DAKAR, 9 February (IRIN) - IRIN WA weekly round-up 365 for 3-9 February 2007

CONTENTS:

COTE D IVOIRE: On the brink GUINEA: Emergency funds needed as more violence looms NIGERIA: Sharp rise in hostage taking may be linked to upcoming elections GUINEA-BISSAU: The nearest thing to a prison LIBERIA: Refugee returns creating ethnic "time bomb" GLOBAL: CERF "wasteful" of donor funding - Save the Children

COTE D IVOIRE: On the brink Cote d'Ivoire is on the "brink of disaster" and a lack of will among the country's political classes to end the crisis that has divided the country is to blame, according to Pierre Schori, the outgoing United Nations special representative for Cote d'Ivoire. Schori, whose term ends this month, spoke with IRIN about his two years in Cote d'Ivoire and what he saw for the future of the country. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57541 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=COTE_D_IVOIRE

GUINEA: Emergency funds needed as more violence looms Union leaders in Guinea are threatening to call another nationwide strike starting next Monday, but emergency relief agencies say the country is ill-prepared for a round of violence similar to one last month and urgently needs $4m in emergency assistance. The United Nation's humanitarian coordination agency (OCHA) in Conakry told IRIN it appealed within the "rapid response" window of the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) on Tuesday for US$2.7 million, to fund stockpiles of blood, trauma kits, medical supplies, communications equipment, and the Humanitarian Air Service (HAS).

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57553 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=Guinea

NIGERIA: Sharp rise in hostage taking may be linked to upcoming elections Almost as many people were taken hostage in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region in the month of January as in the whole of 2006, with some analysts accusing candidates in the upcoming elections of using ransom money to support their campaigns. n the month of January at least 50 foreigners were taken hostage, two of whom were killed. That compares to a total of around 70 foreigners snatched in the whole of 2006. Most of the kidnap victims are non-Nigerians working in the oil industry. Victims have included American, European, and Asian workers. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57309 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=Nigeria

GUINEA-BISSAU: The nearest thing to a prison From the street, Guinea-Bissau's so-called 'high-security detention centre' looks like a quaint, albeit rundown, Portuguese house, with a knee-high fence and a row of painted rose tiles running below the roof. But down a precariously steep staircase, 22 young inmates live in filth and darkness in three underground cells. Few criminals in Guinea Bissau will ever see the squalid conditions inside this jail. Despite a number of reports of Latin American drug cartels operating in the country, and the seizing of drugs worth tens of millions of dollars in recent months, none of the inmates at the facility have been charged with involvement in the drugs trade.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57551 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=Guinea-Bissau

LIBERIA: Refugee returns creating ethnic "time bomb" Mounting ethnic tension in Liberia's eastern Nimba County could spark a new round of fighting as members of the minority Mandingo ethnic group claim to be struggling to recover their lands and properties upon return from refugee camps in Guinea, Liberian analysts warn. Some of the thousands of former refugees who have returned there from Guinea over the last two years said to IRIN that they were encountering problems reclaiming land and buildings seized by members of the larger Gio and Mano ethnic groups during and after the Liberian civil war. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57570 and SelectRegion=West_Africa and SelectCountry=Liberia

GLOBAL: CERF "wasteful" of donor funding - Save the Children The international NGO Save the Children says the UN's prestigious, multi-million dollar Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is "clumsy and inefficient" and the UN is "wasting time and money" in the way it administers the money. In a strongly-worded report released last week, Save the Children demanded that NGOs be able to directly apply for money, citing its own research which it said revealed that 7 cents in every donated dollar is being wasted because administrative costs are being duplicated by UN agencies and then NGOs, and that donor money is too slow reaching the agencies that will use it. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=57532 and SelectRegion=Great_Lakes,%20Southern_Africa,%20West_Africa and SelectCountry=GLOBAL

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