U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network
WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 320 covering 4-10 March 2006 BENIN: Counting underway after calm vote, but worries persist WEST AFRICA: Hundreds die in seasonal meningitis outbreak COTE D IVOIRE: Interview with UN special envoy for elections Antonio Monteiro GUINEA: Trade unions claim strike victory as government promises higher wages GUINEA: Food aid for Ivorian refugees to be axed at year end CHAD: Government accuses Sudan of more attacks against civilians near border NIGER: Villagers, government, aid workers brace for tough months ahead NIGERIA: Poorest forgotten in bird flu compensation pay-outs BENIN: Counting underway after calm vote, but worries persist Counting was underway on Monday in Benin after a calm though at times chaotic presidential poll seen as critical to the future of the tiny West African nation. Turnout was high and there were few reported problems in the Sunday election, but in some regions voters queued well into the night due to delays in getting ballots, ink and boxes to the 17,849 polling stations across the country. I am pleased by the massive turnout, said the head of Benin's National Electoral Commission, Sylvain Nouwatin. Provisional results will be announced in all transparency. Early figures showed banker Yayi Boni, a newcomer to the political scene, and veteran politician and former cabinet minister Adrien Houngbedji leading the field of the 26 candidates bidding to step into the shoes of incumbent President Mathieu Kerekou. Unless one of the candidates is declared outright winner with more than 50 percent of the vote, a run-off will be held for this fourth presidential election since 1990. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52033&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=BENIN WEST AFRICA: Hundreds die in seasonal meningitis outbreak As seasonal harmattan winds from the Sahara blow dust clouds over West Africa carrying deadly meningitis, hundreds of people have been reported dead from the disease in the last few weeks. Worst hit has been Burkina Faso, where 246 people have died, according to the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, and over 2,000 more have fallen ill from the meningitis bacterium, which attacks the brain and spinal chord. Across Burkina Fasos northern border, 44 people died and 614 people were reported ill between 1 January and 27 February in Niger, according to the National Health Information System, SNIS. And to the south, in war-divided Cote dIvoire, the UN childrens agency UNICEF has reported 94 cases and 33 deaths from meningitis. Meningitis is endemic in much of the arid Sahel region of West Africa, with outbreaks most common during the dry season, from January to March. This is when dry sand-laden winds that settle hazily in the sky act as carriers of the meningitis bacteria which can attach to dust particles. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52140&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=WEST_AFRICA COTE D IVOIRE: Interview with UN special envoy for elections Antonio Monteiro After months of wrangling among political parties, Cote dIvoires independent electoral commission finally began work on 7 March. This means there is no excuse left for not pressing ahead with plans to hold presidential elections in October, the outgoing UN special envoy for elections Antonio Monteiro said in an interview this week with IRIN. QUESTION: The composition of the electoral commission was first agreed upon in the 2003 Linas-Marcoussis peace talks. It took more than three years to get it up and running. Why did it take so long and why did all key players finally agree? ANSWER: The electoral commission is the only body responsible for organising presidential elections, so without the commission there can be no elections. Its the engine of the presidential elections. The election of the bureau of its central committee, held last October, was contested by members of the ruling party and two smaller political parties. A public struggle - I say public because it was in all the newspapers - followed over control of the commission. The opposition holds important seats, including that of chairman and vice-chairman. But there were several unspecified posts for consultants. We had to give meaning to these seats by defining not only their powers but also their allocation. That has been done now. The substance of these posts is clear and the persons who will hold them have clearly defined tasks. In fact, the [2005] Pretoria agreement created a partisan electoral commission, while it is imperative to have a balanced commission. The Ivorians have now agreed on a formula that allows all commissioners to work in a transparent manner. They understood there could be no elections if they did not find a solution. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52105&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE For a related article go to: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52124&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE GUINEA: Trade unions claim strike victory as government promises higher wages Trade union leaders have claimed victory after a five-day strike last week reduced the normally bustling capital Conakry to a hush and pressed the government into committing to wage increases. Following talks over the weekend the government has promised to hike civil servant wages by 30 percent short of the four-fold increase unions were demanding and reduce taxes on state employees salaries by 10 percent. The government and union representatives have also promised to draw up a new minimum wage and salary scale for private sector workers. Ibrahima Fofana, secretary general of the United Workers Union of Guinea (USTG) one of the two central union alliances that led the strike welcomed the announcement but said that the success of the strike went beyond pay raises. It is not only the salary increase that we gained that gave me satisfaction, but also the united manner in which all and sundry supported the strike with one voice and one aim, Fofana said at a post-strike meeting. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52074&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA GUINEA: Food aid for Ivorian refugees to be axed at year end Tough times lie ahead for the 3,000 or so Ivorians just settled at the newly established Kouankan II refugee camp in Guineas southeastern forest region. Although the refugees are still busy building their mud-brick houses, donors plan to pull the plug on food aid by years end, regardless of political events. Even if the people stay on, the food aid stays cut. The funding is finished, said David Baduel, the UN World Food Programme representative in Nzerekore, the main town in the lush Guinean region wedged between three of West Africas hotspots - Cote dIvoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A total 53,000 refugees from regional conflict are currently sheltered in camps in Guinea, all receiving monthly food allocations from WFP. But as the vast majority hail from Liberia, where a new peacetime president took office in January after UN troops restored security, donors purely and simply plan to axe funds for refugees by December, saying it is time to go home. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52102&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA For a related article go to: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52035&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA For an interview with Guineas Interior Minister go to: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52012&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=GUINEA CHAD: Government accuses Sudan of more attacks against civilians near border The Chadian government has accused neighbouring Sudan of backing an incursion into eastern Chad, just weeks after leaders of the two countries agreed to calm longstanding hostilities. The janjawid [Arab militia in Sudan] led a raid on 6 March 2006 in the zone of Amdjereme, stealing 700 camels, 1,000 cows and 1,500 sheep and other goods belonging to these peaceful citizens, Chad communications minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement on Wednesday. Chadian soldiers pursued the militia forces and traded fire with them, before the intruders fled toward Sudan, the statement said, adding that Chadian forces recouped the livestock and returned it to Amdjereme. Chad and Sudan, both facing rebellions, have long accused one another of supporting dissidents. Chad president Idriss Deby and Sudans Umar al-Bashir met in Libya in early February, agreeing to a series of measures to restore peace, including a vow not to back rebel activities within their territories. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52123&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=CHAD NIGER: Villagers, government, aid workers brace for tough months ahead The Niger government, farmers, aid workers and donors are bracing for tough months ahead as communities hard hit by last years hunger crisis begin to run out of the little food they were able to produce. The government estimates that about 1.8 million people are at risk of food shortages this year. While the harvest in late 2005 was good in most parts, families still reeling from last years near-famine are far from catching up, having sold off assets and gone deep into debt to keep their families fed. "I was able to harvest a lot of millet," Haladou Karo, a farmer in Nigers Maradi region, told IRIN. "But today not much is left in the granary because of the debts I had to pay." Government officials and aid experts alike say despite the decent harvest, in 2006 many communities still will not be able to escape the hunger-poverty cycle. "While food security conditions have temporarily improved following the harvest, a severe hunger season (April-September 2006) is expected for the most food insecure households," noted a 15 February bulletin from the USAID Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS). http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52078&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGER For IRIN special / Food crisis in Africa: http://www.irinnews.org/foodCrisis.asp NIGERIA: Poorest forgotten in bird flu compensation pay-outs For months residents of Birnin Yero, a small village of mud walls and a mix of corrugated iron and thatch roofs in northern Nigeria, had watched their chickens die in unprecedented numbers. But they simply assumed it was a bad case of the seasonal chicken plague. It was only when Africas first cases of the deadly H5N1 virus was confirmed weeks later in poultry at nearby Sambawa Farms (owned by Sports Minister Samailla Sambawa) in Jaji did they suspect their birds may have succumbed to bird flu, too. But as Nigeria begins compensating farmers for losses to bird flu, the villagers of Birnin Yero, like their counterparts across Nigerian states hit by the H5N1 virus, have been left out. Only the big commercial farms like Sambawa, where government veterinary teams conducted the culling of birds, are receiving compensation. The small-scale poultry keepers, who raise their chickens in their backyards and who keep more than 60 percent of all poultry in Africas most populous country, will not receive a cent. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52122&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGERIA For related articles go to: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51987&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGER Special IRIN map Bird flu in Africa / Country updates: http://www.irinnews.org/Avianflu.asp [ENDS] This is non-reply e-mail. Please do not hesitate to contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] IRIN-WA Tel:+221 867.27.30 Fax: +221 867.25.85 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Principal donors: IRIN is generously supported by Australia, Canada, Denmark, ECHO, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. 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