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Sunday 25 December 2005


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IRIN-WA Weekly 289 covering 6 August - 12 August 2005

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

CONTENTS:

MAURITANIA: AU "reassured", new rulers name government
COTE D'IVOIRE: South African mediators say laws comply with peace plan, rebels upset
GUINEA-BISSAU: Vieira officially declared president
LIBERIA: Public demonstrations banned, security stepped up as election date nears
NIGER: No famine - but hungry for help
MALI: Desert blooms with first rains but hunger continues
NIGERIA: Planned census facing boycott threats

MAURITANIA: AU "reassured", new rulers name government

African Union envoys said that they were reassured after meeting Mauritania's new military rulers but said the country's suspension from the continental body would stand until there were free and fair elections.

"The AU did say that it is ready... to co-operate with the government in Mauritania," said Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji, who headed the delegation sent in after senior military officers toppled President Maaouya Ould Taya in a bloodless coup last week.

"There is something of a national consensus... but Mauritania will not be restored (to full AU membership), that is clear, until there are elections, until there is a democratic system," Adeniji added, urging the junta to make good on its promises.

The Military Council for Justice and Democracy, who brought 21 years of authoritarian rule to an end by seizing power while Ould Taya was out of the country last Wednesday, has pledged to hold a constitutional referendum within a year to be followed immediately by legislative elections.

Fresh presidential elections will come within two years and no-one in the junta or caretaker government will stand.

As the diplomatic flurry subsided and the AU delegation left town, Mauritania's new rulers went about consolidating their grip on power by announcing a new cabinet on Wednesday, composed of civil servants, politicians and businessmen.

None of the cabinet serving at the time of the 3 August coup have been recalled to the ministries, but some opposition leaders, who have so far supported the putchists, voiced concern that many of the new ministers hail from Ould Taya's party and that no opposition members have been given a portfolio.

Full report

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COTE D'IVOIRE: South African mediators say laws comply with peace plan, rebels upset

South African mediators have deemed that laws passed by Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo last month do conform to the country's peace plan, dealing a blow to rebels who had refused to start disarming saying the laws were inadequate.

As part of a plan thrashed out in Pretoria at the end of June to end Cote d'Ivoire's three-year crisis, Gbagbo used special constitutional powers to pass a series of laws dealing with nationality, citizenship rights and the composition of the Independent Electoral Commission.

Rebel leaders were then supposed to start sending their 40,500 fighters to cantonment sites ahead of an eventual handing over of weapons but they failed to do so, saying that Gbagbo's laws were not in keeping with the spirit of the Pretoria deal nor its forerunner, the Linas-Marcoussis accord of 2003.

But a South African delegation, including Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, sent in over the weekend judged the laws to be in keeping with the peace process. The decision puts the ball back into the court of the rebel New Forces.

However, their immediate reaction was that nothing had changed as far as relinquishing their weapons was concerned.

"These laws do not conform to the letter and the spirit of Linas-Marcoussis and yet they are asking us to go ahead and disarm. It's not possible," said rebel spokesman Sidiki Konate, expressing his surprise at the mediators' announcement.

Full report

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GUINEA-BISSAU: Vieira officially declared president

Guinea-Bissau's electoral commission has formally declared one-time military ruler Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira the president of the small West African country, dismissing his challenger's claims that last month's ballot had been fraudulent.

Malam Mane, the electoral commission's head, confirmed provisional results that Vieira had garnered 52 percent of the vote in the 24 July poll, with Malam Bacai Sanha, the candidate of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) trailing in second with 48 percent.

This presidential election was supposed to set the seal on Guinea-Bissau's return to constitutional government after a civil war in 1998-1999 that was followed by several years of political instability and administrative chaos. But the process has not been as smooth as desired.

The final election results had been due to be published last week but the announcement was delayed after a complaint by Bacai Sanha's party, which cried fraud and demanded recounts in the capital Bissau, and districts to the east and west.

On Tuesday the electoral commission concluded that although there had been some voting irregularities, they would not have had a major impact on the final outcome.

Bacai Sanha was unconvinced, however, and said he would go to the Supreme Court to contest the results.

Full report

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LIBERIA: Public demonstrations banned, security stepped up as election date nears

The Liberian government has banned all public demonstrations and UN peacekeepers have stepped up security as the West African nation prepares for October polls designed to return it to democracy after 14 years of civil war.

"The decision to ban public demonstration is intended to ensure that the national security of the state is stable and guarantee an election free of violence," Justice Minister Kabineh Janneh said on Monday, adding that the ban was indefinite.

The government’s action came after some supporters of George Weah, one of 27 presidential aspirants, called for a mass street demonstration on Monday.

The Yana Boys Association said they wanted to protest against a bid to dismiss Weah’s candidacy that has been lodged with Liberia’s electoral officials.

The National Elections commission has yet to rule on the complaint against Weah, but it is due to publish the list of accepted candidates for the 11 October poll next week.

"A scrutiny committee will review the applications and verify all documentations," the commission said in a statement. "(It) will decide the fate of candidates, whether to accept or reject, on August 15… by publishing the final list of qualified candidates."

Full report

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NIGER: No famine - but hungry for help

Hunger and disease is part of the daily life for the 1,500 people in Zermo, a small village in eastern Niger, even when nature is kind to them.

Some 1,000 km from the dusty capital, Niamey, the settlement of mud huts sits on a small hill in a sea of sand, where subsistence farmers eke out a meagre existence growing sorghum and millet and rearing a few cattle and goats.

Haoua Maman sits on the floor in front of her hut with 15-month-old Ibrahim in her arms. His limbs are just skin and bone and he is almost too weak to breathe. Her breasts stopped giving milk when food in the village ran out.

"I went to the local health centre in Ollelewa with Ibrahim to get help," Haoua explained, "but there they asked for 700 CFA (US $1.4) for a consultation, money I did not have.” She made the 25 km journey back to Zermo on foot, knowing that she and Ibrahim faced another day with an empty stomach. "What can we do? The child will die, if God wants it.”

Last year's drought and a locust invasion tipped the fragile balance between survival and death, as livestock perished and the sorghum fields were consumed by locust swarms.

Malnutrition is an endemic problem in Niger. While aid workers stress this year’s crisis in the south is not a famine, it has offered a heart-wrenching glimpse into the extent of the deep-seated poverty of the country’s 12 million people.

Full report

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MALI: Desert blooms with first rains but hunger continues

The normally dusty Sahelian plains around Gao in eastern Mali are vividly green after the first rains, but there’s still not enough food to go around. Aid workers have recorded a particularly high number of malnourished children and an emergency food distribution programme has swung into action.

In the village of Marsi, one in five children are malnourished according to French NGO, Action Contre la Faim (ACF), which is delivering food aid in the region.

Mohamed is 15 months old. He is malnourished and receiving food supplements as part of the ACF programme.

"His only illness is that he doesn’t have enough to eat," said his mother, 45-year-old Fati Mohamed as she joggles Mohamed, her youngest of seven children, in her lap. He's crying and irritable.

Full report

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NIGERIA: Planned census facing boycott threats

When Nigeria conducts a long-overdue national census in November, no data will be collected showing the religious or ethnic origins of its citizens. The authorities fear that highlighting those divisions in a national headcount will only inflame tensions.

Africa’s most populous country of more than 126 million people, split between a mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south, is frequently plagued by ethnic and religious upheavals.

A meeting of the advisory National Council of State, comprising the country’s 36 state governors and former heads of state, called by President Olusegun Obasanjo in January, had advised against considering religion and ethnicity in the census.

"After exhaustive discussion, it was resolved that, as it was not on the questionnaire for the 1991 census, the issue of ethnicity and religion would also not feature on the questionnaire for the 2005 national census," the body said in a statement after the meeting.

However, rival religious and ethnic interest groups appear united in their demand that religion, and ethnicity, should be considered.

Both Christian and Muslim groups have threatened to boycott the census - a potentially massive blow to its credibility - if the government does not review its position.

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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