DAKAR, 30
March 2007 (IRIN) - DAKAR, 30 March 2007 (IRIN) - IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 371 for 24-30 MarchCONTENTS:GUINEA-BISSAU: President under pressure as demonstrators block capital
CHAD: International
community "underestimating" crisis - Holmes
COTE D'IVOIRE: UN endorses peace plan but troops will remain
NIGERIA: Security services deemed unprepared to stop election violence
NIGERIA:
Kano residents prepare to flee ahead of elections
MAURITANIA: New president elect starts to look aheadGUINEA-BISSAU: President under pressure as demonstrators block capital
Fears that Guinea
Bissau's government was unraveling increased on Friday with observers in the capital Bissau saying that at least 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets to reinforce demands by a coalition of
political parties that embattled President João Bernardo 'Nino' Vieira change his prime minister.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71117 CHAD: International community
"underestimating" crisis - Holmes
John Holmes, the United Nations' Emergency Relief Coordinator, has warned that the international community is dragging its feet on funding for humanitarian
operations in Chad and is "underestimating" the scale of the crisis there. The former British diplomat said at least 140,000 displaced Chadians and 235,000 Sudanese refugees are now sheltering in the
barren eastern deserts of the vast north-central African country, while emergency relief NGOs and UN agencies are struggling to support them because of ongoing fighting and attacks on them.http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71072COTE D'IVOIRE: UN endorses peace plan but troops will remain
Cote d'Ivoire's efforts to take control of its peace process took a step forward
on Wednesday as the United Nations Security Council endorsed a change of government, but diplomats told IRIN the presence of international troops monitoring a line of control between north and south
would not be radically changed. The decision by the United Nations, which has backed several previous peace plans for Côte d'Ivoire that have never been fully respected by either side in the
conflict, is a major vote of confidence in Cote d'Ivoire's capability in consolidating peace on its own.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71078 NIGERIA: Security services deemed
unprepared to stop election violence
Police Inspector General Sunday Ehindero is confident Nigeria's oft-criticised police force can cope with whatever national gubernatorial and presidential
elections in April might throw at it. But many Nigerians are not so sure, accusing the police of putting corruption and brutality ahead of democracy. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71025 NIGERIA: Kano residents prepare to flee ahead of elections
Outside the battered campaign headquarters of gubernatorial candidate Ahmad Garban in
the village of Bichi, 20 km north of the state capital Kano, lie six cars plastered with election posters and with shattered windscreens. Yet oddly, politicians from both major parties say minor
violence here a week ago is an omen that this year's election will be peaceful.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71027MAURITANIA: New president elect starts to look ahead
Speaking
at his first press conference after becoming president elect, Sidi ould Cheikh Abdalahi said he would do all he could to transform his vast, desert nation. "[I plan to] build a country that conforms
to the norms of justice and economic development" said the 69 year old. A formal transfer of power from the incumbent military government, led by Ely Ould Mohamed Val who seized power in a coup last
year, is expected to take place on 19 April. Unlike previous elections, this year's vote was widely regarded as fair, allowing Mauritanians to chosen their president for the first time in the
country's 46 year history.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70977
