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 194
20 - 26 September 2003


CONTENTS:

NIGERIA: Woman saved from stoning to death
COTE D'IVOIRE: Tension builds up again
LIBERIA: One rebel group says it stopped fighting
GUINEA-BISSAU: Disagreement over prime minister
GAMBIA: Detained journalist released
SENEGAL: Rare death sentence
BURKINA FASO: Railway to Abidjan reopens
WEST AFRICA: Bumper grain harvest expected in Sahel 
GUINEA: Sick president in surprise foreign visit
AFRICA: Universities urged to raise HIV/AIDS awareness


NIGERIA: Woman saved from stoning to death

An Islamic appeal court in Nigeria saved a single mother from being stoned
to death when it overturned her conviction for adultery on Thursday. The
court in Katsina State, northern Nigeria, acquitted 32-year-old Amina
Lawal, who was sentenced to death by a lower Islamic court last year for
having a baby out of wedlock.

The case had aroused an international outcry with European Union
governments and international human rights activists urging Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo to intervene in the case.

Hauwa Ibrahim, the lawyer representing Lawal, told reporters: "This is a
victory for justice and the rule of law."
 
However the police in Katsina braced for a possible backlash from Muslims
in the conservative and deeply religious state after Thursday's ruling.
Katsina is one of Nigeria's 12 northern states that have adopted the
Islamic law over the last four years.

Lawal is one of five people to be sentenced to death by stoning for
adultery in Nigeria over the past three years. She was freed as another
Shariah court in Bauchi state in northeastern Nigeria sentenced a man to
death by stoning for sodomy.

Meanwhile oil was spilling from a broken pipeline in the Niger delta for
several days, polluting the farmland, fishing grounds and drinking water
of five villages. The pipeline, carrying crude oil from wells to a
collection centre in the Gbarain oilfield was ruptured last week 13 km
from the town of Yenagoa in Bayelsa state, by an excavator. Five people
were killed when the oil caught fire.

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


COTE D'IVOIRE: Tension builds up again

Rebels in Cote d'Ivoire pulled out of a government of national unity and
retreated to their stronghold in the north. The rebels' decision to
suspend their participation in the cabinet and block progress on
disarmament, dashed hopes that the government would restore its authority
in the rebel-controlled north.

The nine rebel ministers accused President Laurent Gbagbo of failing to
give the government of national reconciliation, headed by independent
prime minister Seydou Diarra, the full powers it was supposed to enjoy
under the terms of a French-brokered peace agreement signed in January

On Thursday, the rebels refused to meet a UN special envoy to discuss
their grievances. Diplomats fear that if the country remains divided for
much longer it could suffer permanent partition, although the rebels have
consistently denied plans to declare a separate state in the north.

Cote d'Ivoire, the most prosperous country in West Africa, is a former
French colony. France has 4,000 peacekeeping troops stationed in the
country to keep the government and rebel forces apart.

Gbagbo reacted to the rebel withdrawal by insulting them. "We have a team
of 40 people, but there are only five or six or at the most 10 ministers
who really work and make the government move forward."

The rebels, now known as "The New Forces" were due to have begun a process
of demobilisation and disarmament on 1 August. This would have allowed the
government to restore its administration to the entire country and reopen
closed schools, hospitals and banks. But disarmament was held up pending
the passage of an amnesty law and the appointment of ministers to the
vacant portfolios of defence and internal security.

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


LIBERIA: One rebel group says it stopped fighting

A week after the United Nations approved a 15,000 strong peacekeeping
force for Liberia (to be known as UNMIL), the leader of the main rebel
group, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)
returned from exile in Guinea to declare his group had formally ended
hostilities.

"The LURD has decided to end all hostilities. We are not prepared to fight
anymore," LURD chairman Sekou Conneh told reporters on Tuesday night. He
admitted that some skirmishes were continuing between his fighters and
government troops in the north, but added this would stop.

Dressed in white and referring to himself as a "liberator", the 42-year
old warlord said he had no regrets about launching the war, in which
thousands have keen killed, raped and harassed and half a million have
been displaced from their homes.

Meanwhile the UN said up to 15,000 child soldiers have been conscripted to
fight for government militia groups and rebel movements in Liberia over
the last 14 years.
 
"While estimates of the number of child soldiers vary greatly, possibly as
many as 15,000, these young boys and girls are a priority target group for
the humanitarian community and a key element in long-term success of the
overall peace process," Ross Mountain, the UN Special Humanitarian
Coordinator for Liberia said on Tuesday.

"Many of these children have never been to school before. Many are
severely traumatized by the horrors of war, they have themselves been
subjected to abuse, and have virtually no means with which to support
themselves outside their existing 'rebel' structures," Mountain added.

The use of child soldiers began when former President Charles Taylor
created a Small Boys Unit as part of his guerrilla force which took up
arms against the regime of Samuel Doe in 1989. Many of Taylor's personal
bodyguards at that time were young boys of about 10.

Meanwhile the UN children's fund (UNICEF) on Thursday launched a US $7
million emergency appeal to put 750,000 children back into school quickly
and demobilise the 15,000 child soldiers.

Cyrille Niameogo, UNICEF Country Representative in Liberia, said the
country's 14 years of civil war had displaced a million people. At the
same time, 75 percent of Liberia's physical infrastructure had been
destroyed, triggering a collapse of basic social services such as health
and education.

On Monday, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
reported that both of Liberia's rebel movements were subjecting civilians
to forced labour. It also cited reports that some civilians near the
LURD-held town of Gbarnga, 150 km north of Monrovia, had died of
starvation.

OCHA Guinea reported from Conakry that recent fighting between government
and LURD forces south of Gbarnga had forced 5,500 civilians to flee into
nearby Guinea between 29 August and 18 September.

Relief agencies said earlier that more than 50,000 people fled south from
the same clashes towards the Liberian towns of Salala and Kakata and the
capital Monrovia. They however returned following the deployment of
peacekeepers into the area.

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


SENEGAL: Rare death sentence

The debate over capital punishment in Senegal was revived this week when a
local court sentenced to death an armed robber. No-one has been executed
in the West African state since 1967, when two people were sent to the
firing squad, one for attempting to assassinate the then president,
Leopold Senghor, the other for killing a member of parliament.

This week a court in Dakar sentenced to death Abdoualaye Diagne, an armed
robber nicknamed "Foreman," who stabbed a young soldier in the throat to
steal his belongings on 28 August 1993 on Monday. The International
Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), a Dakar-based human rights
organisations urged the government to reprieve Diagne and abolish the
death penalty once and for all.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36792&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=SENEGAL


GAMBIA: Detained journalist released

The Gambian authorities released on Monday Abdoulaye Sey, editor of The
Independent newspaper, after questioning him for three days about an
article critical of President Yahya Jammeh. Several media watchdog
organisations criticised Sey's arrest and demanded his release.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said: "We fear he has been arrested
because of his work as a journalist."

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) said it was deeply worried
about the deteriorating state of press freedom in the Gambia, a former
British colony of 700,000 people.

The issue of press freedom has been a hot topic in the Gambia since a new
law was passed in 2002, conferring wide-ranging powers of sanction and
closure on a government-controlled Media Commission. Its members are
appointed by the president.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36774&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GAMBIA


GUINEA-BISSAU: Disagreement over prime minister

Nearly two weeks after a military junta toppled President Kumba Yala of
Guinea-Bissau, disagreement continued over who should become prime
minister with the military insisting on Tuesday that Antonio Artur Sanha
should be given the job. Sanha's appointment is opposed by 15 of the 17
political parties which have been holding talks with the country's
military leaders.

All agreed however, with the junta's choice of Henrique Rosa, a respected
businessman who was head of the National Electoral Commission during
Guinea-Bissau's first multi-party elections in 1994, as president of the
interim government.

On Friday a group of unidentified men attacked an army barracks in Mansoa,
60 km east of the capital Bissau, in an apparent attempt to seize control
of its armoury. The attackers were beaten off after a three-hour exchange
of heavy gunfire

The junta is led by General Verissimo Correia Seabra. It toppled Yala in a
bloodless coup on 14 September to prevent this former colony of 1.3
million people from sliding into political and administrative chaos.

Yala, elected by a majority in 2000 alienated most of his former
supporters. He dissolved parliament in November 2002 after it passed a
vote of no confidence in him and then delayed fresh parliamentary
elections four times. Yala engaged in endless cabinet reshuffles and
failed to pay soldiers, civil servants, teachers and hospital workers
several months of pay arrears.

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


BURKINA FASO: Railway to Abidjan reopens

A year after train services between land-locked Burkina Faso and the
Ivorian port of Abidjan were disrupted by an outbreak of civil war in Cote
d'Ivoire, trains resumed plying the route on the weekend. Burkina Faso
relies on the 1,150 km long rail link from Abidjan to Ouagadougou to carry
most of its external trade. The line is also used by its landlocked
neighbours Niger and Mali to import fuel.

Railway workers in Abidjan told IRIN that the first train which reached
Bobo Dioulasso on Sunday carried 3,000 MT fertiliser, cement and rice.
Benoit Ouattara, Burkina Faso's Minister of Industry and Small Enterprises
however said that 25,000 MT of goods were still stuck in the port of
Abidjan waiting to be transported to Burkina Faso.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36728&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BURKINA_FASO


WEST AFRICA: Bumper grain harvest expected in Sahel

The Interstate Committee to Combat Drought in the Sahel (French acronym,
CILSS), estimated that grain production in Sahelian countries would be
between 10.25 million and 13.7 million tonnes in the 2003/2004
agricultural year, thanks to higher rainfall. This would be a 20 percent
increase in production from last year.

However CILSS said governments should take measures to prevent the entire
crop hitting the market at once. Too much grain swamping the market would
lead to a sharp fall in producer prices that would damage farm incomes, it
warned.

"If the good bio-physical conditions experienced since the beginning of
the planting season are maintained, if pests are controlled and if the
rainy season finishes normally in the agricultural areas of the
sub-region, grain production for the current year will be good," CILSS
said in a statement from its headoffice in Niamey, Niger.

CILSS member states are Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Gambia,
Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36727&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=WEST_AFRICA


GUINEA: Sick president in suprise foreign visit

President Lansana Conte flew to Italy, officially to seek support for the
Guinea's agricultural sector. However Conte's surprise departure on his
first overseas trip for a year led to renewed speculation about his ailing
health. In December the president admitted publicly that he was unwell.

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


AFRICA: Universities urged to raise HIV/AIDS awareness
 
Education experts on Wednesday said that HIV/AIDS awareness ought to be be
integrated into the curriculum in African universities. They said at a
conference of the Association of African Universities (AAU) in the
Ghanaian capital, Accra that prevalance rates amongst students are usually
higher than the national average, since most students are young, sexually
active people aged 19 to 25.

AAU supports HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in six universities and
colleges with grants of US $10,000 each. These are the University of
Botswana, Nkumba University in Uganda, Mombasa Polytechnic in Kenya,
Highridge College in Kenya, Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in
Rwanda and University of Lome in Togo.

For the full story go to:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=36824&SelectRegion=Africa&SelectCountry=AFRICA


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Email: IRIN-WA@irin.ci

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