DAKAR , 13 July 2007 (IRIN) - NIGERIA: Privatising schools and national unity COTE D'IVOIRE: The inescapable injustice of justice CHAD: Aid groups dispute extent of emergency in the east NIGERIA: Chlorine gas from water plant kills three in southeast MAURITANIA-SENEGAL: Refugees cautiously optimistic about new initiative COTE D'IVOIRE: Crisis sheds light on chronic malnutrition

NIGERIA: Privatising schools and national unity

One policy the Nigerian government embarked on at the end of the Biafran civil war in 1970 to try to re-unite the nation was to bring together the best school students from all of the country's ethnic and religious groups so that they bond and form a new generation that identify with each other. Whether rich or poor, the tens of thousands of students attending these so-called 'unity schools' consistently scored better than average on the final year exams. Many of the first graduates went on to university and became young professionals. The unity schools were the showpiece of the government's education system, but with nepotism and corruption, the best students from poor families were often blocked from getting a place, according to Nigerian educationist Peter Komolafe. More and more students came from families with wealth or from the ruling elite.

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COTE D'IVOIRE: The inescapable injustice of justice

For a week Mariame Kone has walked the corridors of the Ivorian justice ministry trying to get a copy of records she needs for a job application. The deadline is approaching and she is losing hope she will receive the papers in time. Kone and others awaiting documents or decisions know that not much happens in the halls of justice unless money changes hands. "No two ways about it," said one of the 'margouillat', self-employed agents who act as intermediaries passing money between citizens and justice officials. "People who just stand around waiting are wasting their time. They know they must slip something under the table in order to see any action on their documents." Another 'margouillat,' Ali Toure, told IRIN: "We haven't the slightest notion of the law, but each of us has his magistrate who covers for him. When a citizen comes with a problem, we take it to our guy."

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CHAD: Aid groups dispute extent of emergency in the east

New findings question the extent of a nutritional crisis among the estimated 150,000 internally displaced people scattered in sites around eastern Chad, yet even as aid agencies in the area publicly dispute each other's malnutrition data, all agree that the spat must not distract attention from the hardship people there are suffering. "It is unfair to the beneficiaries to go on in this battle of numbers," said Alessandro Loretti, the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinator of emergency response and operations, who recently returned from Chad. "The fact is that we have a critical situation on our hands. There is no reason for complacency." A dozen international NGOs are working in the vast wilderness of eastern Chad to provide emergency shelters, food, and water, even while attacks continue by various rebel and other armed groups and the rainy season makes many of the already isolated areas harder to reach.

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NIGERIA: Chlorine gas from water plant kills three in southeast

At least three people were killed when chlorine gas being used at a water treatment plant in Nigeria's southeastern Cross River state escaped into nearby homes, residents and state officials said. New Netim, a small community in the Odukpani district of the state, adjoining the water treatment plant belonging to the Cross River State Water Board, was enveloped by clouds of chlorine gas on 5 July, leading to the death of three people, said resident Ufot James. "The dead included a woman and two men while several others were hospitalised," James said.

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MAURITANIA-SENEGAL: Refugees cautiously optimistic about new initiative

Tens of thousands of black Mauritanians living in exile for the past 18 years have officially begun the process of returning home from camps in Senegal and Mali but many said they were concerned Moorish Mauritanians would continue to discriminate against them. "We realize that returning to our country will be hard," a spokesperson for the refugees, Amadou Wane, told IRIN at a camp in Ndioum, one of 284 village-like sites along the border with Mauritania. "We did not run from war or famine but were forced to leave based on the colour of our skin." For years Mauritania had claimed the refugees were free to return, but the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in late June the country had made its first official request to the agency for assistance to repatriate the refugees. UNHCR representatives met refugee leaders at a camp in Ndioum on 5 July.

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COTE D'IVOIRE: Crisis sheds light on chronic malnutrition

Photos of skeletal babies posted in a health center in northwest Cote d'Ivoire portray not just fallout from the country's conflict but a longstanding problem thrown into the spotlight by the arrival of aid groups. "Severe and moderate malnutrition have long existed in this region," said Abdoulaye Ouattara, a doctor who runs a nutritional center in Madinani, a town 80 km east of the regional capital Odienne. "Because of the war, humanitarian groups came to this region and this allowed us to address some health problems that existed well before the crisis." In the main hallway of the Madinani nutritional center - run with support from UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme backed by international donors - are scores of photos of severely malnourished infants who have come through the centre.

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