"); NewWindow.document.close(); return false; } // end hiding from old browsers -->

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly 254 covering 4-10 December - OCHA IRIN

Sunday 16 January 2005


Search

Regions

IRIN-WA Weekly 254 covering 4-10 December

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

CONTENTS:

GHANA: Kufuor hails his re-election as a vote for peace and tranquillity
NIGERIA-SUDAN: More Darfur peace talks against backdrop of continuing violence
LIBERIA: US says willing to cancel debt but warns more progress needed
NIGER: Tandja wins second term as president in historic first for country
CHAD: UN wants almost $183 million to help Darfur refugees and locals in 2005
COTE D IVOIRE: All sides pledge commitment to peace process again, but will anything change?
LIBERIA-SIERRA LEONE: International community needs to commit for long haul to stop return to war

GHANA: Kufuor hails his re-election as a vote for peace and tranquility

Ghana’s President John Kufuor has won a second four-year term in office in a poll he described as a victory for the country’s continuing stability in an often chaotic region.

The 66-year-old former lawyer known as “the gentle giant” garnered 52.7 percent of the vote, Ghana's Electoral Commission said late Thursday after almost all the ballots had been counted.

Eight of every ten registered voters -- some 8.5 million Ghanaians -- turned out to choose their new president in Tuesday's elections, a massive turnout in this country which was Africa's proud first winner of independence and was holding its fourth multi-party ballot.

Kufuor came to power in 2000 and has been widely credited for shoring up the economy and winning the confidence of foreign donors as Ghana consolidated its reputation as a haven for stability and tolerance.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

NIGERIA-SUDAN: More Darfur peace talks against backdrop of continuing violence

Peace talks to end almost two years of conflict in Darfur are set to restart but a top UN official warned that the new round was headed for failure unless the Sudanese government and rebel groups stopped blasting holes in a ceasefire agreement.

At the previous round of African Union-sponsored talks last month in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, both sides signed accords pledging to improve security in the western Sudan region and guarantee aid workers access to civilians caught up in the crisis.

Since then the AU has reported rebel attacks and government military raids which have forced thousands of innocent Darfuris to flee their homes, and several aid agencies including the UN World Food Programme and the charity Save The Children have had to temporarily suspend their work in certain areas.

Delegates from Darfur's two main rebel groups arrived in the Abuja on Friday for the fourth round of negotiations and Khartoum representatives were expected in time for meetings to begin in the evening.

But ahead of the talks, the UN's Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, questioned what could be achieved against a backdrop of continued fighting.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

LIBERIA: US says willing to cancel debt but warns more progress needed

The United States has said it wants to help war-ravaged Liberia wipe out billion of dollars of international debt and is prepared to cancel all monies owed to Washington, but more work needs to be done to improve how the West African country manages its finances.

"Other countries that have suffered war and are going through the reconstruction process like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Sierra Leone... are all along the path of getting debt relief. We want Liberia to get the same treatment as they have done," David Loevinger, the US Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary, said on Wednesday.

"Liberia needs the same conditions as those countries have met. We would give them the same treatment which is 100 per cent reduction of US debts," he told reporters in the capital, Monrovia, at the end of a two-day visit.

Official figures from Liberia's central bank put the country's international debt at US $3 billion dollars.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

NIGER: Tandja wins second term as president in historic first for country

President Mamadou Tandja has won a second five-year term in office, becoming Niger's first head of state to secure re-election as the arid landlocked country enters a new era of political stability.

Official results, released late Tuesday, showed the retired army colonel won a resounding 65.5 percent of the vote in last weekend's run-off round of the election against challenger Mahamadou Issoufou, who nonetheless clocked up a larger-than-expected 34.5 percent.

Tandja is the first elected leader of the large but sparsely-populated country, which is two-thirds desert, to have completed a term in office without being toppled by a coup or assassinated.

“The significance of this election is that it went off well,” said one West Africa analyst who asked not to be named. “Tandja has brought stability to the nation.”

Full report

[Top of the Page]

CHAD: UN wants almost $183 million to help Darfur refugees and locals in 2005

The United Nations is appealing for almost US$ 183 million next year to help 200,000 refugees who have fled the conflict in Darfur for the safety of Chad, as well as the local people living alongside them, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.

With clashes still erupting in Darfur between rebel troops and pro-government militia, aid workers are also worried that another 100,000 harassed and frightened refugees might start pouring across the border in the months to come.

"The situation requires that we redouble our efforts. We need US$ 182.69 million to respond to the humanitarian crisis in eastern Chad in 2005," Cyrille Niameogo, the acting UN humanitarian coordinator for the country, told IRIN by telephone.

The biggest chunk of the funds -- some US$ 65 million -- will be spent on providing food.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

COTE D IVOIRE: All sides commit to peace process again, but will anything change?

South African President Thabo Mbeki ended his mediation in Cote d'Ivoire having wrangled promises from all sides to revive the flagging peace process.

But the jury is out on whether his efforts will bear fruit, or whether the government and the rebels will backslide as before with each camp blaming the other.

Mbeki, sent in as peacekeeper by the African Union to stop Cote d'Ivoire slipping back into full-scale civil war, said the parties had agreed political reforms should be passed, weapons should start being handed in, the government of national reconciliation should return to work and security should be restored to the streets of the main city, Abidjan.

"We've agreed with everybody on all of these matters," Mbeki told a press conference at the end of his five-day mission on Monday. "Therefore specific programmes must be carried out."

But the South African -- whose delegation included officials from United Nations, European Union, World Bank and African bodies -- was cagey about announcing deadlines for moving the world's top cocoa producer back to peace.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

LIBERIA-SIERRA LEONE: International community needs to commit for long haul to stop return to war

Liberia and Sierra Leone risk tipping back into conflict if the international community does not commit for the next 15 to 25 years with a fresh approach to restore security and civil freedoms, according to leading think tank, the International Crisis Group.

"The interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone are failing to produce states that will be stable," the ICG said in a report published on Wednesday. "A fresh strategy is needed if both are not to remain shadow states, vulnerable to new fighting and state failure."

The ICG criticised donors for not handing over promised and much needed-funds and said that post-war efforts were veering off course, as UN peacekeepers simply ticked off the standard elements in a one-size-fits-all recipe for peace.

"There is no simple and quick nation-building conveyor belt. If the cycle of 'collapse, partial recovery, new collapse' is to be avoided, the international community needs to stay patiently involved with both countries for a generation, not for a brief post-conflict transition capped off by a first election," the Brussels-based group warned.

Full report

[Top of the Page]

[ENDS]

Other recent WEST AFRICA reports:

Bettter coordination and reserve funds needed to fight locusts, 14/Jan/05

Central bank gives poor more time to swap old bank-notes, 13/Jan/05

Africa’s poorest nations extend helping hand to tsunami victims, 12/Jan/05

IRIN-WA Weekly 258 covering 1-7 January 2005, 7/Jan/05

Winners and losers in bank-note swap, 4/Jan/05

Other recent Democracy & Governance reports:

COTE D IVOIRE: UN mulls next move as officials warn on tight timeframe for elections, 14/Jan/05

ANGOLA: Cautious optimism for 2005, 14/Jan/05

ETHIOPIA: Elections to be delayed in Somali Region, 14/Jan/05

UGANDA: President shuffles cabinet ahead of debate on presidential term limits, 14/Jan/05

SOMALIA: Parliament endorses new cabinet, 13/Jan/05

[Back] [Home Page]

Click to send any feedback, comments or questions you have about IRIN's Website or if you prefer you can send an Email to

The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2005