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Tuesday 21 February 2006


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IRIN-WA Weekly 297 covering 24-30 September 2005

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

CONTENTS:

LIBERIA: Postponing poll not our decision to make, says elections body
COTE D'IVOIRE: West African leaders try to revive flagging peace efforts
TOGO: UN report says at least 400 people died in political violence
CHAD-SUDAN: Deby accuses Janjawid of killing his civilians, vows punishment
WEST AFRICA: Cholera cases up 40 percent across West Africa: WHO
NIGERIA: Oil facilities open again as militiamen withdraw threat of attacks
AFRICA: France tinkers with its African troop deployment

LIBERIA: Postponing poll not our decision to make, says elections body

The first elections since Liberia's civil war will have to be delayed if a court ruling is implemented, but only the signatories of a 2003 peace deal can set a new date for the poll, the country's electoral chief has said.

Some 1.35 million Liberian voters are due to head to the polls in just over a week, but the 11 October election date has suddenly been thrown into doubt after the Supreme Court upheld the appeals of two candidates barred from running for president.

"If this ruling is upheld and the candidates insist, the elections will have to go beyond 11 October," Frances Johnson-Morris, the head of the National Elections Commission, told reporters.

"However... we do not have the authority to shift the election date," she added. "The signatories to the comprehensive peace agreement decided the date and they have the authority to change it."

The peace deal was signed by Liberia's three warring factions, 18 political parties and several civil society groups on 18 August 2003 under the auspices of the 15-nation regional bloc, ECOWAS. It brought the curtain down on 14 years of civil war.

Full report

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COTE D'IVOIRE: West African leaders try to revive flagging peace efforts

West African leaders gathered for a one-day extraordinary summit on Friday aimed at reviving flagging efforts to bring peace to divided Cote d'Ivoire although the country's president refused to attend.

Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo boycotted the talks after accusing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of bias towards the rebels, who seized control of the northern half of the cocoa-rich nation three years ago.

Friday's talks are to be followed by a wider African Union (AU) summit on 6 October, with the United Nations Security Council due to consider the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire a week later on 13 October.

"Our job is to analyse failings of a process that looked promising at first, to find remedies so as to make progress towards peace and reconciliation," ECOWAS chairman, and Niger President, Mamadou Tandja told reporters ahead of the closed-door meeting.

On the eve of the talks, the UN envoy to the once prosperous and peaceful Cote d'Ivoire warned that the country once again stood teetering on the brink of war.

"We are far off from national reconciliation and this dangerous atmosphere explains why ECOWAS, the AU and the UN are becoming involved," Pierre Schori told reporters in Abidjan, the de facto capital, before heading to the Nigerian capital for the summit.

Full report

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TOGO: UN report says at least 400 people died in political violence

Between 400 and 500 people were killed and thousands wounded in Togo during political violence earlier this year and state authorities must shoulder most of the blame, according the United Nations.

In a long-awaited report, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, referred to "the massive nature and gravity of human rights violations as evidenced by the high number of victims -- between 400 and 500 dead and thousands wounded."

Previous estimates of the death toll had ranged from the Interior Ministry's 69, to Western diplomats saying that more than 100 people had been killed and the Togolese League of Human Rights putting the number of dead at more than 800.

"The principal responsibility for the political violence and the violations of human rights (resided with) the state security apparatus," Arbour said in her 49-page report, written on the basis of a visit by her agency to Togo in mid June. "The reactions of the security forces were excessive in relation to the demonstrations and actions of the opposition militants."

But while the UN report laid the bulk of the responsibility at the state's door, opposition activists did not escape criticism. Opposition groups carried out serious acts of violence that took numerous victims and looted and destroyed property belonging to suspected members of ruling party, the report said.

Full report

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CHAD-SUDAN: Deby accuses Janjawid of killing his civilians, vows punishment

Chadian President Idriss Deby has blamed the Sudanese militia known as the Janjawid for this week's over-the-border-assault that killed dozens of civilians in eastern Chad.

"We are now absolutely certain that it is the Janjawid that carried out this incursion, as in the past, for reasons we do not know," Deby told Radio France Internationale. "What is sure is that they cannot go unpunished."

Chad has said that armed men in military uniform launched an attack in the eastern Ouaddai province, killing 36 herders and stealing livestock. Eight insurgents and two Chadian soldiers were killed in an ensuing clash, a government statement said.

Deby said it was too early to say whether the attackers were backed by the Sudanese government.

Full report

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WEST AFRICA: Cholera cases up 40 percent across West Africa: WHO

Cholera cases have shot up by about 40 percent overall across West Africa in the past month as unusually heavy rains help spread the waterborne disease, the UN World Health Organisation says.

As of 23 September, cholera had killed at least 759 people in eight countries in the region so far this year, compared with a toll of 517 deaths late last month. And the total number of registered cases according to a tally of WHO data stood at least at 43,638 compared to 31,259 the previous month.

The infectious disease, which causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting and can kill in 24 hours, hits the region each rainy season. But this year's heavy downpours have driven up infection rates.

The eight countries listed by WHO in its latest cholera update are Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.

Full report

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NIGERIA: Oil facilities open again as militiamen withdraw threat of attacks

Two oil facilities in Nigeria, shut by militiamen protesting their leader's arrest, have reopened, according to oil company officials, after the groups withdrew their threats to dynamite installations and kidnap foreign workers.

Oil giant Chevron said production had resumed at its two plants that had been forced to close down as insecurity mounted in the wake of the arrest of Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, the leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF).

"We have reopened Idama and Robertkiri due to an improved security situation," said Chevron spokesman Deji Haastrup.

The NDPVF said in an official statement that it was suspending its threat to attack oil installations and foreign oil workers. The new stance came on the heels of a statement by Dokubo-Asari's lawyer, urging his client's supporters to remain calm.

Full report

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AFRICA: France tinkers with its African troop deployment

Adjusting to new realities on the ground, France plans to re-deploy its thousands of African-based troops in a scheme it says will bolster the continent's own home-grown peacekeeping forces.

The French Defence Ministry said it would reshuffle the deployment of some 7,000 soldiers to fit in with the way the African Union (AU) has divided up the continent into geographical zones.

"This is a very important shift which corresponds to changes made by the Africans themselves, since the AU intends to organise itself into sub-regions," defence spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau told a press conference in Paris.

However, some analysts say that while the shift may deflect charges of neo-colonialism, France still has a long way to go before relinquishing a military toehold in Africa.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Other

Other recent WEST AFRICA reports:

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 317 covering 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 316 covering 4-10 February 2006, 10/Feb/06

Africa’s poorest nations fight to ward off deadly bird flu, 9/Feb/06

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 315 covering 28 January – 3 February 2006, 3/Feb/06

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 314 covering 21-27 January 2006, 27/Jan/06

Other recent reports:

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Donors pledge support for humanitarian crisis, 21/Feb/06

ANGOLA: Ready to play larger security role in Africa, 21/Feb/06

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap, 17/Feb/06

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 270 for 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 317 covering 11-17 February 2006, 17/Feb/06

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