Full Coverage: West Africa

29.03.2004 With Liberians returning from neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea in a sign of increased confidence in the West African country's peace process, the United Nations refugee agency said last week it was scrambling to provide emergency relief since poor security in some areas did not allow returnees to go back to their homes.

25.03.2004 The progressive unraveling of a 2003 peace accord came to a head this morning in the Ivory Coast, as government troops attacked protestors planning a massive rally in front of the presidential palace. The opposition says Pres. Laurent Gbagbo has been too slow to implement reforms promised as part of the accord, brokered by the French government.

24.03.2004 The first refugees to take part in a government refugee resettlement scheme have arrived in the UK. The programme will be run on a quota basis, initially set at 500 people a year. The first group of refugees to arrive in the UK escaped war in Liberia and have been living in refugee camps for up to ten years in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

23.03.2004

© ACCION International

A couple of tiny loans allowed Fatouma Dijbril Issifou just the margin she needed to save enough from her vegetable stand so that children could attend school and receive medical care, and hopefully break the cycle of poverty into which Fatima was born.

22.03.2004 A UN Task Force has found alternatives to centralised grid power and wired telecommunications, which can have a major impact on the quality of life for rural people in developing countries. The Task Force held a two-day meeting in Ghana, which began with a roundtable discussion with the Ada local community to seek practical solutions to the challenges faced by rural communities around the world.

17.03.2004 The students of the University of Development Studies, Navorongo campus in Ghana face a constant challenge: pursuing their degrees and staying aware of current events in an community with no Internet access and only one TV and radio station. Kofi Mangesi reports.

15.03.2004 In Sierra Leone è stato inaugurato il Tribunale speciale per i crimini di guerra: giudicherà i responsabili delle atrocità che tra il 1991 ed il 2001 hanno causato 200mila vittime. Per favorire il percorso di riconciliazione sociale il Tribunale ha sede a Freetown e la metà dei giudici è sierraleonese. Ma è già sorto un problema: il Presidente, l'inglese Geoffrey Robertson, non potrà sedere ai processi contro gli ex ribelli a causa di un libro scritto alcuni anni fa.

10.03.2004 When the judgments begin to roll in Sierra Leone--following today’s official opening of a new courthouse built to house a “Special Court” appointed to hear testimony about war crimes--former Liberian leader Charles Taylor will be absent, exiled in Nigeria. Taylor is widely viewed as responsible for much of the Sierra Leone’s carnage during the 1990s, and human rights groups want him to appear before the Special Court.

10.03.2004 Länsi-Afrikka on alueellisessa integraatiossa muuta maanosaa edellä, mutta jarruna ovat maiden väliset jatkuvat konfliktit. Myös kaksi integraatioon tähtäävää liittoa nahistelee keskenään herruudesta. Toinen on kahdeksan lähinnä ranskankielisen maan tulli- ja valuuttaunioni UEMOA, ja toinen neljäntoista maan muodostama Länsi-Afrikan talousyhteisö ECOWAS.

09.03.2004 Nigeria has banned imports of live and frozen poultry from any part of the world in a bid to prevent the bird flu that has emerged in Asia from gaining a foothold in its own poultry industry.

04.03.2004 The Nigerian defence ministry has said Pakistan has offered to share military assistance, including nuclear power with Nigeria.

04.03.2004 Despite raids on cybercafes by policemen and security agents to discourage secondary school students from patronising them during school hours, the number of students who visit cybercafes is on the rise.