Ghana: West Africa: Humanitarian Situation Report No. 9, Oct 2004

I. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
UNOWA convened a conference on 4-5 October to develop integrated conflict prevention and peace building strategies for especially sensitive border areas in West Africa. The conference discussed among other topics the emergence of hidden tensions among host communities, internally-displaced persons, returning migrants and third country nationals living in these areas and possible responses by political and humanitarian actors.

II. POLITICAL AND SECURITY SITUATION

Ghana

The Ghanaian government has publicly burned a pile of several hundred captured guns to launch a national campaign against small arms proliferation. It was the second time this year that police have publicly burned captured weapons. A similar bonfire was lit in July. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates there are about 40,000 illicit weapons in Ghana, though many experts suspect that the actual figure is much higher.

Guinea-Bissau:

Soldiers protesting over lack of salaries following their 5 months peacekeeping duty in Liberia have killed General Verissimo Correia Seabre as well as a senior Information Officer leaving the country’s army without a leader. The government has subsequently signed an agreement promising an amnesty and the appointment of a new military high command under the leadership of General Tagme Na Wai. The agreement also pardons all other military personnel who took part in military uprisings since the country's first coup d'état in 1980. The United Nations has agreed to provide the US$ 2.2 million pay salary arrears to the 600 soldiers.

The situation is very fragile and it is feared that the recently elected government of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior (voted intfor only in March 2004) and his ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) could be destabilised if durable stability is not reached between now and the Presidential election is due to be held in March 2005.

Mali:

President Amadou Toumani Toure has reiterated that Mali will not suffer famine during the coming year because its grain belt in areas of the Niger valley controlled by the Niger irrigation authority has so far not been attacked by the desert locusts. The areas of Kayes and Koulikoro regions of western Mali, around Segou and Mopti in the Niger valley, and in the Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal regions in the arid east of the country have seen heavy losses inflicted by the desert locusts.

Mauritania:

The Mauritanian government has arrested Saleh Ould Hanenna, the suspected mastermind of last year's military uprising against President Maaouiya Ould Taya on 8 June 2003. He will be put on trial for trying to overthrow the government by force of arms and using "criminal gangs" to seize control of the army and conspire against the state. Some 131 members of the armed forces are due to go on trial on 21 November for their part in the coup attempt on 8 June. 3 Islamic leaders have also been arrested in connection to the ongoing political turmoil in the country. They were later released.

Niger:

The 13 November 2004 Presidential election was officially launched on 22 October by the National Electoral commission. The current president, M. Mamadou Tandja of the MNSD stands a good chance of winning a second 5-year term in office.

Nigeria:

President Olusegun Obasanjo and ethnic militia groups in the Niger Delta agreed a tentative peace deal in the first week of October, following the ultimatum made by the militia leaders of the Niger Delta to target the foreign oil industry. The peace accord stipulates that all hostilities would cease and all militias would be disarmed and disbanded.

Several of Nigeria's biggest cities have been paralysed as labour unions undertook a four-day general strike to protest at the latest fuel price increases of 25% under President Olusegun Obasanjo's deregulation programme. The general strike has so far seen two people killed and several trade unionists arrested. The government insists the reforms are necessary to eliminate domestic fuel subsidies of over US$2 billion a year.

Four military officers and a civilian have been charged with plotting to kill Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo by shooting down his helicopter with a missile. The trial constituted the government's first admission that a coup plot against Obasanjo had been uncovered since dozens of military officers were arrested and interrogated in April this year.

Senegal:

A second session of the joint Senegalese/Gambian Commission took place on 4-5 October in Dakar. The parties agreed formally to initiate the process of establishing a bridge, a railroad and a dam to protect against intrusion of salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. The next session will take place in Banjul in April 2005.

DISARMAMENT

Ethnic militia group which threatened to kill foreign oil workers in south-eastern Nigeria last month has started handing in its weapons under a guns-for-cash peace deal agreed with the government. So far the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) had surrendered a total of 196 assault rifles and two general purpose machine guns to the government making the beginning of handing over more than 3,000 guns in its arsenal.

DESERT LOCUST SITUATION

According to FAO the situation has improved considerably in the Sahel region by the end of October. The vegetation is rapidly drying up and numerous swarms have left the region and have moved north into northwest Mauritania and Western Sahara where it is dry. Consequently, the swarms are continuing northwards into the Maghreb and have reached the foothills of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Algeria where intensive aerial and ground control operations have been initiated. Other swarms have moved to the Cape Verde islands, northern Mali and Niger, and southern Algeria.

As of 29 October 2004, FAO has received US$47.3 million in cash, to which FAO has added US$6 million of its own funds, while a further US$19.9 million has been pledged but not yet received and US$4.4 million is currently being negotiated with donors.

So far the Sahel countries have received the following assistance through FAO:

POLIO VIRUS

The global vaccination campaign against the poliovirus was in initiated in the months of October and November 2004 in 23 countries in west and central Africa from Benin to Togo, targeting more than 80 million children in the age group between 0 and 5. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo kicked off the campaign by immunising the baby daughter of the Kanu State Governor.

Figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) dated 28 October show that Nigeria currently accounts for 75 percent of all cases of polio worldwide (650 out of 872 infected). This partly came into effect as the polio vaccines were abandoned in the Muslim Kanu state. The ban helped polio spread around Nigeria and ripple across the wider region as Niger also reported 20 cases during the same period.

HIV/AIDS

A pilot Anti-Retro-Viral, ARV, therapy programme for 150 people living with AIDS in the Gambia has been launched. The patients will benefit from the free ARVs. The programme is part of the national AIDS programme largely financed by a US$15 million World Bank aid package.

CHOLERA

Cholera has broken out in Dakar, Senegal for the first time in eight years. So far 199 cases of the highly infectious water-borne disease had been reported since 11 October with 2 reported deaths. There have been serious outbreaks of cholera in Guinea (1,075 cases and 93 deaths) and Sierra Leone (633 cases and 56 deaths) for the past four months, but these are now subsiding.

III. COORDINATION

The monthly humanitarian coordination meeting chaired by OCHA regional office in Dakar took place on 26 October 2004 among others to review the desert locust situation and the humanitarian impact of the affected populations. Given the uneven impact within the region, the meeting asked the humanitarian Inter-Agency Task force to review the need for an appeal to address the needs of the affected populations. The meeting which took place on 27 October 2004 should be seen as the first step in consolidating and harmonising ongoing and past assessments of vulnerability and the immediate actions envisaged by the humanitarian partners in the region.

IV. RESOURCES MOBILIZED FOR THE 2004 CAP

V. CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact:

Herve Ludovic de Lys, Head of Office, OCHA Dakar, tel : (221) 867 27 50,
e-mail : delys1@un.org

Ms Ute Kollies, Deputy Head of Office, OCHA Dakar, tel : (221) 867 27 52,
e-mail : kollies@un.org

Mr. Karsten Skovgaard, Humanitarian Affairs Officer, OHCA Dakar, tel : (221) 867 27 57 ,
e-mail : karsten@irinnews.org