DAKAR, 26 January (IRIN) - IRIN WA Weekly round-up 363 for 13-26 January 2007 NIGERIA: Lagos pays
the price of population surge
GUINEA: Strike spells more hardship
CAMEROON: Oil leak shows weaknesses in World Bank pipeline, NGOs warn
GUINEA: More trouble in Guinea could shake region
LIBERIA:
Squeezing in an education
GUINEA: Unprecedented violence hits capital and provinces NIGERIA: Lagos pays the price of population surge For Iyabo Aduni, a 29-year-old mother of three, home in
Lagos, Africa's biggest city, is a wooden shack next to a huge, burning garbage dump. As the population of Lagos has exploded in the past two decades to more than 13 million people, the
infrastructure to deal with the resulting waste was not improved to keep pace. It is a problem repeated all across the large cities of Africa, where urbanisation is outpacing the capacity of
governments to keep up and improve infrastructure and waste-collection networks. GUINEA: Strike spells more hardship Although the rutted main streets of Guinea's capital, Conakry, remained mostly
deserted and shops were shuttered because of a nationwide strike, kiosks were opening for business on Thursday– to turn a profit. "I came to the market to buy rice and sauce ingredients because
there's nothing left at home," said Camara Saran Traore, shopping for a family of five in the Taouyah district. "I found that with my 50,000 GNF (US $9) I can't buy anything. I have had to completely
scale down what we are going to eat." The strike called by Guinea's powerful labour unions - the third in a year - was prompted in large part by soaring inflation over the last three years that has
made basic goods unaffordable for most Guineans. But with the ports shut down and most shops remaining closed, businesses that do open their doors have doubled prices. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57200 and SelectRegion=West_Africa,%20 and SelectCountry=Guinea CAMEROON: Oil leak shows weaknesses in World Bank pipeline, NGOs warn
Fishermen in the
southern coastal town of Kribi are warily casting their nets after a leak in the massive Chad-Cameroon pipeline last week. "Our town lives on fishing and tourism. If more incidents like this or
worse occur it is the economic future of the town that is threatened," Kribi Mayor Gregoire Mba Mba told IRIN. The Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO), which built the Cameroon leg of the
pipeline, announced on 19 January that the structure's water evacuation system had failed. The company said the leak was quickly brought under control and "no impact on the coast or on the sensitive
marine environment is anticipated". http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57197 and SelectRegion=West_Africa,%20 and SelectCountry=Cameroon GUINEA: More trouble in Guinea could shake region Guinea's long borders and central position mean analysts view it as a regional lynchpin, saying serious domestic instability could easily spill over, ending tenuous progress towards the consolidation
of peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which both experienced devastating civil wars in the 1990s. Bram Posthumus, an independent West Africa analyst with 10 years of experience studying Guinea, said
although he does not believe enough of a critical mass of demonstrators has been reached to seriously threaten the Guinean government, which is reinforced with a thus-far loyal 8,000 strong army, he
does think Monday's uprising marks a major change in the country's mindset. "What these strikes tell me is that people in Guinea have been tipped over the edge. The strike will continue," Posthumus
predicted. He said it "remains to be seen" how much Monday's violent response from the government has affected people. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57169 and
SelectRegion=West_Africa,%20 and SelectCountry=Guinea LIBERIA: Squeezing in an education Primary school instructor Richard Morgan can no longer stroll between the rows of desks to teach in his
classroom at the SIMS Community School. The boys and girls are crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in their blue and white uniforms as Morgan lectures from the front of the room. "We have classrooms that
take up to 50 students, but now some of the classes have up to 60 to 65 students," Morgan said. Liberian youths are packing Liberia's public primary schools under a free, compulsory education
programme, but the country's beleaguered, post-war school system can barely keep up with desks, books and other supplies. At the cost of about US $5, children purchased and then brought their desks
with them when they enrolled at SIMS. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57168 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=LIBERIA GUINEA: Unprecedented violence hits capital and
provinces Security forces shot dead at least 20 people on Monday as tens of thousands of Guineans turned out to demonstrate against President Lansana Conte in the biggest nationwide show of
discontent in his 23-year rule. In the capital, Conakry, violent clashes between protestors and the Guinean army were reported in most of the sprawling city's suburbs, with protestors "pouring" into
main city streets from as far as 20km outside the city centre, witnesses said. Eleven corpses with gunshot wounds were admitted to one city morgue, and six others to morgues elsewhere, hospital staff
told IRIN. Three other people were reported killed in the often violent suburb of Hambaleye. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57154 and SelectRegion=West_Africa,%20 and
SelectCountry=Guinea
