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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e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci


WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Round-Up 289
3 - 9 June 2006


CONTENTS:

GUINEA: Day one of indefinite general strike widely respected
COTE D'IVOIRE: Disarmament of militias postponed
LIBERIA: Dutch national faces eight year prison sentence for arms
   trading in Liberia
GUINEA-BISSAU: A society in tatters after years of instability
COTE D IVOIRE: UN to send in more blue helmets
LIBERIA: Truth Commission now at work
NIGERIA: Militants free eight oil workers abducted in oil-rich delta


GUINEA: Day one of indefinite general strike widely respected

The normally bustling streets of the Guinean capital Conakry came to a
standstill on Thursday as, for the second time this year, the population
has widely backed a general strike called by workers' unions.

Schools, offices, shops and banks remained shuttered in the tired and
broken down streets of Conakry. Hospitals offered only the most basic of
emergency services as Guineans once again protested their falling
standards of living.

In an eleventh hour bid to break the strike, Interior Minister and newly
designated government spokesman Moussa Solano announced wage rises for
government workers on state television and radio.

But the increases, which were re-broadcast in local languages on
Thursday, cut little ice, translating into an increment of less than US
$1 a month for most civil servants.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53827&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA


COTE D'IVOIRE: Disarmament of militias postponed

Pro-government militias in the west of Cote d'Ivoire will not hand in
their guns as scheduled on Thursday postponing the much-delayed
disarmament programme, key to holding presidential elections later this
year, once again.

"After meeting with the militia leaders, we found that not everyone had
been fully informed," an official of the national disarmament programme
told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53809&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE


LIBERIA: Dutch national faces eight year prison sentence for arms
trading in Liberia

A Dutch businessman begins an eight year prison sentence on Wednesday
after a Dutch court found him guilty of violating a UN arms embargo on
Liberia, officials said.

Guus Kouwenhoven, 64, was given the maximum prison sentence for
providing weapons to former Liberian President Charles Taylor but
acquitted of other charges of war crimes in that country for lack of
evidence.

It is the first time a court in Europe has convicted a national for
breaking a UN arms embargo.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53795&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=LIBERIA


GUINEA-BISSAU: A society in tatters after years of instability

Residents of Guinea Bissau's capital often joke they have the only
fire-fighters in the world forced to race to the scene of a blaze
without water. But Fire Chief Malam Djaura says it's not just water they
lack, it's also protective clothing, rescue equipment, an outgoing phone
line and two months of still unpaid wages.

For lack of funds or facilities, Djaura and his team of 74 firemen have
been unable to do their job of extinguishing a blaze for months. But
that is the same problem faced by most government workers in this tiny
former Portuguese colony in West Africa.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53772&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA-BISSAU


COTE D IVOIRE: UN to send in more blue helmets

The UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire will be reinforced with an
additional 1,500 uniformed personnel, according to a UN Security Council
resolution announced at the weekend.

After meeting on Friday, the council authorised the reinforcement of the
current 7,500-strong mission with a maximum of 1,025 troops and 475
police. The country has been divided in two for more than three years,
with rebels holding the north and loyalists the south.

The reinforcements fall short of the 3,400 troops requested by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this year to ward off new outbreaks
of violence in the run-up to presidential elections planned for October.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53755&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE


LIBERIA: Truth Commission now at work

Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Monday announced it had
begun collecting information on alleged human rights abuses and
atrocities linked to the country's 14 years of civil war.

The commission, which was officially launched in February by the then
barely one-month-old government, is to look into a quarter-century of
coups, instability and war that began in January 1979 and ended in
October 2003.

On announcing its launch, newly elected President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
said the Commission would offer "hope" to Liberians working to overcome
the trauma of war.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53740&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=LIBERIA


NIGERIA: Militants free eight oil workers abducted in oil-rich delta

Eight foreign oil workers abducted by gunmen from an offshore rig in
Nigeria were freed by their captors on Sunday, Nigerian authorities
said.

The hostages, including six British nationals, one Canadian and one US
citizen were released in two batches following negotiations conducted by
officials of the southern Bayelsa state in charge of the area where the
kidnap occurred.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53701&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGERIA


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