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 219
13-19 March 2004


CONTENTS:

COTE D'IVOIRE: Political turmoil worries EU
GHANA: National health insurance scheme launched
GHANA: Ghana: New voter register seeks to eliminate fraud
BURKINA FASO: Alleged coup plotters face military court next month 
NIGERIA: Polio vaccine passes test, but Kano rejects findings
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Concern over the plight of African migrants
LIBERIA: One million children vaccinated against measles
LIBERIA-SIERRA LEONE: Taylor's lawyers sue special court
NIGER: Government reports clashes with Islamic militants
WEST AFRICA: Strengthening regional security


COTE D'IVOIRE: Political turmoil worries EU

The European Union has called on all political forces in Cote d'Ivoire to
avoid any acts liable to worsen the socio-political situation following a
rise in tension in the West African nation.

In a statement issued on Thursday, EU ambassadors called on political
forces to stay the course of national reconciliation and disarmament,
outlined in the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement, a peace accord signed in Paris
in January 2003. They said there was an "urgent" need for the state-owned
broadcaster, RTI, to broadcast throughout the country, for political
parties to participate fully in government, and for proposed bills on
nationality and land ownership to be voted on in the national assembly.

"These three elements would contribute to building the confidence of the
international community", the statement said, ahead of the deployment of
UN peacekeepers in the West African nation, which is scheduled to start
next month.

The EU statement followed a rise in political tension which began on 4
March, when the Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI) suspended its
participation in the national reconciliation government. The PDCI said it
was withdrawing because the government was "malfunctioning" and because
President Laurent Gbagbo was using "underhand tactics" to undermine the
authority of its ministers.

The tension has been fuelled by reports this week in major dailies
alleging that another coup d'etat may have been in the offing in the
country, which experienced its first military overthrow in December 1999.
According to the dailies, several men had been held for questioning in
connection with the alleged plot.

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


GHANA: National health insurance scheme launched

Ghana's President John Kufuor launched on Thursday a National Insurance
Health Scheme designed to provide affordable medical care, especially for
the poor and vulnerable among Ghana's 19 million people.

Adult Ghanaians are to pay a monthly minimum subscription of six thousand
Ghanaian cedis (US $0.66). The state will cater for health treatment for
the aged, the poor as well as children of parents who both subscribe to
the scheme.

Ghana has operated a cost-recovery health delivery system known as the
'cash-and-carry' system since 1985, whereby patients are required to pay
up-front for health services at government clinics and hospitals. This
has, however, pushed health care far beyond the reach of the ordinary
Ghanaian.

According to the Ministry of Health, it will cost the government up to US$
13 million annually to replace the 'cash-and-carry' system and finance
health care in public facilities.

The week was also marked by the Electoral Commission on Tuesday beginning
a two-week voter listing exercise in 21,000 registration centres
nationwide to prepare a new voter's register and supply all voters with a
picture identity card ahead of December presidential and parliamentary
elections.

"We want to eliminate the possibilities of fraud and build confidence in
our electoral systems. That is why we are insisting on a register and
voter's identity card complete with the holder's picture," a Director at
the Electoral Commission, Henry Okyne told IRIN.

The new register will replace previous registers and for the first time in
Ghana's history, each registered voter will be issued with a picture voter
identity cards.

For IRIN coverage of Ghana please go to
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=40136&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GHANA

  
BURKINA FASO: Alleged coup plotters face military court on April 6

Thirteen alleged coup plotters are scheduled to appear on 6 April before a
military court in Burkina Faso, state prosecutor Abdoulaye Barry said on
Monday at a press conference.

He said four of the 17 original suspects were released last Friday. The
others - 11 soldiers and two civilians - face prison terms of five to 20
years for plotting against, and endangering the security of the state.

The alleged mastermind of the coup, Captain Luther Wali Diapagri, is also
charged with "treason". He is accused of having received financial and
logistical support from neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire and Togo.

In health news, meningitis has killed 403 people between 1 January and 7
March 2004 in Burkina Faso, where 2,060 cases of the disease have been
reported, health officials said this week in the capital, Ouagadougou.

Dr Souleymane Sanou, head of the Diseases Control Directorate (DLM), told
IRIN that health authorities had appealed for donations of a new trivalent
meningitis vaccine, which targets existing African strains of the disease
as well as the new W135 bacterial strain. No supplies of the trivalent
vaccine, which retails for around US$12 per shot, are available in Burkina
Faso.

A special consortium made up of the World Health Organization, UNICEF,
International Red Cross, Crescent Societies and Doctors without Borders
has stocks of some six million doses of the vaccine. Countries can make
applications for the consortium to provide the trivalent vaccine only when
epidemic conditions have been reached and tests prove that the W135 strain
has been detected.

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


NIGERIA: Polio vaccine passes test but Kano rejects findings

President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday released the results of a
month-long investigation into polio vaccines used in Nigeria, saying they
proved the vaccines were safe despite allegations to the contrary in the
north of the country. However, the government of Kano State, which
suspended polio immunisations last year, rejected the findings of the
study.

Muslim preachers in northern Nigeria have alleged that the vaccines were
laced with cancer-causing substances, HIV and hormones that cause
sterility, and that they were part of a Western plot to lower the
population of Muslims. Kano's government said investigations by its own
panel of scientists had shown that the vaccines contained trace levels of
oestrogen, which they said could depress fertility in women.

A spokesman for Kano's government, Sule Ya'u Sule, told IRIN the state
would continue with its own plans to procure alternative vaccines from
trusted sources in Muslim countries in Asia before rejoining an ongoing
campaign to immunise 63 million children in West and Central Africa.

However, Mohammed Maccido, Sultan (traditional ruler) of Sokoto and leader
of Nigeria's Muslims, said he accepted the conclusions of the report.
Maccido urged all Muslims to take their children for immunisation during
next week's vaccinations.

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


EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Concern over the plight of African migrants

There was concern in West African capitals this week over the fate of
African migrants in Equatorial Guinea, following reports that many had
been detained by security forces in the aftermath of an alleged coup plot.

Ghana's government approved the evacuation of its nationals, set up a task
force for this purpose and deployed aircraft and ships to bring its people
home. Nigeria sent a ship to Equatorial Guinea while Cameroon temporarily
recalled its ambassador following the expulsion of over 500 of its
citizens. Cameroon's government said many of its nationals had been
victims of atrocities.

Security forces in Equatorial Guinea started cracking down on "illegal
immigrants" around 7 March as reports surfaced that foreign nationals were
involved in a plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The plot reportedly involved 67 alleged mercenaries arrested on 7 March in
Harare, when their plane landed there. The arrested men were to have
linked up with other soldiers of fortune, including 15 detainees arrested
in Malabo, Equato-Guinean authorities alleged.

http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Equatorial_Guinea


LIBERIA: One million children vaccinated against measles

One million children between the ages of six months and five years have
been vaccinated against measles under a campaign begun about nine months
ago, health authorities said this week.

The joint campaign, involving the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), World
Health Organisation (WHO) and the Liberian Health Ministry, started in
June 2003, the three institutions said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said 1.3 million to 1.5 million children had been targeted in the
exercise, which is intended to save the lives of up to 10,000 children
under five years old in the next four years.

However, no vaccinations were carried out in the northern county of Lofa,
which bore the brunt of Liberia's years-long war, and where no children
have been immunised in four years. According to the statement, plans are
being made to carry out immunisations in Lofa.

http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Liberia


LIBERIA-SIERRA LEONE: Taylor's lawyers sue special court

Lawyers representing former Liberian president Charles Taylor said they
had filed a petition with the Liberian Supreme Court on Tuesday against
the Ministry of Justice and the UN-backed special court in Sierra Leone,
which has indicted Taylor for war crimes.

Richard Flomo, acting in Taylor's defence, confirmed that a petition had
been lodged which sought to block further searches of properties in
Liberia that belong to Taylor, currently in exile in Nigeria.

The petition questions the legality of a Ministry of Justice decision to
allow the Sierra Leonean Special Court to search the homes of the former
president and his associates last week. Taylor's lawyers claim the Sierra
Leonean court does not have the jurisdiction to conduct searches in
Liberia.

Meanwhile, in Freetown, the court's appeals chamber turned down a motion
filed on 10 March by lawyers for another defendants, former rebel leader
General Issa Sesay, to have its president, Justice Geoffrey Robertson,
removed from office.

Sesay's attorneys said Robertson was biased because, in a book he
authored, titled 'Crimes against humanity: the struggle for global
justice', he wrote that the rebels were guilty of atrocities on a scale
that amounted to a crime against humanity.

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

For IRIN coverage of Sierra Leone
http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Sierra_Leone


NIGER: Government reports clashes with Islamic militants

Government troops in Niger and members of an armed Islamic group have
clashed in recent weeks in the north of the country, Defence Minister
Hassane Bonto told parliament on Tuesday. He said there were three clashes
between the armed forces and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC
- le groupe salafiste pour la prédication et le combat) between 22
February and 5 March.

The latest clash occurred in the remote northeast, on the border with
Chad, whose military also fought the militants. Bonto said 43 GSPC members
were killed and five were taken prisoner, including one Niger national.
Three Chadian soldiers died and 18 were wounded, while the Niger armed
forces did not register any casualties, he added.

Bonto said the GSPC, a splinter faction of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group,
arrived recently in northern Niger after being dismantled in southern
Algeria and Mali as part of efforts to fight terrorism.  The group, he
said, was working hand-in-hand with armed bandits from Niger and was using
hideouts and caches left over from a rebellion in the 1990s by Tuareg
nomads.

http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=Niger
 

WEST AFRICA: Strengthening regional security

West African security ministers this week recommended the creation of a
bureau for exchanging information between countries so as to make them
better able to fight crime and insecurity.

The recommendation was made on Tuesday at the end of a one-day meeting in
Lome, Togo, attended by security ministers from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote
d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo. The ministers also recommended joint border
patrols, which some countries have already initiated.

The challenges facing West African security forces include the movement of
weapons and armed men across the region's borders due to successive
conflicts and human trafficking. Child and adult workers are moved within
and between countries, as are women and girls enticed or forced into
prostitution, while drug trafficking and money laundering have been on the
rise in recent years.

http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp?SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=West_Africa


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Fax: +225 22-41-9339
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