WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 355 for 4-10 November
2006
10 Nov 2006 17:20:27 GMT Source: IRIN
DAKAR, 10 November (IRIN) - CONTENTS:CHAD: More violence in eastCOTE D IVOIRE: Impunity blamed for trouble with militiasGUINEA: School
enrollment plummets as cost of living risesTOGO: End of grant raises concernsAFRICA: China to double aid to AfricaCHAD: More violence in eastThe UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has released
testimony of attacks on unarmed villagers that it says have uprooted 63,000 people this year, while the government has confirmed inter-communal violence is on the rise in the same region.Armed
groups have frequently attacked villages along the Chad-Sudan border, UNHCR said. On Thursday, "more than 200 people" may have been killed by armed men on horseback that raided villages in the Kerfi
area, 40 km south of the aid hub Goz Beida, the refugee agency said.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56309 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=CHADCOTE D IVOIRE: Impunity
blamed for trouble with militiasAs human rights groups warn of a growing "culture of impunity" in Cote d'Ivoire, the United Nations has called on officials to speed up the dismantling of
pro-government militia after a UN staffer was briefly detained this week.On Monday, a group of some 200 militiamen in the western government-run town of Duekoue held the UN employee, demanding money
from the government disarmament programme in return for his release, the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI) said in a statement on Tuesday.The incident followed clashes on Friday that pitted
pro-government militia holed up in improvised barracks against angry residents and security forces in the Yopougon suburb of Cote d'Ivoire's main city, Abidjan.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56293 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIREGUINEA: School enrollment plummets as cost of living risesOne month after the start
of the scholastic year teachers and administrators from schools in and around the capital Conakry have reported a dramatic reduction in enrollments."The classes are almost empty" Mamadou Sacko, a
senior teacher at Conakry's Matam Secondary School told IRIN at the end of October. At Conakry's Donka Secondary School, the registrar, Abdoulaye Diallo, said he had expected 805 new students but
only received 311.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56292 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=GUINEATOGO: End of grant raises concernsTogolese NGOs warned on Tuesday that
the end of a grant by the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria could put at least 24,000 HIV-infected people at risk."It's a complete disaster, we're distraught," said Augustin Dokla,
president of the main local network of NGOs for people living with AIDS in Togo. "Some 18,000 people are waiting for drugs and 6,000 patients will be at risk within two years. No new treatments are
available as for today." The Global Fund, the main donor for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in Togo, last January halted one out of two, three-year HIV grants amounting US $15.5 million, citing
"irregularities" in the management of the funding by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56282 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and
SelectCountry=TOGOAFRICA: China to double aid to Africa
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday pledged to double his country's assistance to the African continent by 2009, and proposed a raft of
new loans, development projects in health and agriculture, and debt cancellations.In his speech opening the two-day China-Africa summit in the Chinese capital Beijing, Hu said China wants to be
Africa's "partner". "China and Africa share increasing common interests and have a growing mutual need," he told the 48 African heads of state and representatives.http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56251 and SelectRegion=East_Africa,%20Southern_Africa,%20West_Africa and SelectCountry=AFRICA
