DAKAR, 1 December (IRIN) - CONTENTS:

COTE D IVOIRE: Anti-Gbagbo demonstrations erupt CAMEROON-CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Thousands seek refuge from attacks GUINEA: "If you don't have courage, you can't study" GUINEA: Malnutrition cases double in Conakry children's hospital COTE D IVOIRE: Gbagbo makes show of power CHAD: Evacuations underway CHAD: Aid agencies worry about staff safety after attack

COTE D IVOIRE: Anti-Gbagbo demonstrations erupt

Acrid smoke drifted through Abidjan early on Thursday morning as demonstrators erected barricades with burning tyres in several neighbourhoods, as well as in the interior cities of Toumodi, Yamoussoukro and Dabou, but police broke the demonstrations up with tear gas.

Demonstrators said they were calling for President Laurent Gbagbo to annul decrees signed this week reinstating three government officials who were suspended over a toxic waste scandal in September. Gbagbo also sacked the heads of the state-run Fraternite Matin newspaper and Ivorian Radio Television this week.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56586 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE

CAMEROON-CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Thousands seek refuge from attacks

Some 30,000 people from Central African Republic (CAR) have sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon to escape harassment and child abduction, the United Nations says.

Members of the Mbororo ethnic group that straddles the Cameroon-CAR border first began arriving in Cameroon from CAR in April 2005, but the flow has risen in recent months, aid officials said.

"The eastern and northern parts of CAR are infested with former rebels who frequently assault populations," Jacques Franquin, representative for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Cameroon, told IRIN. "The Mbororo, who are pastoralists, are attacked, their cattle taken away and their children are even kidnapped."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56585 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=CAMEROON-CENTRAL_AFRICAN_REPUBLIC

GUINEA: "If you don't have courage, you can't study"

Walking onto the main campus at Donka University in the capital, Conakry, means running the gauntlet through packs of young men wearing football kit and young women with plunging necklines, their mobile phones clamped to their ears, as music blares from parked cars.

The vibrant state-run campus is dotted with posters for HIV/AIDS campaigns alongside fliers for concerts, student societies, and motorbikes for sale, much like any other university in the world.

Living in a country with one of the world's lowest per capita incomes, Donka's 14,000 students are extremely privileged.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56569 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=GUINEA

GUINEA: Malnutrition cases double in Conakry children's hospital

Children are sometimes being packed in two to a bed in the dark, airless wards of Conakry's only children's hospital as the facility copes with double the number of starving children now than three years ago.

There were 623 malnourished children admitted to the Donka Hospital Institute of Nutrition and Child Health between January and the end of September, the last time the quarterly records were compiled.

In 2005, 601 children were admitted in the whole year, almost 150 more than in 2004, and over 300 more than in 2003. Hospital staff said they expected the 2006 figure to break 800 by the end of the year.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56552 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=GUINEA

COTE D IVOIRE: Gbagbo makes show of power

Armed troops were out in force on the streets of Cote d'Ivoire's largest city, Abidjan, on Tuesday as already tense relations between President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny deteriorated.

Since Sunday, Gbagbo has signed eight decrees and reinstated three senior civil servants suspended by Banny last month for their part in the dumping of toxic waste around Abidjan in September.

Banny said in a statement on Monday that he would fight the president's decisions. "If they are applied, these decisions will without doubt constitute a major obstacle in the war against impunity," Banny said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56551 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE

CHAD: Evacuations underway

International relief agencies on Tuesday began evacuating non-essential staff with the help of the French military from the eastern town of Abeche after a rebel assault on Saturday.

By late Tuesday, 179 staff from the United Nations and NGOs had registered for evacuation at the French military base outside Abeche, located 900 km east of the capital, Ndjamena, Helene Caux, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said by phone from Abeche.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56550 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=CHAD

CHAD: Aid agencies worry about staff safety after attack

Relief agencies in the eastern Chadian town of Abeche were considering evacuating non-essential staff after rebels on Saturday overran the area, which serves as a hub to assist tens of thousands of refugees and internally displaced Chadians.

"We're considering our options," Marcus Prior, West Africa spokesman for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN on Monday. "We want to maintain our essential staff in Abeche so we will be doing everything we can to do that. Although, obviously, we want to watch the situation as it evolves and certainly when it's possible, look to relocate our non-essential staff."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56527 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=CHAD

IRIN news

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink