ABIDJAN, 7 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Eleven people were shot or hacked to death when unidentified assailants attacked a village in the volatile cocoa-growing western region of war-torn Cote d’Ivoire, hospital and police officials said on Tuesday.Full report

NDJAMENA, 6 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The rhetoric may be flying, with outbursts over "a fool's agreement" and "neo-colonialist and imperialist behaviour,? but most observers believe the oil row between the Chadian government and the World Bank will end in a face-saving compromise.Full report

ABUJA, 6 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Mounting violence in Sudan’s Darfur region is undermining talks taking place in the Nigerian capital to end the three-year conflict, according to the African Union (AU).Full report

BISSAU, 6 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Teachers in the tiny West African state of Guinea-Bissau have suspended a strike over arrears, but students who began the year weeks late due to a cholera epidemic fear the lingering dispute may nullify the academic year.Full report

NEW YORK , 6 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The United Nations Security Council on Monday agreed to send a company of peacekeeping troops from the UN mission in Liberia to war-torn neighbour Cote d’Ivoire after a spate of anti-UN violence.Full report

ABIDJAN, 3 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - As the United Nations debates whether to impose sanctions on individuals seen as blocking peace in Cote d’Ivoire, some residents of the main city Abidjan wonder why the move is taking so long and wish the UN would act quickly – and severely. Full report

NEW YORK , 3 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - A group of UN Security Council members has put forward a list of three political figures from Cote d’Ivoire who could face sanctions for inciting violence or blocking peace efforts in the divided West African nation, diplomats said on Friday.Full report

GAGA, 3 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Ask Kaltouma Yaya Ato why three years into the Darfur conflict, she has only just decided to seek refuge in Chad, and the 80-year old says not a word. She simply rolls up the folds of her skirt to reveal traces of the Janjawid.Full report

NDJAMENA, 3 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Chad's fight against AIDS is set to be one of the main victims if a standoff between the government and the World Bank drags on, senior UN officials have warned. Full report

MONROVIA, 2 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Liberia’s new president, “Iron Lady? Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has sacked every political appointee from the outgoing administration at the ministry of finance as part of her crackdown on corruption.Full report

COTE D IVOIRE: Year in Brief 2005 - A chronology of key events

WEST AFRICA: Year in Review 2005 - Hunger in the Sahel

LIBERIA: A chronology of 25 years of conflict and turmoil

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE: Waiting for the oil boom

CHAD: Government and World Bank struggle to save face in oil row

GHANA: Why is the north blighted by chieftaincy disputes?

NIGERIA: Oil-rich Niger Delta faces “shocking? new wave of violence

COTE D IVOIRE: Using the media to orchestrate violence