Full Coverage: West Africa

31.08.2005 Britain's Department for International Development is accused of spending UK aid money on a public relations campaign to pursue a privatisation agenda in Sierra Leone.

31.08.2005 Nigerian techies are developing the Solo, a computer that can withstand the dust, heat, and unreliable power supply common in their part of the world, and hoping the tropicalised PCs can connect greatly underserved Nigerians in rural areas with the rest of the country and the world.

30.08.2005 Five years ago the idea of digital television in Africa would have seemed absurd. Now two countries have announced their intention to offer digital television. Senegal seems to have been first into the game, launching a pilot at the end of last year with 200 trial subscribers.

26.08.2005

24.08.2005 The quality and quantity of relief food aid distributed by the WFP in Niger is ineffective in remedying the acute malnutrition children are facing, Médecins Sans Frontières said Tuesday, and urged U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan take measures to ensure aid reaches the real needs of people.

24.08.2005 Recently nicknamed Ollatunde Lepa by the Nigerian friends he has made while interning for an NGO there, U.S. graduate student from France, Vince Barrailler reflects on his adventures so far in fast-paced Lagos.

19.08.2005 Medical teams report a continuing increase in the number of children requiring treatment in Zinder, Niger's second largest city.

18.08.2005 In an effort to feed an additional 175,000 children in the hardest-hit parts of Mali and to avoid it slipping into a humanitarian crisis similar to neighbouring Niger, the UN World Food Programme has almost doubled its emergency appeal for the West African country to $13.6 million.

16.08.2005

© Action Against Hunger-USA

West Africa is entering a yearly cycle of chronic food shortage. This year, due to several natural events, the shortage will turn into crisis if help is not sent. Almost 100 percent of last season's crops were destroyed by swarms of desert locusts. Coupled with scarce rainfall during the majority of planting season, much of West Africa is speeding towards mass starvation. Approximately 3.6 million people in Niger alone currently are at risk of food shortage. Through GlobalGiving, you can help the people of West Africa by contributing to a project that will provide food assistance.

16.08.2005 Nomads have been so badly hit by the Niger food crisis that their already fragile way of life is at risk, according to a new assessment in the south of the country.

12.08.2005 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has emerged as a leading candidate to challenge the hugely popular former football star George Weah in Liberia's October presidential election. Sirleaf possesses impressive credentials as a Harvard-trained former UNDP finance minister and is has much credibility with the international community, but will this be enough to win her the trust of the electorate?

12.08.2005 Women's savings groups in Niger, better able to survive the food crisis because they have stored grain and financial resources, are sharing and distributing food stocks as well as selling seeds to farmers at discounted prices to help their communites stave off hunger.

10.08.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 10 (OneWorld) - Famine in Niger is the most visible sign of a West African food crisis that could have been averted had international donors not been so stingy with some of the world's poorest countries, a leading aid group has said.

10.08.2005 Paul Hetherington travelled to Niger with a selection of journalists to report on the food crisis for Save the Children. This is his blog from the 10-day trip....

09.08.2005 As world leaders made promises to end poverty at the G8 Summit, no mention was made of Niger's food crisis. Aid agencies were silent throughout the Live 8 extravaganzas too. If existing policies maintained by rich countries contribute to famine, then what has happened to the people of Niger should be viewed as a crime against humanity, charge Firoze Manji and Patrick Burnett.

09.08.2005 August will be the worst month for Niger, according to a Medecins Sans Frontieres nutritional specialist.

08.08.2005 Years of neglect by rich countries have contributed directly to the food crisis in Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, a leading international agency said today.

08.08.2005 The Millennium Challenge Corporation has approved nearly $13 million for programs to encourage Burkinabe girls to attend school.

06.08.2005 Breaking from his studies at the Boston University School of Management for the summer, Vince Barrailler offers us a glimpse of life in Nigeria through the eyes of an American with just a short time to get to know the country and its people.

05.08.2005 UNDP's SURF West Africa and UNDP Senegal are promoting information exchange, communication and reflection on actions needed to help the Sub-region achieve the Millenium Development Goals by 2015. The cornerstone of this Campaign is the Forum on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) in West Africa.