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

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WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 212
24 - 30 January 2004


CONTENTS:

WEST AFRICA: New peacekeeping center opens in Ghana
LIBERIA: Refugees return, WFP continues food distribution
COTE D'IVOIRE: Gbagbo off to Paris
BENIN: BENIN: Justice system on trial
GUINEA-BISSAU: Woman chosen as new head of Supreme Court


WEST AFRICA: Regional peacekeeping center officially inaugurated

German Chancellor on Saturday officially inaugurated a regional
peacekeeping center which, since November 2003, has been offering courses
to military officers and civilian officials in conflict management, peace
support operations, governance and election monitoring.

The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center is based in
Accra, Ghana, and is the latest regional facility in West Africa aimed at
training West African military and civilian personnel in peacekeeping and
peace-building, after Nigeria's war college and the Mali-based training
center for non-commissioned officers.

Germany, as the single largest contributor, donated US $4 million to the
college, named after UN secretary-general and Ghanaian national, Kofi
Annan.

The first course, on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration,
attracted candidates from as far away as Rwanda and Congo-Kinshasa. Course
fees range from $2,400 to $4,200 per head, but the international community
has already financed three-quarters of the entire training for the current
year.

The names of all those who pass through the new peacekeeping center will
be placed in a database, so that organizations such as the UN can tap them
in the future.

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


LIBERIA: Refugees return, WFP continues food distribution

More than 10,000 Liberian refugees in Sierra Leone have returned
spontaneously to their war-torn country since the last month of October
2003, UNHCR said this week.

UNHCR said many of them were making "go and see visits", leaving families
behind while going to investigate living conditions in Liberia. The agency
was however not encouraging the return and said it will not organize any
repatriation programme until it deems the country safe.

An official repatriation programme would not begin before October, UNHCR
said.

The World Food Programme, another active UN agency in Liberia, said this
week that it was extending its food distribution operation in other parts
of Nimba County. After the town of Saclepea where 100 tones of food were
distributed between 22 and 26 January, WFP would also begin distribution
food to residents of Sanniquellie, north of Saclepea, as well as in Bomi
County, 60 km north of the capital Monrovia.

The week was also marked by the demand by the leaders of the country's two
rebel groups for the removal of transitional leader, Gyude Bryant. LURD
leader Sekou Conneh and MODEL leader Thomas Nimely-Yayah on Monday signed
a statement asking for Bryant's removal on grounds that he was
incompetent.

On Tuesday, MODEL and a LURD dissident faction backtracked on the call to
remove Bryant.

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


COTE D'IVOIRE: Gbagbo off to Paris

President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire flies to Paris next week for a
long-delayed meeting with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac, to try
and move the fragile Ivorian peace process another step forward.

The two men are due to have lunch on Thursday as the UN Security Council
ponders whether enough progress has been made towards the implementation
of a French-brokered peace agreement to warrant the dispatch of a UN
peacekeeping force to oversee the disarmament of rebels occupying the
north of Cote d'Ivoire.

Diplomats said the United States, displeased by France's criticism of its
invasion of Iraq, had so far been reluctant to agree to the recommendation
of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that 6,240 UN peacekeepers should be
sent to the West African country.

But Washington, which foots the bill for 27 percent of all UN peacekeeping
operations, has not rejected such a move outright.

The Security Council decided earlier this month that it would consider
whether or not to send a force of blue helmets in the light of progress
made towards the full implementation of a year-old peace agreement by 4
February.

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin is due in Abidjan
for a speedy visit during which he will meet Gbagbo, a French diplomat
said on Friday.

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


BENIN: Justice system on trial

Ninety-nine civil servants, including 27 judges, court clerks and
17treasury workers, are on trial for embezzling more than US $15 million
from Benin’s state coffers.

The trial, which begun on Cotonou on Tuesday, results from a justice
ministry investigation which began looking into the suspected misuse of
state funds which had been earmarked for investigations and criminal
inquiries. It exposed a corruption ring that allowed judges and
magistrates to order their accomplices in the Treasury to fraudulently
release state funds. Eight billion FCFA, the equivalent of $15 million,
was siphoned from the government between 1996 and 2000.

The trial has been postponed and will resume on Thursday.

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


GUINEA-BISSAU: Woman chosen as new head of Supreme Court

BISSAU, 27 January (IRIN) - Maria do Ceu Silva Monteiro, a 38-year-old
woman judge, has been appointed president of the supreme court of
Guinea-Bissau, filling a post that had been vacant for more than two
years.

She was elected on Monday on a six to one vote by other senior judges in
this former Portuguese colony of 1.3 million people on the coast of West
Africa.

Silva Monteiro's predecessor, Emiliano Nosoloni, was sacked by former
president Kumba Yala in November 2001, but was never replaced. Kumba
Yala's chaotic rule was brought to an end by a bloodless coup in September
last year.

The appointment of a new head of the supreme court marks another milestone
in Guinea-Bissau's gradual return to constitutional rule and is likely to
please donors who are having to keep the country's virtually bankrupt
transitional government afloat in the meantime.

The Supreme Court will be charged with validating the results of
parliamentary elections scheduled for March 28 and presidential elections
to be held a year later.

Nosolini boycotted the election of a new head of the Supreme Court,
arguing that he should have been simply restored to the post. Nosolini
argued that he was elected head of the Supreme Court in early 2001, but
had served only nine months of his four-year term when he was sacked by
Kumba Yala.

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


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