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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-WA Weekly 288 covering 30 July - 5 August 2005

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

CONTENTS:

MAURITANIA: New military rulers face worldwide condemnation
GUINEA-BISSAU: Cape Verde president to mediate in poll deadlock
NIGER: WFP asks donors to triple funding to over $57 million
MALI: World ignoring food crisis says Oxfam
COTE D IVOIRE: Diplomats say Gbagbo laws comply with peace deal
BENIN: Togolese refugees continue to trickle in, but funds do not

MAURITANIA: New military rulers face worldwide condemnation

Mauritanians woke to a new dawn on Thursday following the bloodless ousting of President Maaouya Ould Taya, with many in triumphant mood but anxious to hear more from the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, which staged the coup but promised to stand down within two years.

In a statement carried on the state news agency, the council said it was composed of 17 members from the various branches of the armed forces, with all but one carrying the rank of colonel, and would usher in civilian rule within two years.

Named at the council's head was Col Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, who took part in the putsch that brought Ould Taya to power in 1984 and who had served at his side as the nation's security chief for almost two decades.

Ould Taya was forced to land in Niger. News of the coup broke on Wednesday as he made his way back from the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.

The African Union said it was suspending Mauritania's membership of the 53-nation group "until the restoration of constitutional order in the country."

Full report

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GUINEA-BISSAU: Cape Verde president to mediate in poll deadlock

Cape Verdian President Pedro Pires flew into Guinea-Bissau on Thursday to try to end a dispute surrounding last month's presidential elections, for which definitive results have still not been published.

Provisional results, released last week, handed victory to Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, the former military ruler of Guinea-Bissau, with Malam Bacai Sanha, the candidate of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) trailing him by four percentage points.

The National Electoral Commission was bound by law to issue the final results not more than 10 days after the election, which was held on 24 July. But that deadline passed on Wednesday without anything being published, leaving people in a tense Guinea-Bissau wondering what is going on.

Full report

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NIGER: WFP asks donors to triple funding to over $57 million

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is asking donors for US $57.6 million to feed people threatened by famine in Niger, more than three times the amount requested last month.

The additional funding would help WFP provide food to 2.5 million people - a new target the agency announced last week, up from 1.2 million.

The WFP appeal is in addition to $14.6 million requested last week by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide emergency health care and nutrition programmes in the landlocked West African country.

“This is absolutely about saving children’s lives,” UNICEF information officer, Kent Page, told IRIN on Wednesday from Maradi, Niger.

Full report

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MALI: World ignoring food crisis says Oxfam

The international community must wake up and stop an already bad food crisis in Mali spiralling out of control, British-based aid agency Oxfam said. But government officials shrugged off comparisons with neighbouring Niger and said they were merely faced with a particularly severe lean season.

In a statement, Oxfam urged donors to stump up much-needed cash to help the estimated 1.1 million hungry people in Mali and avoid a last-minute rush to save lives.

"Donors have a window of opportunity. They can help to avert a major food crisis in Mali, but they must act now," said Natasha Kofoworola Quist, Oxfam Great Britain's Regional Director for West Africa.

Full report

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COTE D IVOIRE: Diplomats say Gbagbo laws comply with peace deal

Controversial law reforms promulgated by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo last month comply with the country's peace agreements, despite criticism from opposition parties and rebels, diplomats told IRIN.

The six legal texts, passed by presidential decree on 15 July, were revised by a delegation of independent legal advisors from Rwanda and Burundi to make sure they were in keeping with the January 2003 peace deal known as Linas-Marcoussis and a more recent accord hammered out in Pretoria in June, an African diplomat told IRIN.

The legal advisors were sent by South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is acting as mediator in the almost three-year-old crisis that has split Cote d'Ivoire into a rebel-held north and a government-run south.

But the opposition and the rebels say that the laws do not conform to the spirit of the peace deals, and the rebels have held off sending thousands of fighters to cantonment sites ahead of a planned disarmament because of this.

Sunday's deadline to begin moving 40,500 rebels back to barracks came and went without a single New Forces fighter moving, despite two days of talks between government and rebel military commanders on the so-called pre-regroupment operation.

Full report

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BENIN: Togolese refugees continue to trickle in, but funds do not

People are still fleeing Togo more than three months after disputed presidential polls and the refugees, who now number 40,000, are showing no sign of wanting to go home, the UN refugee agency has said as it repeated an appeal to donors for money.

Since the eruption of violence in April after a disputed presidential poll, 24,500 Togolese refugees have crossed the eastern frontier into Benin, and a further 15,500 have gone west into Ghana - scattering through the border regions in both countries.

Although the rate of new arrivals has fallen from the several thousand a week at the height of Togo's political crisis, there are still about 200 people a week being registered in Benin, said UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva, Jennifer Pagonis. No new refugees have been reported in Ghana since late May.

While the total number of refugees continues to climb, UNHCR is struggling with a funding shortfall. It needs a total of US $4.7 million for its operations in Benin and Ghana, but has so far received only $1.75 million and has been forced to dip into its own reserve fund for another $1.5 million.

"That leaves us with a shortfall of $1.45 million," said Pagonis. "There are no signs that the refugees are intending to return home in the immediate future and it is crucial that donors respond to our request for funds to assist this population."

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

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 reports:

RWANDA: Body found in Brussels canal confirmed that of ex-minister's, 23/Dec/05

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 23/Dec/05

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

CENTRAL ASIA: IRIN-Asia Weekly Round-up 51 covering the period 17 - 23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 262 for 17-23 December 2005, 23/Dec/05

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