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U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 40 covering the period 30 September to 6
October.

CONTENTS:

COTE D'IVOIRE: Military declares state of emergency, curfew
COTE D'IVOIRE: Ouattara's bodyguards arrested
COTE D'IVOIRE: Politician ends hunger strike 
COTE D'IVOIRE: Four killed in explosion
COTE D'IVOIRE: Detainees shown on television
NIGERIA: Obasanjo declines to give up Ivorian generals
GUINEA: UNHCR appeals for funds to move refugees
SIERRA LEONE: Refugees returning from Liberia
SIERRA LEONE: 49 villages identified for settling returnees, IDPs
SIERRA LEONE: Bangladesh ready to provide two battalions to UNAMSIL
SIERRA LEONE: More fighters disarm
SIERRA LEONE: RUF hand over vehicles
SIERRA LEONE: Newspaper editors receive award for courage
LIBERIA: Humanitarian team travels to Lofa 
LIBERIA: UN team probes arms-for-diamonds allegations
GHANA: Efforts to implement resolution on diamonds
GHANA: Increased condom sales since AIDS campaign launched
WEST AFRICA: Agreement for border monitors
WEST AFRICA: Ministers concerned about Cote d'Ivoire
WEST AFRICA: Thousands of West Africans returning from Libya
GUINEA-BISSAU: "Worrying" situation, says Annan
MALI: Firewood for fuel raises concerns about deforestation

COTE D'IVOIRE: Military declares state of emergency, curfew
 
A nationwide state of emergency and curfew went into effect on Friday to
ensure a smooth run-up to the presidential election due on 22 October. 

Minister of Information Henri Sama announced the measure on Wednesday on
state-owned television. The curfew will apply Friday through Monday from
21:00 to 0600 GMT and the state of emergency from Friday at 06:00 to Monday
at 18:00 GMT. 

[For full story see item 'COTE D'IVOIRE: Military junta declares state of
emergency, curfew']

COTE D'IVOIRE: Ouattara's bodyguards arrested

Seven people have been arrested for allegedly trying to recruit young
hoodlums to prevent the announcement of eligible presidential candidates,
state television reported on Tuesday.

All seven are bodyguards of the controversial presidential aspirant,
Alassane Ouattara, officials of his Rassemblement des republicains (RDR)
party told IRIN.

One official said that Ouattara's guards had been called to his wife's
office after people were seen milling around suspiciously. When they arrived
in their cars all five guards and the two drivers were arrested by soldiers.
Ouattara's French wife, Dominique, escaped with her sole personal guard.

The Ivorian minister of communication, naval Captain Henri Sama, denied
attempts to kidnap Ouattara's wife. He said on television that the arrests
had been made to dismantle a plan to destabilise the country. The newscast
said the seven had helped "the big fish" - presumably Ouattara - get away. 

Nevertheless, the United States criticised on Wednesday what it said was the
government's attempt to intimidate political parties and the attempt to
kidnap Ouattara's wife. Deputy State Department spokesman
Philip Reeker said in Washington that the US was "deeply disturbed" by the
travel ban on Ivorian political leaders, which is in contravention with the
constitution approved by referendum on 23 and 24 July.

US State Department official Nancy Powell was due to meet with military
leader General Robert Guei and opposition and civil society figures about
the crisis on Friday.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Politician ends hunger strike 

The secretary-general of the Rassemblement de republicains (RDR) party,
Henriette Diabate, 65, finally ended her hunger strike and flew to France on
Thursday to join her sick husband at the American hospital at Neuilly, in
the Paris region. 

She had gone on her hunger strike on Wednesday to protest the refusal by
gendarmes to let her board an Air France flight the previous day, despite
written permission from the office of Ivorian ruler General Robert Guei. AN
RDR party official said the obstruction was an attempt to humiliate Diabate.
All ranking officials of political parties must obtain government permission
before leaving the country. 

COTE D'IVOIRE: Four killed in explosion

An explosion ripped through an Abidjan bus station on Wednesday killing four
people and wounding seven others, according to local news reports. 

All the victims were nationals of Niger, aged between 20 years and 42 years,
said Captain Kouakou Konan of the military firefighting group, according to
the state-owned 'Fraternity-Matin' newspaper.

While state television described the device as a bomb, the police are
calling the incident an explosion, which the Gendarmerie is investigating.  

[For full story see item titled 'COTE D'IVOIRE: Four killed in explosion']

COTE D'IVOIRE: Detainees shown on television

Four soldiers held by the military in connection with an attack on the home
of the Ivorian leader, General Robert Guei, were shown on local television
on Monday following a claim by one of two generals accused of being behind
the attack that the detainees had been tortured and killed.

They said they were well and had not been tortured. They said the attack was
organised by the former head of Guei's presidential security, who was
arrested but was not shown on television. Local and international media said
more than 20 soldiers had been detained in connection with the attack.

NIGERIA: Obasanjo declines to give up Ivorian generals

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has said that he will not give up two
Ivorian generals reported to have sought refuge in the Nigerian Embassy in
Abidjan. Cote d'Ivoire's ruling Comite national de salut Public (CNSP) has
accused generals Abdoulaye Coulibaly and Lassana Palenfo of being behind
an attack on the home of CNSP leader General Robert Guei on 18 September.

The Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) reported Obasanjo as saying on Monday
that normal standards needed to be followed in dealing with the issue of the
two generals, both former members of the CNSP, whom Guei has reportedly
asked Abuja to hand over. 
  
Obasanjo was speaking at a joint news conference in Abuja with visiting
South African President Thabo Mbeki.

GUINEA: UNHCR appeals for funds to move refugees

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Guinea said on Thursday
that US $13.3 million dollars was needed to move 125,000 refugees from the
volatile border area to a site further inland to guarantee their safety. 

UNHCR's resident representative in Conakry, Chris Ache, told IRIN
the government of President Lansana Conte wanted UNHCR to move the
refugees but had not yet approved a site. Guinea hosts nearly 500,000
refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone who are at increasing risk from
cross-border attacks by armed men from their own countries and from Guineans
who resent their presence. 

It has become more difficult for UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies to
help the refugees because of insecurity on the border. Guinean officials
say at least 200 people have been killed in the past month.

SIERRA LEONE: Refugees returning from Liberia

Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia have continued to return home in small
numbers, mainly to the eastern and southern provinces, adding to the growing
IDP populations in places such as Kenema and Daru, according to a recent
situation report by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA).

It cited UNHCR as saying that an average of 4-5 families were returning from
Liberia each week and the numbers appear to be increasing. The most recent
arrivals are reportedly crossing the border to the Joru area, south of
Kenema. There are currently no humanitarian agencies operational in Joru. 

SIERRA LEONE: 49 villages identified for settling returnees, IDPs

An inter-agency mission to Lokomasama chiefdom and the area's paramount
chief have identified 49 villages where returnees from Guinea and internally
displaced persons from Kambia in northern Sierra Leone can be resettled, UN
News reported on Monday.

They are being located in Lokomasama because the designated entry points for
returnees in Konakrydee and Babara, on the Lungi Peninsula, are
overpopulated. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) has distributed a two-week ration to 5,198
returnees and 23,002 IDPs from Guinea and Kambia, 80 km north of Freetown. A
local NGO, IIYL, has been registering all arriving returnees and IDPs. WFP
will provide food for another 300 in the Waterloo Transit Camp, in Freetown.

SIERRA LEONE: Bangladesh ready to provide two battalions to UNAMSIL

Bangladesh is willing to provide two additional battalions to the UN Mission
in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to help replace the departing Indian contingent,
Sierra Leone Web reported, citing the country's ambassador to the United
Nations, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury. The replacements would fall short of the
some 3,000 departing Indians. UNAMSIL spokeswoman in Freetown Hirut Befacadu
told IRIN on Monday that UNAMSIL had not been informed of the Bangladeshi
offer. 

SIERRA LEONE: More fighters disarm

Nigerian UNAMSIL troops on Sunday helped Sierra Leone's government screen
155 West Side Boys due for processing at a disarmament, demobilisation and
reintegration camp. Five of them, whom UNAMSIL described as the commanders
and hardened criminals, have been handed over to the Sierra Leone police. 

In the eastern town of Daru, 51 RUF fighters gave themselves up on Saturday
to the Indian contingent of UNAMSIL. This followed a confidence-building
visit there on Thursday by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. 

Until now, the RUF have only been surrendering in groups of threes and
fours. 

SIERRA LEONE: RUF hand over vehicles

The Revolutionary United Front has returned a helicopter it seized from the
UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) at Makari, 10 km southwest of the town
of Makeni, UNAMSIL said on September. 

At Masungho, five km southwest of Makeni, RUF returned two armoured
personnel carriers to UNAMSIL. The vehicles were flown out by UNAMSIL MI-26
helicopters. UNAMSIL described these events as "a significant step towards
the peace process".

SIERRA LEONE: Newspaper editors receive award for courage

Three Sierra Leonean newspaper editors were honoured on Thursday by the
World Press Review in New York for risking their lives to uphold press
freedom and human rights during the past nine years of conflict in their
country, according to news reports. Paul Kamara of 'For Di People', Philip
Neville of 'Standard Times' and David Tam-Baryoh of 'Punch' received the
International Editor of the Year Award at the UN Headquarters in New York.
LIBERIA: Humanitarian team travels to Lofa 

A group of humanitarian agencies that visited Zorzor and other locations in
northern Liberia last week, after Guinean troops reportedly shelled the area
in retaliation for cross-border raids from Liberia, said they found no
wounded civilians.  

[See separate item titled 'LIBERIA: Humanitarian assessment in Lofa County']

LIBERIA: UN team probes arms-for-diamonds allegations

A team of UN experts is in Liberia to investigate charges that the
government of President Charles Taylor has been involved in smuggling
diamonds from Sierra Leone in exchange for providing weapons to the
Revolutionary United Front. 

The team was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to look into
sanctions violations in Sierra Leone, including selling diamonds in exchange
for weapons, a UN source in Monrovia told IRIN on Thursday. 

The team arrived on Wednesday and met with the ministers of
defence, finance, trade and commerce and foreign affairs. Before leaving on
Friday, team members are also to meet with business leaders, opposition
politicians, newspaper editors, non-governmental organizations, diplomats
and Roman Catholic Archbishop Michael Francis. No meeting is scheduled with
President Taylor. 

[For full story see item 'LIBERIA: UN team probes arms-for-diamonds
allegations']

GHANA: Efforts to implement resolution on diamonds

Ghana has taken steps to implement the provisions of a UN Security Council
resolution banning the illicit trade of diamonds from Sierra Leone. 

The Cabinet has asked the interior, roads and transport ministries, the
Minerals Commission, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the immigration
service to take appropriate measures to curb any trade in such "blood
diamonds" in the country, PANA reported on Tuesday.

Funds from the sale of illegal diamonds have been used by rebel factions,
such as the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone, to purchase arms.

GHANA: Increased condom sales since AIDS campaign launched

Sales of condoms in Ghana increased by 74 percent since the "Stop AIDS, Love
Life" campaign was launched in February, according to a Ghanaian health
official.  

More than six million condoms have been sold since February, compared to
three million over the same period in 1999, PANA quoted Kofi Amekudzi, AIDS
programme manager of the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation, as saying on
Monday. 

"The increase in sales tells us that people are now realising that AIDS is
real and there is the need for protection more than in times past," he said.
His comments were originally published by the Ghana News Agency. 

WEST AFRICA: Agreement for border monitors

West African defense ministers have agreed to place military observers at
the land and coastal borders of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to stem
potential regional conflict, AFP reported.

Officials from 11 West African countries made the decision during a meeting
sponsored by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in
Nigeria's capital, Abuja. 

ECOWAS officials said at the end of the meeting on Thursday that The Gambia,
Mali, Nigeria and Senegal pledged troops to the mission but it was unclear
how many would participate and when such a force might be deployed. Nearly
13,500 peacekeepers are stationed in Sierra Leone to help end the nation's
nine-year civil war. 

WEST AFRICA: Ministers concerned about Cote d'Ivoire

Defence ministers from 11 West African countries said on Thursday they were
gravely concerned by the political upheaval in Cote d'Ivoire ahead of the
scheduled elections on 22 October, AFP reported.

The ministers - from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone warned that the
prevailing situation could have security repercussion for the entire region.

They lent their support to an earlier attempt by the Organisation of African
Unity, the continent's foremost political body, to diffuse the crisis that
hangs over attempts to disqualify a leading presidential hopeful, Alassane
Ouattara, over a nationality requirement. Leaders fear that Ouattara's 
disqualification could lead to widespread disturbances. 

WEST AFRICA: Thousands of West Africans returning from Libya

Up to 10,000 Nigerians are to return home from Libya, where nationals of
West African countries were attacked in recent weeks, leaving an unconfirmed
number dead. Ghana announced that it was repatriating its nationals as well.

Nigerians arriving in Lagos said hundreds of West Africans had been killed
by Libyan youths. "Some injured ones are in hospitals. Hundreds were burned
and killed and are now in morgues," 'The Guardian' of Lagos quoted one
returnee as saying. 

Those attacked included nationals from Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Cameroon, Chad
and other countries. Some reports said the attacks were sparked by rivalry
between Nigerian and Libyan drug gangs, while others said violence initially
broke out at a football match in early September. 

[For full story see item 'WEST AFRICA: Thousands returning from Libya']

GUINEA-BISSAU: "Worrying" situation, says Annan

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday that although progress had
been made on democratisation in Guinea-Bissau after an 11-month civil war
ended in May 1999, the situation in the country remained "worrying".

Annan said in his report on the UN Peace-Building Support Office in
Guinea-Bissau that help was still needed to address chronic poverty, border
security and the threat of military intervention. He said the government of
President Kumba Yala faced "formidable" challenges and it had neither the
means nor the capacity to address those challenges on its own.

Annan also warned of an "ever-present" threat of military intervention
by the former military junta.

MALI: Firewood for fuel raises concerns about deforestation

A study conducted by Mali's National Energy Bureau says firewood accounts
for nearly 100 percent of the country's domestic fuel needs - a concern
among environmentalists seeking to preserve the country's forests and
wildlife.

Each Malian uses an average of 1.5 kg of firewood per day, or about 6.5
million mt each year among the country's nearly 12 million people, PANA
cited the energy bureau's survey as saying. That means each year more than
464,285 hectares of land would have to be deforested.

This contributes to increased soil erosion and the drying of water catchment
areas, the survey said. 

[ENDS]

Abidjan, 6 October 2000; 12:40 GMT

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