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 Round-Up 284
2 - 8 July 2005


CONTENTS:

COTE D'IVOIRE : Disarmament talks continuing after two days
LIBERIA: Government calls for a review of Taylor's exile deal
NIGER: Men, women, children flee south to Nigeria to escape food crisis
GUINEA-BISSAU: Kumba Yala to back Nino Vieira in second round of
   presidential election
GUINEA: Opposition leader returns as food tensions mount


COTE D'IVOIRE : Disarmament talks continuing after two days

Talks to agree a disarmament timetable to end Cote d'Ivoire's three-year
civil war were continuing on Friday evening after two days of efforts to
reach agreement.

As dusk fell over the official capital of the world's top cocoa
producer, officials said the two sides in the conflict - rebels who hold
the north and government forces who control the south - were still
fine-tuning a deal.

Meanwhile President Laurent Gbagbo took steps to ease the peace process
by pledging on Thursday to push through legislative reforms as agreed at
a peace summit last month.

Full story : http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48053


LIBERIA: Government calls for a review of Taylor's exile deal

Liberia's interim government has called for the exile agreement of
former president Charles Taylor to be reviewed, after accusing him of
repeatedly breaking the terms of his asylum in Nigeria with daily phone
calls back home and orders to supporters that could threaten peace in
Liberia and beyond.

Taylor and his trademark white suit flew into exile in Nigeria under the
terms of the August 2003 peace deal that ended Liberia's 14-year civil
war. The warlord, accused of fomenting strife across the West African
region, is now holed up in a luxury compound in the remote town of
Calabar in the Niger Delta.

Full story : http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=48026


NIGER: Men, women, children flee south to Nigeria to escape food crisis

Scores of men, women and children from Niger are fleeing south into
Nigeria to escape crop failure and imminent famine, according to
Nigerian immigration officials.

A severe drought and locust invasion in 2004 has left 3.6 million people
short of food in landlocked Niger, one of the world's poorest countries.

"We have an increasing number of people from Niger who are coming into
Nigeria through our border posts," Suleiman Kangiwa, the head of
immigration in Nigeria's northern Katsina State told reporters on
Monday.

"They are obviously running away from the famine in their country. They
believe they can have a better life here in Nigeria," Kangiwa added.

In Niger, granaries lie empty, while food available on the markets is
selling for twice the usual price putting it beyond the reach of many
households.

Full story: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=47976


GUINEA-BISSAU: Kumba Yala to back Nino Vieira in second round of
presidential election

Kumba Yala, the third-placed candidate in Guinea-Bissau's presidential
election, has thrown his support behind former military ruler Joao
Bernardo "Nino" Vieira in the second round run-off which will take place
on 24 July.

His decision to support Vieira will make it more difficult for Malam
Bacai Sanha, the frontrunner in the first round of the election, with 35
percent of the vote, to maintain his lead.

Yala, who won 25 percent of the vote in the first round on 19 June,
announced his support for Vieira, who achieved 29 percent, in a
statement on Saturday.

"Joao Bernardo Vieira is a symbol of the construction of the Guinean
state and of national unity because he proclaimed our independence in
the hills of Boe," Yala said, referring to Vieira's role as a guerrilla
commander in the fight against Portuguese colonial rule in the 1960s and
early 1970s.

"Of the two candidates, he is the one who for me can be relied upon to
defend our national independence, to oppose neo-colonialism, to build
the republic and promote peace, stability and above all, national
reconciliation," Yala said.

Full story: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=47948


GUINEA: Opposition leader returns as food tensions mount

Alpha Conde, the main political rival of ailing Guinean President
Lansana Conte, returned to Conakry this weekend after two years abroad,
and received a rapturous welcome from thousands of people, angry about
rising food prices and poor living conditions in the West African
nation.

Conde, the leader of the main opposition party Guinean People's Rally
(RPG), stood against Conte in Guinea's first multi-party presidential
elections in 1993.

In the run-up to the 1998 poll, where he was again the sitting
president's main challenger, he was arrested near the Ivorian border and
charged with recruiting mercenaries and plotting to topple Conte.

The opposition leader spent two and a half years in prison before being
pardoned by presidential decree. But he was banned from any political
activity and headed into self-imposed exile in Paris.

On Sunday, Conde returned to the Guinean capital Conakry, to the delight
of thousands of RPG supporters who lined the road from the airport,
wearing yellow party T-shirts emblazoned with his portrait.

Full story : http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=47954


IRIN-WA
Tel:+221 867.27.30
Fax: +221 867.25.85
Email: IRINWA@IRINnews.org

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this
item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
2005


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
West Africa                      www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/wafrica