Bonino visit set for 4-7 January

Emma Bonino, the European Commissioner responsible for humanitarian affairs, will visit refugee camps and humanitarian aid projects funded by the European Union’s humanitarian aid office ECHO during a four-day visit to Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Senegal, her spokesman told IRIN today. Pietro Petrucci, contacted by telephone in Brussels, said Bonino would fly from Dakar to Bissau on 4 January to meet field workers and local officials. An OCHA situation report on Guinea Bissau received by IRIN today said she would in particular visit the Danish-run Bandim Health Project and other NGOs.

She will fly to Freetown on 5 January to see projects backed by ECHO and on 6 January to Kissidougou, in southern Guinea, to visit refugee camps along the border with Sierra Leone. The same day she will fly to Conakry for meetings on 7 January with government officials. j She will leave later the same day for Dakar where she is expected to meet government officials and possibly President Abdou Diouf, Petrucci said. She will give a press conference before flying back to Brussels.