Full Coverage: West Africa

26.11.2004 Senza porre alcun vincolo al consorzio costruttore, la Banca mondiale ha approvato questa settimana garanzie pari ad un totale di 125 milioni di dollari per il controverso West Africa Gas Pipeline Project (WAGP). Il consorzio costruttore è capeggiato dalla Chevron Texaco e vede la partecipazione, tramite la Shell Nigeria, anche dell'AGIP. Il progetto consisterà in un gasdotto lungo 690 km per il trasporto di gas dalla Nigeria fino in Ghana, attraverso il Togo e il Benin, allo scopo di sviluppare il settore energetico di questi tre paesi, ma in particolare aumentare il potenziale di produzione energetica in Ghana.

23.11.2004 Norsunluurannikon selkkauksen laajeneminen täysimittaiseksi sisällissodaksi yritetään estää osin afrikkalaisin toimin. Afrikan unioni on kutsunut kriisin välittäjäksi Etelä-Afrikan presidentin Thabo Mbekin, jolle on kertynyt kokemusta kiperistä paikoista. Jos tilanne Norsunluurannikolla jatkaa kärjistymistään, vaaravyöhykkeellä voivat olla myös omista sisällissodistaan toipuvat naapurivaltiot Liberia ja Sierra Leone.

22.11.2004 The murder of Fanyann Eddy last month underscores the particular vulnerability of those working for equal rights for lesbians and gays in many parts of the world. "Respect for human rights can transform society," said Eddy, a lesbian living in Sierra Leone, in testimony before the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

22.11.2004 An ethnic militia group which threatened to kill foreign oil workers in southeastern Nigeria last month has started handing in its weapons under a guns-for-cash peace deal agreed with the government.

19.11.2004 The Union of Francophone Community Radio Stations is meeting Burkina Faso from 1-4 December 2004. The union will elect a new leadership and review strategies to strengthen grassroots radio across Africa.

19.11.2004 In Senegal, the maternal mortality rate is 510 deaths per 100,000 live births, and over a quarter of those deaths are due to hemorrhages. Women's groups are organizing blood donor drives to help local clinics gather the blood needed for emergency maternal care.

19.11.2004 In Senegal, the maternal mortality rate is 510 deaths per 100,000 live births, and over a quarter of those deaths are due to hemorrhages. Women's groups are organizing blood drives to help local clinics gather the blood needed for emergency maternal care.

19.11.2004 "Our children, the children of West Africa, have lost the chance to enjoy the normal pleasures of childhood, to go to school, but in particular we have stopped thinking of them as children," said Sierra Leone's president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Friday, calling for West African countries to re-integrate their former child soldiers into society, starting by providing a "free and functioning school system."

18.11.2004 Liberian sisällissodan päättymisen jälkeen 20 000 lapsisotilasta on luovuttanut aseensa ja ilmaissut halunsa aloittaa koulunkäynnin. Pelastakaa Lapset ylläpitää vastaanottokeskuksia entisille lapsisotilaille eri puolilla maata. Auta lasta -lehti kertoo 16-vuotiaan Kayen tarinan. Hän on entinen lapsisotilas, joka joutui sodan jälkeen työskentelemään kapinallisten leivissä kultakaivoksessa.

16.11.2004 Amid reports that both sides are actively seeking new weapons and attacks that have become alarmingly xenophobic, the UN imposed an immediate arms embargo on Cote d'Ivoire Monday evening as well as other sanctions to go into effect in one month if the 18-month ceasefire is not respected. Up to 24,000 people are expected to march approximately 250 miles on Wednesday from the rebel-controlled North through the government-held South of the country to demand the president's resignation.

16.11.2004 A suitcase radio in Timbuktu, Mali, that helped people fight a locust attack will be able to reach and involve larger communities. The Unesco has replaced its 30-watt transmitter with a 100-watt unit that will increase the reach by three times.

12.11.2004 Tuhannet ihmiset ovat paenneet Norsunluurannikon 18 kuukautta kestäneen tulitauon rikkoneita levottomuuksia sisällissodasta toipuvaan naapurimaahan Liberiaan. Tarkkailijat varoittavat, että pakolaisten määrä voi nousta kymmeneen tuhanteen, elleivät taistelut Norsunluurannikolla lopu. YK:n edustajan mukaan alueen herkkä tasapaino on vaarassa järkkyä jälleen.

12.11.2004 Already 5,000 Ivorians have fled into neighboring Liberia--still trying to cope with the return of its own refugee population--and up to 10,000 are expected if fighting does not end quickly, placing the stability of the entire region at risk, a top UN official has warned. Interruptions to electricity and clean water services have also endangered the health of many who stayed behind.

10.11.2004 At least four were killed in fresh violence Tuesday as French troops fired to disperse protestors in the country's economic capital Abidjan. The flare up came just hours after South African President Thabo Mbeki intervened with his Ivorian counterpart Laurent Gbagbo in an attempt to jumpstart peace talks between the government and rebel forces.

09.11.2004 Since the 18-month ceasefire between government and rebel forces broke down last week, over 1,500 refugees have already fled Côte d'Ivoire into neighboring Liberia and Ghana.

09.11.2004 Il mancato rispetto, da parte del governo della Nigeria, dei propri obblighi di difesa dei diritti umani sta provocando un escalation di violazioni dei diritti civili, politici, sociali, economici e culturali nel contesto delle attività esplorative e produttive delle compagnie petrolifere nel Delta del Niger. Per questo Amnesty International ha diffuso un rapporto che rileva come i diritti umani di singole persone e intere comunità siano stati violati a causa dell’operato di alcune imprese transnazionali nonché delle azioni e del mancato intervento delle autorità federali nigeriane.

08.11.2004 Join friends of Liberia from across the U.S. and Africa for a night of West African food, music and dance on Saturday, November 20 in Washington, D.C. All proceeds from the gala will directly fund high-impact educational and peace-building projects to benefit the children of Liberia.

08.11.2004

© allAfrica.com

After months of a quiet but tense peace, Cote d'Ivoire's government launched airstrikes on the rebel controlled north of the country last week and bombed a French military post over the weekend. The French response--destroying most of Cote d'Ivoire's air force--has whipped much of the country into an anti-foreigner frenzy and called into question the French role as neutral peacekeepers.

06.11.2004 Medici Senza Frontiere esprime la sua preoccupazione per le conseguenze che sta avendo sui civili l'offensiva governativa contro la città di Bouké controllata dai ribelli. Nella città sono state allestite barricate e posti di blocco in previsione di un attacco di terra. Indignazione è stata espressa da Reporter senza Frontiere per l'ondata di repressione che si è abbattuta sulla stampa di opposizione che ha visto il saccheggio delle redazioni di due quotidiani. Rsf si appella all'Onu affinchè intervenga "poiché imbavagliare la stampa di opposizione è notoriomente sempre un segnale anticipatore di gravi violenze".

05.11.2004 A priest in a Nigerian state is using antenna signals to provide the people a free service on his GSM phone. Awba-Ofemili has no GSM network but Rev. Fr Chike Uba found a spot from where his phone could make or receive calls. This was possible because a repeater system redirected and amplified the
signals available at the main antenna to areas of weak coverage.