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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-WA Weekly 282 covering 18 June – 24 June 2005

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

CONTENTS:

NIGER: The government says slavery no longer exists, the slaves disagree
COTE D IVOIRE: Security Council approves 850 extra peacekeepers
LIBERIA: Camps begin to close but many IDPs still worried about getting home
GUINEA-BISSAU: Bacai Sanha and Vieira go through to second round of presidential election
CHAD: Strong yes vote in referendum allows President Deby to seek a new term
NIGER: Children forced to eat grass as food and cash dry up

NIGER: The government says slavery no longer exists, the slaves disagree

Anti-slavery activists allege that anywhere between 43,000 to 800,000 people live in bondage in Niger, mostly among the Tuareg and Arab communities who live on the southern fringes of the Sahara desert.

The government recently tightened up the law to outlaw and punish slavery, which was once an accepted tradition in local society. It insists that slaves no longer exist in this vast land-locked West African nation and is sensitive to suggestions that they still do.

On 28 April, for instance, the government detained two anti-slavery campaigners who had been preparing a ceremony to mark the liberation of 7,000 former slaves, on charges that they were trying to defraud a British non-governmental organisation of 3.5 million euros (US $4.3 million).

The leaders of the Niger anti-slavery organisation Timidria were quietly released on bail six weeks later.

People who describe themselves as former slaves are to be found everywhere in Niger.

And they talk openly about their friends and relations who are still condemned to unpaid servitude, beatings and sexual abuse.

Full report

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COTE D IVOIRE: Security Council approves 850 extra peacekeepers

The UN Security Council agreed on Friday to send 850 extra troops to war-divided Cote d'Ivoire, but the reinforcements fell short of the 2,000 soldiers that UN officials said were necessary to keep the peace in the run-up to presidential elections.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, appointed by the African Union to act as a mediator in the conflict, has meanwhile invited all the main Ivorian factions to a fresh summit in Pretoria on Tuesday to breath fresh life into the flagging peace process.

Plans for the Ivorian rebels to start disarming more than 42,000 rebel fighters next Monday have been put on ice, pending the outcome of this meeting

"It's obvious that disarmament will not start on 27 June," Jean-Luc Stalon, the head of the UN disarmament section in Cote d'Ivoire, told reporters on Thursday. "Clearly the disarmament process and the political process are intimately linked."

With time running out after endless delays to the disarmament process, Pierre Schori, the head of the UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire, has openly questioned the feasibility of holding presidential elections on 30 October as scheduled.

Full report

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LIBERIA: Camps begin to close but many IDPs still worried about getting home

The shacks surrounding Sekou Momo's hut have been demolished, and most of his neighbours in this camp for displaced Liberians have headed home.

But the 33-year-old is still there and worried about whether he will make it back to the county where he grew up in time to have his say in October's elections.

“We have been abandoned here. Just look around you. The toilets, bathrooms and water-points have been knocked down, but we’re still here," Momo told IRIN, gesturing at a field of straw and rubble.

Perry Town Camp, which lies less than 20 km from the capital, Monrovia, is one of four sites that is being shut down as more and more internally displaced people (IDPs) trek back to their war-battered towns and villages and try to rebuild their lives.

UN officials estimate that almost two years after Liberia’s civil war ended and eight months after resettlement kicked off, some 160,000 displaced people have returned home, leaving around 140,000 in camps.

Full report

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GUINEA-BISSAU: Bacai Sanha and Vieira go through to second round of presidential election

Malam Bacai Sanha, the candidate of the ruling PAIGC party, and former military ruler Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira won the most votes in Guinea-Bissau's presidential election and will go through to a second-round run-off ballot in July, according to provisional results announced on Wednesday.

Malam Mane, the chairman of the National Electoral Commission, told a press conference that Bacai Sanha was the front-runner in last Sunday's poll with 146,506 votes - 35.3 percent of the total cast.

That was short of the 50 percent majority needed to secure a first round victory.

Vieira, a former army general who ruled this small West African country from 1980 to 1999, came second with 118,126 votes, equivalent to 28.5 percent, Mane said.

Former president Kumba Yala, the third main contender in the election, was relegated to third place with 106,647 votes or 25.7 percent, he added.

Full report

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CHAD: Strong yes vote in referendum allows President Deby to seek a new term

A referendum on several constitutional ammendments approved by parliament has given President Idriss Deby the green light to stand for re-election next year.

The government announced on Tuesday night that that the 6 June referendum on constitutional ammendments which included the abolition of a clause limiting the president to two consecutive elected terms, had been approved by 77 percent of those who voted.

This clears the way for Deby, who came to power in a civil war in 1990, to seek a third five-year term in the 2006 presidential election. He won earlier elections in 1996 and 2001.

Opposition leaders, who had called for a boycott of the referendum, denounced the outcome as a sham.

"The results that were published were imaginary and do not reflect reality because the people massively rejected the power of President Deby on the 6 June when there was a massive boycott," said opposition spokesman Ibni Oumar.

But the government was undeterred.

"We did not doubt Deby's victory for one instant," said Mahamat Hissene, the spokesperson and campaign manager for the ruling party.

Full report

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NIGER: Children forced to eat grass as food and cash dry up

It was quiet among the red mud huts of Garhanga as the scorching midday sun rose over the village of 6,000 people in the arid wasteland of central Niger.

Women and children chatted under the shade of a huge tree, a rare sight in this rocky landscape dotted with carcasses of parched cattle.

But there was no food and nothing to do. And everyone was hungry.

“Look!” said Fatima Hamadou, a 23-year-old mother of three, pointing at an empty mud brick granary. “We planted millet, sorghum and beans, but there is nothing in the granary.

“We don’t even have seeds to sow for the next harvest.”

Landlocked Niger is in the throes of a serious food crisis. A quarter of the country’s 12 million people are expected to go hungry over the next few months until the new harvest begins in September.

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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