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February 2000
WFP, UNHCR issue urgent appeal for African refugees
Posted February 29, 2000 - 16:01 by newsdesk
Related Source: UNHCR
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| UN High Commissioner Sadako Ogata |
The United Nations World Food Programme and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today expressed concern over dramatic funding shortfalls for humanitarian operations in Africa and appealed to the donor community to move quickly to meet the needs.
The joint appeal was prompted by a jump in the number of refugees, which has led to a shortfall of 36 percent, or $81 million, for food assistance to refugees in 16 African countries where the two UN agencies collaborate on humanitarian activities.
The largest funding problem is in Tanzania, where by July WFP will be unable to feed some 525,000 people unless contributions are received immediately, officials of the two UN agencies said. The refugee population in that country recently swelled by 120,000 to 500,000, most of whom came from Burundi. At the same time, some 25,000 poor Tanzanians who live near the camps are also receiving food from WFP.
"It is unthinkable that within only a few months, there will be over half-a-million people in Tanzania cut off from the food aid that is crucial to their survival," said WFP's Assistant Executive Director, Jean-Jacques Graisse.
"The great majority of those people - some 500,000 - are refugees living in camps who have no access to agricultural land and are totally dependent on WFP's food," Graisse noted. The refugees receive a basic ration of maize, pulses and cooking oil from the agency.
Among the 16 countries where WFP and UNHCR have joint operations, Kenya has the second-largest funding crisis, with a shortfall of $7.4 million, or 30 percent of WFP's food aid for refugees in that country. Since last October, over 20,000 additional refugees have flooded into Kenya to escape harsh conditions in Somalia and Sudan.
Guinea and Zambia have respective shortfalls of $7 million and $5 million, the agency officials said, noting that the numbers of refugees in the region could easily rise over the coming year and put even more strain on an already fragile humanitarian operation.
"One of my major concerns is that hungry refugees not be faced with the prospect of returning to areas that are not yet safe because they must feed their families," High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said. "None of us should allow that to happen."
The number of refugees WFP expects to assist with food aid in the 16 African countries in 2000 is expected to rise to 2,065,000 from 1.9 million last year. The combined projected needs are 363,000 metric tons of food with an estimated value of $221 million.
For more information please contact:
Christiane Berthiaume - Information Officer, WFP Geneva
Tel. +41-22-9178564
Abby Spring - Information Officer, WFP New York
Tel. +1-212-9635196
Jacques Franquin - UNHCR Public Information, Geneva
Tel +41-22-739-8007
Foday Sankoh arrives back home, RUF again block UN troops
Posted February 28, 2000 - 20:33 by newsdesk
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| Foday Sankoh. Still facing UN travel restrictions. |
Former rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, who left Sierra Leone in defiance of a Security Council travel ban, flew home Monday, a UN spokesman in New York said.
Mr. Sankoh, who heads the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), landed at an airport outside Freetown. He is reported to be preparing to return to the capital by road, accompanied by his supporters.
More roadblocks obstruct UNAMSIL
Meanwhile, the UN mission in Sierra Leone has sent a "strong protest" to the RUF concerning "repeated blockage of UN personnel who in theory have complete freedom of movement," the spokesman said.
In the latest incident on Saturday, a group of 17 Ghanaian peacekeepers and seven military observers were blocked by RUF fighters on the road from Kenema to Koidu, in the eastern part of Sierra Leone.
The RUF fighters initially refused to let the peacekeepers advance or retreat. Finally, at 1:30 in the morning, they ordered the UN personnel to return to their camp. They arrived safely back in Kenema on Sunday morning, the UN spokesman said.
Culled from UN News Reports
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Sierra Leone government to examine Sankoh's trip
Posted February 27, 2000 - 23:11 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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| Foday Sankoh, RUFP leader |
Sierra Leone's Information Minister said the government would consider a police probe of former rebel leader Foday Sankoh's trip to South Africa to see whether he went there to sell illegally mined diamonds.
Julius Spencer announced the possibility of the investigation following allegations in local media that Sankoh travelled to South Africa earlier this month in defiance of U.N. travel restrictions to sell diamonds mined illegally by his former fighters.
Sankoh, who took up arms in 1991 but signed a 1999 peace deal under which he now heads a minerals commission with the rank of vice-president, travelled to Ivory Coast after being expelled from South Africa. He has yet to return home.
''All we know is that the RUF (Sankoh's former rebel movement the Revolutionary United Front) is continuing to carry out illegal mining particularly in Kono district,'' Spencer told a broadcast weekly news conference on Saturday.
''On the case that Sankoh took with him diamonds to South Africa, the government will look into whether the police can investigate,'' he said.
The United Nations has sent peacekeepers to Sierra Leone but demobilisation and disarmament have dragged and Sankoh's former fighters still control the main mining areas.
A ceasefire agreed in 1999 has held but former fighters occasionally block peacekeepers or loot or rob civilians.
© 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
UN peacekeepers protest obstruction tactics by rebels
Posted February 26, 2000 - 0:22 by newsdesk
Related Source: UN News
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| UNAMSIL movements are being blocked in some areas |
The United Nations mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) Friday reminded all the parties to last year's Lomé agreement not to obstruct the movements of UN peacekeepers in the country.
The warning followed "numerous occasions" in which peacekeepers have been blocked by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) manning "illegal roadblocks," a UNAMSIL statement issued in Freetown said.
"This is despite repeated assurances from RUF chairman Foday Sankoh that all such roadblocks would be removed," the statement added.
In the latest incident this week, UN troops were compelled to withdraw to their duty stations after their movement in the vicinity of Bendu was obstructed by a large number of armed RUF combatants who refused to cooperate despite protracted negotiations.
"UN peacekeeping operations rely on three main tactics: neutrality, persuasion and diplomacy," the UNAMSIL statement said, adding that neither the UN mission nor the RUF stood to gain from violent confrontations.
At the same time, the statement provided details of another recent incident in which UN troops had exchanged fire with rebels who were trying to loot a village. The UN peacekeepers chased the rebels away and freed several civilians in their custody. The incident occurred on Wednesday and involved a rebel group on Pepel Island, 35 km from the capital, Freetown.
"This again demonstrates that when confronted with force at the tactical level, UNAMSIL does not hesitate to act forcefully to protect Sierra Leoneans in fulfilling its peacekeeping mandate," the statement said.
(c) UN News Service
UN troops ordered to withdraw
Posted February 25, 2000 - 10:35 by newsdesk
Related Source: BBC News
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| UNAMSIL - problems with imposing its authority |
United Nations officials say almost 300 UN peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone have backed down after being involved in a stand-off with rebel troops on a strategic road.
The peacekeepers had been confronted by heavily armed rebels from the Revolutionary United Front Force (RUF) who had refused to let them pass down the road between the towns of Kenema and Daru.
Despite a night on the road and hours of negotiations, the RUF force refused to back down, and officials said the UN troops from India and Ghana had been ordered to withdraw to nearby towns.
A former RUF brigadier who is now a member of the Sierra Leone government has been on the scene trying to help resolve the situation.
This is the latest in a series of confrontations that is being seen as a threat to the credibility of the UN mission in Sierra Leone.
In a separate incident on the island of Pepel, UN officials say a patrol from a Nigerian battalion of peacekeeping troops exchanged fire with rebel troops.
In the worst case, rebels took nearly 500 rifles and four armoured personnel carriers from a Guinean battalion that was on its way to join the peacekeeping force.
(c) 2000 BBC News
Catholic NGO has assisted 1061 former child soldiers
Posted February 25, 2000 - 9:23 by newsdesk
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| Caring for minors at a centre |
Since last November the Catholic NGO Caritas based in Makeni, Sierra Leone, has assisted 1061 former child soldiers in its centres.
In a report published today by MISNA, the church news agency, Bishop Giorgio Biguzzi of Makeni diocese said that "60% of these minors have already been returned to their families".
Caritas has 4 child rehabilitation centres in Lungi, Lunsar, Makeni and Port Loko. Explaining their function the Bishop said: "Our operators carry out a multitude of activities. Their principle roles are the social and educational rehabilitation of the children, contacting the families and above all the sensitisation of the population and the leaders of the armed gangs to ensure their collaboration in the process".
The prelate also revealed that the Lunsar centre is currently hosting 327 former child soldiers who cannot return to their villages because these are still controlled by armed groups.
Bishop Biguzzi expressed satisfaction with efforts of Caritas and reaffirmed the continuing support of the local Catholic Church for the peace process in Sierra Leone.
Culled from a MISNA report
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Disarmament Committee - Latest Update
Posted February 25, 2000 - 9:21 by newsdesk
National Committee For Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
FREETOWN, February 24, 2000
RUF EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT SAFETY AFTER DISARMAMENT
The RUF Security Commander for Makeni, Colonel Augustine Bao, has expressed fear that his men may be attacked with machetes and other non- conventional weapons after they would have disarmed.
Speaking at the NCDDR sensitisation workshop in Makeni on Tuesday, 22nd February, Colonel Bao said the RUF was aware that people in other former fighting factions still possess such weapons which they may use to attack the RUF. He called on UNAMSIL to ensure that such a thing never happens and to guarantee their security after disarmament.
The RUF officer said it was important for UNAMSIL to be very neutral in the disarmament exercise and to ensure that the disarmament of ex-combatants of the various factions takes place on equal terms.
The workshop was organised by the NCDDR in collaboration with the Emergency Response Team of DFID and the UNAMSIL contingent in Makeni with the specific purpose of sensitising RUF men in Makeni about the DDR programme. Lectures were given on the processes of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration by the DDR officer in UNAMSIL, Lt. Col. Justine Muntale, the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Officer of the NCDDR, Dr. Mustapha Tejan Kellah and the Reintegration Officer, Mr. Sullay Sesay respectively.
The main point all the speakers put across was that the reintegration component of the DDR programme was the most important. They called on the RUF ex-combatants not to pay much attention to the issue of money as the 300 dollars to be paid to them as Transitional Safety Net Allowance (TSA), is only meant to help them settle down in their respective chosen areas of reintegration. Reintegration means more than paying out an amount of cash, according to Sullay Sesay, it gives ex-combatants skills that will last them a lifetime.
Addressing the meeting earlier, the NCDDR Executive Secretary Dr. Francis Kai-Kai stressed the importance of the reintegration component and assured the ex-combatants that they have nothing to fear as the DDR programme was designed by experts with the aim of catering for their needs. At the same time he informed them that while the NCDDR was set up to seek the welfare of ex- combatants, a sister institution, the NCRRR, was responsible for the welfare of internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as refugees.
The RUF men attending the workshop expressed dismay with media reports especially from the BBC, about their leader, Chairman Foday Sankoh, breaking a travel ban.
* DFID TEAM INSPECTS NEWLY IDENTIFIED SITES FOR DEMOBILISATION CENTRES
A high-powered delegation from the British Department For International Development (DFID), led by the head of the Conflict And Humanitarian Affairs Division, Dr. Mukesh Kapila, on Sunday 20th February inspected two new sites in the Makeni and Magburaka areas that have been identified for the construction of demobilisation centres.
Also in the team were the Executive Secretary of the NCDDR, Dr Francis Kai- Kai and other senior officials of the NCDDR Secretariat; as well as the head of the DFID/ERT team in Sierra Leone, David Ede.
Work to clear the sites and begin the construction of the camps is scheduled to start in the next two weeks. The sites are found some two miles away from Makeni and Magburaka along the main highway leading to the diamond-rich district of Kono. The visitors were pleased with the sites and there are indications that the need to construct more camps in other places in the country has been recognised.
In Magburaka the team paid a courtesy visit on Paramount Chief Bai Yosso Kholifa of Kholifa Lowala Chiefdom in the Tonkolili District.
* COMMANDER OF LUNGI DEMOBILISATION CENTRE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT PROBLEMS
The UNAMSIL Commander of the Lungi Demobilisation Centre, Nigerian-born Major Frank Ofodile, has disclosed some of the problems being encountered at the centre. The Commander explained the problems to the DFID/NCDDR delegation which made a stop-over at Lungi on Sunday 20th February, on their way to visit the newly identified sites for demobilisation centres near Makeni and Magburaka.
Major Ofodile said there was overcrowding in the centre due to the fact ex- combatants who intend to join the new Sierra Leone army were staying in the centre when they were not supposed to be there. Also, he complained that some ex-combatants were staying in the centre with their families thus occupying spaces that have been created for the demobilisation of ex-combatants.
Another major problem relating to over-crowding, according to the Commander, was that some ex-combatants who have been discharged are reluctant to go home for fear of being attacked by those still carrying arms.
"Most buildings in the Lungi demobilisation centre have been vandalised and need to be renovated," Ofodile further explained, adding that they also have a problem of water shortage and poor health facilities. He said that the present format of demobilisation forms leave room for an ex-combatant who has been discharged to recycle into the programme again. He said such forms should be 'classified.'
* REINTEGRATION OF EX-COMBATANTS IS UNDERWAY Feature
"Skills will last for a life time, while money can only go a short way", says Sullay Sesay of the NCDDR's reintegration unit. The transfer of skills to ex-combatants is at the heart of the reintegration programme undertaken by the NCDDR. Many people talk about the disarmament and demobilisation of ex- combatants. But at the end of the demobilisation process, the hardest task still lies ahead of them: the reintegration into their home communities where nine years of war and atrocities have affected social and economic life.
The NCDDR is supporting ex-combatants in their efforts to acquire skills and find jobs to lead a civilian life. Although numbers are still small, they are expected to grow rapidly in the coming months, with ex-combatants receiving help in formal education, vocational training, agriculture, public works and small enterprise development. For example, the NCDDR is trying to arrange for a number of ex-combatants to join hands with the Sierra Leone Road Authority to rebuild and maintain roads all over the country, and with the Ministry of Health for environmental sanitation.
The NCDDR is currently supporting a first group of ex-combatants in formal education at institutions like the Fourah Bay College, Teacher Training Colleges in Bo and Makeni and two private computer training colleges plus a driving school in Freetown. Further applications for help in formal education are being processed by the reintegration unit at the NCDDR. Applicants need to bring evidence that they have completed the disarmament and demobilisation process.
The first batch of 1403 ex-SLA members, who were disarmed by ECOMOG last year, went through their demobilisation programme in Lungi in July 1999. The reintegration of this first batch of ex-combatants into working life is planned in two phases: In the first phase which is to start in the coming two weeks, those ex-combatants who claim to have professional skills will be tested by the Ministry of Labour and the Government Technical Institute GTI to check their level of proficiency. If they pass the test, they will be issued with a certificate and a tool kit in order to establish their own businesses. The NCDDR will also assess their needs for financial help, and will try, where possible, to find jobs for them.
Vocational training will be available to ex-combatants without identified skills during the second phase of the current programme. They will attend professional courses according to the job preferences they expressed during the demobilisation process. The NCDDR is now involved with several Sierra Leonean training institutions to see where the ex-combatants could be trained. The training institutions include: Opportunity Industrialisation Centre, OIC (for carpentry, masonry, auto mechanic, small enterprise development) Sierra Leone Housing Corporation, SALHOC (for bricklaying, roof tile making etc.) Government Technical Institute, GTI (for electricity, auto mechanic, carpentry, masonry etc.) Ministry of Works, Technical Unit Ministry of Health, Technical Unit
In addition to the courses at the different vocational training institutes, the NCDDR is working out apprenticeship schemes to place ex-combatants in various enterprises for training. Once enterprises declare their readiness to take on ex-combatants as apprentices, the NCDDR will consider their applications for either fees, the provision of basic tools or for an investment into the expansion of the enterprise which would enable the company to take on an additional apprentice.
The NCDDR does not pay any reintegration monies directly to the ex- combatants. Instead, the reintegration unit of the NCDDR would be in contact with the training institutions in question and pay the ex-combatants' school fees, text books, tool kits or uniforms, according to the training requirements. The NCDDR supports courses up to a maximum of three years.
As more ex-combatants are being discharged from the various demobilisation centres, the NCDDR is setting up regional offices which are going to handle the reintegration activities on the spot. The location of any training can be decided by the ex-combatant him- or herself, be it at the location of demobilisation or in the home community.
In the next issue of this NCDDR bulletin: Reintegration into agriculture, public works, small enterprises development and community sensitisation.
* QUESTIONS & ANSWERS on the DDR process
In the following section, the bulletin tries to answer some of the frequently asked questions on the DDR programme. We would like to encourage readers who take interest in the DDR programme and the activities of the NCDDR to send us their questions which could be answered in subsequent editions of this bulletin.
Q Should we replace the current policy of paying a Transitional Safety Net Allowance to ex-combatants with a policy of "Cash For Guns"? Would a Cash-for- guns policy not encourage more ex-combatants to surrender more arms?
A The question of money and the surrender of weapons has been discussed in great detail within the NCDDR, long before the current policy was decided. Experiences from other countries, including neighbouring Liberia, show that the Cash-for-guns policy is less straight forward than it may appear on the surface. It may encourage the import of weapons from neighbouring countries like Liberia. Paying for the ex-combatants' weapons leaves out the important process of demobilisation. The demobilisation process is important to the ex- combatants as it is here that they are registered for targeted assistance, learn about reintegration into civil society, about the Lome Peace Accord, about their personal health and development issues. Demobilisation is followed by a programme of reintegration during which ex-combatants have the opportunity to acquire skills which can secure them their livelihood. In conclusion, a Cash-for-guns policy addresses only the disarmament aspect of the peace process, and leaves out the important aspects of demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants. Ex-combatants in the current DDR programme in Sierra Leone receive a total amount of Leones equivalent to US$ 300 as a Transitional Safety Net Allowance (TSA). This cash component is a realistic alternative to a Cash-for-guns policy as it can open up a way for the ex- combatant to find his or her way back into civil society.
Q There is currently no time frame for the disarmament process. Does that mean disarmament would go on for two or three more years?
A The NCDDR would welcome the setting of a deadline for the disarmament of ex-combatants, but only if a number of conditions are fulfilled. Firstly, any setting of a deadline would require the agreement of all factions of former combatants and UNAMSIL. Secondly, all stakeholders would need to agree on steps to be taken after the expiration of the deadline.
Q What is happening to child ex-combatants? Are they put into the same demobilisation centres as the adult ex-combatants?
A Former child combatants are treated separately from the adult ex- combatants. According to the disarmament and demobilisation procedures manual jointly developed by NCDDR, UNICEF, UNAMSIL and ECOMOG, the children are received in the demobilisation centre for not longer than 48 hours mainly for registration purposes. Then they are moved to special child care centres which are run by specialised NGOs such as CARITAS, Save The Children, Christian Brothers, International Rescue Committee. In the children centres, the former combatants receive help in form of provision of basic amenities (including medical services), counselling, registration for tracing and re-unification, etc. A reintegration programme is also being planned for them.
Q What is the quality of life in the demobilisation centres?
A As at 24th February 2000, there are five demobilisation centres in the country: Daru, Kenema, Port Loko North, Port Loko South and Lungi. Two more sites for demobilisation centres have been identified by the Emergency Response Team which is funded by the British DFID programme and which is setting up the demobilisation centres in Sierra Leone. The two new sites are near Makeni and Magburaka.
The quality of life within the demobilisation centres is such that there has been no complaints from the ex-combatants. In fact, the provisions for ex- combatants in the centres seems to be better than provisions available to those who live in camps for internally displaced persons. Some ex-combatants have asked for services to include a generator and video machines, but the NCDDR stresses that the centres are transit places and not homes and that the average stay of ex-combatants in the centres does not normally exceed two to three weeks.
The provisions for ex-combatants in the demobilisation centres include: medical screening and treatment food, water, shelter two woolen blankets a mat toilet and laundry soap a bucket, a plastic cup plus plates and a water container
Q What about congestion in some of the demobilisation centres?
A The demobilisation centres have been designed for ex-combatants who would stay there for a period of time varying from two weeks to a maximum of three months. During this period, the ex-combatants are expected to "cool off", go through some reorientation and plan for their re-entry to civilian life. Special sessions are organised during the demobilisation which include: Reconciliation Civic education and human rights Basic adult literacy Personal development, including career opportunities Psycho-social counselling Sexual and reproductive health
Ex-combatants are supposed to stay in the centres as long as it takes to complete the demobilisation process. Currently, the average period of stay is two weeks before discharge. After completing demobilisation, they are supposed to leave the centres and return to their home communities.
However, there are large numbers of ex-SLA members who are not yet willing to go through the demobilisation process, because they want to be considered for the future Sierra Leonean army. In the Lungi demobilisation centre, the number of these ex-SLAs amounts to more than 900, while in the Port Loko centre, there are more than 700 ex-SLAs waiting to join the new army. Some of these ex-SLAs have been in the centres for more than three months. As they are not discharged, there is congestion in the flow of incoming and outgoing ex- combatants which means the number of new ex-combatants to enter the centres is reduced.
Other demobilisation centres are functioning below their capacity. For example, the Daru demobilisation centre can hold up to 2000 ex-combatants, yet there are currently only around 100, of which the vast majority are ex-SLAs wishing to be considered to join the restructured army.
With the forthcoming establishment of demobilisation centres near Makeni and Magburaka, the NCDDR hopes that more ex-combatants can be taken on board the DDR programme and reintegrated into their home communities.
Q Can ex-combatants who do not hold a weapon join the DDR process?
A Only ex-combatants with a weapon to surrender will be accepted into the DDR process. This policy is meant to exclude fake ex-combatants to benefit from provisions made available for the reintegration of former fighters.
According to the Lome Peace Agreement, all factions were supposed to submit lists to the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) chaired by UNAMSIL, containing the names of their fighters and the number and type of weapons used. With these lists, the NCDDR would be in a position to consider ex-combatants without weapons into the DDR programme. But no such lists have so far been submitted to the NCDDR. Consequently, the NCDDR or UNAMSIL have no means to check on the validity of an individual claiming to be an ex-combatant without weapon.
The disarmament process is separate from the demobilisation process. To surrender their weapons, ex-combatants are asked to go to reception centres which are run by UNAMSIL troops. Here, they give up their arms. Surrendering single hand grenades and locally made hunting guns does not entitle ex- combatants to join the DDR process; however, an ex-combatant who surrenders a minimum of 20 hand grenades will be able to join the DDR process and enter a demobilisation centre.
Q How close is the cooperation between the NCDDR and the high commands of the different factions?
A The NCDDR is in daily contact with all the different factions and their leaders. The National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration comprises of the leaders of all factions, i.e. Chairman Foday Sankoh, Chairman Johnny Paul Koroma and the Deputy Minister of Defence Chief Norman. In addition, the different factions have their permanent representatives at the NCDDR who take part in meetings and in the decision making processes. They are involved in the sensitisation workshops of the NCDDR, in meetings with donor agencies as well as in all other matters relating to the running of the DDR programme. The NCDDR has facilitated several on- location visits together with Chairman Sankoh, Chairman Koroma and Chief Norman to explain the DDR programme to ex-combatants on the ground.
DISARMAMENT TOTAL
The latest disarmament figures show the running total up to 21st February 2000.
Group Adults Children Total RUF N/A N/A 3522 AFRC/Ex-SLA N/A N/A 4499 CDF N/A N/A 3471 TOTAL 10643 849 11492 Current SLA 3804 0 3804 Others (inc. Phase I) 1414 49 1463 Programme TOTALS 15861 898 16759
NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILISATION AND REINTEGRATION Executive Secretariat, PMB 842, 2 State Avenue, Freetown
Tel: 220071 Fax: 228368
E-mail: ncddrpr@yahoo.co.uk
Thousands to receive food in Tonkolili district
Posted February 25, 2000 - 1:15 by newsdesk
Related Source: Integrated Regional Information Network
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| Whole communities have little or no access to food |
More than 17,500 needy people in Lower Yoni chiefdom in Tonkolili district, over 100 km east of Freetown, are to receive a one-month emergency food aid ration, according to a WFP news release issued on Wednesday.
"Recent assessments showed that more than half of the 34,000 people living in Lower Yoni had little or no access to food, as most farmers were prevented from planting last year," said Patrick Buckley, WFP Representative in Sierra Leone. "Our aim is to support vulnerable families, encouraging them to resume farming," he added.
Lower Yoni chiefdom was severely affected by last year's fighting and remained inaccessible to humanitarian agencies for much of last year. Due to low level harvests and mass looting of already scarce food supplies, people in many of the chiefdoms in Tonkolili are exposed to a high risk of food shortages, WFP said.
Some 270 mt of food in nine distribution centres throughout Lower Yoni chiefdom will be handed out by WFP in collaboration with CARE and local NGO partners, WFP said.
(c) 2000 IRIN
Sierra Leone rebels confront UN troops
Posted February 25, 2000 - 1:08 by newsdesk
Related Source: BBC News
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| UN troops - have orders to defend themselves |
United Nations officials say almost 300 UN peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone are in a stand-off with around the same number of rebels on a strategic road in the east of the country.
They say the Revolutionary United Front Force (RUF) is heavily armed with rocket-propelled grenade-launchers and is refusing to let the peacekeepers pass down a road between the towns of Kenema and Daru.
The confrontation began on Tuesday with the two sides spending the night on the road.
A former RUF brigadier who is now a member of the Sierra Leone government is on the scene and is trying to help resolve the situation.
Last year Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabbag and RUF leader Foday Sankoh signed a peace accord aimed at ending the country's protracted civil war.
Rebel reluctance
In terms of the accord, RUF leaders gained places in government, and their fighters were supposed to surrender their weapons as UN peacekeepers moved into the country.
But large areas of northern and eastern Sierra Leone remain under rebel control.
UN peacekeepers said recently that mutilation and rape remain commonplace in rebel held areas.
The disarmament programme has not gone according to plan, and rebels have appeared reluctant to accept the authority of the UN force.
(c) 2000 BBC News
Sierra Leone soldiers head for camps
Posted February 25, 2000 - 0:59 by newsdesk
Related Source: BBC News Thursday, 24 February, 2000 (BBC)
The Sierra Leone government has ordered former soldiers who backed the junta led by Johnny Paul Koroma to report to the authorities for screening.
A defence ministry spokesman said the plan was to disarm them and probably reabsorb them into the national army.
A correspondent for the BBC says many of Mr Koroma's supporters have avoided the official disarmament programme because they want to rejoin the army.
Our correspondent says many civilians are worried at this prospect, although they are delighted that the former junta supporters, who have been accused of attacks and robbery, are being taken off the streets. Correspondents say that Mr Koroma himself is believed to stand by last year's peace accord, but there are questions about the commitment of his former ally, Foday Sankoh, who has also joined the government under the accord.
Mr Koroma told parliament yesterday that he had men stationed near Freetown to protect it from attack by Mr Sankoh's supporters, who have boycotted the disarmament programme.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
(c) 2000 BBC News
Former S.Leone soldiers could back UN force
Posted February 24, 2000 - 18:54 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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| Johnny Paul Koroma |
Sierra Leone's former junta ruler Johnny Paul Koroma has said his former soldiers could join forces with U.N. peacekeeping troops to crush other rebels flouting a civil war ceasefire.
Koroma, now a key member of the Sierra Leone government under terms of the ceasefire, reaffirmed his support for the shaky peace process when he appeared before parliament on Wednesday, lawmakers said.
Former soldiers, but more especially Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, are accused of continuing to violate the accords Sankoh signed with the government last year. Large numbers of RUF rebels and some former soldiers have yet to surrender their weapons under a U.N.-supervised disarmament programme.
"If there is any attempt by any one of the factions to derail the ongoing peace process, the former junta soldiers will join hands with the United Nations peacekeepers to crush them," a lawmaker quoted Koroma as saying.
Koroma said he had kept some of his loyalists under arms at Okra Hill, north of the capital Freetown, precisely to help deter any attempt by RUF to attack the city.
The RUF formed an alliance with Koroma's junta which ruled the country for nine months after soldiers toppled President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May 1997. The two allies invaded the capital in January 1999 but were evicted by West African troops.
Relations between them have been generally tense since Sankoh and Kabbah signed a peace agreement in Togo in July last year.
Although Sankoh is Sierra Leone's vice-president in a government formed after the deal, his commitment to the peace process came into question last week when he was accused of going to South Africa in violation of a U.N. travel ban on former rebels.
South Africa expelled Sankoh on Monday after cancelling his visa. The former rebel leader has been in Ivory Coast since then while pressure mounts on him in Freetown to return home to ensure his followers remain in line.
© Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
RUF remove roadblocks, claim UN knew of Sankoh travels
Posted February 24, 2000 - 18:49 by newsdesk
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| Child soldier manning roadblock during the war |
Former fighters of the RUF in Sierra Leone have honored a UN ultimatum to clear all illegal roadblocks.
According to a report aired today by Star Radio the independent Liberian-based station, the UN office in Freetown says it has seen evidence that the former fighters have complied with the ultimatum.
Previously the UN had said the erection of the roadblocks was hampering relief operations in the country. Reports also say the harassment of civilians has reduced. UN Representative Oluyemi Adeniji said although harassment has been reduced, there were some problems remaining.
RUF SAY UN KNEW OF SANKOH TRIP
Star Radio also reported that the office of RUF leader Foday Sankoh in Freetown has issued a statement saying the UN knew of Mr. Sankoh's recent foreign trips. The office said UN denial of the matter was aimed at discrediting and tarnishing the image of Mr. Sankoh.
Mr. Sankoh's travel to South Africa and Cote D'Ivoire raised eyebrows recently. The RUF office said the visit to South Africa was on medical grounds but the UN said the travel was illegal.
The Lome Peace Accord forbids former rebel leaders from travelling abroad without permission.
MOMOH ALSO TRAVELS ABROAD
Meanwhile, ex-President Joseph Momoh reportedly left Freetown yesterday afternoon for Conakry, Guinea from where he is expected to proceed to France for a medical check-up. His health has been poor since being held captive by the RUF and he is said to have worsening eyesight problems.
The ex-President has been accused of supporting the former AFRC junta. He is still required to obtain clearance from the UN Security Council before travelling.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Sierra Leone establishes Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Posted February 23, 2000 - 23:10 by newsdesk
Related Source: UNDPI
|
| House of Parliament, Tower Hill, Freetown |
United Nations human rights experts helped draft the statute for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the Parliament of Sierra Leone to document the country's human rights history, a UN spokesman said today.
The Commission, established by the parliament on Tuesday, will be composed of three international commissioners and four national commissioners who will create an "impartial historical record of violations and abuses of human rights and humanitarian law" and promote reconciliation to prevent further abuses.
Called for by the Lomé Peace Agreement, the Commission would cover the period from the beginning of the conflict in 1991 to the signing of last year's Lomé accord.
The human rights experts, who were provided by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, helped draft the statute of the Commission.
UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI)
UN announces deployment of Child Protection Advisers
Posted February 23, 2000 - 19:31 by newsdesk
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| UN envoy Olara A. Otunnu |
The United Nations has announced a new and groundbreaking dimension to its peacekeeping operations: the deployment of Child Protection Advisers (CPAs). A joint statement on the move was issued today at UN Headquarters in New York by Bernard Miyet, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Olara A. Otunnu, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
The first Child Protection Adviser has assumed her position with the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL, pursuant to Security Council resolution 1260. CPAs have also been appointed to serve with MONUC, the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following the adoption of Security Council resolution 1279. The placement of CPAs in other United Nations peacekeeping operations, as appropriate, is under discussion, in particular in East Timor and Kosovo.
Typically, CPAs will be drawn from the ranks of experienced staff in key United Nations agencies and from relevant non-governmental organizations and development agencies with expertise in the protection of children's rights.
The role of the CPA is to help ensure that the protection of children's rights is a priority concern throughout the peacekeeping process and the consolidation of peace in war-torn countries. CPAs will advise the relevant peacekeeping operations and, under the overall authority of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, will coordinate with relevant United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and national authorities to ensure that children's issues are incorporated fully into all relevant peacekeeping and peace-building policies and programmes.
CPAs will also work to ensure that all personnel involved in United Nations peacekeeping operations -- both military and civilian -- have appropriate training on the protection of children's rights.
"This is a real breakthrough for children affected by conflict", the senior United Nations officials stated. "This is a major step in integrating the protection of children's rights into the peace and security agenda of the United Nations. This represents a concrete follow-up to Security Council resolution 1261 on children and armed conflict, adopted last August, and is an expression of the values embodied in the Convention on the Rights of the Child."
UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
HR/4463 PKO/85
For further information, contact:
Margaret Carey (DPKO): (212) 963 1647;
Ilene Cohn (OSRSG/CAC): (212) 963 9739;
Philip O'Brien (UNICEF): (212) 824 6541.
FAO report issues warning on African forests
Posted February 23, 2000 - 19:27 by newsdesk
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| Dependence on wood fuel likely to increase |
Africa lost 3.7 million hectares (9.14 million acres) of forests a year between 1990 and 1995 to civil unrest, conversion into agricultural land, overgrazing and overlogging, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday.
The figures were contained in a study that is being discussed by the 21st FAO Regional Conference for Africa, currently in session in Yaounde, Cameroun.
The report said deforestation was a serious threat for most countries in Africa, where forests cover 520 million hectares (1.29 billion acres). The continent contains the world's second-largest reservoir of tropical forests after Latin America.
Africa has a deforestation rate of 0.7 percent, more than twice the world average of 0.3 percent.
It said sub-Saharan Africans were relying more than ever on fuelwood for domestic energy needs. Between 70 and 90 percent of total energy consumption in Africa comes from fuelwood and dependence on forests was likely to increase because of poverty.
Of nearly 570 million cubic metres (20.13 billion cubic feet) of roundwood produced in 1994, 84 percent was used for fuel. A growing population means this trend will continue, the report said.
Military conflicts involving several countries had made some forests unsafe to manage. Many forests had been mined, preventing sustainable management.
Political turmoil had also hampered the development of national forest programmes in some countries.
© Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
African skills flight hurting poverty fight
Posted February 22, 2000 - 17:30 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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| There is an acute shortage of health personnel |
Africa's fight against poverty has been severely hampered by a massive flight of skilled manpower, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday.
The world's poorest continent has been losing 20,000 skilled workers annually since 1990 and the exodus shows no sign of slowing, U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Deputy Secretary-General Lalla Ben Barka said.
Many of Africa's highly educated and skilled workers had left for Europe and North America, undermining Africa's efforts to reduce poverty and progress, Ben Barka said.
"Africa lost 60,000 professionals including doctors, university lecturers and engineers between 1985 and 1990 and has been losing an average of 20,000 annually ever since," she told a three-day development conference in the Ethiopian capital.
Sixty percent of Ghanaian doctors who trained locally in the 1980s had left the country, and Nigeria suffers an acute shortage of health personnel while more than 21,000 Nigerian doctors practised in the United States, Ben Barka said.
Meanwhile, Africa spent some $4 billion annually to pay the salaries of 100,000 skilled expatriates working across the continent, she said.
© Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
South Africa expels Sierra Leone's Sankoh
Posted February 21, 2000 - 14:15 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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| Foday Sankoh. Row over flouting of UN travel restrictions. |
South Africa has withdrawn a visa issued to Sierra Leone's former rebel leader Foday Sankoh and ordered him to leave the country following a protest from the Freetown government, South Africa's embassy in Abidjan said on Monday.
"I have just spoken to Pretoria and I have been told Sankoh's visa has been withdrawn," a South African embassy spokesman told Reuters in Abidjan where the visa had been issued. "He has since been instructed to depart the country."
Sierra Leone's government expressed surprise on Sunday that Sankoh, now a government member, was in South Africa in apparent violation of U.N. travel restrictions.
A United Nations source said on Friday that a U.N. sanctions committee had asked South Africa and Ivory Coast why they had given permission for Sankoh to enter their territory. The committee urged Sankoh to return immediately.
South African diplomats said earlier that Sankoh had been given the visa for medical care in South Africa and in recognition of his pivotal role in the Sierra Leone government following the signing of a peace accord last year to end the country's nine-year civil war.
But the embassy spokesman said: "Apparently there was a reconsideration of the case. As far as I know he may very well be on an aircraft on his way back."
© Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
World Bank Helps Sierra Leone Recover From Ravages of Civil War
Posted February 21, 2000 - 10:12 by newsdesk
Related Source: World Bank Group
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| Physical infrastructure was ravaged by the war |
The World Bank helped Sierra Leone take a step forward in consolidating a fragile peace today, with a $30 million equivalent credit that will help finance the 2000/01 slice of the government of Sierra Leone's National Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (NRRP).
Since 1991, civil strife in Sierra Leone has claimed more than 20,000 lives, and related insecurity has resulted in the internal displacement of 1.2 million people-approximately 25 percent of the population. Thousands of civilians have been brutally dismembered with machetes. UNICEF estimates that there are approximately 5,000 children enrolled in Sierra Leone's various armed groups, and another 10,000 children are registered as separated from their families.
Physical infrastructure, including schools and health facilities, have also been ravaged in the war, and many of the public buildings still standing are being used to house surrendered soldiers and displaced persons. An estimated 75 percent of health facilities are not functional, and 60 percent of primary school buildings have either been destroyed or are in need of major rehabilitation. Economic disruption, particularly in the agricultural and mining sectors has been profound, with GDP declining on average by six percent per annum since 1995. Government finances have also deteriorated steadily with falling revenues and high defense expenditures during the years of insecurity.
A peace agreement signed in July 1999 between the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the government heralds a unique opportunity for Sierra Leone to recover from this devastation. National and international support for the program is unprecedented-with a new Government of National Unity, and the commencement of a comprehensive disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program lacking in previous peace efforts.
But for Sierra Leone to embark firmly on a development and reconstruction track, up-front financial resources are critical. The Economic Rehabilitation and Recovery Credit (ERRC) is a quick-disbursing credit that would help provide critical balance of payments and budgetary support to finance part of the costs of the government's program to establish social, economic and protective security and help kick start the economy back into gear.
The proceeds will allow the import of essential commodities necessary to relaunch the economy, including food products, petroleum products, raw materials and intermediate goods. The local currency generated will enable the government to restore basic services, including the restoration of law and order. The funds will also contribute to the transitional safety net for adult ex-combatants as they begin their re-insertion into civilian life.
The National Rehabilitation and Recovery Program will be financed by a US$30 million equivalent credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's lending arm for the poorest countries. The IDA credit is on standard terms of 40 years maturity, including 10 years grace. The credit will complement similar support provided by DFID, the EU and the IMF, and will be implemented in parallel with the IDA-assisted Community Reintegration and Rehabilitation project.
To obtain project documents please contact the World Bank's Infoshop at tel: (202) 458-5454, fax: (202) 522-1500, email: pic@worldbank.org
Contact Person:
Sharon Cox (202) 473 2035
Scox1@worldbank.org
U.N. sanctions body queries S.Africa, Ivory Coast about Sankoh visits
Posted February 19, 2000 - 14:27 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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|
| Foday Sankoh. Still subject to international travel restrictions. |
A U.N. sanctions committee decided on Friday to ask South Africa and Ivory Coast why they gave permission for former Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh to enter their territory without U.N. authorization, a committee source said.
The committee, which has the same membership as the 15-nation Security Council, also issued a statement urging "the return of Foday Sankoh to Sierra Leone immediately."
The source said he might be carrying diamonds for possible sale in South Africa, though this was not mentioned during Friday's closed-door committee meeting, held at Britain's request.
Sankoh is a member of a unity government set up after he and Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah signed an agreement last July in Lome, Togo, ending a particularly brutal nine-year civil war in which tens of thousands of people were killed and thousands maimed by having limbs hacked off.
Although Sankoh is now chairman of Sierra Leone's Strategic Minerals Commission and holds the rank of a vice-president, he is still covered by a June 1998 Security Council resolution barring countries from allowing in certain rebel leaders without specific authorization from the U.N. sanctions committee.
Sierra Leone, a former British colony, is rich in bauxite and diamonds, and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) headed by Sankoh was reported to have resorted to diamond smuggling to buy weapons and other supplies.
Most RUF members have still not given up their arms, as required under the peace accord, and in some cases have even seized the weapons of U.N. peacekeepers.
Britain told the U.N. committee that Sankoh traveled recently to Ivory Coast and was now visiting South Africa.
The committee chairman, ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh, was authorized to write to those countries' U.N. missions to ask why Sankoh was allowed entry.
The committee was established in October 1997 to monitor sanctions under a Security Council resolution that prohibited the supply of petroleum, arms and related materials to Sierra Leone, then controlled by the rebels.
Under the June 1998 resolution, the legitimate government of Sierra Leone, restored to power that year by a West African force, was exempted from the ban on arms, provided they were imported through government-designated entry points. But a travel ban on rebel leaders remained in force.
© 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Disarmament racket uncovered in Sierra Leone
Posted February 19, 2000 - 14:20 by newsdesk
Related Source: BBC News
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| RUF fighter - not all weapons handed in have come from "real" rebels. |
Officials running the disarmament programme in Sierra Leone have admitted they were caught out by a scam to make money.
Men have been handing in guns they claim they used to fight in the civil war, and then getting money for them.
But officials at Port Loko near the capital, Freetown, now say men who never fought in the war are handing in guns made and used for hunting before the war even started.
Exposed
The government-run newspaper, The Daily Mail, has reported a number of hoax claims. But the paper does not say how many there were.
The disarmament programme, which was designed to help put in place last year's peace accord, is running well behind schedule.
Fewer than half the estimated 45,000 who fought in the war have handed in their weapons more than two months after the original deadline for completion.
16,500 former fighters have registered so far, according to the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR).
The DDR programme does not make clear how many actual weapons have been handed over.
Observers say the low registration figure is an important yardstick of the success of the peace process in Sierra Leone.
Nearly nine years of civil war formally ended on 7 July, with the signing of the Lome Peace Accord.
(c) 2000 BBC News
Sankoh to visit Liberia, Marah calls for his suspension
Posted February 18, 2000 - 16:19 by newsdesk
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|
| Foday Sankoh, RUFP leader |
RUFP leader Foday Sankoh is expected in Monrovia, according to the Liberian-based Star Radio.
Citing reports from Freetown the radio announced that no official reasons have been given for the visit.
It added that Mr. Sankoh's visit to Liberia follows a similar visit to Ghana at a time when the RUF and erstwhile allies the AFRC headed by Johnny Paul Koroma are being blamed for the slow pace of the Sierra Leone peace process.
Call for suspension from Parliament
Star radio also reported today that the leader of the House of Parliament in Freetown, Sana Marah, has called for the suspension of Mr. Sankoh from the government.
Mr. Marah was reported as saying the suspension was necessary because Mr. Sankoh has failed to submit his curriculum vitae to the parliament. He also stated that Mr. Sankoh had still not declared his assets before the parliament as required.
Copyright © 2000 SLIS Publications.
Disarmament Committee - Latest Update
Posted February 18, 2000 - 10:37 by newsdesk
National Committee For Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
FREETOWN, February 17, 2000
NEW CAMP SITES IDENTIFIED
The DFID Emergency Response Team (ERT), has identified two sites near Makeni and Magburaka for the construction of disarmament centres. This move is in response to the felt need to prepare the grounds in anticipation of a brisker disarmament process in those areas.
The identification of the new sites is part of the NCDDR's drive to increase disarmament and demobilisation in previously inaccessible areas in the north of the country.
MORE EX-COMBATANTS RECEIVE TSA'S
A total of 1351 ex-combatants in Port Loko and Lungi are the latest to receive the first instalment of the Transitional Safety Net Allowance (TSA) after going through the Pre-Discharge Orientation (PDO) process.
296 of these are in Lungi while the remaining 1055 are in Port Loko. TSA payments are made at the end of PDO sessions, and ex-combatants are discharged from the Demobilisation Centres immediately after receiving their instalment.
DDR PROGRAMME PLEADS WITH EX-COMBATANTS TO DISARM
A regular panellist in the daily DDR Programme on SLBS Radio and TV, Mr. Christo Johnson, has made a direct appeal to ex-combatants still holding on to their guns to turn in such guns at disarmament centres and join the DDR programme.
Speaking in agreement with the presenter of the programme, Mr. Dandeson Smith, on Wednesday 16th February, Mr. Christo Johnson who is the Reuters correspondent in Sierra Leone said the ex-combatants should realise that their refusal to give up their guns won't bring a positive result for them or for the nation.
He said it was up to them to make individual decisions in the matter of disarmament and not to wait for any coded message from their leaders.
"For all we know, your leaders have called on you to disarm, but there is no point holding on to your guns with the pretext that you are waiting for an order in the form of a coded message. Think of your future and the future of your country", Mr. Johnson told them.
He also condemned those ex-combatants who harass civilians in villages around Okra Hills and the Mile 38 area.
GTZ DELEGATION VISITS NCDDR
The Executive Secretary of the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR), Dr. Francis Kai-Kai, has reiterated his appeal for assistance to run special camps for the families of ex- combatants close to demobilisation centres.
Addressing an eight-man team from the German Ministry of Economic Co- operation (BMZ), the German development agency (GTZ) and the bank for reconstruction (KfW), Dr. Francis Kai-kai said that the move would help solve the problem of congestion in demobilisation centres as some ex-combatants now live in these centres with members of their families.
Another reason for overcrowding in demobilisation centres according to Dr. Kai-Kai was the refusal of some ex-combatants to leave the camps after going through the Pre-Discharge Orientation programme and receiving the first instalment of their TSA. He also explained that ex-combatants who have opted to continue serving in the army are still staying in demobilisation centres, though they are not supposed to be there.
He told the team which is on a fact-finding and appraisal mission that though the DDR programme continues to encounter some hitches it has been making steady progress.
On the issue of reintegration, Dr. Kai-Kai spoke of the need to put in place credible programmes, which would ensure that the process is not crippled. He said that the partners in the DDR programme are expected to ensure that government delivers targeted assistance to the ex-combatants in order to fulfil the commitment to their welfare and peace for all Sierra Leoneans.
Dr. Kai-Kai also explained that the World Bank is operating a Multi Donor Trust Fund on behalf of the Government, which allocates funds to support the peace process.
Giving a further explanation about the reintegration component of the DDR Programme, the Head of the Reintegration Unit, Charles Achodo, said it was necessary to provide technical assistance to local institutions that provide training programmes for ex-combatants.
The eight-man team was accompanied by the German Charge d'Affaires, Mr. Conrad Fischer.
IMF READY TO RELEASE 14 MILLION DOLLAR LOAN BEFORE JULY 2000
Joseph Kakoza, Deputy Division Chief of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, has told the NCDDR that the IMF was ready to disburse a loan of 14 million US dollars to Sierra Leone "if all goes well" in the peace process.
Kakoza, together with Byung Kyoon Jang, economist at the IMF's African Department, paid a visit to the NCDDR on Wednesday 16th February to assess the progress of the disarmament and demobilisation process. Francis Kai-Kai, the NCDDR's Executive Secretary, told the visiting IMF delegation that the "peace process has a huge price" and that 20 per cent of the money needed for the current year was still not secured.
Dr. Kai-Kai voiced concern that international donors would not commit additional funds if they did not see "real progress" on disarmament. The Executive Secretary added that the reasons for the slow pace of the disarmament were the lack of security, especially in the north and east of the country, which has prevented the NCDDR from setting up disarmament and demobilisation centres there. Also, the unresolved question of who would be able to join the new Sierra Leonean army was slowing down the work in the D&D centres.
The two IMF officials, who were accompanied by Cyprian Kamaray, Technical Assistant to the European Union's office in Freetown, enquired about the financial aspects of the DDR process. They were told by Dr. Kai-Kai that the government of Sierra Leone has so far contributed about one billion Leone to the process, whilst the Multi Donor Trust Fund has received a total of 11.1 million US dollars from countries like Britain, Germany, Norway and Canada.
The IMF has previously disbursed a US$ 20 million post-conflict loan to Sierra Leone on 17th December 1999. The IMF delegation's visit will end on 21st February.
Issued by NCDDR Public Relations
For more information call (00232) 22 220071
US Govt. official urges commitment to peace process
Posted February 17, 2000 - 21:01 by newsdesk
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U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice yesterday urged West African leaders to do everything possible to ensure lasting peace in Sierra Leone.
Assistant Secretary Rice spoke during a live broadcast on World-net Dialogue, an American government television production. The programme discussed the peace process in Sierra Leone.
She warned that continued security problems in Sierra Leone would not serve the region's best interest, and she affirmed that the US was fully supportive of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the country and of the peace process in general.
Dr. Rice stressed that it was important for former rebel leaders to demonstrate full commitment to the disarmament process. It was, she said, up to the former rebel leaders to ensure their former fighters disarm. She added that if disarmament fails in Sierra Leone, the former rebel leaders would bear responsibility.
The Assistant Secretary of State also warned that "The international community will not sit by and allow people to continue committing atrocities without accounting for them." However she felt that those that turned their backs on violent conflict still had a chance to reintegrate and live a better life within their communities. "The best prospect for them is peace" she said.
Before joining the Department of State in October 1997, Dr. Rice served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, where she was responsible for all aspects of U.S. policy toward Africa. Prior to this position, she served as Director of International Organizations and Peacekeeping at the National Security Council, where she was responsible for the Administration's policy pertaining to the United Nations.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Clinton war crimes envoy expected in Freetown
Posted February 17, 2000 - 13:40 by newsdesk
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| US President Bill Clinton - concern about Africa. |
WASHINGTON, 17 February 2000
U.S. President Bill Clinton's envoy on war crimes is expected to visit Sierra Leone as part of a brief visit to Africa, according to an AP report.
The envoy, David Scheffer, will be travelling to Tanzania this week to review an international tribunal's progress on Rwandan genocide cases.
Later he is due to stop briefly in Sierra Leone to talk with rebel leaders about atrocities that have occurred in the country.
Africa policy under attack
Despite devoting millions of dollars in his budget proposals to resolving African disputes Bill Clinton's Africa policy is under attack by critics. Pointing to continuing conflicts on the continent University economics professor George Ayittey has labelled the President's record as being "disastrous", saying that "The solutions to Africa's problems can't be micro-managed from Washington."
On his ground-breaking tour of Africa in March 1998 Clinton apologised for the slow U.S. response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and promised "never again" would it be that way. But Mel Foote, head of the advocacy group Constituency for Africa, said there had been the same slow response to the conflict in Sierra Leone "at the same time we're pouring billions into Kosovo."
"He showed us he cared about Africa. He doesn't have a lot of people in his administration who can do the follow-up," Foote said. "The biggest thing he achieved was goodwill."
Summit to build US-Africa links opens
Meanwhile, the BBC has reported the opening in Washington of a five-day summit aimed at improving United States relations with Africa.
President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore and several African leaders are expected to attend the summit, as well as Republican presidential hopeful George W Bush.
Despite the criticism of Bill Clinton's record the organisers believe Mr Clinton has paid more attention to Africa than most other recent presidents. To continue and improve that attention, they intend to end the summit with a plan of action on Africa to be sent to political, business and community leaders across the US.
The summit, planned over four years, has been funded by a number of prominent US non-profit organisations like the Carnegie and Ford Foundations and hopes to bring together political and business leaders from the US and Africa.
Organisers are anxious to create an Africa lobby in the US along the lines of the powerful Jewish lobby, which has done so much to strengthen ties between the US and Israel.
Culled from AP and BBC reports
Copyright © 2000 SLIS Publications.
UN deploys child protection advisers
Posted February 17, 2000 - 11:48 by newsdesk
Related Source: BBC News
|
| Protecting the rights of child soldiers |
By UN correspondent, Mark Devenport
The first child protection adviser has just arrived in Sierra Leone, where she is working with peacekeepers trying to disarm thousands of rebel fighters, many of whom are child soldiers.
In the UN's demobilisation camps, peacekeepers are trying to separate adult fighters from child soldiers.
The adults qualify for financial compensation for their guns and child soldiers are supposed to undergo programmes to deal with the trauma they have experienced and their rehabilitation into their communities.
More than 500 child soldiers have been processed through the camps so far and the UN is continuing to negotiate the release of hundreds more children abducted by the rebels.
A ground-breaking move
Senior UN officials see the deployment of the child protection adviser as the start of a new dimension to their peacekeeping operations.
Three advisers have already been appointed for the UN mission about to be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo and discussions are under way about similar appointments in East Timor and Kosovo.
Besides working with child soldiers and other children caught up in conflict, the advisors are tasked to train peacekeepers about children's rights and needs, in order to ensure that the soldiers themselves do not contribute to the abuse of children.
(c) 2000 BBC News
UN establishes presence in Sierra Leone rebel stronghold
Posted February 15, 2000 - 20:30 by newsdesk
Related Source: UN News
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| UNAMSIL - gradually making its presence felt |
The United Nations said today that its peacekeepers had been able to establish UN's first presence in a long time in a rebel-held area in the eastern part of Sierra Leone.
A reconnaissance mission comprising five military observers and a platoon of Kenyan peacekeeping troops has just returned to the capital, Freetown, from Koidu, a rebel stronghold in the heart of the diamond zone, a UN spokeswoman told the press at UN Headquarters in New York.
Marie Okabe said that according to reports, crowds were cheering the convoy, whose task was primarily to assess the condition of the road.
At a rebel roadblock about 75 miles from Koidu, the UN peacekeepers were blocked, Ms Okabe said. In order not to cancel the patrol altogether, the military observers and an information officer went alone to visit the town, marking the first time in years that the UN had presence so far east in Sierra Leone.
(c) 2000 UN News Service
UN vows "forceful response" to rebels' attempts to seize arms
Posted February 14, 2000 - 23:35 by newsdesk
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| UN troops - ready to defend themselves |
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sierra Leone has promised a "forceful response" if any more weapons are seized from UN peacekeepers in the country, a UN spokeswoman told a press briefing today in New York.
Oluyemi Adeniji raised the issue of seized weapons during a meeting over the weekend with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader, Foday Sankoh.
Mr. Adeniji said such practices were in contravention of last year's Lomé Agreement and stressed the "urgent necessity" of returning the weapons seized from Guinean and Kenyan UN troops, the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, the latest progress report from the UN mission in Sierra Leone shows that more than 9,000 former rebels have disarmed and registered for the demobilization programme.
Nearly 3,800 of these were from the RUF; some 2,000 from the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and ex-Sierra Leone Army; and just over 3,400 from the Civil Defence Forces and others.
There were more than 730 child soldiers among the newly disarmed.
(c) SLIS Publications 2000
Sierra Leone cracks down on peace deal dissidents
Posted February 13, 2000 - 22:46 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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|
| Johnny Paul Koroma |
Sierra Leone's government has foiled an attempt to undermine the nation's post-civil war peace process and has begun a crackdown on rebels, state radio reported on Sunday.
It said "a plan to wilfully disrupt the ongoing peace process in Sierra Leone by a few unscrupulous AFRC/SLA elements has been foiled and some arrests have been made".
"An intensive manhunt has been started by security forces for more AFRC suspects," it added.
The AFRC/SLA was the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, the military junta that ruled Sierra Leone for eight months before being ousted by a Nigerian-led West African intervention force, ECOMOG, in February 1998.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement, which had been fighting the government for most of the 1990s, rallied to the junta and fought against ECOMOG until a peace deal was signed in July 1999. Both the junta and the RUF are now represented in government.
Former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma said on Saturday seven former Sierra Leone Army soldiers -- members of the old national force that supported the junta -- had been arrested for threatening to kill him.
"I was in my residence when seven of these guys came into the house, attacked me," he told Reuters.
Koroma, who chairs a commission for the consolidation of peace, said soldiers still loyal to him had come to his aid and arrested the seven after a scuffle. He said no shots were fired.
BODYGUARD NUMBERS CURBED
State radio said Koroma wanted "to warn all AFRC/SLA personnel moving with former ex-combatants as bodyguards to cut down the number of their guards to two only."
Bodyguards who were surplus to requirements would be redeployed. Those who failed to comply would be arrested.
Under the July accord, some 45,000 ex-combatants were to disarm by December, but barely a third have complied.
The United Nations has sent a peacekeeping force, UNAMSIL, which it agreed last week to increase to 11,100 from 6,000.
President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah said on Saturday authorities had retrieved 565 automatic rifles and three armoured vehicles seized by RUF fighters from Guinean troops around a month ago as the Guineans crossed into Sierra Leone to join UNAMSIL.
The weapons were returned at the insistence of RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who has the status of vice-president in the unity government formed after the peace accord.
© Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Disarmament Committee - Latest Update
Posted February 11, 2000 - 19:01 by newsdesk
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| Amputees - in need of artificial limbs and other practical assistance. |
Freetown - February 10, 2000
LIMB FITTING EQUIPMENT PRESENTED TO HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
The British Department for International development (DFID), has made available limb fitting equipment worth about 48 thousand US Dollars to the NGO, Handicapp International through the Government of Sierra Leone.
The equipment which includes a shoe-patching machine and a vacuum machine are to be used specifically to provide artificial limbs for ex- combatants who have gone through the DDR Programme. However the equipment will also serve the wider disabled community in the country.
The President, Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah who handed over the items to handicap International on behalf of Government on Tuesday 8th February, said the gesture should be regarded as our obligation to be our 'brother's keeper', and not as a charity effort or a move to fulfill the terms of the Lome Peace Agreement.
In his address at the ceremony the Executive Secretary of NCDDR, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai, said the Committee realises the importance of physical mobility and has therefore been committed to addressing the specific problem of amputees as a pre-condition for an effective economic and social reintegration of disable victims.
He said that when assistance was requested to provide funding for the acquisition of equipment to enhance the capacity of Handicap International to manufacture artificial limbs, the British Government, which he described as 'the donor of last resort', gave a sympathetic response.
Dr. Kai-Kai explained the background to the NCDDR - Handicap International Co-operation, pointing out that the main objective of this relationship was to promote the physical rehabilitation of disabled ex-combatants as well as other victims of amputation.
A representative of the amputees, Muctarr Jalloh, said that still more provision should be made to those who have had limbs chopped off. He said that that particular group of amputees need the kind of assistance that would enable them reduce their dependence on others in carrying out their day-to-day activities.
NEW DEMOBILIASTION CENTRES
A group from DFID's Emergency Response Team is now working to develop the new demobilisation centres at Makeni and Magburaka. The group is now based in the area and will manage the construction of the new sites.
It's part of NCDDR's commitment to develop more centres across the country to speed the disarmament process and encourage ex-combatants to join DDR.
SENSITISATION UNIT MAKES FIRST PROVINCIAL TOUR
From Friday 4th to Sunday 6th February, members of the Information/Sensitisation Unit of NCDDR visited Bo and Kenema in their latest effort to inform the people about the DDR Programme.
This visit is the first attempt by the Unit to venture out of the Western Area with the aim of informing ex-combatants and the general population about what the DDR programme entails.
For the past five months however, the Unit has been running a radio programme "DDR" on SLBS, which constituted the major source of information about DDR activities.
The station also carried news stories about the DDR process. But since the station was not broadcasting on short-wave the DDR programme was heard only in parts of the western area.
Newspapers constituted another source of information about the programme.
The decision to venture into the provinces, which is considered long overdue, was taken in response to the uncomfortable realisation that many people including ex-combatants and their commanders do not know much about the DDR Programme. With this in mind the team set out to provide provincial radio stations with materials on the DDR programme for broadcast.
On Saturday 5th February 2000 a meeting was held with the Proprietor and staff of KISS 104 F.M. Radio in Bo. Neil McCafferty, the DFID Information/Sensitisation Specialist attached to NCDDR, gave a forty- five minute briefing of how to devise sensitisation programmes on the DDR.
The Public Relations Officer of NCDDR, Dandeson Smith, presented information sheets about the DDR Programme, as well as cassettes of the newly recorded DDR song and promised to furnish the station with more materials as often as necessary.
The team also visited Kenema and had a similar meeting with the Station Manager and staff of SLBS 93.5.
Another major highlight of the provincial tour were two separate meetings with members of the CDF High Command in Bo and Kenema. Mr. Smith told them that the NCDDR was interested in seeing the disarmament process speeded up and invited suggestions from them regarding how best the seeming impasse could be brought to an end.
Responding the CDF men recommended that the authorities ensure that all areas of the country are opened up.
"Delegations from Freetown and elsewhere should have free access to places like Kono, Kailahun, Makeni and Magburaka, just as they have access to Bo and Kenema" they declared.
They also called for UNAMSIL to deploy in all areas where there are still armed men.
Other members of the NCDDR team making the tour were the Liaison Officers for CDF, RUF and AFRC Baimba Zorokong, James Bayoh and Salami Williams respectively.
COMMUNITY REINTEGRATION AND REHABILITATION PROJECT TO BE LAUNCHED
A staff orientation programme was held at the YMCA hall in Freetown in preparation for the formal launching of the Community Reintegration and Rehabilitation Project (CRRP) of the NCRRR and NCDDR at national and regional levels.
The CRRP will be implemented by the Government of Sierra Leone with support from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and is aimed at ensuring a viable post war reconstruction programme.
The launching itself will take the form of four two-day regional workshops in Freetown and in each of the provincial headquarter towns. The Freetown workshop will be held from the 10 to the 11 February and is expected to have the President Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah as the Keynote Speaker.
The aim of the staff orientation programme is to ensure that all NCRRR and NCDDR staff are conversant with and share the same understanding of the objectives and processes of the national and regional launch workshops.
The workshops themselves aim of sensitising and passing on relevant information to key stakeholders and the general public about the CRRP.
The workshop will further seek to achieve a consensus among implementing partners regarding the challenges, strategies and implementation responsibilities among other things, related to the CRRP.
According to a workshop document, the overriding aim of the workshop is to ensure coherence and co-ordination between Sierra Leoneans on the one hand, and international stakeholders on the other.
The Commissioner of NCRRR, Mr. Kanje Sesay and the Executive Secretary, NCDDR, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai who addressed the orientation programme today both highlighted the obvious overlap in the functions of the two institutions and stressed the need to fuse their rehabilitation and reintegration programmes.
Issued by NCDDR Public Relations 10/02/00 For more information call (00232) 22 220071
Food aid to Freetown camps to phase down
Posted February 11, 2000 - 18:45 by newsdesk
Related Source: IRIN
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| Aid to be better targeted |
Plans to phase out the provision of food aid to some displaced people living in camps and around the Freetown peninsula are underway, the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) said in its most recent situation report, 17-30 January.
HACU said that only displaced people from safe areas or those wishing to return to their homes would not receive food.
"Resettlement rations, food for work, food for training and related projects will be provided for those who wish to resettle," HACU said.
"Those who live in areas that are still not safe will remain in camps and continue to receive support."
(c) 2000 IRIN
UN mission in Sierra Leone wins release of more child soldiers
Posted February 10, 2000 - 21:06 by newsdesk
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| Thousands of children were forced to fight for various factions. |
The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) Wednesday successfully negotiated the release of another group of children from a rebel-held area, according to a statement issued in the capital, Freetown.
Eleven boys and four girls, some as young as eight and all in apparently good physical condition, were freed from a site in the Occra Hills, 70 miles north-east of the city. All had been behind rebel lines for more than a year.
The children who said they had been fighting alongside rebels were taken to a disarmament camp in Lungi while the others were taken to child care centre.
"Several combatants from different factions have told UNAMSIL they are eager to release all abductees and child soldiers and to enter the [disarmament] programme," the UN mission said.
Eighty-one children have been released so far this year, according to UNAMSIL.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Kabala Roman Catholic Mission Resumes Activities
Posted February 10, 2000 - 11:01 by newsdesk
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|
| Liberated children - a sign that the situation is improving |
LONDON, 9 February 2000
"The youths of Makeni, without any ethnic or religious distinction, spontaneously organised themselves into four groups and began cleaning-up... An incredible sign of collective willingness to return to normality."
Bishop Biguzzi
The Roman Catholic mission in Kabala, northern Sierra Leone, reopened on Saturday according to MISNA, the Rome-based Catholic news agency.
MISNA quoted the following despatch from Bishop Giorgio Biguzzi, Makeni diocese:
"The re-opening of the mission of Kabala was a joy for all. On Saturday, Father Angelo Aguirre, accompanied by Father Antonio Guiotto, Regional Superior of the Xaverian Missionaries, went to reopen the mission of Kabala (100km north of Makeni, Sierra Leone) after its destruction caused by the war. The house of the missionaries was burned down 5 years ago, so the Fathers were forced to change residence".
"Over 300 worshippers participated Sunday mass, all joyous for the first step marking the return of missionaries to their area".
Given that villages surrounding Kabala are still controlled by the rebels, it will only be possible to work in the city which has for some time been patrolled by the government forces.
Next week, Father Victor Martinez, a Xaverian missionary from Mexico, will join Father Aguirre to begin evangelisation. A small, though significant and encouraging step considering the current situation of insecurity, said Bishop Biguzzi. The prelate was in his diocese of Makeni yesterday to meet with the missionaries and visit the parishes of neighbouring villages.
Bishop Biguzzi reported further that "Life has not returned to normal even in these areas, given the lack of disarmament operations. No businesses are open, only the local market place. Even the schools are opening hesitantly, since all the buildings were completely destroyed and looted, in most cases left without roofs and desks. Many children are still far away and most of the teachers escaped the area for safer villages".
"The youths of Makeni, without any ethnic or religious distinction, spontaneously organised themselves into four groups and began cleaning-up some of the most important areas of the city, cutting the grass, emptying ditches and clearing the roads. They also cleared up the city’s main square and that of the Cathedral, where they placed white stones around the statue of the Virgin Mary. Also the gutters of my home were rid of grass. An incredible sign of collective willingness to return to normality".
Bishop Biguzzi remains full of hope and ready to begin the strenuous task of rebuilding the city, though his main concern remains the rebuilding of the people. "Our most difficult and urgent task is that of working towards reconciliation, which is our only possibility for peace. Reconciliation will however only be possible after disarmament operations, which have still not taken place and which continue blocking the process of unity and reconstruction", he stated.
The Bishop is however encouraged by small steps that make the future look brighter. "A couple of weeks ago the rebels released around sixty children, who are now being assisted in our centre run by the local Caritas in Port Loko. This liberation is a sign that the situation is improving and therefore we will continue striding towards a lasting and real reconciliation", he said.
Culled from a MISNA report
Copyright © 2000 SLIS Publications
Landmines pose limited problem in S.Leone, says UN team
Posted February 10, 2000 - 0:32 by newsdesk
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| Unexploded ordnance investigated |
A United Nations investigation team in Sierra Leone has found that mines pose a "limited problem" in the country which can be dealt with by the UN mission there, a spokeswoman for the Secretary-General said Wednesday.
The UN Mine Action Service Sunday completed a week-long technical assessment mission to determine the scope of the problem of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Sierra Leone, Maria Okabe told a press briefing in New York.
The team held discussions with the Government, the warring factions, the UN mission and other parties. It had travelled to Kabala in the north of Sierra Leone and to Keneam and Daru in the east to investigate mines and unexploded ordnance.
"Although access has not yet been secured to all areas of the country, the assessment team has determined that landmines pose a limited problem in Sierra Leone," Ms. Okabe said.
"The team concluded that the landmine situation in Sierra Leone can be dealt with by the UN Mission in the country, and has recommended that a mine action information and coordination centre be established as part of the peacekeeping operation," she noted.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Nigeria to provide 2,000 more troops for UNAMSIL
Posted February 10, 2000 - 0:20 by newsdesk
Related Source: IRIN
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| Nigerian troops: from ECOMOG to UNAMSIL |
Nigeria will contribute 2,000 more troops to UNAMSIL from those currently serving with ECOMOG, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, ECOMOG's spokesman in Sierra Leone, told IRIN on Wednesday.
"This will bring the number of Nigerian troops in UNAMSIL to more than four thousand" he said. The new contribution will include two infantry battalions and a tank company.
He said that the troop increase to UNAMSIL was announced on Tuesday by the Nigerian army chief of staff, Major General Victor Malu, at the end of a two-day trip to Sierra Leone.
Malu said that the additional Nigerian troop contribution was a demonstration of the country's commitment to peace in Sierra Leone and to ensure that the withdrawal of ECOMOG did not create a security vacuum.
"The troops are here and available and are ready to be absorbed into UNAMSIL when needed," Olukolade said.
(c) 2000 IRIN
ECOMOG denies its troops were disarmed
Posted February 9, 2000 - 20:15 by newsdesk
Related Source: Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
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| ECOMOG - deny being disarmed by alleged rebels |
ECOMOG, the West African peacekeeping group in Sierra Leone, denied on Tuesday media reports that its troops were ambushed and had their weapons seized by men believed to be Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels.
ECOMOG's chief military press information officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, told IRIN that Guinean units who had come directly from their country to Sierra Leone to become part of UNAMSIL were ambushed. In the incident, which occurred around 13 January, he said, the rebels seized over 465 AK-47 assault rifles, up to three armoured cars and ammunition.
Olukolade said ECOMOG was trying to help UNAMSIL retrieve the weapons. Both peacekeeping forces have been cooperating in support of the July 1999 Lome peace deal that ended the war between the RUF and the Sierra Leone government. ECOMOG officials and Foday Sankoh, leader of the newly formed Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP), travelled last week to the northern town of Kamakwie to try and retrieve the weapons from the RUF units which the Guineans said had made the seizure.
However, Olukolade said, the rebels in the area denied taking the weapons.
UNAMSIL reiterates emphasis on dialogue
UNAMSIL said on Monday that despite its ability to use force, it would continue for now to use "dialogue and persuasion" to get through illegal roadblocks set up by RUF rebels.
UNAMSIL's Public Information Office in Freetown, which made the announcement, said the rebels had recently stopped a UNAMSIL reconnaissance mission from entering the eastern town of Koidu. "Indeed, the RUF leadership, which has committed itself to the removal of all impediments and to cooperating with UNAMSIL, has been trying to deal with such situations," UNAMSIL said.
UNAMSIL said units it sent to the eastern town of Kailahun were received warmly by all.
Nigerian Army chief ends consultations
The Nigerian chief of army staff, Major General Victor Malu, left Freetown on Tuesday after consultations with UNAMSIL on the withdrawal of Nigeria's troops from Sierra Leone. Lieutenant Chris Olukolade told IRIN that Abuja will resume the pullout on 13 April.
Nigeria, which provided the bulk of ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Peace Monitoring Group) troops in Sierra Leone, had informed the UN on 13 January that it would delay the withdrawal of its forces by 90 days to give the world body time to deploy its peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, in New York, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations announced that it had started negotiations with ranking Nigerian officials on Monday on the incorporation of Nigerian ECOMOG troops and equipment in Sierra Leone into UNAMSIL.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
Sankoh warns supporters against joining Guinean dissidents
Posted February 8, 2000 - 16:45 by newsdesk
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| Foday Sankoh. Stern warning to his RUF ex-combatants. |
FREETOWN, 8 February 2000
RUFP leader Foday Sankoh has warned RUF ex-combatants not to engage in any activities that could affect the stability of neighbouring Guinea-Conakry.
Liberian-based Star Radio reported Mr. Sankoh as saying that war in Guinea meant interruption of peace in Sierra Leone. He threatened serious punishment against any of his former fighters who join or plan with Guinean dissident forces to destabilize that country.
The RUF leader gave the warning when he addressed more than 3000 ex-combatants in the northern Sierra Leonean town of Kamakwie.
He told the former fighters that some dissidents were planning to attack Guinea with the help of some ex-combatants.
Mr. Sankoh did not say from where the dissidents will launch their alleged attack.
Copyright © 2000 SLIS Publications.
UN authorises expansion of UNAMSIL as pressure mounts for tough action
Posted February 7, 2000 - 20:15 by newsdesk
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| UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard. Troops will be reminded that they are allowed to use force. |
The U.N. Security Council today adopted a resolution expanding the size of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) from 6,000 to 11,100 soldiers, with a number of additional responsibilities.
The resolution was adopted after the Council heard from Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi. It makes UNAMSIL the largest current U.N. peacekeeping operation.
Mr. Annabi's presentation was based on the
Secretary-General's report and addendum calling for the force's expansion.
Questions of engagement
At today's press briefing, in response to questions citing reports that UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone were stripped of their arms, U.N. Spokesman Fred Eckhard said the Mission was in "a delicate transitional phase," in which UN troops are replacing regional peacekeepers.
There were three incidents, he said, in which soldiers lost weapons and equipment to members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). In two cases, he added, the incidents involved UN troops; however, the largest number of weapons taken -- some 500 rifles -- occurred in another incident, which involved a unit of regional peacekeepers.
Eckhard said he expected that the troops would be reminded that, under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, they are allowed to use force.
Pledges of financial assistance
In a separate development over the weekend, the World Bank said it would provide US$130 million to speed up the pace of disarmament in Sierra Leone and help repatriate the 400,000 Sierra Leone refugees currently in Guinea.
The pledge came at the end of a two-day mission to Sierra Leone by officials of the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
UN-World Bank mission visits Sierra Leone
Posted February 7, 2000 - 18:54 by newsdesk
Related Source: AFP
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| President Kabbah. Cited "serious problems of banditry and criminal activities". |
A delegation of senior UN and World Bank officials wrapped up on Saturday a two-day mission to Sierra Leone to judge progress in ending the country's brutal civil war.
Frederick Barton, the UN deputy high commissioner for refugees who led the delegation, described the visit as a fact-finding mission to assess the security situation and what could be done to encourage implementation of an eight-month-old peace accord.
"We hope that we can assist in advancing the peace process," he told reporters.
The delegation, which included representatives of the UNHCR, UN Development Program and World Bank, met Friday with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, appealed for "an acceleration of the deployment of UN peacekeepers" in the country, according to an official statement.
Citing "serious problems of banditry and criminal activities" in the country, Kabbah said the UN Security Council needed to quickly approve a resolution to "increase the number of UN peacekeepers and ensure their speedy deployment."
Kabbah also requested additional help for the program of disarming rebel forces, which he said had fallen behind schedule because only four demobilization centers had been set up.
"This has resulted in overcrowding, with ex-combatants being discharged earlier than scheduled," he said.
"Disarmament and demobilisation cannot be delinked from rehabilitation and former combatants need to be properly rehabilitated and provided with skills and training to enable them to fit into society again," he said.
But the president insisted the slow pace of demobilization and other problems amounted only to a "few hiccups" and that the peace process as a whole "is well on track."
The UN and World Bank officials also met with Finance Minister James Jonah and Economic Development Minister Kadi Sesay and held close door talks with former rebel leaders Foday Sankoh and Johnny Paul Koroma.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, lost their lives in the eight-year civil war, and half of Sierra Leone's 4.5 million people have been either displaced or sent into exile.
rmj/dm AFP
Copyright (c) 2000 Agence France-Presse
12-year-old boy loses eye in landmine explosion
Posted February 7, 2000 - 12:12 by newsdesk
Related Source: AFP
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| Landmines at Yams Farm and Hastings pose a threat to unwary citizens |
A 12-year-old Sierra Leonean lost an eye this week after he stepped on a landmine at a farm outside Freetown, doctors who operated on the child said Thursday.
Sullay Kargbo, who was cleaning a compound at Yams farm, some 20 kilometres (12 kilometres) from the capital, also suffered "extensive body injuries," a matron at Freetown's main Connaught Hospital told AFP.
The child underwent an emergency operation on Wednesday, said doctors from the London-based non-governmental organisation, Sight Savers International.
"We were unable to save Kargbo's left eye," said a surgeon. At Sierra Leone's defence headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Momodu said Yams Farm and Hastings, where an airport is located, are two spots were rebels planted landmines during an insurgency that began in 1991.
Much of area has been demined by loyal soldiers of the largly defunct Sierra Leone army along with engineers from the Nigerian-led ECOMOG intervention force, Momodu said.
At least 20 people have died in landmine explosions in Sierra Leone since 1998, according to the the non-governmental organisation, Save Heritage and Rehabilitate the Environment (SHARE).
Statistics of Sierra Leonean casualties before 1998 have not been made available.
Meanhile, state radio announced that a female ex-combatant died and three male ex-soldiers were in serious condition when a hand grenade exploded on Wednesday in one of the disarmament camps in Port Loko, 60 kilometres (36 miles) north of Freetown.
The wounded were brought to a Freetown hospital on Thursday by UN peacekeepers.
Sierra Leone's government signed a peace accord with rebels in July.
rmj/jlr/hn AFP
Copyright (c) 2000 Agence France-Presse
Ghana completes withdrawal of ECOMOG troops
Posted February 7, 2000 - 12:01 by newsdesk
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| ECOMOG - troops from different countries have co-operated well |
FREETOWN, 7 February 2000
Ghana has completed the withdrawal of its troops from ECOMOG in Sierra
Leone, according to reports by the independent Liberian-based Star Radio.
Brigadier Humphrey Agbevey the Ghanaian contingent Commander thanked other members of the force for a good working relationship observing that there had been good interaction within the ECOMOG force.
He also expressed the hope that key players in the peace process would speed up the disarmament of former fighters in the country.
The ECOMOG Force commander praised the Ghanaians for their cooperation during their mission. Major General Gabriel Kpamber said they would have remained with the force until the end of its mandate in Sierra Leone.
However political decisions had ended the Ghanaians' mission before time, the radio reported.
Copyright © 2000 SLIS Publications
Sierra Leone rebel chief scorns UN
Posted February 4, 2000 - 11:01 by newsdesk
Related Source: BBC News
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| Foday Sankoh, RUFP leader |
Former Sierra Leonean rebel leader Foday Sankoh has told United Nations peacekeepers that the UN has no reason to be in Sierra Leone.
"We have no business with you. You are not helping us," Mr Sankoh said in a speech to Kenyan officers serving with the local UN peacekeeping force.
The speech by the leader of the Revolutionary United Front was printed in the Sierra Leonean newspaper the Concord Times.
Last year's peace accord granted places in government to RUF members - a move sharply crtiticised by human rights organisations which said the RUF had used widespread killings, rapes and mutilations to gain a place at the negotiating table after the nine-year war.
Mr Sankoh said the presence of an armed peacekeeping force was "a threat to the security of our people".
"Our people need peace here, they don't need guns. If you see around us, you don't need guns, you don't see any gun with me, but we can fight with our guns, it's simple, just like that.
"We started with sticks and captured even helicopters, I'm not talking about destroying jet bombers. So there's no need for you people to be here."
He said President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah had encouraged the presence of the peacekeepers "because he feels he has influence with the United Nations, or international community".
Mr Sankoh said he and his followers had been fighting against colonialism - which he called "the highest stage of capitalism".
'Politicians made us poor'
In an apparent reference to the Sierra Leone political establishment represented by President Kabbah, he said: "The agents of colonial masters called politicians made our people poor. This is why we have been fighting. We are not against our people. We are against a rotten system".
"We have been misunderstood. Still fighting, but we decided to put the guns behind us."
He also hit out at the UN Secretary-General, Ghanaian Kofi Annan.
"He's just a nuisance in Africa, being used by world war power against his own brothers," Mr Sankoh said.
(c) 2000 BBC News
Amputee employment scheme launched
Posted February 4, 2000 - 10:34 by newsdesk
Related Source: IRIN
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| Learning to live with disability |
An employment scheme for amputees in Freetown, launched on Monday, has already resulted in the recruitment of six men, each with at least one limb missing, as security guards for private companies.
Launched by the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) with support from the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), the scheme involves registering the amputees and recording such information as their prior experience, qualifications, their disability and the type of work they prefer.
The information is then sent to potential employers who select those they wish to interview. "The response from the government and the business community has been very positive," Steen Wetlesen, Head of the IFRC Delegation in Freetown, told IRIN. "Amputees can get jobs as security guards, teachers, meter readers, guards and gatekeepers and in other areas," he added.
Steen said that obtaining employment helped the reconciliation process as it was easier for amputees to forgive and forget if they had a job. He said the six who had already found work were very happy to be employed. "They see themselves as the icebreakers for all the other amputees," he said, adding that 200 amputees in Freetown had registered for work during the past three weeks. The possibility of future employment was also encouraging amputees to register for prosthetic treatment as some felt that it boosted their job prospects, Steen said.
At the Murray Town Limb Fitting Centre in Western Freetown Handicap International (HI) has fitted more than 80 limbs since April 1999. The centre houses more than 150 amputees, including some ex-combatants who had been through Sierra Leone's Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration process.
Amputees spend on average 3-4 months in the centre, Kombah Pessima, HI's Programme Director in Sierra Leone, told IRIN. Most of the time is spent preparing the stump for prosthesis, Pessima said, and operations are often required. Another two weeks is spent training recipients in the use of artificial limbs. Psychological counselling is also provided when needed, Pessima said. Both arms and legs are made at the centre's orthopaedic workshop, where up to 12 limbs can be produced per week.
This includes "aesthetic prosthetics", where limbs look normal, and "functional prosthetics" were amputees are given the use of aids such as hooks to enable them to perform basic tasks, Pessima said. Hundreds of Freetown residents - and many more in the rest of the country - lost limbs during the RUF's occupation of the capital in January 1999 and, to a lesser extent, in February 1998 when retreating AFRC/RUF fighters mutilated people as ECOMOG took Freetown. In the countryside, the first such cases were recorded in 1992, according to Handicap International.
(c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000.
Grenade kills one, injures others at demobilisation camp
Posted February 4, 2000 - 10:08 by newsdesk
Related Source: IRIN
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| Some weapons may still be held by ex-combatants |
One man was killed and several injured on Tuesday when a grenade was discharged at the Port Loko South demobilisation centre, some 60 km northeast of Freetown, the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) reported.
This means that there may be weapons being held illegally by ex-combatants in demobilisation centres, NCDDR said in a press release. It urged ex-combatants to hand in weapons being held in the centres "to prevent any further tragedies".
NCDDR said handing in a single hand grenade would not entitle an ex-combatants to enter the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process.
"The disarmament process is based on the principle of one combatant, one weapon or a specific number of people for a group weapon," NCDDR said. It said a minimum of 20 grenades could qualify an ex-combatant for the DDR process whereas a single grenade "will be collected, but it will not qualify an ex-combatant for DDR".
(c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
More abducted children released
Posted February 3, 2000 - 9:43 by newsdesk
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| Some children are malnourished and traumatised |
A United Nations military observer team in Sierra Leone Tuesday secured the release of 37 children ex-combatants
being held by former rebels, a UN Spokesman said today.
Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the children, some as young as six and including one girl, had been held in the rebel stronghold of Occra Hills about 70 km from the capital, Freetown. Some of the younger children appeared to be malnourished, Mr. Eckhard added. They were taken to Freetown and handed over to the care of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF estimates that about 5,000 children have been involved in the conflict in Sierra Leone. More than half the reported 4,000 children still missing have been officially classified as cases of abduction.
In 1999, 801 children were released by rebel forces to UNICEF.
This is the second such release negotiated by UN military observers this year. Nearly 30 children were freed on 22 January after being held in the same area.
(c) 2000 SLIS Publications
MERLIN: activity update in Sierra Leone
Posted February 3, 2000 - 1:01 by newsdesk
Related Source: Medical Emergency Relief International
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|
| MERLIN clinic in Sierra Leone |
Medical Emergency Relief International (MERLIN), a London-based charity, is one of the NGOs providing vital frontline aid in Sierra Leone.
Current activities include:
- Providing nutritional feeding to severely malnourished children
in Kenema district in eastern Sierra Leone, where thousands have
been made homeless by conflict. - Running a paediatric ward in a clinic, an emergency cholera
treatment unit, mobile daily health clinics and establishing a
permanent health centre to provide basic health care in
Freetown. - Re-establishing and restocking one hospital , three clinics and
15 health centres with drugs and equipment to provide medical
care and health education to mothers and young children in
Kenema and Bo districts. - Overseeing an emergency malaria control programme including
bednet distribution, insecticide spraying and community
education in Kenema.
Medical Emergency Relief International
http://www.merlin.org.uk
14 David Mews, Porter Street, London W1M 1HW
Tel: 020 7487 2505 Fax: 020 7487 4042
Registered Charity number 1016607
UN Says Rebel Atrocities Continue in Sierra Leone
Posted February 2, 2000 - 16:17 by newsdesk
Related Source: Reuters
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| Defenceless villagers are again under siege |
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rebel gangs in Sierra Leone are again looting villages, burning houses, raping women and mutilating civilians in northern areas, despite a peace accord six months ago, U.N. monitors reported.
The human rights officers, part of a 6,000-member U.N. peacekeeping operation, released a report on Tuesday of a Jan. 20 visit to Port Loko and other areas formerly held by rebels in the country's Northern Province.
Two U.N. experts said security had deteriorated in recent weeks following a New Year's lull they attributed to U.N. peacekeeping patrols and payments to demobilized fighters.
``There have been almost daily reports of looting of villages, house burnings, harassment and abductions of civilians, rape and sexual abuse,'' U.N. monitors James Rodehaver and Maarit Kohonen said in the report.
Some 2,000 rebels were reported to have looted a dozen villages north and south of Port Loko as well as other areas in the northwestern area and then kidnapped people gathering wood, water or food in isolated fields.
Raped And Enslaved
Men were forced to do manual labor while girls were often raped and told to cook and clean for the rebels. Some of the victims were badly beaten and at least one was mutilated.
The U.N. human rights experts attributed the abuses to followers of Foday Sankoh, leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which is now in the government, and his ally, former junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma.
A peace accord was signed last July by the rebels and the government in the tiny West African country. It was to end an eight-year civil war marked by extraordinary brutality that included mass killings of civilians, gang-rapes of young girls and amputation of limbs and other body parts.
The U.N. monitors cited a Jan. 16 attack by two rebels against Fofanah Sesay at his house in Karenah, a village five miles from Port Loko.
The armed men severely bit Sesey's ears, nose and around his right eye. ``He lost his left ear and both his nose and right ear were badly mauled,'' the report said.
No Services For Women Victims
In a visit to a camp for the uprooted and the homeless, the human rights monitors said there were hardly any medical or psychological services to care for women who had been raped or contracted HIV/AIDS in the process.
``Cases of rape-related pregnancy are so frequent that they cannot be counted,'' the experts were told by health workers.
Some young women were reported to have felt compelled to marry their abductors, most likely because of stigmatization from their families, the threat of violence and pregnancies.
In a visit to Kabala, northeast of Port Loko, another human rights officer said systematic kidnappings and rapes had subsided but security remained ``highly volatile.'' A large number of disarmed rebels were harassing civilians as they roamed around in search of food and shelter.
In some RUF-controlled areas, the rebels regularly demanded ''taxes'' from villagers in the form of rice, cattle and money.
The U.N. report substantiated similar findings released last week by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
The United Nations is fielding a peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone that is expected to be increased to 10,000 troops but disarmament of some 45,000 guerrillas, due to have been completed on Dec. 15, is well behind schedule.
Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Substance abuse hampers ex-fighters' health
Posted February 2, 2000 - 15:57 by newsdesk
Related Source: IRIN
|
| Rebels in their heyday |
Marijuana and alcohol abuse is creating health problems for former combatants in Sierra Leone, according to Rabih Torbay, country director for International Medical Corps (IMC).
"Ex-combatants often come to us with chest pains," Torbay told IRIN on Tuesday. He added that the former fighters often freely admitted that they smoke marijuana, he added. IMC provides primary health care for ex-combatants, civilians and displaced persons through clinics set up outside some demobilisation camps.
"There is a need for more activities in the demobilisation camps," Torbay said. "These would distract the inmates and help to prevent substance abuse," he added.
Other frequently diagnosed health complaints among ex-combatants include malaria, sexually transmitted diseases and acute respiratory infections, Torbay said.
(c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
Sierra Leone: IRIN Special Report on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
Posted February 2, 2000 - 2:22 by newsdesk
Related Source: Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
|
| The deadline set in Lome for the end of the disarmament phase was 15 December 1999. |
ABIDJAN, 31 January 2000 (IRIN)
The disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration into society of the estimated 45,000 ex-combatants in Sierra Leone has taken longer than originally envisaged, partly because of logistical problems, fear and mistrust, government and UN sources say.
However, efforts to encourage former fighters to disarm, the deployment of UN peacekeepers along with moves to increase their strength, and financial support from the international community are expected to speed up the process.
Under the terms of the peace agreement the government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) signed on 7 July 1999 in Lome, the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme was to start within 6 weeks (ie by 18 August) but it was not officially launched until 20 October.
At the launch, the deadline set for the end of the disarmament phase was 15 December. However, as at 23 January only about 13,100 ex-combatants had been disarmed, according to the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR), the government body responsible for managing the DDR process.
This figure includes 3,804 "loyal Sierra Leone Army (SLA)", a term which, an NCDDR source told IRIN, "refers to those who fought alongside ECOMOG up until the time that the Lome Agreement was signed". It also includes 1,414 "Phase One" ex-combatants - people disarmed and demobilised before the programme was officially launched.
These are mainly SLA soldiers who served under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta that overthrew President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May 1997, but who surrendered when troops from ECOMOG - Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Peace Monitoring Group - restored Kabbah to power in February 1998.
In addition, over 5,000 weapons and 63,000 rounds of ammunition had been collected, NCDDR said.
Division of responsibilities
To date, ECOMOG's responsibilities have included the provision of security at the DDR sites and the disarming of ex-combatants at the sites - witnessed by the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). ECOMOG also guards the weapons and ammunition retrieved during the disarmament process and helps to destroy them.
ECOWAS decided to repatriate its peacekeepers but later suspended their withdrawal. UNAMSIL will eventually take over ECOMOG's tasks providing the UN Security Council approves UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal to increase the number of UN peacekeepers from 6,000 to 11,100.
The NCDDR, assisted by the World Bank, is responsible for managing the demobilisation camps, which includes determining policy and administration. The physical infrastructure of the camps is maintained by the Emergency Response Team (ERT), which is funded by the British Department for International Development. "ERT is responsible for the provision of water, sanitation, food, shelter and health care," Gillian MacLean, first secretary for development at the British High Commission in Freetown, told IRIN.
Reasons for the delay
Logistical problems are among the reasons for the delay in the DDR programme, according to government, UN and ECOMOG sources.
"We located the demobilisation camps on the front line in areas which were previously inaccessible," NCDDR Executive Secretary Francis Kaikai told IRIN, "and we did not know troop strengths in these locations." He said the various armed groups - the Civil Defence Force (pro-government militias), the RUF and the ex-SLA/AFRC - had still not said exactly what their military strength was, which meant that the figure of 45,000 remained an estimate.
Demobilisation camps have been established at Lungi, just outside Freetown, at Kenema and Daru in the east, and at Port Loko, some 60 km north of the capital.
In a report dated 11 January, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "The discharge of ex-combatants from the camps has been delayed as a result of logistical problems, including the preparation of identification cards..." This delay creates problems as the two demobilisation camps at Port Loko are already congested, according to Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade, ECOMOG's spokesman in Sierra Leone.
"We cannot tell newly-arrived ex-combatants to go back to the bush," Olukolade told IRIN, "but we also do not like to have them hanging around for too long for security reasons."
Alimamy Koroma, general secretary of the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone, told IRIN: "I have heard reports of people in the bush who want to come into the camps at Port Loko ... but are unable to do so because the camps are saturated." Kaikai told IRIN on 25 January: "We are trying to transfer some of the ex-combatants to Lungi but we are having difficulties convincing them to move."
The ex-combatants can stay in the demobilisation camps for any time period between 3 weeks and 3 months, according to MacLean. "The registration process usually takes about a week and the ex-combatants also have to go through the pre-discharge training which takes two weeks," MacLean told IRIN. "After that they are free to go but some are reluctant to do so as they come from insecure areas."
Nevertheless, the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) noted in a 5-16 January report that the number of discharged ex-combatants in Port Loko District was on a "slow, steady rise". HACU also reported that in the Kabala area in the far north of the country, hundreds of armed RUF and ex-SLA/AFRC were harassing civilians and creating a very insecure environment. "It is critical that the DDR process be extended to Kabala as soon as possible," HACU said.
Holding back because of fear and mistrust
Mistrust between the different armed groups has also been a cause of delay, according to Kaikai. He cited differences between the ex-SLA/AFRC, who have a base in the Occra Hills, north of Freetown, and the RUF in Lunsar, northeast of the capital. He also mentioned mistrust between the RUF and the CDF in the east. A diplomatic source in Freetown told IRIN "the RUF are unhappy that some of the loyal SLA have not yet been disarmed and are still providing security in some parts of the north, particularly Kambia and Kabala".
Apprehension over their future is cited as another reason why some ex-combatants are reluctant to enter the DDR programme. "Some have committed the most unspeakable atrocities and they are not convinced that they will be forgiven if they turn themselves in," Kaikai told IRIN.
Peter Hain, minister of state in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said in Freetown on 13 January that efforts needed to be made to explain the DDR programme to both ex-combatants and the communities to which they were to return.
"We must explain that DDR is a lifeline," Hain said. "It gives former combatants the chance to turn away from violence for ever; the chance of food and shelter ... to reestablish themselves in civilian life, and to learn a trade, so that they might put something back into the communities they have helped to destroy."
In addition, more needs to be done to reassure former combatants that the needs of their families will be met, according to Florian Fichtel, who represents the World Bank in Freetown. Fichtel told IRIN this was a concern commonly expressed by ex-combatants and that while some families were being looked after in the Port Loko camps, in other areas they were not.
Renewed sensitisation drive
In the past month the campaign to sensitise former fighters to the DDR programme has intensified. In early January a sensitisation team including Sankoh, Deputy Defence Minister Hinga Norman and Major General Gabriel Kpamber, ECOMOG's force commander, urged ex-combatants in the eastern towns of Bo, Kenema and Tongo Field to hand in their weapons.
Norman also heads the Kamajor militia - the main force in the CDF - and is credited with transforming it from a group of traditional hunters into the effective fighting force that rose to Kabbah's defence after he was ousted by the AFRC. The towns of Bo and Kenema, which were never captured by the RUF, are Kamajor strongholds.
"The Kamajors have been reluctant to disarm at the Kenema DDR site, mainly through mistrust," a political analyst in Freetown told IRIN. "The appearance of Hinga Norman and Foday Sankoh side by side should bolster their confidence."
On 15 January, a team including Sankoh, Kpamber, the government minister for the Eastern Region and journalists went to the diamond-rich Kono district, some 250 km east of Freetown, to continue the sensitisation process.
This was the first time Sankoh had appeared in Kono with ECOMOG and government representatives, something many saw as symbolically important in an area which has frequently changed hands since the start of the rebel war in 1991, even though it has been under RUF control since 1998.
Bockarie no longer an excuse
Sankoh's dismissal of his former right hand man, Sam Bockarie, and Bockarie's departure for Liberia on 18 December should also boost the DDR programme. Bockarie openly defied Sankoh by refusing to disarm to ECOMOG or Nigerian soldiers and reportedly detained two MSF staff members for a week at the beginning of December, apparently to register his dissatisfaction.
According to Annan the situation in the eastern area of Kailahun, Bockarie's former zone of operations, has calmed down since his departure and most RUF commanders in the area - and in the north - have reaffirmed their commitment to Sankoh. "The pressure is now on the RUF in the east to demobilise," a source with close links to the area told IRIN. Another source added: "Bockarie can no longer be used as an excuse."
Asked on 27 January why RUF members were not going into the DDR camp in Daru - southwest of Kailahun - Sankoh told IRIN that the "necessary structures" were not there. "There are no ceasefire committees and no logistics," he added.
Increased donor support
The international community, which has long advocated the importance of DDR to peace, is providing increased financial support. In December the World Bank approved a US $25-million credit for a Community Reintegration and Rehabilitation Project in Sierra Leone. Of this amount, about US $8 million will go to DDR.
"This will finance training and employment programmes for ex-combatants, the provision of technical assistance and the operational costs of the government's DDR programme," Fichtel told IRIN in mid-January. "The project will be effective by the end of January or beginning of February."
A World Bank-administered multi-donor trust fund in support of the government's DDR programme now has US $12 million in firm pledges and cash. Britain is the highest contributor - US $5.6 million - while Norway, Germany and Canada have also contributed, Fichtel said. Italy and the Netherlands have made pledges, he added.
UNAMSIL deployment speeds up process
The arrival of more than 4,500 UNAMSIL troops in Sierra Leone and their deployment in much of the country has helped to restore "public calm", Annan said. It will also enable UNAMSIL to execute a key part of its mandate: helping the government to carry out its DDR plan.
"Now that we are a proper force we will be stepping up the drive to create more demobilisation camps," UNAMSIL's Force Commander, Major General Jetley, told IRIN. "We hope that the demobilisation camps at Makeni and Magburaka (both northeast of Freetown) will be established within a month." Jetley also told IRIN that while UNAMSIL faced logistical and equipment constraints in some areas, that would not hinder its efforts with regard to the DDR programme.
One of the UN Security Council's preoccupations in December, according to its then president, Jeremy Greenstock, was the need to avoid a possible "security vacuum" if ECOMOG's withdrawal was completed before an expanded UNAMSIL was fully deployed.
However, Olukolade rejected this possibility. He told IRIN he believed the disarmament of ex-combatants would be "substantially accomplished" before ECOMOG left Sierra Leone. "The problems are exaggerated," he told IRIN. "We are highly optimistic that the programme will succeed."
DDR good for humanitarian aid
Successful completion of the DDR programme will have enormous benefits for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to populations in need.
The joint implementation committee of the Lome Peace Agreement said on 24 January that illegal roadblocks mounted by suspected ex-combatants had prevented aid agencies from gaining access to vulnerable populations.
"The successful implementation of the DDR programme will help to remove these impediments and thereby ensure that relief is provided more efficiently and quickly to war-affected populations," a relief worker told IRIN.
Andrew Cox of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sierra Leone, gave an example of how successful disarmament and demobilisation benefit relief programmes.
"Lunsar used to be an RUF base and it is now no longer there," the HACU humanitarian affairs officer told IRIN. "We used to pass through more than ten RUF checkpoints on the road from Lunsar to Makeni. Now there are only two checkpoints left, closer to Makeni town. This facilitates the delivery of humanitarian assistance."
(c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
END
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