Full Coverage: West Africa

30.10.2004 Una nuova ondata di violenze sta sconvolgendo Monrovia, la capitale della Liberia, dove è stato proclamato il coprifuoco diurno. Il segretario generale dell'Onu Kofi Annan ha condannato i disordini di giovedì e di ieri nella capitale liberiana che hanno provocato almeno cinque morti e ha chiesto ai capi politici dell'Africa occidentale di aiutare la missione di pace dell'Onu presente nel Paese a riportare la calma. E' comunque previsto per oggi il rimpatrio dalla Guinea degli sfollati liberiani nelle proprie aree d'origine da parte dell'Alto Commissariato delle Nazioni Unite per i Rifugiati (UNHCR).

26.10.2004 Nigerjoen suiston kapinaliikkeen johtaja Alhaji Mujahid Dokubu-Asari on luvannut riisua joukkonsa aseista, mutta tilanne alueella on edelleen tulenarka. Arvostelijoiden mielestä Dokubu-Asari on pelkkä hallituksen kätyri. Kapinalliset vaativat suiston köyhille asukkaille suurempaa osaa öljytuloista. Vaatimukselle on viime kuukausina annettu pontta iskuilla öljyn tuotantolaitoksia ja putkia vastaan.

22.10.2004 Fresh crisis is brewing in Ogoniland as the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) issued oil multinational, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) a seven-day ultimatum, beginning October 16 this year, to withdraw all military and para-military forces deployed to protect the firms facilities in the area.

22.10.2004 YK:n mukaan jo lähes 100.000 Liberian sisällissodan entistä taistelijaa on luovuttanut aseensa aseistariisuntaa valvoville rauhanturvaajille. YK:n asettama takaraja aseriisunnalle on lokakuun loppu. Luovutettujen aseiden määrässä mitattuna operaatio on järjestön edustajien mukaan sujunut hyvin. Sen sijaan entisten taistelijoiden sopeuttaminen siviilielämään on vielä pahasti kesken.

21.10.2004 Länsi-Afrikassa sijaitsevassa Senegalissa tyttöjen koulunkäynti ei ole helppoa. Ala-aste voi löytyä omalta kylältä, mutta yläaste ja lukio ovat usein kymmenien kilometrien päässä. Senegalin luterilaisen kirkon ylläpitämä tyttöjen oppilaskoti on taannut monelle tytölle opiskelumahdollisuudet Fatickin kaupungissa.

20.10.2004 Donors are belatedly coughing up cash to fight locusts in West Africa, but agricultural experts have warned that it will take two or three years to reduce the number of insects to the point where they no longer present a significant threat to agriculture.

19.10.2004 Afrikan maat ovat viime vuosina lisänneet ponnistuksiaan tyttöjen ympärileikkauksen kitkemiseksi. Tuore oikeusjuttu Burkina Fasosta paljastaa, että taistelua ei ole voitettu edes siellä, missä käytäntö on julistettu laittomaksi. Kansalaisjärjestöt arvioivat, että noin kaksi miljoonaa naista ympärileikataan vuosittain pääasiassa Saharan eteläpuolisessa Afrikassa ja Arabian niemimaalla.

18.10.2004 This UNESCO 2003 interview with the Togo Minister for Higher Education covers a wide range of problems facing the country, including lack of funding for teacher salaries and training, gender imbalance, HIV/AIDS, and high illiteracy rates.

18.10.2004 Under this programme to fight malaria announced by the Canadian International Development Agency, every child under five years of age in Togo, as well as all pregnant and breast-feeding mothers, will receive a bednet treated to provide protection against mosquito bites that transmit malaria.

18.10.2004 This Amnesty annual report covers events in Togo in 2003, in particular the presidential election during which "arbitrary detentions and torture of critics and opponents continued".

18.10.2004 In advance of the April 2004 talks between the European Union (EU) and Togo, a coalition of human rights groups listed the areas for concern in the country, encouraging the EU to seek commitments for improvement in line with democratic principles.

18.10.2004 The Koutammakou cultural landscape has been accepted by UNESCO on the list of World Heritage sites, this being the only site in Togo. The landscape is home to the Batammariba people and has been cited as an outstanding example of traditional people living in harmony with their forest and farming environment.

18.10.2004 As part of the country's efforts to clean up its image for the European Commission, over 500 prisoners have been released by a decree signed by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma. The government claims that the vast majority of these are common law offenders but human rights groups say that the law has long been used for political purposes.

18.10.2004 Participation of Togo opposition parties in the political process is a crucial component of European conditions for support. So far, this is not happening and the European Commission has been presented with a dossier from the main opposition party which claims that the democratisation process is unreal.

18.10.2004 This overview of the HIV/AIDS situation in Togo highlights the risk of serious shortfall in funding support. For example, the USAID condom donation programme for Togo is due to expire in 2005 just as infection rates are increasing due to greater cross-border commercial activity in Lome port. The Global Fund has agreed to step in but only if a long term sustainable market for condoms can be established.

17.10.2004 Togo, once a very beautiful and "prosperous" country, is undergoing political crisis since the beginnings of 1990s. The democratization process has proved itself very difficult, and ruling party's officials, as well as those from opposition, are constantly accusing each other, while the poverty rate is increasing, mainly due to the aid freeze from Togo's main economic partner, the European Union.

13.10.2004 Fanny Ann Viola Eddy, the courageous lesbian and gay activist from Sierra Leone, and founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLAGA), has been brutally murdered. Fanny worked as a human rights activist in both Sierra Leone and Southern Africa.

07.10.2004 More than 4,000 farmers in Ghana’s upper east regions can now switch on their radio sets to get all the crop and market information that they need. Started as a three-month pilot, the Farmer Information Support project also aims to use mobile phones and Internet to set up a long-distance information programme.