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IRIN Africa | West Africa | WEST AFRICA | WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly 281 covering 11 June – 17 June 2005 | Children, Democracy, Early Warning, Economy, Education, Environment, Food Security, Gender issues, Health, HIV AIDS, Human Rights, Natural Disasters, Peace Security, Refugees IDPs, Other | Weekly

Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-WA Weekly 281 covering 11 June – 17 June 2005

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

CONTENTS:

GUINEA-BISSAU: Peaceful run-up to presidential election after shaky start to the campaign
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-CHAD: 8,000 Central Africans flee to southern Chad in fresh exodus from fighting
GUINEA: West African nation teetering on the brink, says ICG
LIBERIA: Donors step up anti-graft fight with plan to limit government’s powers
COTE D IVOIRE: Rebels deny they pledged to disarm later this month

GUINEA-BISSAU: Peaceful run-up to presidential election after shaky start to the campaign

Three main candidates are vying for power in Sunday's presidential election which aims to return Guinea-Bissau to constitutional rule and stability following a civil war and six years of political turmoil.

Diplomats and local political analysts are expecting a three-cornered fight between former presidents Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira and Kumba Yala and Malam Bacai Sanha, the official candidate of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

Interim President Henrique Rosa, who has helped to guide this small West African country back to democracy following a bloodless coup in September 2003, is not standing for election.

With the incumbent stepping down, the campaign has been peaceful and good-natured.

Early fears of military intervention after Yala and a handful of his military supporters briefly occupied the presidential palace during the early hours of 25 May proved unfounded.

The army, which has intervened repeatedly in politics since Guinea-Bissau achieved independence from Portugal in 1974, has remained quietly on the sidelines.

The capital Bissau and the other main towns have been plastered with campaign posters and cars blaring out music and campaign messages from the rival candidates have been racing round the streets.

Full report

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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-CHAD: 8,000 Central Africans flee to southern Chad in fresh exodus from fighting

More than 8,000 people have fled from the Central African Republic (CAR) into southern Chad over the past fortnight to escape a new outbreak of fighting in the northwest of the country, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.

The new arrivals joined 30,000 other CAR refugees who have been living in exile in southern Chad for almost three years, UNHCR official Bernard Ntwari told IRIN by telephone from N’Djamena.

He said the latest exodus began following clashes between government troops and a rebel group that began on 3 June.

Government officials in in the CAR capital Bangui, where President Francois Bozize began a new elected term of office on Saturday, confirmed that clashes took place, but they did not identify the group involved.

Most of the 8,632 refugees registered so far in Chad are being sheltered by local people in the rural communities of Betel, Bekandja, Matita and Bilbo, but some are still sleeping out, Ntwari said.

Full report

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GUINEA: West African nation teetering on the brink, says ICG

With prices spiralling out of control and the head of state in declining health after 21 years at the helm, Guinea stands on the brink of explosion, diplomats and a leading think-tank warned this week.

"Guinea risks becoming West Africa's next failed state," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a 24-page report.

It said this year's serious slide in the health of President Lansana Conte, who took power in a 1984 coup, raises the possibility of a military coup, or worse, continued mismanagement of the mineral-rich nation by a small clique of president's men grown rich by pillaging the state.

The weekly magazine Jeune-Afrique l’Intelligent last month reported that Conte was frequently slipping into diabetic coma for several hours at a time.

"But it is important to depersonalise Guinean politics," the ICG report said.

"The reforms agreed to by its government give Guinea its best chance for leaving behind decades of personalised rule."

Full report

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LIBERIA: Donors step up anti-graft fight with plan to limit government’s powers

The international community has drafted a hard-hitting anti-corruption plan for Liberia that would limit the government’s powers to grant contracts, ring-fence key sources of revenue, place international supervisors in key ministries and bring in judges from abroad.

The Liberia Economic Governance and Action Plan (LEGAP), a copy of which was obtained by IRIN, was drawn up by donors to address the “systemic and endemic corruption” which they believe is handicapping the West African nation’s economic resuscitation after 14 years of civil war.

“Economic and fiscal governance has been insufficient to put Liberia’s economy firmly on a path of recovery, poverty relief and reduction of external debt,” the draft document says.

It is due to be put to Liberia's transitional government and the UN Security Council for endorsement in the coming weeks.

Full report

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COTE D IVOIRE: Rebels deny they pledged to disarm later this month

Plans to start disarming Cote d’Ivoire’s warring parties in two weeks time looked shaky on Monday as the rebels denied signing any commitment to begin the process on 27 June and accused President Laurent Gbagbo of planning to rekindle the country's civil war.

“We never committed ourselves to a disarmament date,” Amadou Kone, a top aide of New Forces rebel leader Guillaume Soro, said.

Kone said the rebels, who control the northern half of the West African country, believed that Gbagbo was planning an offensive that would re-ignite the almost three-year-long conflict.

"We have certain information which shows that President Gbagbo is preparing to resume hostilities. His recent trip to Angola did not take place by chance," Kone told a press conference at a heavily guarded hotel used by rebel officials in the capital Abidjan.

Diplomats say Angola has supplied Gbagbo's government with arms in the past.

Under a new peace process brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki, disarmament was to pave the way for reunification of the country and the holding of presidential elections on 30 October.

However, the rebels missed the initial deadline for them to start handing in their weapons on 14 May and a fresh target date of 27 June was set by government and rebel military commanders at a series of meetings last month.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Children

Other recent WEST AFRICA reports:

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 309 covering 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 308 covering 10-16 December 2005, 16/Dec/05

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 307 covering 3-9 December 2005, 9/Dec/05

Rejecting FGM not an affront to tradition, 7/Dec/05

Youth unemployment threatens regional stability, 2/Dec/05

Other recent Children reports:

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 309 covering 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

SIERRA LEONE: With no prospects, youths are turning to crime and violence, 22/Dec/05

SENEGAL: Everyman’s library, 21/Dec/05

LIBERIA: UN renews ban on arms, diamonds and timber, 21/Dec/05

NIGERIA: Eight children die in attack on oil pipeline, 21/Dec/05

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