Full Coverage: West Africa

31.03.2006 MONROVIA, Mar 31 (IPS) - Liberia's newly-elected but cash-strapped government has begun to find ways that the U.N. sanctions can be lifted to allow the country to exploit its immense timber resources for the benefit of its war-ravaged people.

30.03.2006 UN peacekeepers delivered handcuffed former Liberian president Charles Taylor into the custody of a UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone on Wednesday where he will be the first former African head of state to face prosecution for war crimes before an international tribunal.

29.03.2006 Just hours after his disappearance was announced, Charles Taylor was caught at the northern Nigerian border Wednesday, nearly 1000 miles from his home. He was attempting to leave the country in a jeep with diplomatic plates and a trunk full of U.S. dollars.

29.03.2006 Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who disappeared from his residence in the country's southeast one day ago, has been detained and likely be expelled soon, a Nigerian police spokesman said on Wednesday.

29.03.2006 Less than three days after revoking his asylum, the government of Nigeria announced Tuesday that Charles Taylor had disappeared, drawing outrage from rights groups and causing unease in Liberia's capital.

29.03.2006 Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is wanted to face war crimes charges in Sierra Leone, has disappeared from the luxury mansion where he lives in exile in Nigeria, the president’s office said on Tuesday.

29.03.2006 The UN has launched a $92 million appeal for food and nutrition needs in the Sahelian countries for 2006.

28.03.2006 Nigerialainen aseistettu kapinallisryhmä vapautti loput kolme ulkomaalaista panttivankia eilen. Öljyntuotantoalueella oleillut ryhmä piti yhdeksää ulkomaalaista henkilöä panttivankeina useita viikkoja. Kapinalliset ovat räjäyttäneet öljylaitoksia ja uhkasivat jatkaa iskuja, jollei heille myönnetä suurempaa sananvaltaa öljyrikkauksiin.

28.03.2006 Armed militants in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta freed three remaining foreign hostages held captive for five weeks yesterday, but vowed to continue attacks on oil installations.

27.03.2006 Nigeria has announced that Liberian officials are now "free to take" former warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, but it's in Sierra Leone that he's really wanted--to face charges of crimes against humanity.

25.03.2006 Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Saturday that Liberia is “free to take” its former president, Charles Taylor, who is living in exile in Nigeria and is indicted for war crimes by a United Nations-backed court.

24.03.2006 In the ICT arena women they still remain inside that outer circle of ICT users where a male-dominated society assigns specific limits beyond which women are not able to tread. Women, like other subordinate groups in the society are thought to be “muted”.

24.03.2006 Liberia was founded by freed slaves, yet the Bridgestone-Firestone company is using slave labor in the country today and encouraging workers to put their children on the job too. Join the campaign to hold the tire company to account.

22.03.2006 Liberia's 14-year civil war left a legacy of sexual violence against women and impunity for rape, says Refugees International, arguing that to bring peace and development to the country Charles Taylor and others must be brought to justice for the war crimes they committed.

22.03.2006 A five-day census launched in Nigeria yesterday seeks to end the guessing game over the number of people who live in Africa's most populous country.

21.03.2006 Low cocoa prices have meant severe poverty and even child slavery for many families in West Africa, says a faith-based social justice group offering fair trade alternatives in their Webstore.

21.03.2006 Farmer-based organisations (FBOs) in the country are to benefit from a series of workshops to educate them on the use of cellular phones to access market information.

20.03.2006 Sahelin kuivuusalue Länsi-Afrikassa on hiljalleen toipumassa viime vuonna kärjistyneestä kriisistä, jonka aiheutti pitkäaikaisen kuivuuden synnyttämä ruokapula. Eniten kuivuudesta ovat kärsineet Niger, Mali, Mauritania ja Burkina Faso. Kiireellisin avustustyö on tehty, ja nyt pitäisi panostaa ongelmien alkuperään.

17.03.2006 In an emotional speech interrupted by 12 standing ovations, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recounted the civil war that decimated her country, thanked Congress for their support in ending the bloody conflict, and appealed to the U.S. to help rebuild Liberia--a country bound to the U.S. by shared history and values.

16.03.2006 Beatrice Munah Sieh, who fled Liberia ten years ago after charging then-president Charles Taylor's police chief with corruption, will return to take over the country's top cop spot at the end of the month.