DAKAR, 12 November 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

CAMEROON: Buying food aid locally also has risks CHAD: Govt accused of hypocrisy in Zoe's Ark affair

GHANA: Tension high as fifth person dies in chieftancy MAURITANIA: Discrimination, staff shortages mean mental health short changed NIGERIA: Biafra separatist leader free and defiant NIGERIA: Govt hits tobacco companies with whopping WEST AFRICA: More funds needed to tackle drug use, NGOs say WEST AFRICA: High prices of food imports may leave people hungry

CAMEROON: Buying food aid locally also has risks

The port city of Douala is still a major hub for international food aid heading to Chad and Central African Republic, but the World Food Programme (WFP) in Cameroon is buying an increasing amount of its requirements locally.

Of the 70,000mt of food aid WFP's regional office in Cameroon is forwarding to emergencies in neighbouring countries this year, about 26,000mt has been produced in Cameroon.

WFP told IRIN that the percentage of food it purchases in West and Central Africa for distribution in the region grew from 13 percent in 2005, to over 30 percent for 2007 with Cameroon being the largest supplier followed by Burkina Faso.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75225

CHAD: Govt accused of hypocrisy in Zoe's Ark affair

Surrounded by the 103 African children caught up in an alleged abduction plot by a French charity, Chadian president Idriss Déby appeared before photographers and journalists from around the world, standing up for the rights of Chadian children.

"These people treat us like animals," he said of the members of the association L'Arche de Zoé (Zoé's Ark). Chadian authorities arrested 17 Europeans, charging many with abduction of minors after they tried to take children they claimed were Sudanese orphans to host families in France.

L'Arche de Zoé said they were saving the children from "certain death" in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75211

GHANA: Tension high as fifth person dies in chieftancy

Tension is high in Anloga District in Ghana's Volta Region after a man died in police custody -- the fifth person to die since 1 November when violence linked to a decade-old chieftaincy dispute rocked the district.

Five days after police exchanged gunfire with a group who reportedly raided a chief-naming ceremony carried out by a rival family, human rights advocates say fear pervades in the district, about 150km east of the capital Accra.

Since the death of the last paramount chief 10 years ago two royal families in the area, both of the Anlo ethnic group, have been fighting over who should succeed him.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75180

MAURITANIA: Discrimination, staff shortages mean mental health short changed

Taking her 15 year old daughter to see a psychiatrist was the last resort for Dianaba Dia. For months beforehand she had used a local doctor who prescribed valium to control the girl's violent seizures. "At first, it was not easy to pass through the gates of the neurological centre – just the word psychiatrist made me afraid!"

But after traveling to the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott and consulting doctors at the country's only mental health centre, she was pleasantly surprised. "He was a doctor just like any other. What counts for me though is that since we saw him my daughter has got better."

Awareness that mental health is a medical concern and many of its symptoms can be treated by medical doctors is gradually spreading in Mauritania.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75205

NIGERIA: Biafra separatist leader free and defiant

The jailed leader of a separatist movement in the south-east of Nigeria known formerly as Biafra was released from detention at the end of October in a move analysts hailed as a helpful and diplomatic approach to the region's problems by the government, but the secessionist leader says he will continue his struggle for independence.

"Nigeria must be Balkanized," Ralph Uwazuruike, the leader of the secessionist Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), told IRIN. "Nigeria is going to break into six republics. All the geo-political zones of the country will soon become separate countries," he predicted.

Uwazuruike and many people in the south east region, who mainly come from the Igbo ethnic group, claim they are being discriminated against by Nigeria's federal government.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75173

NIGERIA: Govt hits tobacco companies with whopping

The Nigerian federal government filed a suit in the High Court of Abuja on Tuesday against tobacco companies British-American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, and International Tobacco Ltd., seeking US$42.4 billion in reparations for damage they have caused to Nigerians' health.

The number of Nigerians who smoke exceeds 30 million, according to a recent study by the Nigerian non-governmental organization Environmental Rights Action. There are no comprehensive studies on the effects that smoking has on Nigerians' health but the government is requested $34.4 billion of $42.4 billion in anticipation of the future cost of treating patients with tobacco related illnesses.

Another $1.04 billion is requested as a fine for the companies' actions. The Attorney General's office filed the case in reaction to an advertising and marketing campaign allegedly targeting Nigerian youth.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75239

WEST AFRICA: More funds needed to tackle drug use, NGOs say

West and Central African governments and the UN are so focused on reducing the supply of illicit drugs they have ignored efforts to reduce demand, non-governmental organisations say.

"There is total disequilibrium with regards to the means given to different actors [in the fight against drugs]," Cheikh Diop, president of the Federation of Senegalese NGOs Fighting against Drugs, told IRIN. "So much money is invested in the fight against drug trafficking or the reduction of supply; but when it comes to reducing the demand – or the users themselves – organisations working on this approach have almost no financial means."

At a 3-4 November meeting of NGOs from across West and Central Africa, held in the Senegalese capital Dakar, participants expressed concern over what they considered insufficient funding for organisations focusing on prevention of drug use and treatment for drug users.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75164

WEST AFRICA: High prices of food imports may leave people hungry

Food monitors are concerned that people in West African countries who rely on international imports of wheat and rice are going to struggle to buy enough to eat this year due to high commodity prices.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in a bulletin released on 7 November that poor global production of wheat means worldwide prices reached a record high in September 2007 and remained volatile in October.

Rice prices have also risen steadily since January 2007 according to the FAO, and high fuel prices have added higher shipping costs into the equation.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75216

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