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 401
3 - 9 November 2007


CONTENTS:

CAMEROON: Buying food aid locally also has risks
CHAD: Govt accused of hypocrisy in Zoe's Ark affair
GHANA: Tension high as fifth person dies in chieftancy
MAURITANIA: Discrimination, staff shortages mean mental health short
   changed
NIGERIA: Biafra separatist leader free and defiant
NIGERIA: Govt hits tobacco companies with whopping
WEST AFRICA: More funds needed to tackle drug use, NGOs say
WEST AFRICA: High prices of food imports may leave people hungry


CAMEROON: Buying food aid locally also has risks

The port city of Douala is still a major hub for international food aid
heading to Chad and Central African Republic, but the World Food
Programme (WFP) in Cameroon is buying an increasing amount of its
requirements locally.

Of the 70,000mt of food aid WFP's regional office in Cameroon is
forwarding to emergencies in neighbouring countries this year, about
26,000mt has been produced in Cameroon.

WFP told IRIN that the percentage of food it purchases in West and
Central Africa for distribution in the region grew from 13 percent in
2005, to over 30 percent for 2007 with Cameroon being the largest
supplier followed by Burkina Faso.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75225


CHAD: Govt accused of hypocrisy in Zoe's Ark affair

Surrounded by the 103 African children caught up in an alleged abduction
plot by a French charity, Chadian president Idriss Deby appeared before
photographers and journalists from around the world, standing up for the
rights of Chadian children.

"These people treat us like animals," he said of the members of the
association L'Arche de Zoe (Zoe's Ark). Chadian authorities arrested 17
Europeans, charging many with abduction of minors after they tried to
take children they claimed were Sudanese orphans to host families in
France.

L'Arche de Zoe said they were saving the children from "certain death"
in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75211


GHANA: Tension high as fifth person dies in chieftancy

Tension is high in Anloga District in Ghana's Volta Region after a man
died in police custody -- the fifth person to die since 1 November when
violence linked to a decade-old chieftaincy dispute rocked the district.

Five days after police exchanged gunfire with a group who reportedly
raided a chief-naming ceremony carried out by a rival family, human
rights advocates say fear pervades in the district, about 150km east of
the capital Accra.

Since the death of the last paramount chief 10 years ago two royal
families in the area, both of the Anlo ethnic group, have been fighting
over who should succeed him.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75180


MAURITANIA: Discrimination, staff shortages mean mental health short
changed

Taking her 15 year old daughter to see a psychiatrist was the last
resort for Dianaba Dia. For months beforehand she had used a local
doctor who prescribed valium to control the girl's violent seizures. "At
first, it was not easy to pass through the gates of the neurological
centre - just the word psychiatrist made me afraid!"

But after traveling to the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott and consulting
doctors at the country's only mental health centre, she was pleasantly
surprised. "He was a doctor just like any other. What counts for me
though is that since we saw him my daughter has got better."

Awareness that mental health is a medical concern and many of its
symptoms can be treated by medical doctors is gradually spreading in
Mauritania.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75205


NIGERIA: Biafra separatist leader free and defiant

The jailed leader of a separatist movement in the south-east of Nigeria
known formerly as Biafra was released from detention at the end of
October in a move analysts hailed as a helpful and diplomatic approach
to the region's problems by the government, but the secessionist leader
says he will continue his struggle for independence.

"Nigeria must be Balkanized," Ralph Uwazuruike, the leader of the
secessionist Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB), told IRIN. "Nigeria is going to break into six
republics. All the geo-political zones of the country will soon become
separate countries," he predicted.

Uwazuruike and many people in the south east region, who mainly come
from the Igbo ethnic group, claim they are being discriminated against
by Nigeria's federal government.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75173


NIGERIA: Govt hits tobacco companies with whopping

The Nigerian federal government filed a suit in the High Court of Abuja
on Tuesday against tobacco companies British-American Tobacco, Philip
Morris International, and International Tobacco Ltd., seeking US$42.4
billion in reparations for damage they have caused to Nigerians' health.

The number of Nigerians who smoke exceeds 30 million, according to a
recent study by the Nigerian non-governmental organization Environmental
Rights Action. There are no comprehensive studies on the effects that
smoking has on Nigerians' health but the government is requested $34.4
billion of $42.4 billion in anticipation of the future cost of treating
patients with tobacco related illnesses.

Another $1.04 billion is requested as a fine for the companies' actions.
The Attorney General's office filed the case in reaction to an
advertising and marketing campaign allegedly targeting Nigerian youth.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75239


WEST AFRICA: More funds needed to tackle drug use, NGOs say

West and Central African governments and the UN are so focused on
reducing the supply of illicit drugs they have ignored efforts to reduce
demand, non-governmental organisations say.

"There is total disequilibrium with regards to the means given to
different actors [in the fight against drugs]," Cheikh Diop, president
of the Federation of Senegalese NGOs Fighting against Drugs, told IRIN.
"So much money is invested in the fight against drug trafficking or the
reduction of supply; but when it comes to reducing the demand - or the
users themselves - organisations working on this approach have almost no
financial means."

At a 3-4 November meeting of NGOs from across West and Central Africa,
held in the Senegalese capital Dakar, participants expressed concern
over what they considered insufficient funding for organisations
focusing on prevention of drug use and treatment for drug users.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75164


WEST AFRICA: High prices of food imports may leave people hungry

Food monitors are concerned that people in West African countries who
rely on international imports of wheat and rice are going to struggle to
buy enough to eat this year due to high commodity prices.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in a bulletin released
on 7 November that poor global production of wheat means worldwide
prices reached a record high in September 2007 and remained volatile in
October.

Rice prices have also risen steadily since January 2007 according to the
FAO, and high fuel prices have added higher shipping costs into the
equation.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75216


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