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 406
8 - 14 December 2007


CONTENTS:

CHAD: Army forcibly recruiting youths, rights group says
CHAD: Guy, "I know of four students from my school who disappeared that
   night"
CHAD: Mounting rebel fronts hamper aid efforts
CHAD: Violence and insecurity not just in the east
COTE D'IVOIRE: Ex-rebels impose night-driving ban as attacks persist
LIBERIA: Health user fees - helpful or harmful?
NIGER: Humanitarian access cut to north
NIGER: News filtering out of north suggests grave conditions
NIGER: Population explosion threatens development gains
NIGER: Rebels accused of launching Iraq-inspired "urban terror" campaign
NIGER: Why are so many mothers dying?
NIGERIA: At least six dead in sectarian violence
NIGERIA: Gas flaring wrecking Delta communities
NIGERIA: "Hundreds" dead in measles outbreak
NIGERIA: Stepping up the fight against child-trafficking
SENEGAL: Empty granaries in Casamance


CHAD: Army forcibly recruiting youths, rights group says

The Chadian military is reportedly recruiting young men by force,
possibly including children, to help stem losses from recent fighting
with rebels on several fronts in the east of the country.

Human Rights Without Borders (DHSF), a Chadian human rights group, says
it has received reports of army units raiding private homes and taking
children. Larger raids have also been reported in places where youths
gather, according to several sources, including an eyewitness who spoke
to IRIN.

The reported raids are said to be taking place in the capital,
N'djamena, as well as in towns and villages around the country.

"Many of the youth being made to join the army are underage," according
to Daniel Passalet Duezoumbe, head of DHSF.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75879


CHAD: Guy, "I know of four students from my school who disappeared that
night"

Guy, a 22-year-old student at Lycee Felix Eboue in the Chad capital,
N'djamena, claims he was one of the few who managed to get away from a
campaign of forced recruitment reportedly underway there.

"On Saturday [1 December] my friend and I decided to go to see a movie
at the local outdoor cinema in Habena, our neighbourhood - an episode of
24 hours with Jack Bauer.

"About an hour into the movie people behind us suddenly started
screaming. I looked behind and saw soldiers wearing turbans and carrying
rifles coming down the aisle, pulling all the men out of their seats and
taking them away. The movie was still running while everyone in the
cinema was trying to escape.

"Luckily my friend and I were sitting in the fourth row from the front
next to a high mud wall that runs around the cinema. We scaled the wall,
jumped into someone's private compound next door and ran out the gate
and down the street.

"As I was running away I looked behind me and saw two army Toyota
pickups and a big truck with soldiers forcing people inside. They were
trying to wriggle away from the soldiers shouting 'leave me alone'.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75882


CHAD: Mounting rebel fronts hamper aid efforts

Fighting is breaking out in so many parts of eastern Chad that aid
workers say they cannot even keep count.

"So many groups are involved now, it's impossible to know who is who,"
said one humanitarian official. "I don't even care about who they all
are and what their names are. All I know is that they are threatening
our ability to operate," the aid worker said.

Humanitarian agencies such as the UN World Food Programme are working to
provide for the basic needs of more than 500,000 people in the area.

"WFP is concerned about the deteriorating situation in eastern Chad,"
WFP spokesperson Stephanie Savariaud told IRIN on 7 December. Conditions
have led the agency to slow down its deliveries of food aid to refugees
and displaced persons in the region, she said.

WFP gives monthly food rations to over 230,000 people who fled Darfur,
as well as nearly 150,000 displaced Chadians. The organisation also
helps up to 150,000 local residents affected by conflict.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75767


CHAD: Violence and insecurity not just in the east

The killing of a UN aid worker on 6 December in southern Chad, some 500
km from intense fighting in the east between the army and rebels,
underscored that other regions of the country are also insecure.

"Certainly civilians and humanitarian workers are under attack in the
east as a direct and indirect consequence of the fighting, but there are
all sorts of armed groups in other parts of the country and banditry is
rife," an international security officer in Chad told IRIN.

With an estimated 90 percent of the Chadian armed forces currently
fighting in the east, armed groups elsewhere can just about do as they
please, he added. "We also have reports of fighters in the east fleeing
to other areas with the result that the overall level of insecurity is
increasing."

Crime has also been high in the capital, N'djamena, with numerous
reports of roaming gangs of youth attacking people indiscriminately.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75803


COTE D'IVOIRE: Ex-rebels impose night-driving ban as attacks persist

The head of the ex-rebel group 'Forces Nouvelles' in northwestern Cote
d'Ivoire has banned driving after 6pm as a measure "to fully ensure"
people's security in the region, where often-deadly road attacks have
become an almost daily occurrence.

'Forces Nouvelles' commander in the regional capital Odienne, Ousmane
Coulibaly, told IRIN on 10 December: "The decision has been made for
reasons of security".

Attacks by Kalashnikov-wielding, masked men have become increasingly
common in many areas of Cote d'Ivoire, particularly in the northwest and
west, in the past several months.

Residents in Odienne told IRIN they hear of such attacks - which often
kill or seriously wound passengers - several times per week. In a recent
incident, residents told IRIN, a traditional hunter or 'dozo' who was
part of a team escorting a commercial truck was shot dead.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75794


LIBERIA: Health user fees - helpful or harmful?

Representatives of government, NGOs, the UN and donors in Liberia are
probing the merits and drawbacks of health care fees, as the government
weighs whether to maintain free services in public facilities.

In a national health policy released last month the government said that
due in part to "crushing poverty" it was maintaining a suspension of
fees for primary care pending further study.

As part of the government's deliberations, a broad-based committee is
studying the impact of user fees for primary health care and options for
financing the health sector. The research is in part to show the level
of revenue gained from fees contrasted with the extent fees keep people
away from health services, one development expert in Liberia said. Many
who advocate lifting fees say they do not contribute significantly to
government coffers.

Liberia's health policy document says, "In light of crushing levels of
poverty, the Ministry [of health and social welfare] has decided to
suspend the administration of user fees at the primary health care
level."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75780


NIGER: Humanitarian access cut to north

Indiscriminately laid landmines, a sceptical government and a rebel
group that has attacked aid workers are obstacles that will have to be
overcome before relief efforts can start for an estimated 20,000 people
affected by flooding and fighting in the country's remote north.

Read a report about the humanitarian needs in northern Niger

The most substantive aid that has been sent for displaced people so far
was meant to be delivered by a coalition of local NGOs called SOS
Iferouane and the French medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

However MSF was banned from operating in the north in October "for its
own protection" by the government after several of its vehicles were
hijacked by the rebel Nigerien Movement for Justice (MNJ).

All six of the convoys SOS Iferouane has sent since September have also
been stopped by the MNJ, which apparently does not want the supplies to
fall into the army's hands, according to sources.

Niger's army has deployed in the region but its presence has raised not
allayed fears among aid workers, who say the soldiers only present
another level of insecurity on top of the rebels as well as armed
bandits and drug smugglers who are also believed to operate there.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75795


NIGER: News filtering out of north suggests grave conditions

Human rights organisations and aid workers in the Nigerien capital
Niamey say news filtering out of the north of the country suggests a
humanitarian emergency is unfolding.

The north has been affected by fighting since February 2007 when MNJ
announced it was launching an armed campaign against the government to
win more economic and political autonomy for people in the uranium- and
petrol-rich region from the central government in the capital Niamey,
1,200 km south.

In August and September, heavy flooding that created havoc across West
Africa also affected northern Niger.

"There's not much solid information coming out [of the north] but from
what we do know it's a very worrying situation," said Ilguilas Weila,
president of the prominent Nigerien human rights organisation Timidria.

Several humanitarian sources in Niamey estimated the number of displaced
people at around 20,000, including 9,000 people who lost their homes in
heavy flooding earlier this year and a further 11,000 displaced by an
ongoing conflict between anti-government rebels and the Nigerien army.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75792


NIGER: Population explosion threatens development gains

If the people of Niger (Nigeriens) remain uninformed about family
planning and keep reproducing at the current rate the country's
population will more than quadruple by 2050, imposing unmanageable
demands on the economy, social services and the environment, according
to research by Niger's national statistics agency.

Niger's population is counted by the Institute for National Statistics
(INS), which compiles its own data through national surveys and censuses
and by collaborating with UN agencies. It calculates the current rate of
population growth is 3.3 percent every year.

If that growth continues, there will be 56 million people living in
Niger by 2050, compared to 13.5 million today, the INS says. In 1960,
Niger's population was just 1.7 million.

"We surveyed the country and found that the average number of children
per mother is 7.1. However, we also asked them how many they would like
to have - women said nine and men said 12, but some families said they
would like 40 or 50 children," INS deputy director Adamou Soumana told
IRIN.

"The only way to put it, is this is a society with a very pro-natal
philosophy that encourages procreation." Soumana said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75801


NIGER: Rebels accused of launching Iraq-inspired "urban terror" campaign

A rebel movement that has already cut northern Niger off from
humanitarian aid by laying mines throughout the region has denied
responsibility for landmine explosions in Maradi and Tahoua in the
south.

Two civilians were killed in the nearly simultaneous anti-tank mine
explosions which occurred between 9pm and 11pm on 10 December.

According to sources in Maradi where an anti-tank mine exploded under a
civilian truck, one person died and two others were wounded. Maradi is
400 km south of the northern capital Agadez which up until December
marked the southernmost limit of violence in Niger.

In Tahoua, 350 km south-east of Agadez, sources said one person was
killed and one wounded when another anti-tank mine went off under a
civilian vehicle.

Both towns serve as hubs for aid agencies which are mainly running
nutrition projects in Niger. The attacks were also reported on Nigerien
state radio on 11 December.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75814


NIGER: Why are so many mothers dying?

Every two hours in Niger a woman will die during her pregnancy or while
delivering a baby - a symptom of under-resourced health services,
neglected transport and education infrastructure, and a lack of
awareness among women of their rights, health officials and experts say.

Niger's 13.5 million people (Nigeriens), spread across a barren
territory roughly the size of Western Europe, have missed out on much of
the development that has happened in other countries on the African
continent.

There are just a handful of paved main tarmac highways, and most people
live in remote villages miles from a road, school, health centre or
local government office.

Fatima Trapsida, director of the Gazouby maternal health hospital in the
capital, Niamey, says this is the first obstacle to getting women to the
help they need: "Getting to a doctor can mean taking a horse and cart,
waiting for public transport, or paying for the petrol for one of the
country's ambulances."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75869


NIGERIA: At least six dead in sectarian violence

At least six people have been killed and 30 critically injured since
clashes between Muslim and Christian communities in the north-central
Nigerian city of Bauchi broke out on 11 December, Red Cross workers and
residents said.

Some 3,000 people have fled their homes in the area of the fighting,
witnesses said. The government has ordered a 9pm to 6am curfew and
closed the local university, which has often been the site of violent
clashes.

Fighting started 11 December and continued to the next day, following a
dispute over the planned construction of a mosque at a secondary school
in Yelwa - a mixed Muslim and Christian neighbourhood of the city.

"We have recovered six dead bodies," Adamu Abubakar, Red Cross director
in Bauchi, told IRIN by telephone.

"The situation is still tense and hundreds of people have fled their
homes and are now seeking refuge in police barracks," Abubakar said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75863


NIGERIA: Gas flaring wrecking Delta communities

Civil society groups in the Niger Delta region have warned that the
government is destroying communities' health and Nigeria's environment
by flouting laws against gas flaring, a technique used in oil
production.

For decades gas flaring has been used to separate crude oil from the
associated gases that are extracted with it, but Nigeria flares more gas
today than any nation in the world after Russia, even though it is only
the world's eighth largest oil producer.

In most other countries the excess gas has been harnessed to generate
power, but about 50 communities in the oil producing Niger Delta region
have had to put up with gas flares burning continuously for decades.

Bari-ara Kpalap from the Nigerian non-governmental organisation (NGO)
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, which is based in the
Delta and represents a large ethnic group there, said oil and gas
flaring had caused devastating pollution for the region's farming
communities.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75824


NIGERIA: "Hundreds" dead in measles outbreak

A measles outbreak has killed at least 200 children in Nigeria in recent
weeks according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies.

The Nigerian Red Cross is sending teams to affected cities in northern
Nigeria to train volunteers and educate communities about prevention,
according to a 13 December report by the IFRC, which contained the
estimate of deaths.

Hundreds more children are infected, with cases in Kaduna, Kano, Katsina
and Jigawa states, according to Mahmud Mustapha, director of the
National Primary Health Care Development Agency in charge of seven
north-western states.

"Conservatively the death toll in this outbreak may exceed 200 across
the city [of Zaria in Kaduna state] because one needs to go round to
hospitals to grasp how bad the situation is," Murjanatu Saminu, a nurse
at Tudun Wada maternity hospital in Zaria, told IRIN.

"The situation is alarming because the number of measles cases being
brought to this hospital is just unbelievable," she said. "We receive at
least 17 cases a day."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75883


NIGERIA: Stepping up the fight against child-trafficking

In a welcome centre in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, a small finger traces
the words of an English text book; a young voice struggles to pronounce
the words. Ruth is 13 years old and only in grade 3. But for her, this
is a major achievement.

At the age of five, Ruth was trafficked from her village in southern
Nigeria to Gabon, further south on the Gulf of Guinea. For years of her
life, she never attended school.

Taken by an uncle who promised to care for and educate her in Gabon,
Ruth was instead required to cook, clean and take care of his children.
Often deprived of food and sleep, she spent four years selling water at
the market.

"Each time I brought the money and asked to go to school as he promised,
he would tie a rope around my leg and beat me, beat me again and then
lift me up and let me fall on the floor," Ruth recounted, her small
frame shivering from time to time.

Finally, in 2003, a family friend discreetly showed her the way to the
Nigerian embassy. After investigation, she was returned to Nigeria but
now lives at a welcome centre in Abuja. Both she and her mother, widowed
and poor, thought that arrangement was in her best interests - to avoid
being trafficked again.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75783


SENEGAL: Empty granaries in Casamance

After a truncated rainy season in Senegal's southern Casamance region,
granaries are empty and many families are getting by on one meal a day.

Residents say as a result of food shortages some children are missing
school, many families are divided as men leave to seek work, and people
are increasingly turning to the production and sale of charcoal to make
a living.

"Members of my family have not been able to eat their fill for three
months now," said Abdoulaye Dieme, a farmer who lives in Niaguis village
east of the regional capital, Ziguinchor. "We have no chance for a rice
harvest this year - the few rice crops we were able to plant dried out
because of the abrupt end to the rains."

This year the rainy season in Casamance - generally from June to end
October - began in July and ended early October. In many areas across
West Africa, flooding destroyed crops or erratic rains disrupted
farming.

A November report by the Inter-State Committee to Fight Drought in the
Sahel (CILSS), included regions in south and central Senegal in a list
of zones across West Africa considered "at risk".

The report said, "Clearly late planting, floods and the abrupt end to
rains have provoked production losses and other damages" including the
loss of human life and livestock.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75861


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