Weekly Round-Up - IRINWA-437: 25-Jul-08
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 437
19 - 25 July 2008
CONTENTS:
LIBERIA: Govt warns Monrovia floods worst in city's history
SIERRA LEONE: Rampant disease washes in with flood water
COTE D'IVOIRE: Ministers cut own wages to end public sector strike
MAURITANIA: Bumps along the road to refugee resettlement
GHANA: Dumping ground for used gadgets
SENEGAL: Execution-style murder underscores resurgent violence
GUINEA-BISSAU: Cholera outbreak escalating
LIBERIA: Govt warns Monrovia floods worst in city's history
Intense and heavy rainfall in the Liberian capital Monrovia on 20 July
caused the worst floods on record in Monrovia and forced nearly 1,000
people out of their houses, Liberian authorities told IRIN. All day
Sunday, residents in eastern areas of the city including in Paynesville,
Townhalk, King Gray, Fish Market and other communities were seen
removing personal belongings like mattresses, clothes and pots from
their homes. By the end of the day, flood water had blocked roads to the
area, and government rescue workers were using canoes to evacuate the
remaining people from the flood areas.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79364
SIERRA LEONE: Rampant disease washes in with flood water
With malaria, diarrhea and vomiting, pneumonia, bronchitis and other
respiratory infections, worm infestations, scabies, abscesses, sores,
and boils all common ailments in the Kroo Bay community of the Sierra
Leone capital Freetown local medical official Amadou Kandor says it's
little wonder 35 is an average life expectancy for the slum's 6,000
inhabitants. Kroo Bay, one of the poorest areas in the centre of Sierra
Leone's beachfront capital Freetown, is a squalid slum so littered with
rubbish that the paths are made of compressed plastic, cans and
toothpaste tubes, and patches of bare orange earth are a rare sight.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79358
COTE D'IVOIRE: Ministers cut own wages to end public sector strike
A week of strikes and protests in Cote d'Ivoire's economic capital
Abidjan ended on Sunday following a government announcement that it
would continue to subsidise fuel, and that government ministers would
slash their own wages by 50 percent to help cover the cost. The move
marks a reversal on a 6 July government policy scrapping fuel subsidies.
With presidential elections looming at the end of the year, the move
could be interpreted as deft politicking by the incumbent government, a
criticism Prime Minister and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro went out
of his way to dispel in his speech announcing the measures.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79354
MAURITANIA: Bumps along the road to refugee resettlement
The return of over 4,000 Mauritanian refugees who have been living in
exile in Senegal for almost two decades has been smooth on the whole,
but in some cases tensions are arising as refugees complain about their
new living conditions and come up against difficulties in reclaiming
their land. In 1989 the authorities reportedly appropriated the land of
many refugees when they expelled them from the country, forcing them to
flee to Senegal and Mali. "We still have not recovered our land or our
property that was stolen in 1989," said a woman who was repatriated to
Boynguel Thile, near Boghe, 225km southeast of Nouakchott.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79349
GHANA: Dumping ground for used gadgets
At one of the many busy roadside shops in the capital, Accra, John
Nuagbe displays the used, rusty and mostly broken electrical gadgets he
recently imported from the USA. Old TV sets, refrigerators, computers,
fans, cookers - even blenders and electric irons. If it is used and
electrical, it is likely he has one. "Business is good, I just arrange
with my business partners in the USA and the goods are shipped to me.
They sell like hot cakes," he explained.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79371
SENEGAL: Execution-style murder underscores resurgent violence
A man was executed during a robbery by rebels on a road in the southern
Casamance region of Senegal on 22 July, the latest indication of
resurgent violence in the restive province. Witnesses to the attack said
30 armed men stopped 15 cars at a roadblock on the Ziguinchor-Bignona
road and stole money, jewellery and mobile phones from passengers, who
included a local politician. The man who was executed was wearing a
military beret and was shot to death, witnesses said. The army has
denied the man was a member of the armed forces, but other sources in
the local administration said he was a soldier.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79403
GUINEA-BISSAU: Cholera outbreak escalating
The number of people infected by a cholera outbreak in Guinea Bissau
doubled in July to more than 600 and infections have spread to areas of
the country previously considered low risk, health experts warn. Of 611
people in Guinea Bissau who have contracted the disease this year, 344
of them were infected in July, according to the government's statistics.
So far 14 people have died. The outbreak has reached Gabu and Bafata,
two areas normally immune from infection, and six other regions. "We
have seen a notable increase in cases in the last week, and it is now
all over the country," said Silvia Luciani, UN children's fund (UNICEF)
representative.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79395
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