Guinea-Bissau.

On 7 June, fighting erupted between government forces and army rebels in the West African State of Guinea-Bissau, one of Africa's smallest countries. At the request of the Government and under their respective defence agreements with Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Senegal sent troops to that country to assist the government forces that remained loyal to President Vieira.

On 10 June, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, expressing his concern over the developments in the country, strongly deplored the military confrontation which had resulted in the loss of many lives and called for the early restoration of normal and constitutional political dialogue within the country.

On 18 June, in a press briefing following informal consultations, the Security Council President, speaking on behalf of its members, condemned the mutiny and called on the mutineers to lay down their arms, end the blood shed and restore constitutional order. He expressed appreciation for the diplomatic efforts by the Gambia and appealed for humanitarian aid for Guinea-Bissau.

On 3 July, the Economic Community of West African States (EGOWAS) set up a Committee of Seven, chaired by the Foreign Minister of Cote d'Ivoire to address the crisis. On the same day, the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) associated itself with the good offices initiative of Portugal and Angola and, on 17 July, set up a ministerial Contact Group, coordinated by the Foreign Minister of Cape Verde, to mediate in the conflict.

On 26 July, following negotiations held between the parties to the conflict under the auspices of the CPLP, representatives of the Government and the self-proclaimed military junta signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in which they agreed to an immediate truce, based on the principles of: recognition of the country's democratic institutions and their legal framework; cessation of hostilities; freezing of military positions; deployment of a military observer or an interpositional force; and the immediate opening of humanitarian corridors.

On 31 July, the Security Council held informal discussions on the situation in Guinea-Bissau with the Foreign Minister of Cape Verde, in its capacity as Coordinator of the Contact Group of the CPLP.

On that day, while welcoming the recent announcement of a truce in Guinea-Bissau and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the junta forces, under the auspices of the CPLP, the Secretary-General said he continued to be concerned about the situation in the country. He renewed his call for the early restoration of constitutional order and appealed to all parties to respect international humanitarian law and principles, and to make every effort to facilitate the free flow of humanitarian assistance to affected populations.

RELATED ARTICLE: Hundreds of Thousands Displaced; Malnutrition Threatens

Two weeks after the start of the rebellion in Guinea-Bissau, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees reported that most of the population had been forced to flee the capital of Bissau, and move towards Casamance - the southern region of Senegal. The displaced were estimated at about 300,000.

On 1 July, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that food needs in Guinea-Bissau were increasing. The WFP painted a grim picture of the food situation in two of the towns a United Nations team had visited. Two towns north-west of Bissau, the capital, had doubled in size with the influx of people fleeing the fighting.

The assessment of the humanitarian needs and issues of access of aid in Guinea-Bissau was made by a United Nations inter-agency humanitarian mission, which comprised representatives from the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator's Office, the WFP, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programmer (UNDP).

The mission evaluated the immediate humanitarian needs of those displaced by the fighting, concluding that "if the displaced people and the host families are not provided with immediate and sustained support, particularly emergency food aid, the already high incidence of malnutrition would be exacerbated".

On the basis of the evaluation of humanitarian needs, the United Nations issued an appeal on 10 July for $28.7 million to meet the requirements of 350,000 displaced people until December. The money would be used to provide food, water, basic sanitation and medical aid, as well as seeds and agricultural tools for the new planting season.

On 13 July, the Security Council was briefed on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country. On 15 July, the government of neighbouring Senegal authorized safe passage across its border for convoys carrying urgently needed humanitarian aid to wartorn Guinea-Bissau - the first aid convoy Senegal had allowed to cross the border in four weeks because of its own security concerns. A few days later, the Senegalese authorities allowed the opening of three humanitarian corridors, by sea and air from Dakar and by road into Guinea Bissau.

In welcoming the 26 July ceasefire, the WFP and other humanitarian organizations urged the Government and the rebels to guarantee safe passage of emergency food aid by land, air and sea to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict. Their concern was to reach an estimated 350,000 people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The WPF representative for Guinea-Bissau said: "The rainy season was starting, and we had no reserves to fall back on. We must resume full-scale operations as soon as we can."