U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 162
08 - 14 February 2003


CONTENTS:

COTE D IVOIRE: Efforts to seek peace continue despite rebel threats
LIBERIA: Fighting spread to the southwest
TOGO: Support for drive against child trafficking, new electoral code
BURKINA FASO: WHO to provide meningitis vaccine
WEST AFRICA: WHO needs funds for regional health action plan
MAURITANIA: DFID, Red Cross respond to food emergency 
NIGERIA: Court strikes out case against Obasanjo
WESTERN SAHARA: Polisario frees 100 Moroccan prisoners
SIERRA LEONE: UN forces in joint border patrol with national army
NIGER-NIGERIA: Light from Nigeria for towns in Niger


COTE D'IVOIRE: Efforts to seek peace continue despite rebel threats

Efforts to bring peace to Cote d'Ivoire continued this week even as rebels
threatened to resume fighting if they were not included in a new
government of national unity by 17 February. On Friday, the rebel leaders
were scheduled to meet Prime Minister-designate Seydou Elimane Diarra in
Accra, Ghana.

Earlier in the week, loyalist and rebel forces clashed in Toulepleu, about
15 km inside the border with Liberia.

The clashes coincided with a Monday summit in the capital, Yamoussoukro,
of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Contact Group on
Cote d'Ivoire. The summit discussed the implementation of accords
concluded on 24 January by various Ivorian parties in Linas-Marcoussis,
France. The rebels did not attend the meeting which brought together the
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, Diarra, presidents John Kufuor of Ghana,
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, South African
Vice President Jacob Zuma, the interim executive secretary of the African
Union, Amara Essy, and the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to
West Africa, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah.

Diarra arrived in Abidjan on Tuesday to continue the difficult task of
forming a new government.
  
A committee which is to oversee the implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis
accord began sitting this week following the arrival in Abidjan of some of
its members, including Albert Tevoedjre, special envoy of UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan for Cote d'Ivoire and Lansana Kouyate,
special envoy of the Organisation international de la Francophonie (OIF,
the organisation of French-speaking nations).

Tevoedjre, who was appointed on 7 February, is a 73-year-old diplomat,
former minister of Benin and university professor. Kouyate is a former
executive secretary of ECOWAS, and a former Under-Secretary-General of the
United Nations.

Meanwhile, France increased by 450 the number of soldiers it has stationed
in Cote d'Ivoire, bringing them to around 3,000. Their mandate includes
protecting French and other foreign nationals and acting as a buffer
between the rebels and government forces pending the completion of the
deployment of West African troops. The US State Department sent 10 men to
Abidjan to beef up security at its embassy.

For detailed IRIN coverage of the Ivorian crisis go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Cote_d_Ivoire


LIBERIA: Fighting spread south west

Fighting between Liberian government forces and rebels of the Liberians
United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) spread on Wednesday from
western and northern regions to the southwestern Atlantic port of
Robertsport, 78 km west of the capital, Monrovia. The town is the
provincial capital of Grand Cape Mount County and is strategic because it
would give the LURD access to the sea for possible movement of supplies
and open up a new frontline near the border with Sierra Leone.

Displaced persons continued to arrive at camps around Monrovia, mainly
from Kley and Dewoin districts in Bomi County, which is next to Grand Cape
Mount. Since 3 February, at least 15,000 new arrivals had been registered
in camps for the displaced (IDPs). Humanitarian sources said residents of
the towns of Sinje, Tienne and Bo Waterside, caught behind the frontline,
may have crossed into Sierra Leone.

On Saturday, the Liberian government said that it was searching for land
from private owners in Monrovia to settle people displaced by the
fighting. The executive director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and
Resettlement Commission, Sam Brown, told IRIN that all existing camps were
full, but new IDPs continued to flock to them.

For IRIN stories on renewed fighting in Liberia go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Liberia


TOGO: Support for drive against child trafficking, new electoral code
  
The US Department of Labour has donated US $2 million to CARE
International for a project aimed at fighting child trafficking in Togo by
promoting the education of children. The four-year project seeks to
increase awareness of child trafficking and the importance of education,
and upgrade halfway houses for trafficked children so that they can become
formal professional training centres. The initiative will also back
preventive measures aimed at keeping vulnerable children in school. It
will support institutions and policies aimed at reducing child
trafficking, and help make intervention programmes sustainable. The
project known as Combat was launched on 5 February.

Meanwhile a new electoral code that transfers responsibility for preparing
and organising elections from Togo's Independent National Elections
Commission (CENI - Commission électorale nationale independante) to the
Ministry of the Interior was adopted by the Togolese parliament on
Thursday. The code reduces the membership of the CENI from 10 to nine,
with the ruling coalition and opposition represented by four members each,
instead of five as previously obtained. The ninth commissioner will be the
president of the Lome Court of Appeal, who will cast the deciding vote in
the event of a deadlock in the commission. Under the new dispensation, the
CENI's members will be appointed by the National Assembly - in which the
ruling party has an overwhelming majority - and will be sworn in by the
Constitutional Court.

For IRIN stories on Togo go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Togo


BURKINA FASO: WHO to provide meningitis vaccine

The World Health Organisation is to provide Burkina Faso with 500,000
doses of vaccines against a new strain of meningitis, W135. A first
shipment of 100,000 doses was expected soon in the capital, Ouagadougou,
WHO officials told IRIN this week. The W135 strain killed 244 people out
of 1349 infected in the 2002-2003 meningitis season. On Friday, the
Burkinabe health ministry reported 369 cases of meningitis, including 58
deaths, between 26 January and 2 February.

The expected vaccines are part of the response to new outbreaks of
meningitis by WHO and its partners in the International Coordinating Group
on Vaccine Provision for Epidemic Meningitis Control. Three million doses
of the W135 vaccine will also be made available to the 21 countries in
Africa's meningitis belt, which stretches from Ethiopia in the east to
Senegal in the west.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32214&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BURKINA_FASO


WEST AFRICA: WHO needs funds for regional health action plan

Following a meeting of West African regional health officials in Accra,
Ghana, WHO announced a regional health action plan to alleviate suffering
in crisis-torn West African countries. The plan includes enhanced
co-ordination, health assessments and disease surveillance. It focuses on
emergency response, including the training of health workers, surveillance
of the population's nutritional status and the provision of essential
drugs and vaccines. The Accra meeting was part of a UN situation-analysis
mission led by Carolyn McAskie, the UN Secretary General's Humanitarian
Envoy for the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire.
 
For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32216&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=WEST_AFRICA


MAURITANIA: DFID, Red Cross respond to food emergency

Food shortages continued to affect hundreds of thousands of people in the
Sahel region, prompting the British Department for International
Development (DFID) to announce a contribution of one million pounds (over
US $1.6 million) for a World Food Programme emergency operation in
Mauritania and four other countries in the Western Sahel. DFID also gave
570,000 pounds (US$930,000) to OXFAM for food aid targeting 36,280 people
in Mauritania.

For its part, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies has launched an initial appeal for one million Swiss francs in
response to the worsening food situation in Mauritania. Some 18,000 people
are targeted over three months in the hard-hit regions of Adrar, Trarza
and Inchiri.

At least 750,000 people have been affected by food shortages in
Mauritania. In September 2002, the government made an urgent appeal for
38,000 mt of grain and 14,000 mt of complementary materials to provide
emergency relief for people threatened by severe shortages.

For the full story go to:
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32212&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=MAURITANIA


NIGERIA: Court strikes out case against Obasanjo

A court in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Monday struck out a lawsuit
challenging President Olusegun Obasanjo's nomination as candidate of the
ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) for presidential elections in
April-May.

Alex Ekwueme, a former civilian vice president, had claimed that
Obasanjo's election on 5 January at the PDP primaries violated party
regulations. Justice Ishak Bello, while observing that there were good
grounds for the suit, agreed with the president's counsel that it was
marred by procedural errors.

For the full story go to:  
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32213&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGERIA


WESTERN SAHARA: Polisario frees 100 Moroccan prisoners

The Polisario Front, which has fought a 27-year war for the independence
of Western Sahara from Morocco reported on Monday that it had freed 100
Moroccans prisoners of war. The move was welcomed by external observers,
including France, Spain and the UN.

Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, was occupied by Morocco in 1975
when Spain pulled out. The invasion led the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Saguia-el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) to take up
arms to fight for the independence of the territory. In 1991, Polisario
and Morocco signed a ceasefire agreement, paving the way for UN
intervention but a planned referendum to determine the future of the
territory has still not been held and armed skirmishes have continued.

About 110,000 to 155,000 Sahrawi, as the people of Western Sahara are
called, live as refugees in southern Algeria. Refugees International
reported on Tuesday that the Sahrawi, who have been refugees for 28 years
in one of the harshest desert environments on earth, face serious food and
water shortages. Almost half their children are anemic, many are stunted
and 13 percent are acutely malnourished. Yet their plight has not
attracted much international attention, RI said in a report titled:
"Forgotten People: The Sahrawis of Western Sahara".

"As if food shortages were not enough, the lack of water and inadequate
water distribution pose serious problems for the Sahrawis," RI said. It
said only two of the four camps for Sahrawi refugees, all located in
Algeria, had access to their own water, while water had to be trucked to
the other two camps. Most of the refugees live in the camps, which are
near Tindouf, an oasis town in southern Algeria.

For IRIN coverage of the Western Sahara conflict go to:
http://www.irinnews.org&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=WESTERN_SAHARA


SIERRA LEONE: UN forces in joint border patrol with national army

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has conducted its
first joint border patrol with the Sierra Leonean Armed Forces (RSLAF).
The three-day exercise, which began on 8 February, was conducted in the
northern district of Kambia. A platoon of the UNAMSIL Kenyan Battalion
peacekeepers based in the town of Masiaka, and a platoon from the RSLAF's
Force Reconnaissance Unit jointly planned and conducted the three-day
patrol along the border with Guinea.

The full story is available at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32279&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SIERRA_LEONE


NIGER-NIGERIA: Light from Nigeria for towns in Niger

Work on a project to provide towns in Niger with electricity from
neighbouring Nigeria was launched on Tuesday. The project involves
extending an electricity network that connects the southern town of Maradi
to Nigeria so that it covers the region of Tahoua, in east central Niger.

Chetimari in Diffa Region, eastern Niger, is to be connected to Damassak
in northern Nigeria by another network under the scheme, known as the
Projet de Développement du réseau électrique interconnecté du Niger (DREIN
- Project for the Development of Niger's Interconnected Electric Network).
The project will cost 9.5 billion CFA francs (about US $15.5 million).

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=32260&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGER-NIGERIA


IRIN-WA
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Fax: +225 22-41-9339
Email: IRIN-WA@irin.ci

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