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 183
05 - 11 July 2003


CONTENTS:

LIBERIA: New UN envoy, Taylor under pressure to leave
COTE D'IVOIRE: Displaced civilians return home in the west
GUINEA-BISSAU: West African union to help belated polls
NIGERIA: Former UN diplomat appointed foreign minister
NIGERIA: Unions end eight-day strike
MAURITANIA: US $39 m for HIV/AIDS and mining
MAURITANIA: New prime minister named
SENEGAL: Choloroquine anti-malaria treatment phased-out
WEST AFRICA: Security Council to recommend more help 


LIBERIA: New UN envoy, Taylor under pressure to leave

Attempts to resolve the Liberian crisis continued this week with UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointing Jacques Paul Klein, a senior US
diplomat and former head of the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as
his new special envoy to Liberia. Annan also requested all his staff, who
was evacuated last month, to return to the war-torn country.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced it would
send in 1,000 peacekeepers within two weeks to police a truce between the
warring parties in the country. It urged the US to lead a bigger force.

But speaking in South Africa on Wednesday President George Bush said the
US did not want to overstretch its troops. He however repeated his demand
that Liberian president Charles Taylor leave the country.

Taylor who met Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in the Liberian
capital, Monrovia, on Sunday has said he is willing to go to exile. But he
has not said when he might leave Monrovia.

Among other things, Taylor insists that he cannot leave until peacekeepers
arrive in Liberia "to prevent chaos". He also wants an indictment for war
crimes issued against him by a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone, for
allegedly supporting rebels to commit atrocities during civil war in that
country, to be lifted. But the court has vowed to follow him even when he
leaves Liberia so as to bring him to book.

On Friday a military team arrived in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, and was
due to meet ECOWAS officials to discuss US support to the West African
peacekeeping force in Liberia. Another 32-man US team had arrived in
Liberia on Monday to conduct humanitarian and military assessment.

Throughout the week, Monrovia's suburbs were tense, deserted but quiet in
the aftermath of fighting that neared the city's gates in early June.
Residents who fled their homes earlier remained apprehensive about
returning. Some of those who had returned found their homes vandalised and
properties looted.

However Liberia's only major referral hospital, the John F. Kennedy
Medical Center in the capital, Monrovia, could no longer contain the
influx of cholera patients, most of whom are internally displaced persons,
acting Minister of Health Nathaniel Bartee said on Wednesday.
 
At least five cases are being reported daily at the hospital, Bartee told
IRIN in Monrovia. At the Samuel Doe stadium where 10,000 displaced people
are sheltering in open air, at least 10 cases are reported weekly, since
rebels threatened to overrun Monrovia.

In Ghana, where Liberian parties were trying to discuss peace, delegates
shifted focus from discussing a peace agreement between the country's
warring parties, to intense negotiations over who should be in a
transitional government that is to replace Taylor.

But sharp disagreements and a wide diversity of views from the many groups
at the talks, made negotiations to replace him, as equally daunting as the
bid to secure the fragile cease-fire between the parties. The sticking
point was to secure a consensus on who heads an interim government after
Taylor's departure.

For detailed IRIN coverage of Liberia go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35320&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=LIBERIA


COTE D'IVOIRE: Displaced civilians return home in the west

Ivorians who fled the west of their country since fighting erupted between
government troops and rebels in September 2002, begun to emerge by the
hundreds from bushes where they had been living and return to their homes,
following the 4 July declaration that the country's civil war had ended.

Relief workers in western Cote d'Ivoire said they were bracing for the
returnees. However most of the children and women showed signs of
malnutrition, having spent days without proper meals and unable to grow
any food.

Cote d'Ivoire plunged into a civil war following a failed coup attempt on
19 September 2002. Rebels took control of the western areas until a
ceasefire agreement was signed in France in January, after which the
rebels joined government.

Meanwhile the evacuation of 776 third country nationals from western Cote
d'Ivoire picked up at the weekend with road convoys leaving the
southwestern town of Tabou on Saturday and the western towns of Duekoue
and Guiglo on Sunday. The convoy from Tabou repatriated 500 Burkina Faso
nationals via Ghana while that from Duekoue convoy transported 276
Ghanaians, 18 Nigerians and four Togolese, the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) said.

For IRIN coverage of Cote d'Ivoire go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35327&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE


GUINEA-BISSAU: West African economic union to help belated polls

The Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) said on Monday it
has given US $2.7 million for elections in Guinea-Bissau where a
thrice-postponed elections has been scheduled for 12 October. UEMOA
consists of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali,
Niger, Senegal and Togo.
 
The elections were scheduled for February but were postponed to April and
later to July. Following a visit by a UN mission two weeks ago, President
Kumba Yala set a new date. However the head of the National Electoral
Commission (CNE), Higinio Cardoso, said it could be difficult to complete
all the "necessary preparations" by October. Five opposition parties also
warned that conditions for "free and fair" elections did not exist in the
country yet.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35308&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA-BISSAU


NIGERIA: Former UN diplomat appointed foreign minister

President Olusegun Obasanjo named Oluyemi Adeniji, who was UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative to Sierra Leone, as
Foreign Minister in the first cabinet post he filled since re-election in
April. Adeniji was sworn into office on Tuesday morning. He immediately
embarked on his first official mission, flying out with the president to
attend the African Union summit in Maputo, Mozambique.

Adeniji was among 40 ministerial nominees whose names were submitted to
the Nigerian Senate for screening and approval. He was one of four sworn
in by Obasanjo on Tuesday, but the only one assigned a portfolio. The
screening process was scheduled to be concluded at the Senate this week.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35325&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGERIA


NIGERIA: Unions end eight-day strike

A crippling eight-day national strike was called off by Nigerian trade
unions on Tuesday. The strike, which was called to protest fuel price
increases, ended after the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
accepted a compromise offer by government of 34 naira (US $0.26) for a
litre of petrol or a 31 percent hike instead of the 54 percent increase
announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government on 20 June.

"Given the suffering and deprivation Nigerians have suffered within the
last few days, the NLC had a compelling duty to avail the people some
relief by suspending the strike," Adams Oshiomhole, president of the
umbrella union, said in a statement. At least 14 people were killed in
violence during the strike.

In a related development, armed Ijaw militants in Nigeria's volatile,
oil-producing Niger Delta freed three foreign oil workers seized off the
country's southern coast in June, officials said on Monday. The three,
including a German and two Filipinos, were released after two weeks in
captivity.

They were employees of SeaBulk Limited, which had been engaged by the US
oil service company Wilbros to work on Shell's Yokri gas project near its
Forcados export terminal. Their kidnappers had sent a ransom note to Shell
demanding a 25 million naira (US $196,850) ransom, plus a further 400,000
naira ($3,150) to cover the expenses of looking after their hostages.


For IRIN coverage of Nigeria go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Nigeria


MAURITANIA: US $39 m for HIV/AIDS and mining

The World Bank said on Tuesday it had approved a US $39 million financial
package for Mauritania to improve its mining industry and fight against
HIV/AIDS. The package consists of an $18 million credit for the mining
industry, which forms the backbone of the West African country's exports,
and a $21 million grant for fighting HIV/AIDS.

The grant for fighting HIV/AIDS, the bank said, will build responses to
the epidemic through a Multisector HIV/AIDS Control Project that will
enable Mauritania to expand community-based initiatives, mainstream
HIV/AIDS into activities of government departments, involve the private
sector, maintain infection levels below the prevalence rate of one percent
and reduce opportunistic infections.

Mauritania is a Sahelian country that bridges the Arab states of the
Mahgreb and the black nations of Sub-Saharan Africa. It experienced food
shortages this year and underlying political tensions led to a coup
attempt last month. A former French colony, it is an Islamic Republic that
uses Arabic as its official language, but maintains strong ties with
Israel and the USA.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35285&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=MAURITANIA


MAURITANIA: New prime minister named

Mauritanian President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya on Sunday named his
Justice Minister, Sghaier Ould Mbarek, as the new Prime Minister replacing
Cheikh El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna, the latest in a string of changes
within the ruling establishment since last month's failed coup.

Mbarek, a 56-year old lawyer who served before as health and social
affairs minister, education minister, rural development and environment
minister, was named in a decree signed by Taya in the capital, Nouakchott.
He replaced Khouma, who served as Prime in 1995-97 and again from 1998
till Sunday.

Meanwhile Mauritanians will have the opportunity to vote for the country's
first female presidential candidate, 43-year old businesswoman, Aicha Mint
Jiddana during presidential elections on 7 November. In a country where
women are restricted according to Islamic laws, her candidature is seen as
breaking a taboo.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35241&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=MAURITANIA


SENEGAL: Choloroquine anti-malaria treatment phased-out

Senegal is phasing out the use of choloroquine for treating malaria
following national surveys that found the drug ineffective in 50 percent
of cases studied, the head of the Senegalese National Anti-Malaria
Programme, Pape Amadou Diack, said. At least one million Senegalese suffer
from malaria a year, of whom 8,000 die. Most of these are children and
pregnant women.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), choloroquine is one of
the anti-malaria drugs that are losing their effectiveness worldwide.
Resistance to choloroquine, which is the cheapest and most widely used
anti-malarial drug, has become common throughout Africa. In Senegal, it
has grown ineffective against malaria over a 10-year period although it
had been widely used in the country for 50 years.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35264&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SENEGAL


WEST AFRICA: Security Council to recommend more help

A UN Security Council mission that visited six West African countries from
25 June-5 July, said the mission gave "greater momentum" to try and
resolve some of the problems on the region. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock
of the United Kingdom, who led the mission, said in the Sierra Leonean
capital, Freetown, that they would recommend the need for stronger and
more consistent international help to West Africa.

The UN, he said, could "help with questions of economic and social
development, conflict resolution and flow of arms, the recruitment of
child soldiers and the distressing conditions of women, families and
children in areas of conflict." The mission visited Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=35243&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=WEST_AFRICA


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

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