Full Coverage: West Africa

27.06.2005 UNESCO this week installed the first of the new community multimedia centres it is establishing in Mali as part of a scale-up initiative also involving Mozambique and Senegal

22.06.2005 Nigerian communities have brought legal action against the government, the state petroleum company, and foreign oil corporations--including Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Total, and Agip--for violating environmental regulations and putting local citizens at risk from toxic chemicals in gas flares.

22.06.2005

22.06.2005 Gas flaring in Nigeria is the most significant contributor to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, creating literally a hellfire environment for people living in the oil delta.
From: OneWorld TV

22.06.2005 The World Summit Award national contest in Nigeria, also known as the Nigerian eContent Awards , has been officially launched in Lagos.

21.06.2005 The international diamond certification scheme known as the Kimberley Process is due for review next year. Campaigners say that participating countries are not fulfilling their reporting obligations and that diamonds continue to fund conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Cote D'Ivoire.

17.06.2005

17.06.2005 Speaking recently as Chair of the African Union, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria had plenty of advice for G8 leaders on aid, debt and trade issues. And he made a plea that the right to "decent work" should be included in the Millennium Development Goals.

17.06.2005 Poor electricity supply ranks highest among the problems facing stakeholders in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) thus retards penetration.

17.06.2005 Low rainfall and last year's desert locust plague have Mali facing the worst drought in recent years, reports Action Against Hunger (AAH). One out of three children under five is now suffering from malnutrition and AAH is calling on the international community to respond as soon as possible to prevent the crisis from getting worse.

13.06.2005 West African neighbors Benin and Nigeria agreed last week to unite efforts to prevent and suppress human trafficking, particularly of women and children. With cross-border trafficking into Nigeria rising, the countries further pledged to protect, rehabilitate, and return trafficking victims to their homes.

13.06.2005 In Niger, the next harvest is four months away, some families are already facing serious food shortages, and at Doctors Without Borders centers, children exhibiting signs of malnutrition are showing up in ever-increasing numbers. Health personnel at the Maradi center are recording the growing signs of the country's food crisis--a snapshot of which you can see in this diary.

12.06.2005 The Sahel region of West Africa provides further evidence of post-tsunami donor fatigue. UN appeals for humanitarian relief for regions devastated by locusts and drought are falling on deaf ears.

06.06.2005 "We welcome the opportunity to use this research methodology – for the first time in Africa – as we think that it will be an important tool in providing better access to new information and communication technologies,” said Monsieur Adama Kansaye,the prefect of Koutiala, during the inauguration of a workshop on ethnographic action research.

06.06.2005 The Government is to establish Community Information Centres (CIC) in all the 230 constituencies to help create awareness on ICT in the rural communities.

02.06.2005 Up to two-thirds of women in and around Lagos have suffered some form of abuse at the hands of family members sometimes simply for not having dinner on the table, Amnesty International has said, as it urged the Nigerian government to do more to help them.

02.06.2005 Mali's "visual griots" program offers young villagers cameras, and a chance to bolster cross-cultural understanding and community cultural development. Take a look at the students' photographs and read the observations of Shawn Davis, coordinator of the inaugural workshop, to get a glimpse into Mali unhindered by language and distance barriers.