ECOMOG troops delay departure

Malian troops serving in the ECOWAS Peace Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) force have had their departure delayed, ECOMOG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Olukolade told IRIN on Tuesday.

Some 150 soldiers were due to leave on Sunday but, according to Olukolade, there were some "hitches in the travel arrangements" and they are still in Freetown. He said he did not have a new departure date for the soldiers and was not aware of any other departures of ECOMOG troops in the coming weeks.

Secretary-General proposes greater UN presence

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a report submitted to the Security Council on Monday, has recommended an immediate increase in the number of military observers from the current authorised strength of 70 to 210, according to the UN Department of Public Information.

The Lome Peace Agreement, signed on 7 July, requires the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) to perform significantly expanded and new tasks in close coordination with ECOMOG, Annan said. He said ECOMOG's mandate will need to be revised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in consultation with the United Nations.

Annan also recommended that the Security Council may wish to consider setting up a commission of enquiry into atrocities and human rights abuses as recommended to the government by Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Temporary registration of former combatants

UNOMSIL has carried out the temporary registration of 200 ex combatants, according to a news briefing on Friday by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, deputy spokesman for the Secretary General.

Arrangements are underway for their transfer to Lungi International Airport where the Registration, Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration programme will take place.

The three reception sites which had been set up temporarily in Freetown to deal with the influx of ex-combatants will be closed once they are all at Lungi, the deputy spokesman said.

OAU gives US $200,000 in humanitarian aid

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has donated US $200,000 to help the government of Sierra Leone in "its ongoing efforts to address the grave humanitarian situation in the country," the OAU announced on Friday.

OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim said that unless the humanitarian situation was addressed it would be difficult for the government to proceed with the huge task of rehabilitating, reconstructing and developing the country.

The humanitarian situation, Salim said, was therefore to be addressed along with other priority areas such as the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration processes, otherwise the implementation of the peace agreement would be very difficult.

Salim said the OAU was considering "ways and means whereby it could give more concrete assistance to the implementation of the (Lome) agreement ..."

Otunnu to explore ways of protecting children

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Olara Otunnu, will visit Sierra Leone at the end of August to assess the condition of children, according to a UN news release.

Otunnu, who will be in Sierra Leone from 30 August to 3 September, will study the post-war needs of children and the extent to which these are addressed by current peace efforts, it said. He will look at ways to protect all children more effectively and to promote the inclusion of the welfare of children in the peace agenda for Sierra Leone, the news release added.