WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly round-up 364 for 27 January
– 10 February, 2007
05 Feb 2007 12:38:59 GMT Source: IRIN
27
JANUARY – 10 FEBRUARY, 2007, 5 February (IRIN) - CONTENTS:GUINEA-BISSAU: Fears of an emerging narcostate
CHAD: Govt pins hope for east on food aid
MALI: Country must work to
avoid the "resource curse"
NIGERIA: Surveillance efforts to increase after reported bird flu death
GUINEA-BISSAU: UN rep speaks on negotiating end to crisis with former PM
GUINEA: Strike suspended
againGUINEA-BISSAU: Fears of an emerging narcostateGuinea-Bissau has become a key transit point for cocaine moving between Latin America and Europe as drug traffickers take advantage
of scant surveillance, government instability and poverty to ply their trade. There have been more than 50 known seizures of drugs in he past two years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNDOC). "And that's just the tip of the iceberg," said Antonio Mazzitelli, the UNODC representative for West and Central Africa.Full report:http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57292CHAD: Govt pins hope for east on food aidLocal officials in eastern Chad have appealed to the government for protection of civilians there,
and the government has elaborated plans to improve its efforts to send food aid, but national plans to provide security remain vague, observers say. Almost daily attacks on remote, desert villages in
eastern Chad have driven more than 100,000 people from their homes over the last year, with more than half fleeing during the last six months of 2006, the United Nations refugee agencyFull
report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57249MALI: Country must work to avoid the "resource curse"Sambala Macalou, mayor of Sadiola village in western Mali where the
South African gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti operates, thinks the company is short-changing the community and ignoring its needs. "We have many problems - the new site for the village is not
good. It needs to be better equipped, more people need jobs, but the mining company doesn't listen to us," he said. Other Malian nongovernmental organisations have accused the company of overstating
production costs, an essential factor in determining how much profit goes to the company, and how much to the national and local governments.Full report:http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57291NIGERIA: Surveillance efforts to increase after reported bird flu deathHealth authorities in Nigeria were redoubling surveillance
efforts on Thursday to track the deadly H5N1 virus in birds and humans after the first human death from avian flu was reported in the country. Laboratory tests conducted in Nigeria showed that a
22-year-old woman who died on 17 January following symptoms of bird flu was infected with the same virulent strain of avian flu that has killed millions of birds around the world and raised fears of a
potential human pandemic, a government statement said on Wednesday.Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57283GUINEA-BISSAU: UN rep speaks on negotiating end to
crisis with former PMThe United Nations Secretary-General's representative in Guinea-Bissau, Shola Omoregie, has negotiated an end to a 17-day crisis involving the government and prominent
politician Carlos Gomes Junior who had sought refuge in the UN building in Bissau. Gomes Junior, chairman of the former ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde,
previously served as prime minister. He had been a close ally of President Joao Bernardo 'Nino' Vieira before the 1998 civil war but has since called him a "bandit and mercenary who betrayed his own
people".Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57251GUINEA: Strike suspended againShops opened for business and Guineans returned to work on Monday after
President Lansana Conte apparently agreed to weaken his grip on power and union leaders subsequently suspended an unprecedented 18-day nationwide strike. After three days of talks with union leaders
and civil society, Conte agreed on Saturday to sign over some of his authority to an as-yet unnamed "consensus" prime minister, who should be agreed on by union, business, religious and civil society
leaders, union leaders said.Full report:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57241
