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Saturday 20 August 2005


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IRIN-WA Weekly 274 covering 23 - 29 April 2005

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

CONTENTS:

TOGO: Poll chaos spreads, thousands flee, opposition leader declares himself president, ECOWAS due in Lome
COTE D'IVOIRE: Gbagbo agrees to let rival stand in elections set for 30 October
CHAD: Measles epidemic sweeps through south, killing at least 115
NIGERIA: Dozens killed in southeast feud over farmland
NIGER: Residents of uranium mining town fear they're being exposed to radioactive poisoning
SENEGAL: Cholera cases fall despite big pilgrimage

TOGO: Poll chaos spreads, thousands flee, opposition leader declares himself president, ECOWAS due in Lome

Thousands of people fled Togo in fear of their lives this week as deadly street battles between opposition protesters and security forces raged after Faure Gnassingbe was declared winner of a disputed election.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said almost 7,000 people had fled to safety in neighbouring Benin and Ghana, either after coming under attack from the security forces or simply scared about the country sliding into chaos.

The government said on its website that 22 people had died in the violence that erupted on Tuesday while the Togolese League of Human Rights said at least 50 people had died across the country since Tuesday's results, and more than 200 had been wounded.

The opposition candidate in Sunday's election, Emmanuel Bob-Akitani, refused to concede defeat despite the announcement of the official results and instead declared himself president.
In a live address to the nation, interim president Abbas Bonfoh dubbed the self-proclamation “as pure fantasy, null and void.”

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it was sending a delegation to Lome on Saturday to try to bring an end to the political crisis. This would include its executive-secretary, Mohamed Ibn Chambas; Niger's Foreign Minister Aichatou Mindaoudou; and the Nigerian Minister of Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Lawan Guba.

Full report

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COTE D IVOIRE: Gbagbo agrees to let rival stand in elections set for 30 October

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to use his constitutional powers to allow a main opposition rival to stand in October's elections, bowing to international pressure and to one of the key demands of rebels occupying the north of the country.

In a speech aired on state television late Tuesday, Gbagbo said he would apply Article 48 of the constitution, which allows the president to take extraordinary measures when institutions or territorial integrity are at stake.

"From now on, until the end of the crisis, given the powers conferred upon me by Article 48 of the constitution, I will take all the measures I believe the circumstances demand," the Ivorian leader said.

"As a result, Alassane Dramane Ouattara can, if he wants, present his candidature in the presidential elections of October 2005."

Ouattara reacted cautiously to Tuesday's announcement from the Ivorian leader.

The first round of presidential elections will be held on 30 October, the government announced on Thursday.

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CHAD: Measles epidemic sweeps through south, killing at least 115

More than 100 people have died from measles in the Chadian capital N'djamena and the surrounding southern provinces and up to 24,000 people could be infected with the virus, Medecin Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Friday.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been 6,000 reported cases nationwide, but MSF said the real figure could be two to three times higher.

Officially 115 have died from the disease and MSF said that in the paediatric wards of some hospitals, 50 percent of mortalities in April were as a result of measles.

The international aid agency said it was trying to establish whether the worst was over.

"We have to collect epidemiological data to define if the epidemic has already reached its peak or not," Kate Alberty, an MSF epidemiologist said in a statement issued on Friday.

Full report

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NIGERIA: Dozens killed in southeast feud over farmland

Dozens of people died in clashes last week between two rival communities in southeastern Nigeria over ownership of prized farmland, residents and officials said Tuesday.

More than 50 people were killed in the worst day of the violence last Thursday when fighters armed with machetes and rifles, believed to be from Cross River State, rampaged through a settlement of people across the border in neighbouring Ebonyi State, residents said.

John Otu, Ebonyi commissioner for information, confirmed there were many deaths but said he could not give definite figures. He said a longstanding dispute over farming land flared up again last week, with retaliatory attacks culminating in Thursday’s mayhem.

Ebonyi governor, Sam Egwu, on Saturday met his Cross River counterpart, Donald Duke, in an effort to calm rising tension in the area and stop the violence from spreading.

Police officials said reinforcements had been sent to the area to prevent more fighting and Otu said no further violence has been reported between the two communities.

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NIGER: Residents of uranium mining town fear they're being exposed to radioactive poisoning

When residents of the desert town of Arlit, Niger's uranium mining settlement in the far north of the country, started getting increasingly sick, they questioned whether this had to do with their overexposure to radioactivity and called in French NGOs to investigate.

Reports by the French teams found that water, soil, metal scrap from the area where two uranium mines are mainly exploited by subsidiaries of French company Areva-Cogema were contaminated with dangerously high radioactivity levels.

Such high levels of contamination could cause a whole array of illnesses including cancer, inworkers as well as in the population as a whole, all the more as they proved the company disrespected international norms to protect its citizens.

But the NGOs admit that it is difficult to substantiate that the uranium mine is the definitive source of the contamination without further research.

"There are very serious presumptions, even though they haven't been proven, that there is a link between some [of the workers'] illnesses and the radiation," said William Bourdon, president of SHERPA, an NGO aiming at protecting human and workers' rights against multinationals.

But the French multinational that operates the mine has consistently denied the allegations, and has attributed the high number of illnesses to the harsh desert climate.

"The most frequently observed maladies are allergic reactions that are characteristic of desert zones because of the abundance of sand and dust," said Areva in a statement issued on Monday.

Full report

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SENEGAL: Cholera cases fall despite big pilgrimage

Senegal’s cholera epidemic is on the wane despite a gathering of thousands of pilgrims in the country last week, health authorities said Monday.

Contrary to fears of a possible increase in the number of cholera cases after the religious gathering, authorities had registered only 752 new cholera cases last week, against 1,187 new cases between 11 and 17 April.

Senegal’s health authorities had taken preventive measures ahead of the April gathering in Tivaouane, 100 km northeast of Dakar in the Thies region, which each year marks the birth of the prophet Mohamed.

Coly of WHO attributed last week’s fall of new cholera cases to effective action by the health authorities during the celebrations.

Since 28 March, the country has recorded 117 deaths from a total of 8,296 cases, according to the health ministry.

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[ENDS]

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Other recent WEST AFRICA reports:

IRIN-WA Weekly 290 Covering 13 August - 19 August 2005, 19/Aug/05

IRIN-WA Weekly 289 Covering 6 August - 12 August 2005, 12/Aug/05

IRIN-WA Weekly 288 Covering 30 July - 5 August 2005, 5/Aug/05

IRIN-WA Weekly 287 Covering 23 July - 29 July 2005, 29/Jul/05

IRIN-WA Weekly 286 Covering 16 July - 22 July 2005, 25/Jul/05

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 19/Aug/05

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly 290 Covering 13 August - 19 August 2005, 19/Aug/05

ZIMBABWE: Regional bodies lack clout to end crisis, say analysts, 19/Aug/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 244 for 13 - 19 August 2005, 19/Aug/05

HORN OF AFRICA: IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-up 290 for 13-19 August 2005, 19/Aug/05

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