Weekly Round-Up - IRINWA-384: 13-Jul-07
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 384
7 - 13 July 2007
CONTENTS:
NIGERIA: Privatising schools and national unity
COTE D'IVOIRE: The inescapable injustice of justice
CHAD: Aid groups dispute extent of emergency in the east
NIGERIA: Chlorine gas from water plant kills three in southeast
MAURITANIA-SENEGAL: Refugees cautiously optimistic about new initiative
COTE D'IVOIRE: Crisis sheds light on chronic malnutrition
NIGERIA: Privatising schools and national unity
One policy the Nigerian government embarked on at the end of the Biafran
civil war in 1970 to try to re-unite the nation was to bring together
the best school students from all of the country's ethnic and religious
groups so that they bond and form a new generation that identify with
each other. Whether rich or poor, the tens of thousands of students
attending these so-called 'unity schools' consistently scored better
than average on the final year exams. Many of the first graduates went
on to university and became young professionals. The unity schools were
the showpiece of the government's education system, but with nepotism
and corruption, the best students from poor families were often blocked
from getting a place, according to Nigerian educationist Peter Komolafe.
More and more students came from families with wealth or from the ruling
elite.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73242
COTE D'IVOIRE: The inescapable injustice of justice
For a week Mariame Kone has walked the corridors of the Ivorian justice
ministry trying to get a copy of records she needs for a job
application. The deadline is approaching and she is losing hope she will
receive the papers in time. Kone and others awaiting documents or
decisions know that not much happens in the halls of justice unless
money changes hands. "No two ways about it," said one of the
'margouillat', self-employed agents who act as intermediaries passing
money between citizens and justice officials. "People who just stand
around waiting are wasting their time. They know they must slip
something under the table in order to see any action on their
documents." Another 'margouillat,' Ali Toure, told IRIN: "We haven't the
slightest notion of the law, but each of us has his magistrate who
covers for him. When a citizen comes with a problem, we take it to our
guy."
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73229
CHAD: Aid groups dispute extent of emergency in the east
New findings question the extent of a nutritional crisis among the
estimated 150,000 internally displaced people scattered in sites around
eastern Chad, yet even as aid agencies in the area publicly dispute each
other's malnutrition data, all agree that the spat must not distract
attention from the hardship people there are suffering. "It is unfair to
the beneficiaries to go on in this battle of numbers," said Alessandro
Loretti, the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinator of emergency
response and operations, who recently returned from Chad. "The fact is
that we have a critical situation on our hands. There is no reason for
complacency." A dozen international NGOs are working in the vast
wilderness of eastern Chad to provide emergency shelters, food, and
water, even while attacks continue by various rebel and other armed
groups and the rainy season makes many of the already isolated areas
harder to reach.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73223
NIGERIA: Chlorine gas from water plant kills three in southeast
At least three people were killed when chlorine gas being used at a
water treatment plant in Nigeria's southeastern Cross River state
escaped into nearby homes, residents and state officials said. New
Netim, a small community in the Odukpani district of the state,
adjoining the water treatment plant belonging to the Cross River State
Water Board, was enveloped by clouds of chlorine gas on 5 July, leading
to the death of three people, said resident Ufot James. "The dead
included a woman and two men while several others were hospitalised,"
James said.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73168
MAURITANIA-SENEGAL: Refugees cautiously optimistic about new initiative
Tens of thousands of black Mauritanians living in exile for the past 18
years have officially begun the process of returning home from camps in
Senegal and Mali but many said they were concerned Moorish Mauritanians
would continue to discriminate against them. "We realize that returning
to our country will be hard," a spokesperson for the refugees, Amadou
Wane, told IRIN at a camp in Ndioum, one of 284 village-like sites along
the border with Mauritania. "We did not run from war or famine but were
forced to leave based on the colour of our skin." For years Mauritania
had claimed the refugees were free to return, but the UN Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) said in late June the country had made its first official
request to the agency for assistance to repatriate the refugees. UNHCR
representatives met refugee leaders at a camp in Ndioum on 5 July.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73158
COTE D'IVOIRE: Crisis sheds light on chronic malnutrition
Photos of skeletal babies posted in a health center in northwest Cote
d'Ivoire portray not just fallout from the country's conflict but a
longstanding problem thrown into the spotlight by the arrival of aid
groups. "Severe and moderate malnutrition have long existed in this
region," said Abdoulaye Ouattara, a doctor who runs a nutritional center
in Madinani, a town 80 km east of the regional capital Odienne. "Because
of the war, humanitarian groups came to this region and this allowed us
to address some health problems that existed well before the crisis." In
the main hallway of the Madinani nutritional center - run with support
from UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme backed by international
donors - are scores of photos of severely malnourished infants who have
come through the centre.
Full report
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73168
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Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
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Center for International web: www.cidi.org
Disaster Information listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
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West Africa www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/wafrica