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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 927 (Friday 9 March)

CONTENTS:

SIERRA LEONE: UNHCR urges Security Council to fortify UNAMSIL
SIERRA LEONE: Displaced women transform unused farmland
GUINEA: ICRC helps 80,000 IDPs
TOGO: Commission on light arms set up
TOGO: Commission to investigate illegal killings
SENEGAL: MFDC leader condemns violence
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Rabies kills seven
BURKINA FASO-ANGOLA: Apparent thaw in relations
COTE D'IVORE: Allegation of torture in army trial
NIGER: ADB reduces poverty, supports water project

SIERRA LEONE: UNHCR urges Security Council to fortify UNAMSIL

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers urged the Security Council on
Thursday to strengthen the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) so that it
could secure Kambia, a district 79 km northeast of Freetown, for the
repatriation of refugees from Guinea, UN News reported on Wednesday. 

Lubbers told the Council of assurances he received from Guinea that its army
would ensure security along the road from Forecariah to the border with
Sierra Leone, the route the refugees will be taking to reach Kambia. 

"I have also received indications that the RUF is prepared to leave Kambia
in order that it becomes territory under the control of UNAMSIL," he said.
"As soon as UNHCR has received a public statement of confirmation by RUF, it
will use its good offices to invite the Government of Guinea to refrain from
all military actions in the area of Kambia."

Guinean troops have been striking hard at RUF positions in Kambia to stop
the rebels' cross-border raids into Guinea. These attacks have forced
residents to flee. 

SIERRA LEONE: IDPs women transform unused farmland

In just a few months the 300 members of Sierra Leone's Ogoo Women Farmers
Association have turned underutilised farmland into fields of greens
vegetables, pumpkins and tomatoes, the ICRC reported on Thursday. 

"We women got together to help ourselves and to avoid the vices of
prostitution and idleness," Mariama Keita, the association's chairman, said.


The women - most of whom were displaced or widowed by war Sierra Leone's
11-year conflict - were provided seeds, tools and training by the ICRC, the
Sierra Leone Red Cross (SLRC) and the Ministry of Agriculture. The women
sell their crops and share some of the proceeds, saving the rest for
community projects and to buy more seeds. 

ICRC and the SLRC supported nearly 12,000 women this way last year and plan
to help another 60,000 this year.

GUINEA: ICRC helps 80,000 IDPs

At least 80,000 people displaced by fighting in southwest Guinea have
received aid from the ICRC since September 2000, when insurgents from Sierra
Leone began attacking their border settlements, ICRC reported on Thursday. 

The aid consisted of food, cooking oil and non-food items such as sleeping
mats, blankets, soap and jerry cans. The ICRC said the items were just "to
help these people regain a measure of self-sufficiency". 

Most of the displaced have lost all their belongings and are living with
relatives, placing a heavy burden on the already poor host families. 

ICRC said the displaced were being counted with the help of the Guinea Red
Cross to determine which category of IDPs needed aid most urgently. Medical
supplies have already been distributed to border health centres and the main
hospitals caring for the war-wounded.
 
TOGO: Commission on light arms set up

Troubled by the constant threat to its national security, Togo's government
formed a commission on Wednesday to halt the circulation and traffic of
light weapons in the country. 

The commission will plan a strategy for the government to use to deal with
the proliferation of small arms, according to The Republic of Togo web site.
The commission is made up of representatives of the head of state, the prime
minister, ministries concerned with security, the human rights commission,
religious figures and traditional chiefs. 

Millions of small caliber weapons circulate in West Africa. Some have helped
fuel conflicts in some countries; others have been used by criminal gangs.
West African leaders, through the Economic Community of West African States,
have vowed to stop the proliferation of these weapons.

TOGO: Commission to investigate illegal killings

Togo's government announced on Wednesday the establishment of a four-man
commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of extrajudicial executions
during the 1998 presidential election campaign, The Republic of Togo web
site reported. 

The body will verify the charges made by Amnesty International that hundreds
of people, mostly soldiers, were killed and dumped into the sea. The corpses
were washed ashore in Togo and Benin, prompting local and international
outcry.

The Commission's members include Constitutional Court Judge Aboudou Assouma,
president of the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court, Tete Tekoe,
and the president of the Lome Court of Appeal, Yaya Abdoulaye. The president
of the Supreme Court, Fessou Lawson, chairs the new body. 

"Steps have now to be taken for the inquiry to be credible and effective,"
Amnesty International said on Thursday.

It called on the government to ensure that the investigation is conducted
strictly in accordance with two UN documents concerning the effective
presentation 
and investigation of extralegal, arbitrary and summary executions. 

In addition, Amnesty said complainants, witnesses (including those who have
fled the country), those conducting the investigation and their families
"must be effectively protected" from intimidation.

An international commission of inquiry made up of three officials from the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the UN met with President Gnassingbe
Eyadema on the matter in November 2000. The team had received written
guarantees from the government that no action would be taken against anyone
testifying before the UN/OAU body. However, witnesses were harassed. 

"As the joint OAU/UN Commission of Inquiry itself experienced, the Togolese
authorities have resorted repeatedly to attempts at intimidating key
witnesses to give false testimonies or to refrain from testifying,"  Amnesty
said.

SENEGAL: MFDC leader condemns violence

The leader of a pro-independence movement in Senegal, the Reverend Augustin
Diamacoune, condemned on Thursday the continuing attacks on civilians in the
southern area of Casamance, 'Le Soleil', a Dakar newspaper reported. 

He appealed to "all those who are sabotaging truth, justice and peace in
Casamance" to put an end to the violence.

His comment was in response to accusations that his Mouvement des forces
democratiques de Casamance (MFDC) has been responsible for several killings,
this year, of civilians in the south of the country. In the last incident,
seven people died while traveling on the highway north of the capital
Ziguinchor.  

The MFDC, which has been fighting since 1982 for independence for Casamance,
claims the area was never administered as part of Senegal during French
colonial rule. Dakar, which contests this, has vowed to hold onto the
fertile land.  

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Rabies kills seven 

Seven people have died of rabies over the past week following an outbreak in
Bata, Equatorial Guinea's second largest city, AFP reported, citing state
radio.

Two of the victims were five-year-olds who died days after they were bitten
by infected dogs, cats and hares. Radio Malabo reported that the victims or
their families shunned modern medical care and sought treatment from
traditional healers. 

BURKINA FASO-ANGOLA: Apparent thaw in relations

A visit to Ouagadougou this week by an Angolan delegation led by the speaker
of parliament, Roberto Antonio Victor Francisco de Almeida, appeared to mark
a thaw in relations between Angola and Burkina Faso. 

''There is a new sentiment and new wishes for the two countries to move
forward and have better relations,'' he said at a news conference on
Thursday after meeting President Blaise Compaore. 

De Almeida said the message he bore for Compaore from Angolan President Jose
Eduardo Dos Santos was that the Angolan government was "ready to resume
brotherly relations and good cooperation between the two countries.'' 

Relations between Luanda and Ouagadougou soured when the Angolan government,
and later a UN panel, accused Burkina Faso of accepting ''bloody diamonds''
from the rebel Uniao Nacional de Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA) in
exchange for illegal arms and fuel shipments. 

Burkina Faso has denied violating the sanctions but says it has taken
measures to ensure that no UNITA officials operate on its territory.

[For full report see item BURKINA FASO-ANGOLA: Apparent thaw in relations]

COTE D'IVORE: Allegation of torture in army trial

Defence witnesses at the trial of two Ivorian army generals charged with
threatening state security told a military court on Friday they were
tortured into 
implicating the accused, local media reported. 

The witnesses, one of whom headed the close security detail for one of the
accused, told the court they were forced to say that generals Lansana
Palenfo and Abdoulaye Coulibaly plotted to kill former military ruler
General Robert Guei. Palenfo and Coulibaly were leading members of Guei's
junta. 

The alleged attempt to kill Guei occurred on 17 September 2000 when
soldiers, including some of Guei's bodyguards, allegedly attacked his home.
Some of the alleged assailants were arrested and tortured to death, the
witnesses said. 

About 40 soldiers are charged in the case being heard by a five-member
military tribunal in Abidjan. The trial, which began on 21 February, has
been postponed twice due to technicalities.

Coulibaly and Palenfo, imprisoned since 8 November, pleaded "not guilty" at
the start of their testimonies on Friday, AFP reported.

NIGER: ADB reduces poverty, supports water project

The African Development Bank Group (ADB) approved on Wednesday US $37.2
million in debt relief to Niger, as part of the Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) Initiative. 

The money-saved would be used to support a series of macroeconomic
activities that would promote human development as proposed by Niger in a
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the ADB said in a statement.

Moreover, the African Development Fund (ADF), the soft-loan arm of the ADB,
has, in principle, approved US $1.24 million for a rural water supply study
in Niger. The study aims to identify sources of potable water and assess the
sanitation needs of the country.

Since it started making loans to Niger in 1970, the ADB has committed US 
$249.1 million to 33 projects. Of this amount, some US $ 177.6 million has
been disbursed.

Abidjan, 9 March 2001; 20:25 GMT 

[ENDS]

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