U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa

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e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 216
21 - 27 February 2004


CONTENTS:

COTE D IVOIRE: Security Council approves deployment of blue helmets
NIGERIA: 48 killed in religious violence in Plateau State
CAMEROON-NIGERIA: Pro-Nigerian protesters meet UN team in Bakassi
LIBERIA: Yellow Fever deaths raise fears of epidemic
WESTERN SAHARA: Polisario releases another 100 Moroccan prisoners
CHAD-SUDAN: WFP starts humanitarian air service to eastern Chad
MAURITANIA: FAO seeks $9m to control locusts, warns of plague


COTE D'IVOIRE: Security Council approves deployment of blue helmets

The United Nations Security Council has approved the deployment of a
full-fledged UN mission, which would include more than 6,000 peacekeepers
to oversee disarmament and assist Ivorian authorities prepare for
presidential elections in 2005.

A UN official in New York told IRIN on Friday that the Council, by a
unanimous vote, approved "Resolution 1528" which allows for the mission to
be deployed to begin work in April.

According to UN statement on Thursday, the mission, in which some 1,300
West African peacekeepers will be included, would comprise exactly 6,240
international soldiers, 200 military observers, 120 staff officers, 350
civilian police officers and international and national staff.

In a separate development, Cote d'Ivoire recorded its first case of polio
for four years and investigations are underway to see whether it is the
same strain that has spread from Nigeria to several other West African
countries, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.

If the link to Nigeria is confirmed, Cote d'Ivoire would become the eighth
previously polio-free country in Africa to become re-infected due to the
spread of type 1 polio virus from northern Nigeria, where five states have
suspended polio vaccination campaigns in recent months.

Ten West African countries ended a fresh polio vaccination campaign on
Thursday as part of efforts to eradicate the disease from the world by the
end of this year.

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


NIGERIA: 48 killed in religious violence in Plateau State

At least 48 people were killed early this week, when suspected Islamic
militants, armed with automatic rifles and bows and arrows, attacked a
mainly Christian community in Plateau State in central Nigeria, police
said. Several arrests have been made in connection with the violence.

Innocent Ilozuoke, the police commissioner of Plateau State, said the
attack took place in the town of Yelwa on Tuesday night. Many residents
fled to a church compound and it was there that most of the victims were
killed, he added.

The police commissioner said extra police and soldiers had been sent to
Yelwa which has seen a resurgence of hostilities between Christians and
Muslims in recent weeks.

Residents of Yelwa said the attack was apparently carried out in
retaliation for a Christian raid on a nearby Muslim village last week
which left more than 10 people dead.

Police officers have also been targeted by the militants.

Plateau state has suffered intermittent clashes between the two religious
communities for several years.

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


CAMEROON-NIGERIA: Pro-Nigerian protesters meet UN team in Bakassi

Meanwhile, thousands of Nigerian residents of the Bakassi Peninsula
protested to a United Nations team visiting the disputed territory this
week that they did not want to be handed over to Cameroon.

Eyewitnesses said men, women and children turned out in large numbers on
Tuesday as the delegation arrived, waving placards denouncing a 2002
ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague which awarded
the potentially oil rich territory to Cameroon.

The swampy Bakassi Peninsula is inhabited by an estimated 200,000 to
300,000 people, the overwhelming majority of whom want to remain Nigerian.

The UN team, which visited Bakassi, formed part of the Cameroon-Nigeria
Mixed Commission set up by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to implement
the International Court ruling on a long-running border dispute between
both countries. It was visiting the peninsula for the first time.

The dispute over the 1,000 sq km Peninsula brought Nigeria and Cameroon
closed to war in 1981. In late 1993, Nigerian troops occupied most of the
territory, prompting Cameroon to file a complaint at the International
Court of Justice in 1994.

For full story see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39701&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountryEMEROON-NIGERIA


LIBERIA: Yellow Fever deaths raise fears of epidemic

In Liberia, the United Nations warned of a possible Yellow Fever epidemic
in Liberia following at least three deaths from the mosquito-borne
disease.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health
Organisation (WHO) said in a joint statement on Tuesday that three people
had died from confirmed cases of yellow fever, along with two more who
were suspected to have caught the disease.

The UN agencies launched a mass vaccination campaign on Thursday in
conjunction with the Ministry of Health and several medical NGOs.

They said the aim was to reach 722,000 people who required "urgent
vaccination." However, there were currently only 80,000 doses of yellow
fever vaccine available within Liberia, they added.

The US $1.3 million immunisation campaign will initially target Bong and
Nimba counties in central Liberia, which border Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire.

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


WESTERN SAHARA: Polisario releases another 100 Moroccan prisoners

The Polisario movement which is fighting for the independence of the
Western Sahara released a further 100 Moroccan prisoners of war this week,
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

An ICRC spokesman told IRIN they were flown home on an ICRC plane from
Tindouf in Western Algeria, where several camps housing 165,000 Western
Sahara refugees are situated.

ICRC reiterated its appeal for the release of the remaining 514 prisoners
on "humanitarian grounds not linking it to political solutions".

Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1976 after Spain withdrew from
its former colony. The Polisario Front has been fighting since then for it
to become an independent state. A ceasefire was agreed in 1991, since when
the political wrangling has continued.

For full story see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39681&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=MAURITANIA


CHAD-SUDAN: WFP starts humanitarian air service to eastern Chad

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday it had started a
humanitarian air service to eastern Chad, where relief agencies are trying
to assist more than 110,000 refugees from the troubled Darfur province of
Western Sudan.

WFP spokesman for West Africa Ramin Rafirasme said WFP was operating a
Monday to friday daily shuttle service from the Chadian capital N'Djamena
to Abeche and several other towns in eastern Chad with an eight-seater
Beechcraft plane.

This began operating on 14 February and was available for use free of
charge by the personnel of UN agencies and other relief organisations
operating in eastern Chad, he said.

The plane is due to operate for a period of 11 months at a cost of US$1.8
million.

For full story see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39694&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=CHAD-SUDAN


MAURITANIA: FAO seeks $9m to control locusts, warns of plague

Desert locusts could reach plague proportions in arid Mauritania this
spring, threatening agriculture in much of northwest Africa, unless
large-scale spraying is carried out rapidly to destroy the swarms that are
forming, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned.

In a statement on Monday FAO warned that swarms that are not sprayed will
move south in June/July and, if this year's rains are good, a plague
affecting the whole of the western region (West and North-West Africa)
could follow.

It appealed urgently for US $9 million to spray 500,000 hectares northern
Mauritania and the Western Sahara and other parts of West Africa, where
swarms of locusts have started forming.

It is seeking $6 million for control operations in Mauritania and a
further $3 million for spraying in Mali, Niger and Chad.

All four countries are situated on the southern fringes of the Sahara
desert and their population is mainly dependant on agriculture.

FAO said locusts were breeding in larger numbers than usual after
exceptionally heavy rainfall last year. Locust swarms can decimate crops
and vegetation where ever they land, provoking food shortages and speeding
up the process of desertification.

For this story see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39681&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=MAURITANIA


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