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 289
30 July - 3 August 2007


CONTENTS:

COTE D'IVOIRE: Government urged to act over sexual abuse of women
GHANA: Hydro-power crisis getting worse
COTE D'IVOIRE: Blocking roads, blocking peace
MAURITANIA: President calls on nation to pray for rain
GUINEA: Aid package targets drinking water in Guinea's Forest Region
COTE D'IVOIRE: Gbagbo in occupied zone for first time declares "war is over"
NIGERIA: Adulterated kerosene blasts leave at least 20 dead in south


COTE D'IVOIRE: Government urged to act over sexual abuse of women

Human rights activists and at least one government official are hopeful
the Ivorian leadership will take action on growing evidence that
government and rebel forces sexually abused hundreds - if not thousands
- of women during the conflict and continue to do so today. "These are
our sisters, our daughters, and our mothers who are in this situation.
We cannot remain unaffected by this," said Fanta Coulibaly, director of
the national committee for the fight against violence done to women and
children (Comite National de Lutte contre les Violences faites aux
Femmes et aux Enfants) at the Ministry of Women, Family and Social
Affairs. Reacting to a report by a human rights organisation that
documented over 180 cases of sexual violence, including gang rape,
sexual slavery and forced incest, Coulibaly told IRIN: "The report makes
you tremble. It's really stirring." "The government will be forced to
react, whether it wants to or not. We [the Ministry of Women] will make
sure they take action against those responsible." She said her ministry
had already met the ministries of justice and health on this issue, and
that the government leadership was listening. The report, published by
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 2 August, said: "Combatants raped women old
enough to be their grandmothers, children as young as six, pregnant
women, and breastfeeding mothers. Sometimes family members were forced
to watch or were forced to rape their own relatives. Women and girls had
guns, sticks, pens, and other objects inserted into their vaginas." The
report condemned the "prevailing impunity" for these crimes, and said
the latest peace accord failed to address the issue of accountability
for sexual violence. Etelle Higonnet, author of the report, said she
hoped it would result in an internal investigation, a zero tolerance
policy, and "some kind of justice" for the victims. "I feel very
encouraged," she told IRIN. "We've got a great reaction from a number of
people inside the government who have a key role to play."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73568


GHANA: Hydro-power crisis getting worse

Ghana is undergoing its worst power crisis since 1998. People here
currently have an average of only 12 hours of electricity a day, and,
with insufficient rain to keep its hydropower stations functioning, the
situation is likely to deteriorate, affecting individual livelihoods and
the economy as a whole. The water level of Lake Volta, the largest
man-made lake in West Africa, which normally supplies 60 percent of
Ghana's energy needs, is at an all-time low, 234.96 ft below the
critical minimum. The lack of water in the lake has created a 300 MW
power shortfall.

Weather forecasters predict drought in all three northern regions of
Ghana where the sources of the rivers that feed Lake Volta are located.
"The masses are suffering." John Atipoe, an electrician and father of
four, told IRIN. "The frequent power cuts destroyed my refrigeration
system and I had no money to repair it," said 51-year old Juliet Adjoa
Serwah who used to make money selling food and drinks. "Now I have to
resort to basket weaving to look after my three kids." Economic warning
According to Ghanaian economist Nii Moi Thompson, "It's almost certain
now that low productivity due to the crisis will block the attainment of
the 6.5 percent GDP [Gross National Product] growth forecast for this
year." The impact of the power cuts have already been huge for small and
medium scale enterprises, which, according to Ghana's finance and
economic minister, account for about 90 per cent of all businesses in
the country. Big industries are also feeling the pinch: The mining
industry is currently spending 8.6 million dollars a month to make up
for the shortfall from the national grid. In March, Ghana's only
aluminum smelter company, VALCO, shut down due to the inadequate supply
of power, laying off 500 workers.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73566


COTE D'IVOIRE: Blocking roads, blocking peace

Harassment, extortion and physical assault are rampant at Cote
d'Ivoire's ubiquitous roadblocks and unless stopped the scourge will
make true peace and stability impossible, Ivorians say. "The economic
damage [of these roadblocks] is bad enough," Ivorian Chamber of Commerce
President Jean-Louis Billon told IRIN from the commercial capital,
Abidjan. "But the most revolting part of this is the human rights
violations. There are invasive body searches, including of women. We
heard of cases of rape." He added: "And this, from those the citizens
should be able to count on for security." Roadblocks have long been a
fact of life in Cote d'Ivoire, where comedians and musicians have made
fun of the gendarme who draws a few extra bribes from citizens as the
weekend approaches. But the phenomenon has exploded in the five years of
unrest gripping the country since a botched coup in 2002, with both
government forces and rebels seeing the transport circuit as a lucrative
enterprise. Billon says he has travelled some 10,000km throughout the
country by car in the past few months. After his most recent tour in
late July he wrote a letter to several government ministers, including
defence, interior and justice, calling for an end to abuse and extortion
by security forces on the roads. "This racket contributes to the
destruction of social cohesion and the impoverishment of already
destitute populations," the 31 July letter says. "These barriers to the
free movement of people and goods. slow down our economy and stifle
trade within the country."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73554


MAURITANIA: President calls on nation to pray for rain

In true Sahelian fashion, the rainy season is late in coming to
Mauritania, causing concern amongst experts and locals in the West
African nation and resulting in a presidential call for nationwide
prayers for ample rain this harvest season. According to a PanaPress
report, Mauritanian citizens gathered on 29 July in response to a call
by recently installed Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh
Abdallah, praying for a good rainy season. "The late rains are certainly
causing worry here in Mauritania, considering the patterns of the last
three years," said N'fah Ouadtara, country representative for the Famine
Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), part of the US Agency for
International Development. "The rains should already be here." Since
2002, Mauritania has faced natural disasters ranging from locust
invasions to severe drought and flooding. The country is highly
susceptible to variations in rainfall and recurring drought is typical.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), this has resulted in
severely undermined food security throughout the country, especially in
southern regions. Southern Mauritania makes up part of the drought prone
Sahel region in Africa, where rural and subsistence farming are highly
dependent on rain. Mauritania in 2006 saw an especially short rainy
season, resulting in inadequate crop yields. The Mauritanian government,
in partnership with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), WFP and others, has
been working to establish food security and fight malnutrition,
especially in the face of recent drought.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73534


GUINEA: Aid package targets drinking water in Guinea's Forest Region

One of the aims of a US$80million aid package signed on 20 July by the
Guinean government and 14 UN agencies is to boost drinking water
availability in the troubled Forest Region in the southeast of the
country. The package envisages an increase in the number of people with
access to drinking water in the region from 59 to 85 percent by 2011,
with the main goal of reducing waterborne diseases like cholera and
diarrhoea. "There is a real need right now," said Idrissa Souare, head
of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) N'Zerekore office in the Forest
Region. "It's really very worrying." He told IRIN there were 3,067
drinking water points for over two million people in the Forest Region -
about half the required number. Access to potable water has long been a
problem in Guinea, not only in the Forest Region, but right across the
country, including in the capital, Conakry. Some residents have not had
running water for over five years. A cholera epidemic has already killed
three people in slum areas of Conakry since the beginning of June, and
163 other cases have been registered this season. Last year, a more
serious outbreak killed nearly 100 people, mostly in the prefectures of
Gueckedou, Kissidougou, Lola and N'Zerekore in the Forest Region. The
epidemic was largely linked to poor hygiene and limited access to
potable water. Improved access to water is part of the far-reaching aid
package addressing social and economic development in Guinea's troubled
Forest Region, which has been home to hundreds of thousands of refugees
from conflicts in the neighbouring countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone
and more recently Cote d'Ivoire.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73517


COTE D'IVOIRE: Gbagbo in occupied zone for first time declares "war is
over"

The war in Cote d'Ivoire is over. That was the declaration of President
Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leader turned Prime Minister Guillaume Soro as
Gbagbo set foot in the north for the first time since rebels occupied it
in 2002. "The war is over," Gbagbo told some 25,000 people in the Bouake
Municipal Stadium on 30 July, calling on the crowd to repeat the phrase.
"May all Ivorians stand up and shout it with me. The war is over." Soro
said Gbagbo's presence in Bouake, the former-rebel stronghold, "seals
the reunification of the country". Many people wept and some fainted as
the masses in the stadium stood, joined hands and prayed for peace in
Cote d'Ivoire. But in the same breath as his proclamation that the war
has ended, Gbagbo said the government will now take on organising
long-overdue presidential elections. That is where the work begins,
experts say. While the Bouake meeting was important and a positive step,
the hard work lies ahead, nearly five months after Soro and Gbagbo
signed a peace accord. A complex identification and voter registration
process and the disarmament of former rebels and pro-government militias
still stand between Ivorians and lasting peace. "The Bouake event is
just ceremony," said a western diplomat who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "It's a good thing, but it's not enough." Consisting mainly
of speeches and a ceremonial burning of some weapons, the event -
attended by several African heads of state - was nonetheless a
long-awaited show of unity, with loyalist forces and former rebels,
along with international forces, sharing the job of securing the city,
which was the site of an attempt on Soro's life just one month ago.
"It's a historic moment for Cote d'Ivoire," Oumar Konate, a student in
Bouake, told IRIN. "Especially for us, the youth. We have suffered for a
long time from the division of our country."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73497


NIGERIA: Adulterated kerosene blasts leave at least 20 dead in south

Facilities are stretched at the main hospital in Nigeria's southern oil
city of Warri, Delta State, where more than 40 victims of adulterated
kerosene explosions have been hospitalised in the past two weeks. At
least 20 people have died. Kerosene is the most popular cooking and
lighting fuel in Nigeria, used by the overwhelming majority of its 140
million population. However, supply shortages and rising prices have led
to unscrupulous dealers adulterating it with highly flammable materials,
causing the explosions in the Warri area. Some 17 women, six men and six
children are still hospitalised at the government-run Warri General
Hospital where doctors are struggling to keep them alive. Hospital
officials said several patients brought to the hospital with between
80-90 percent burns died soon after arrival. "The hospital is
overstretched. We need assistance, the patients need special treatment
and we need more personnel to provide it," Peter Oside, the consultant
surgeon at the hospital, told reporters. "Treatments for burns are very
expensive. The patients need antibiotics, they need special treatments,
drugs, among other things, and these are not readily available now,"
Oside added. Most of the patients said they were trying to light up
lanterns during power cuts when the explosions occurred. Others were
lighting kerosene stoves to cook meals when the blast was triggered.
Many had bought the kerosene from roadside hawkers. Despite being
Africa's leading oil exporter, Nigeria has been forced to rely on
imports because its poorly maintained oil derivatives' sector cannot
meet domestic demand. The situation leads to frequent shortages and
price increases. Unscrupulous dealers often use the opportunity to
introduce cheaper but more deadly kerosene. Inefficiency in the
state-run power utility has led to perennial power cuts, lasting several
hours each day, forcing many people to rely on candles and kerosene
lanterns to light their homes at night.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73487


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