Full Coverage: West Africa

29.07.2005 Save the Children sta inviando in Niger aiuti alimentari di emergenza per garantire la sopravvivenza di migliaia di bambini gravemente malnutriti. 41 tonnellate di cibo sono state trasportate a Niamey, capitale del Niger, da un volo umanitario partito nei giorni scorsi da Ostenda (Belgio). “Ogni minuto che passa rappresenta un ulteriore rischio di vita per tanti minori” - sottolinea Filippo Ungaro, portavoce di Save the Children Italia. Sono 15.000 circa i bambini sotto i 5 anni a cui l'organizzazione internazionale indipendente per la tutela e la promozione dei diritti dei bambini, sta prestando soccorso nella regione di Maradi, afflitta da una grave carestia dovuta alla drastica riduzione delle piogge nel corso del 2005 e alla diffusione delle locuste.

28.07.2005 In 50 days time, world leaders have the opportunity to prevent food crises like Niger ever happening again by setting up a UN emergency fund, says Oxfam.

22.07.2005 MTN Communications Nigeria Limited,Nigeria is to make financial investments with view to improving quality of learning and teaching of information and communication technology in schools.

22.07.2005 "There is late and there is too late. We are now racing so that our relief is not too late for Niger's children", a leading children's charity has warned, joining the growing criticisms of the poor international response to the west African country's food crisis.

21.07.2005 Nei giorni scorsi l'International Labor Rights Fund ha depositato presso la Corte federale di Los Angeles una denuncia contro Nestlé, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) e Cargill, tre compagnie che importano cacao dalle coltivazioni della Costa d'Avorio, accusandole di traffico di bambini, torture e lavoro forzato - riporta RsiNews. La denuncia, avviata dallo studio legale dell'Alabama "Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis", riprende le accuse di tre persone, che al momento dei fatti erano minorenni, e risiedono nella città di Sikasso, nel Mali dove dal 1996 ad oggi si calcola siano stati a migliaia i bambini costretti ai lavori forzati. Secondo l'accusa i bambini, originari del Mali, furono trasferiti in Costa d'Avorio e costretti a lavorare 12-14 ore al giorno per sei giorni la settimana, senza essere pagati, con poco cibo, costretti a dormire in stanze affollate, chiuse a chiave e sorvegliate, e spesso frustati.

21.07.2005 Less than a month after G8 leaders promised more and better aid for Africa, the international community has failed to respond adequately to the food crisis in Niger, said World Vision.

21.07.2005 With more than three million people, including almost a million children, facing starvation in Niger, Oxfam today launched a £1 million appeal for the West African food crisis.

21.07.2005 Warnings of an impending food crisis in Niger, sounded by the U.N. and other aid agencies late last year, met with little response from the international donor community. Contributions are starting to trickle in at the U.N., but by the time enough aid gets through it will have come too late for many, most of them babies and young children, says U.N. Humanitarian Affairs chief, Jan Egeland.

20.07.2005 Millions of people are facing food shortages in several west African countries following a devastating locust invasion last year and localised drought.

20.07.2005 Violence against girls and women in Nigeria is mostly excused and tolerated, mainly due to discriminatory laws, dismissive attitudes within the police, and an inaccessible justice system, says Amnesty International. The Lagos State House of Assembly is currently considering a bill to provide remedies under civil and criminal law; you can help see that it gets passed.

19.07.2005 U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, in Sierra Leone to survey the efforts being made to build effective systems for protecting human rights, said it was "time for justice to follow its course," calling for former Liberian president Charles Taylor to be arrested in Nigeria to face war crimes charges at the U.N.-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone.

18.07.2005

© Action Against Hunger-USA

As a result of severe drought and a recent plague of locusts, the rates of malnutrition and lack of access to grazing land and clean water have reached dangerously high levels in the Mali and Niger. Action Against Hunger is calling on the United States, as well as the other Group of 8 countries, to intervene in an emergency in northern Mali and Niger.

18.07.2005 Blaming E.U. and U.S. cotton subsidies, many of Africa's cotton farmers are joining the global movement for fair trade. The global depression in cotton prices is devastating millions of Africans and hampering African development, reports Oxfam America.

15.07.2005 The Education Tax Fund (ETF) has allocated N1.2 billion for the provision of information communication technology and capacity building in Nigerian universities.

13.07.2005 Niger needs long-term assistance to avoid chronic food insecurity in addition to continuing help for “silent emergencies” in health, nutrition, education and access to water, warns the UN Children's Fund.

12.07.2005 In Nigeria, health services are delivered mainly by faith-based organizations who also shape cultural norms and beliefs that influence sexual behavior. The Center for Development and Population Activities is engaging religious leaders to counter denial and misinformation on HIV/AIDS, explains the group's president in this digital postcard from Nigeria.

11.07.2005 Liberia's interim government believes the ex-president has repeatedly broken the terms of his exile by meddling in Liberia's politics to influence the outcome of October's elections. The current asylum pact shields Taylor from standing trial for crimes against humanity, but a new Liberian government will likely insist on his prosecution.

09.07.2005 George Owusu-Afriyie describes how BG-BASE, a database program designed to manage information on botanical collections, is helping to conserve medicinal plants in Ghana.

07.07.2005 What do dot-ORG projects in Mali, Brazil, Macedonia and Uganda have in common beyond the fact that they all involve the provision of some form of information technology?

06.07.2005 "Nomadic Village” presented by the Office of Radio Television of Niger-Télé-Sahel and directed by Mahaman Souleymane was awarded the bronze medal at URTI’s International Grand Prix for Documentaries. The documentary tells the story of a farmer and his small village fighting against the advancing desert.