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IRIN-WA Update 561 for West Africa (Wednesday 29 September 1999)
SIERRA LEONE: Sankoh questions deployment of UN peacekeepers
A proposal to deploy UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone has been welcomed by the country's government but not - news reports say - by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended in a report on Monday that the UN Security Council authorise the deployment of 6,000 peacekeepers to disarm and demobilise some 45,000 ex-combatants and to help implement the peace process.
Presidential spokesman Septimus Kaikai said Sierra Leone's government was pleased with the recommendations in the report, which it viewed as a step in the right direction. The report "has put the responsibility for helping Sierra Leone bring about security on the doorstep of the international community", he told IRIN.
However, Sankoh told Reuters on Tuesday that the deployment of UN peacekeepers would violate the peace agreement the RUF and the government signed in July in Lome to end the nine-year rebel war. "The UN proposal is not in the peace accord," Sankoh said. "We never asked the United Nations for a peacekeeping force. We talked about ECOMOG."
Article 16 of the Lome Peace Agreement signed by Sankoh and President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah states: "A neutral peacekeeping force comprising UNOMSIL and ECOMOG shall disarm all combatants of the RUF/SL, CDF, SLA and paramilitary groups."
"UNOMSIL shall be present in all disarmament and demobilisation locations to monitor the process and provide security guarantees to all ex-combatants," it adds.
Article 14 of the agreement requests the Security Council
"to amend the mandate of UNOMSIL to enable it
to undertake the various provisions outlined in the
present agreement".
The Security Council met on Tuesday to discuss Annan's
proposals, which Britain and France have publicly supported.
In his report, Annan also appealed to Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma - leader of the junta that ruled Sierra Leone with the RUF for eight months after overthrowing Kabbah in May 1998 - to return to Freetown "without delay".
Sankoh left Cote d'Ivoire for Monrovia on Tuesday, according to news organisations.
GUINEA: Guinea denies taking census of foreigners
Guinea has not started a census of all foreigners as a means towards curbing violent crime as reported by news organisations, an official of the Interior Ministry told IRIN on Wednesday.
"There has been neither police, gendarme nor army troops counting foreigners," the official said. Only neighbourhood leaders have been verifying the documents of residents in their areas, he added.
The official was reacting to a report by Reuters news agency on Monday that a census had started on Saturday and was due to end on Wednesday.
A news source in Conakry told IRIN on Wednesday that he was unaware of any head count, although the governor of Conakry had mooted the idea.
Guinea's authorities have often accused rebels from neighbouring countries of taking advantage of the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone to infiltrate Guinea and raid villages there.
Guinea's authorities reported this month that Liberians had attacked the border village of Macenta, killing some 26 people.
"What is certain is that much of the crime is not always linked to refugees," a media source in Conakry told IRIN. "The problem is one of suspicion because of the border tension between Liberia and Guinea."
LIBERIA: Reprieve for refugees in the United States
US President Bill Clifton has issued a one-year reprieve from deportation for Liberian refugees in the United States, according to a White House statement.
In a memorandum to the attorney general and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Clinton said there were compelling foreign policy reasons not to deport the Liberians at this time.
"In particular, I am concerned that a decision by our government to deport Liberians who have enjoyed the protection of our country for many years could cause governments in West Africa to deport many thousands of Liberians in their own countries," he said.
A complementary measure to the deferral allows the Liberians to work for one year from 29 September, the day on which they were to have been deported.
AFP reports that up to 15,000 Liberians have been living
in the United States under a temporary protected status
programme.
Students reportedly wounded in protest march
Riot police in Monrovia on Wednesday wounded several
students demonstrating in the streets for better educational
facilities, AFP reported.
Police brandishing canes chased after and flogged students, who numbered at least 700, according to AFP, which also reported witnesses as saying that angry students barged into private schools and disrupted classes there.
A student leader reportedly told journalists they were protesting against "the poor learning conditions in public schools" which, students complained, lacked laboratory and library facilities, other educational materials and even chairs, AFP said.
It reported Education Minister Evelyn Kandakai as appealing to students to remain calm while the government made efforts to address their concerns.
CAMEROON: Dam under pressure
A major dam in the extreme north of Cameroon is under
threat as a result of heavy rains which have increased
the amount of water there, the official 'Cameroon Tribune'
newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The rains have swelled the Mayo Danay river and, according
to the paper, the dam over the river could cave in
if the water pressure there remains high. However,
it denied a report carried on Monday by state radio
that the dam had cracked.
'Cameroon Tribune' said the report may have been prompted by the fact that technicians have been protectively spilling water from the reservoir.
According to AFP, the dam covers 37,000 ha and has more than 35 million m3 of water. More than 200,000 people could be affected if it were to cave in, the news agency said.
The government has allocated 100 million CFA francs (about US $160,000) for maintenance work on the dam, according to 'Cameroon Tribune'. It said a ministerial team that visited the dam on Sunday called on area residents to remain calm and to keep a constant watch on it.
Abidjan, 29 September 1999; 18:35 GMT
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1684
[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, free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org 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
Subscriber: afriweb@sas.upenn.edu Keyword: IRIN
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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