - include former president Mahamane Ousmane, overthrown in 1996 by General Ibrahim Barre Mainassara, who was killed in a coup on 9 April 1999.
The Cour d'Etat is expected to decide which of two candidates nominated by rival factions of the Rassemblement pour la dÈmocratie et le progrËs (RDP), which was Mainassara's party, can take part in the election.
The two are Amadou Boubacar Cisse, who was prime minister
under Mainassara, and Hamid Algabid, former secretary
general of the Organisation of Islamic Conference.
Abidjan, 30 August 1999; 17:15 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1513
[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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