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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 Update 829 (Thursday 19 October)

CONTENTS:

GUINEA: US Committee for Refugees calls for more international attention  
SENEGAL: Casamance situation worries rights group
SENEGAL: Germany supports community development projects
NIGERIA: Japan donates 57 million doses of vaccine
NIGERIA: Medical workers killed in boat accident
NIGERIA: Youth employment scheme launched
NIGERIA: Government endorses contract to supply peacekeepers
BURKINA FASO: Lack of rainfall blamed for poor production 

GUINEA: US Committee for Refugees calls for more international attention  

The US Committee for Refugees (USCR) on Thursday urged the international
community to respond more urgently to the deteriorating security and
humanitarian situation in Guinea and take all steps needed to protect some
400,000 refugees there who face special protection problems. 

USCR said Guinea, which borders Sierra Leone and Liberia, has suffered 15
insurgent attacks that have killed some 360 people in the past year,
according to the Guinean government. It said the attacks were believed to
have come from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Uncounted numbers of Guineans have
been displaced by the widening violence, and the number could grow if
attacks continue, added the US organisation, which has sent a policy analyst
to the region to assess the growing dangers.

The cross-border violence has triggered a violent backlash in recent weeks
against Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, accused by the Guinean
authorities and segments of the Guinean population of bringing the violence
from their countries into Guinea. 

USCR said international donors should immediately pledge the US $13 million
or more that UNHCR needs to strengthen its staff in Guinea and to establish
new, safer refugee camps there. It said the US government, which has US
military personnel in Guinea helping to train local troops, should press the
Guinean authorities to discipline their own soldiers and civilian militia.
Washington should also push Guinean authorities to provide proper protection
to refugees on Guinean soil, USCR said.

SENEGAL: Casamance situation worries rights group

A team from a continental human rights organisation based in Dakar found
both positive developments and worrying signs during a recent visit to the
Casamance area of southern Senegal.

The positive signs included a net improvement in the behaviour of the army
in the area, the Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l'Homme
(RADDHO) said this week. "People suspected of offences are arrested and
handed over to the justice authorities," RADDHO said. "Torture and
extrajudicial executions are no longer being reported by the populations."

RADDHO's main concern regarded negotiations between the Senegalese
government and forces fighting for an independent state in Casamance for
just under two decades. 

It referred to "delaying tactics, the strategy of keeping negotiations
confidential and the total absence of transparency, which leaves the door
open for the most unhealthy rumours and speculation". All this, it said,
"masks the absence of a clear perspective for peace in Casamance or simply
an extreme caution that paralyses the action of the president of the
republic".  

SENEGAL: Germany supports community development in Senegal

Senegalese and German officials were due to launch rural community
development projects on Thursday in the central regions of Kaolack and
Fatick. The projects cost a total of 6.5-billion-franc CFA (US $8.33
million).

The German Embassy in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, said 76 rural
communities with 1.5 million inhabitants would benefit from projects
designed to strengthen the rural economy, thus reducing poverty, and improve
the management of infrastructure in rural areas. 

The initiative is also designed to foster decentralisation away from Dakar.
Technical support for the projects will be given by the official German aid
agency, GTZ.

NIGERIA: Japan donates 57 million doses of vaccine

Japan donated 57 million doses of vaccines to Nigeria's Ministry of Health
and UNICEF for an ongoing national immunisation campaign, 'The Guardian' of
Lagos reported on Thursday.

The effort forms part of a massive drive to eradicate polio in West and
Central Africa. In June, Japan donated US $5 million to UNICEF-Nigeria to
buy polio vaccines. The secretary of the National Polio-plus Rotary
Commission, Somo Omoniyi, told reporters Japan was the third country to help
Nigeria's polio eradication effort. The others are the United States and
Canada.

NIGERIA: Medical workers killed in boat accident

The government of Nigeria's Ondo State on Wednesday ordered an investigation
into a boat incident in which six medical personnel taking part in a
nationwide polio vaccination campaign drowned, 'The Guardian' reported. 

The agents were conducting vaccinations in the riverine areas of the state
when their boat sank between the communities of Igbekebo and Igbokoda. 

Although witnesses said 20 people died in the accident, the chief press
secretary to the state governor, Paddy Dare, said six lives were lost.
The state government is investigating.

NIGERIA: Youth employment scheme launched

Unemployed Nigerian youths can look forward to better job prospects with the
launch next year of a nationwide employment scheme for school leavers, 'The
Guardian' of Lagos reported on Thursday.  

Presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe said in Abuja on Tuesday that the 
eight-billion-naira (US $74 million) scheme was aimed at the "high number"
of unemployed, many of whom had been without jobs for years after
graduation.

Under a skills-acquisition programme, the youths would undergo three to six
months training in information technology, agriculture and management to
make them more marketable or give them the chance to set up their own
businesses.

The initial phase of the project will be overseen by an inter-ministerial
committee that includes the presidency and the National Youth Service Corps.
Government is expected to provide 90 billion naira (US $833 million) worth
of loanable funds, over three years, to three national development banks in
the agricultural, industrial and mortgage sectors. This is designed to
ensure successful implementation of the programme. 

Loans for projects under the scheme will be at a maximum annual interest of
10 percent, the newspaper said, "far lower" than the prevailing rate in the
country's banks.

NIGERIA: Government endorses contract to supply peacekeepers

Nigeria's government endorsed a 1.8-billion-naira (US $16.7 million)
contract on Wednesday for the supply of logistic items for Nigerian
peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo,
'The Guardian reported, quoting Information Minister Jerry Gana. 

He told reporters that the Federal Executive Council approved the plan on
Wednesday at its weekly meeting. The contract provides for transport
vehicles, communication equipment, specialised security equipment, general
stores and office supplies. Some 120 firms short listed from 458 that put up
bids have been contracted to supply the items.

The Council also approved a 1.3-million-pound-sterling (US $1.87 million)
contract to buy equipment for airports in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu,
Kaduna, Abuja and Ilorin. Another US $1.5-million contract has been approved
for the supply of spare parts for the airports in Yola, Benin, Ibadan and
Sokoto.
 
BURKINA FASO: Lack of rainfall blamed for poor production 

The prime minister of Burkina Faso, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, has lamented
that lack of rainfall had resulted in poor agricultural production in his
country, PANA reported on Thursday.

Ouedraogo last weekend toured some of Burkina Faso's main agricultural
areas, including the provinces of Kourittenga, Gnagna, Namentenga and
Sanmatenga, in recognition of World Food Day. He said the region of Boulsa,
in the east central part of the country, was the worst affected by the rain
shortfall.   

"There was no rainy season this year in Boulsa," Issa Kouraogo, a
representative of Burkina's agricultural producers, was quoted as saying. 

Boulsa was not the only region that suffered, he said. "No more than 10
people in 100 collected five of baskets of cereal this year in the province
of Namentenga," Kouraogo said. In addition, in the area of Kiesdom, only 153
mm of rain fell in August compared to 310 mm last year. That region also
suffered a pest infestation.

Abidjan, 19 October 2000; 18:09 GMT

[END]

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