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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 201
8 - 14 November 2003


CONTENTS:

ABIDJAN, 14 November (IRIN) - Contents:
LIBERIA: Relief agencies resumed activities in Nimba County
COTE D'IVOIRE: Accra bears no fruit, UN extends mission
GUINEA: Conte to run virtually unchallenged
MAURITANIA: Haidallah still in detention
NIGERIA: Agreement with Italy to combat human trafficking
MALI: WFP starts school canteens
NIGER: Authorities continue media crackdown

LIBERIA:  Relief agencies resume activities in Nimba County

The United Nations on Thursday dispatched a convoy loaded with
humanitarian aid to the town of Saclepea, 285 north of Monrovia in Nimba
county, to assist some of the more than 10,000 people displaced by recent
fighting in the area between government fighters loyal to former president
Charles Taylor and rebels.

At the same time, in the southern port city of Buchanan, 120 km from
Monrovia, the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) started disarming hundreds of
rebel fighters who have been involved in skirmishes there. UNMIL Force
Commander General Daniel Opande who visited Buchanan on Thursday told the
fighters to immediately cease hostilities and await demobilisation that
starts on 7 December.

On Wednesday, the deputy head of the UNMIL, Souren Seraydarian, had told
reporters that after that would be no amnesty for war crimes committed by
fighters after 8 October when Liberia ratified the convention on the
International Criminal Court.

The tough UN stance against recent clashes came as it was announced that a
US $177 million appeal for humanitarian activities in Liberia in 2004 will
be launched on 19 November. The acting head of the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ahunna Eziakonwa, told a group of
visiting Abidjan-based diplomats that $40 million would be earmarked for
emergency food aid and $137 million will go towards a variety of other
relief projects including health, education agriculture, as well as to
support disarmament and demobilisation of fighters.


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

COTE D'IVOIRE: Accra bears no fruit, UN extends mission

The latest effort by the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) to revive Cote d'Ivoire's peace efforts on Tuesday failed to
achieve a breakthrough. The meeting had been called to put back on tracks
the peace process, which has been derailed by mutual distrust and failure
to implement a January peace accord.

Despite the latest setback, the United Nations on Thursday extended for
three months its mission in Cote d'Ivoire. The Security Council repeated
the need to "implement fully the content of the Linas Marcoussis
agreement", and called on the rebel forces to resume their participation
in government.

On 23 September, the rebels, who occupy nine seats in a government of
national unity, walked out, accusing Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo of
sabotaging peace efforts.

Neither Ivorian rebels nor the political parties who signed the January
agreement were not invited to the meeting.

The final communiqué said Togo and Niger had agreed to provide an extra 80
gendarmes to act as bodyguards for ministers in the government of national
reconciliation.

The UN extension coincided with a 24-hour visit by Romano Prodi, the
president of the European Union, who said "time was running out against
Cote d'Ivoire" and the European Union will continue to withhold 400
million euros until there was "progress" in peace efforts.

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

GUINEA: Conte to run virtually unchallenged

Guinea's ailing president, Lansana Conte, will virtually run unchallenged
in the country's December presidential elections as the only approved
challenger is a member of a small, unknown party which supports Conte's
party.

The lone challenger remained Mamadou Bhoye Barry of the Union for National
Progress after the Supreme Court disqualified six other candidates for
various technicalities.

Even before they were even disqualified, opposition leaders such former
Prime Minister Sidya Toure and long-time opposition leaders Alpha Conde,
Ba Mamadou and Jean-Marie Dore had announced earlier this month that they
would not take part in the election, saying there was a lack of
transparency in the organisation of the polls.

Dore was arrested on Thursday in Conakry following a radio interview.

In health news, the United Nations, the ministry of health and several
non-governmental organisations launched on Sunday a campaign to immunise
3.5 million Guinean children under the age of 14 years old against
measles. The campaign, which ends on Saturday, also aims to provide 1.6
million doses of Vitamin A supplement to children under five years old.

The number of measles cases in Guinea has dropped sharply over the last
two years from 11,294 cases in 2000 to 2,151 cases in 2002 as a result of
vaccination campaigns.

MAURITANIA: Haidallah still in detention

Former president and runner-up in last week's election Mohamed Khouna Ould
Haidallah, and five members of his campaign staff, remained in detention
on Friday, five days after being arrested for plotting to overthrow the
government.

Haidallah was arrested on Sunday morning, less than 12 hours after
official election results showed that incumbent president Maaouya Ould
Sid'Ahmed Taya had won with 66 percent of votes and would run this Islamic
country for another six years.

The opposition said that the polls were fraudulent and has rejected the
final results. Haidallah, a former army colonel who was ousted by Taya in
a coup d'etat in 1984, was placed second with 18 percent of votes.

The 7 November polls were placed in jeopardy for one day earlier Haidallah
had been arrested for, according to the government, plotting a coup.
According to political observers, he was released so that voting could
take place as the Mauritanian constitution stipulates that voting cannot
proceed when one of the candidates is "prevented" from competing.

Two of Haidallah's sons, who were arrested last week, as at Friday were
also in detention.

On Thursday, the parliament voted to lift the immunity of one of its
member and a Haidallah advisor, Ismaela Ould Amar, paving way for charges
to be brought against him. The voting took place while Ould Amar was
already in jail.

A new government is expected to be announced by the end of the week.

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

NIGERIA: Agreement with Italy to combat human trafficking

Nigeria and Italy signed on Tuesday an agreement to combat human
trafficking, an illegal phenomenon which has landed thousands of Nigerian
women into Italy to work as prostitutes and domestic hands.

Under the agreement, both countries will exchange information on the
activities of traffickers, while Italy will also provide training for
Nigerian law enforcement agencies to improve their expertise in dealing
with issues related to trafficking.

Between 2000-2002, about 3,591 women forced into the sex industry in Italy
were included in social protection schemes. Of these, 1,895 of them have
been issued permits to stay. A further 14,378 women victims of human
trafficking have received social support.

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

MALI: WFP starts school canteens

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has signed a five-year deal worth about
US $17 million to provide school meals for more than 88,000 children in
poor rural areas of Mali.

The agreement, signed on Wednesday, provides for the supply of 29,485
tonnes of food, cooking utensils and de-worming tablets to schools in poor
rural areas across the country where food at home is often scarce.

In most of the schools affected, the children will receive one meal a day,
but the programme provides for 10,000 children from nomad communities to
receive two.

WFP launched its first school-feeding programme in Mali in 1998.

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

NIGER: First AIDS clinic opened

The government of Niger and the local Red Cross have been running, since
last month, the country's first specialist out-patient clinic for
HIV/AIDS.

The clinic, located in the capital Niamey, has been providing AIDS
testing, medical treatment and psychological support for AIDS patients.

Authorities hope to set up more centers across this landlocked, Islamic
country, but for now, the Niamey clinic will be used as an experiment to
assess and gauge public response, they said.

A survey conducted in 2002, which was supported by the UN Joint Programme
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), concluded that there was an HIV prevalence rate of
0.87 percent in Niger. That indicates that about 80,000 people of the
country's 11 million population are carriers of the virus.

The survey noted a strong prevalence of HIV infection among truck drivers,
commercial sex workers, inmates and migrant workers returning from
countries with higher prevalence rates.

HIV infection rates of up to 50 percent have been noted among prostitutes
in the provincial towns of Dinkou, Tahoua Komabangou north of Niamey.

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


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