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IRIN Africa | West Africa | WEST AFRICA | WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly 298 covering 1 - 7 October 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

Thursday 22 December 2005


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IRIN-WA Weekly 298 covering 1 - 7 October 2005

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

CONTENTS:

LIBERIA: Girl power takes centre stage as elections near
COTE D'IVOIRE: African leaders want Gbagbo in the helm another year to avert constitutional crisis
CHAD-SENEGAL: Pressure mounts on Senegal to hand over ex Chadian president
GUINEA-BISSAU: West Africa calls for world backing as president sworn in
GABON: Opposition cries foul over presidential poll plans
CAMEROON: No time to waste in strengthening fragile dam, warn experts
NIGERIA: Militia leader charged with treason, risks life imprisonment

LIBERIA: Girl power takes centre stage as elections near

With more women than men registered to vote in next week’s Liberian elections, women should have the final say at the ballot box.

The first polls to be held after 14 years of bloody civil war might also see a woman elected president, in what would be a first not only for Liberia but also for Africa.

It is no surprise, then, that sisters in this impoverished West African nation are in jubilant mood.

“For the first time in history, women are at the forefront of the elections,” said Leymah Gbowee, head of the Women In Peacebuilding Network. “Towards the end of hostilities, Liberian women protested for peace and that’s when the foundation was laid for women to play a more active role.”

The woman leading the charge is Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, affectionately dubbed “the Iron Lady” after Britain’s groundbreaking prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist with a resume boasting stints at the UN, World Bank and Citibank, wants to break a male stranglehold on power that has lasted almost 160 years.

During the civil war, faction leaders used to rally their drugged-up foot soldiers with chants about how the enemy were women.

Today, Sirleaf’s supporters have turned that on its head. The cry of “Ellen is our man!” follows the 66-year-old on the campaign trial.

Full report

[Polls get go-ahead for 11 October after mediator ends legal spat]
[Mediator flies in as uncertainty shrouds 11 October polls]

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COTE D'IVOIRE: African leaders want Gbagbo in the helm another year to avert constitutional crisis

ABIDJAN, 7 October 2005 (IRIN) - Laurent Gbagbo should remain president of war-torn Cote d'Ivoire for up to 12 months beyond his official mandate, according to African Union leaders who stepped in to avert a potential constitutional crisis.

“President Gbagbo shall remain head of state,” from 31 October and for no longer than 12 months, his AU peers said in a statement issued after emergency talks in Addis Ababa called to help find a way out of Cote d’Ivoire’s deadlocked three-year civil war.

Gbagbo, whose mandate expires in just three weeks 30 October, was asked to appoint a new prime minister for the country with more extensive powers “acceptable to all the Ivorian signatories to the Marcoussis” peace deal of 2003, one of a string of accords mired by disagreement and dogged by delays.

"The capacity of the Prime Minister's office needs to be strengthened considerably [to implement Marcoussis]" said South African President and AU mediator Thabo Mbeki as the AU summit closed in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday.

The new prime minister will lead a government "composed of personalities proposed by the Ivorian parties [that signed Marcoussis]", said Mbeki.

No deadline has been set for the appointment of the new prime minister or for the formation of his cabinet. No new election date was proposed either.

The AU suggestions are to be put to the UN Security Council at a meeting October 13.

Full report

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CHAD-SENEGAL: Pressure mounts on Senegal to hand over ex Chadian president

Pressure is mounting on the government of Senegal to extradite former Chadian president Hissene Habre, who has lived in exile in the West African country for 15 years and is wanted for extensive human rights violations in his own country.

A group of Chadian citizens who say they were victims of torture under Habre's regime are planning to fly into the Senegalese capital of Dakar on Thursday to call for the former ruler to be arrested and extradited to a Belgium court for trial.

"The case of Mr Habre constitutes a symbol of impunity in Africa,” said Boucounta Diallo, the president of Senegal’s National Human Rights Organisation and coordinator of a group of alleged Chadian victims. “Senegal can no longer avoid its responsibility in judging or extraditing Hissene Habre. If not, it will be violating the international convention against torture.”

The arrival of the group of Chadians comes in the wake of the issuing of an international arrest warrant by a Belgian judge on 19 September that was welcomed by Human Rights Watch as "a groundbreaking move reminiscent of Spain's arrest warrant for General Augusto Pinochet of Chile".

Full report

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GUINEA-BISSAU: West Africa calls for world backing as president sworn in

West African leaders are urging quick international assistance for Guinea-Bissau, whose new president Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was sworn in facing a massive cholera epidemic and fears of continuing political instability.

"Donors must help Bissau now, and without conditions," Senegal's Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio told reporters on Monday.

And last week’s one-day summit of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) wound up in the Nigerian capital Abuja with a "call on the international community to fulfill its commitment to extend financial, technical and material assistance to Guinea Bissau."

But of the 17 heads of state invited to attend Vieira's ceremonial swearing-in, none was in attendance. As heavily-armed soldiers patrolled the streets, many of the country's leading politicians too stayed home, raising fears of a return to years of instability.

Full report

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GABON: Opposition cries foul over presidential poll plans

Presidential elections have been fixed for 27 November in oil-rich Gabon, with security forces voting two days early in a move the opposition says is a ruse for rigging.

The president of the National Electoral Commission, Gilbert Ngoulakia, announced the double election dates of 25 and 27 November on state television and radio, explaining that security forces would vote early in the interest of national security.

"The vote will be held two days after that of public agents who work to maintain law and order as strong agitation and tension are on the horizon," said Ngoulakia, reading a communique.

However leading opposition figure, Zacharie Myboto, denounced the move as a pre-emptive manoeuvre to ease ballot rigging. "Here we have additional proof of laws being fiddled to keep the ruling regime in power," said Myboto, a onetime ally of President Omar Bongo who decamped to the opposition earlier this year.

Although he is Africa's longest serving head of state, Bongo, who turns 70 in December, is hoping to secure another seven-year term at the helm. The president was to have stepped down this year, but in 2003 the constitution was amended by a parliament packed with allies to enable him to seek re-election indefinitely.

Full report

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CAMEROON: No time to waste in strengthening fragile dam, warn experts

A fragile natural dam in northwest Cameroon needs urgent attention to prevent its eroded northern wall breaking, releasing a torrent of water and massive poisonous gas clouds that could kill thousands of people, a UN expert has warned.

The dam - a plug of volcanic waste on the north side of the lake - is close to collapse according to Nisa Nurmohamed, one of two UN experts who have investigated the state of the dam."If we do nothing, the wall will collapse within ten years but more likely within five," Nurmohamed told IRIN by telephone from the Netherlands.

But disaster could hit "today, tomorrow or next year," according to a report co-written by Nurmohamed with UN backing and presented to the government of Cameroon last week.

Scientists and geologists agree that the natural dam at Lake Nyos, which lies just over 300 km north of the capital Yaounde, is increasingly fragile -- though there has been disagreement over how urgent the situation might be. This prompted a UN team to visit the dam on 25 September.

Full report

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NIGERIA: Militia leader charged with treason, risks life imprisonment

An influential separatist militia leader from Nigeria’s volatile oil-rich Delta region faces life in jail after being charged with treason following comments made in a newspaper interview.

As Moujahid Dokubo-Asari heard the charges, hundreds of his supporters massed outside the court in the capital Abuja, demanding the release of the leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF).

Dokubo-Asari, who was arrested more than two weeks ago for the comments calling for the break-up of Nigeria, appeared in court to hear charges including conspiracy, unlawful assembly and “treasonable felony” read to him before presiding judge Babs Akinwumi.

He pleaded not guilty but will remain in custody until 10 November, the date set by the court for continuation of the trial. Under Nigerian law treasonable felony is punished by life imprisonment as it is considered a lesser charge to outright treason, a capital offence.

Full report

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[ENDS]

Theme(s)	Children

Other recent WEST AFRICA reports:

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

IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 306 covering 26 November to 2 December 2005, 2/Dec/05

Other recent Children reports:

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

NIGER: Campaign targets double threat of polio and malaria, 21/Dec/05

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