AFRICA: Interview with EU International Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, 18/Feb/04
ADDIS ABABA, 18 February (IRIN) - Pascal Lamy is the EU commissioner for international trade. Here to attend a key meeting between EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries being held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, he told IRIN that total trade liberalisation was... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Pro-government militias massacre 81 in Western Darfur, says rights group, 18/Feb/04
NAIROBI, 18 February (IRIN) - A US-based human rights group has claimed that 81 civilians in the war-affected Western Darfur region Sudan were last week massacred by Arab militia groups aligned with the Sudanese government. ... Full Report... Email Report

GREAT LAKES: Plea for women's regional network, 18/Feb/04
NAIROBI, 18 February (IRIN) - Representatives of women's organisations in the Great Lakes region have recommended the formation of a regional women's network, which would ensure their effective representation at women's meeting to be held in May in Rwanda and at an international... Full Report... Email Report

DRC: Seven detainees escape jail in Bunia, 18/Feb/04
KINSHASA, 18 February (IRIN) - Seven prisoners have escaped from a police cell in Bunia, the main town in the troubled northeastern district of Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo, a local official said on Wednesday. ... Full Report... Email Report

ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Irish minister calls for implementation of border ruling , 18/Feb/04
ADDIS ABABA, 18 February (IRIN) - Speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday, Tom Kitt, the Irish minister of state for development cooperation and human rights, urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to overcome their border stalemate and take action to effect the "rapid... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Peace talks resume in Kenya, 18/Feb/04
NAIROBI, 18 February (IRIN) - A possible final round of Sudanese talks resumed in Kenya on Tuesday, with both warring parties reaffirming their commitment to signing a peace peace deal to end the country's 20-year civil war. ... Full Report... Email Report

DRC: Journalist spends year in detention without trial, 18/Feb/04
NAIROBI, 18 February (IRIN) - A journalist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spent one year in preventive detention at Kinshasa's Penitentiary and Re-education Centre, national media rights NGO Journaliste en danger reported on Friday. ... Full Report... Email Report

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Centre for the handicapped inaugurated in northeast, 18/Feb/04
BANGUI, 18 February (IRIN) - A physiotherapy centre for the physically challenged has been inaugurated in Dekoa, a town 259 km northeast of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday. ... Full Report... Email Report

GREAT LAKES: More effort needed to achieve regional stability - UN official says, 18/Feb/04
NAIROBI, 18 February (IRIN) - Despite significant progress in the peace processes in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, much more work needs to done to ensure stability in the Great Lakes region, an official told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. ... Full Report... Email Report

CHAD: Independent radio station closed, director beaten up, 18/Feb/04
NDJAMENA, 18 February (IRIN) - The authorities in southern Chad have closed Radio Brakos, an independent radio station in the small town of Moissala, after it broadcast an interview with an opposition politician, sources in Moissala told IRIN. ... Full Report... Email Report

TAJIKISTAN: Mothers continue to seek missing sons of civil war, 18/Feb/04
KHUJAND, 18 February (IRIN) - Tajiks have a tradition of biting a piece of bread before starting a long journey, claiming the carefully saved remaining loaf will bring the traveller back home quicker. Leaving his family to join the army seven years ago, one young soldier jokingly... Full Report... Email Report

IRAQ: Judiciary receives boost from UK training funds, 18/Feb/04
ANKARA, 18 February (IRIN) - The Iraqi judiciary has been given a boost with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) providing some US $4 million to rehabilitate the legal system which has been in tatters for the past 30 years. ... Full Report... Email Report

BURKINA FASO: Government announces new census in April, 18/Feb/04
OUAGADOUGOU, 18 February (IRIN) - The government of Burkina Faso has announced plans to hold a new census in April. This will issue each individual with a lifelong identity number which will be required in the future as proof of nationality. ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: UNHCR to resume Afghan repatriations from March, 18/Feb/04
ISLAMABAD , 18 February (IRIN) - A voluntary repatriation programme for Afghan refugees, run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), that was suspended in November following the murder of a staff member in Afghanistan, will resume operations in March. ... Full Report... Email Report

TURKMENISTAN: National immunisation programme proceeding well, 18/Feb/04
ANKARA , 18 February (IRIN) - A new nationwide immunisation and vaccination programme aimed at eradicating vaccine preventable diseases and maintaining the country's polio free status is proceeding well in Turkmenistan, officials said. ... Full Report... Email Report

DRC: MONUC focusing troop deployment in eastern regions, 18/Feb/04
KINSHASA, 18 February (IRIN) - MONUC, known as the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is now focusing its troop deployment in the eastern regions of the vast central African country following improved security conditions elsewhere, the head of the... Full Report... Email Report

LIBERIA: UN says no disarmament before full deployment of peacekeepers, 18/Feb/04
MONROVIA, 18 February (IRIN) - The United Nations has said categorically that it will not resume its suspended disarmament programme in Liberia until UN peacekeeping troops are fully deployed right across the West African country. ... Full Report... Email Report

ZAMBIA: Unions' strike "successful", 18/Feb/04
JOHANNESBURG, 18 February (IRIN) - Striking Zambian unions described their nationwide stayaway on Wednesday against tax hikes and wage freezes as "successful". ... Full Report... Email Report

MALAWI: US$ 25 million from World Bank next month, 18/Feb/04
JOHANNESBURG, 18 February (IRIN) - Malawi can expect the first half of a US $50 million structural adjustment credit from the World Bank next month, a bank official told IRIN on Wednesday. ... Full Report... Email Report

ZIMBABWE: Inflation set to rise to 700 percent, 18/Feb/04
BULAWAYO, 18 February (IRIN) - As Zimbabwe emerges from a three week period of relative currency stability characterised by a drop in the prices of most goods, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has warned that official inflation will rise to 700 percent in March this year before... Full Report... Email Report