West Africa Archives

CORRUPTION-NIGERIA: Time Up for Dishonest Police Officers

The dismissal of 34 police officers in Lagos at the weekend shows the seriousness of the new inspector general of police, Tafa Balogun in fighting corruption and redeeming the image of the force, say observers.

POLITICS-AFRICA: President-for-life Syndrome

By Ali Idrissou-Toure

Africans are fighting a new war: president-for-life syndrome.

/WTO-CANCUN/AFRICA: Farm Subsidies High On the Agenda

By IPS Correspondents

Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa could earn about two billion U.S. dollars more every year if industrialised countries dropped their trade-distorting agricultural policies and opened their markets to goods from the developing world, says the International Food Policy Research Institute.

RELIGION: Gay Controversy Spreads to Other Churches

By IPS Correspondents

The controversy surrounding the Anglican Church over homosexuality appears to be spreading to other churches.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Benin Border Reopens

By Toye Olori

Economic activities have returned to Seme, a town on the border with the Republic of Benin, which was closed a week ago over cross-border crimes including armed robbery, fuel smuggling and human trafficking.

RIGHTS: Child Slave Rings Rife in Southern Africa

By James Hall

Trade in children, literally slave trading in infants to teenagers, has been a problem that African law enforcement officials thought was mostly confined to the western part of the continent.

ENVIRONMENT: Senegal Shuts Down Mining Operations in Protected Zones

By IPS Correspondents

Senegal is shutting down all mining operations in protected forests in a bid to preserve the country's natural resources.

POLITICS-WEST AFRICA: Dust Up Between Neighbours

By Toye Olori

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Beninois counterpart Mathieu Kerekou are expected to meet in Nigeria this week to resolve the issues that necessitated the closure of the Nigerian borders with its tiny western neighbour.

RIGHTS: War Crimes Court Hunts Exiled Liberian Leader

By Lansana Fofana

"The indictment served against Mr. Taylor still stands no matter where he goes or how long it takes. Charles Taylor is a war criminal and he must face justice," says the American-born Prosecutor of the Special Court David Crane.

RELIGION: Gay Debate Splits Africa

By IPS Correspondents

The Anglican Church in Central Africa is threatening to cut ties with America over a decision by the church in the United States to confirm a gay bishop.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Taylor Resigns, Flies into Exile in Nigeria

By IPS Correspondents

Embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor ceded power to his deputy, Moses Blah, on Monday and flew into exile in Nigeria, 14 years after leading a rebellion that triggered a bloody civil war which spilled over into Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire.

RIGHTS-BENIN: Civil Society Seeks Release of a Popular Lawyer

By IPS Correspondents

The detention of a popular lawyer for 'insulting a judge' has sparked a wave of protest and indignation within the civil society in Benin.

POPULATION: Liberia Refugees Flee Trouble for Trouble

By IPS Correspondents

Ongoing fighting in Liberia is aggravating a refugee crisis that threatens the fragile stability in West Africa, humanitarian relief groups say.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: A Setback for Polio

By Toye Olori

A claim by an Islamic group that polio vaccines, being administered on children, contain anti-fertility agents poses serious setback for government's efforts to eradiate the disease by the end of the year, according to health officials.

RIGHTS: EU Urges Nigeria to Drop Capital Punishment

By Toye Olori

European Union is urging Nigeria to drop capital punishment and seek humane ways of tackling armed robbery, military coups and murder.

POLITICS: Peacekeepers Tread Carefully in Liberian Capital

By Lansana Fofana

West African peacekeepers, who deployed in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, this week, say they will start to enforce a cease-fire and clear the way for humanitarian aid soon.

TRADE-AFRICA: Growth Depends on Access to Market, Not Aid

By Farah Khan

As the next round of trade talks gets underway in Cancun, Mexico next month, it has emerged that Africa would benefit far more from the better access to the European Union and the United States markets than it does from aid.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: New Efforts to Fight Fake Drugs

By Toye Olori

The death of two children, administered with cardiac stimulant, after successful heart operations in the eastern Nigerian city of Enugu has exposed the dangers that fake and adulterated drugs pose to patients.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Women Appeal for Peace

By IPS Correspondents

Women in Liberia, tired of carrying the burden of war, have appealed for peace in the strife-torn West African country.

CULTURE-GHANA: Musician Changes her Tune

By IPS Correspondents

She used to sing on television in the late 1980s, then a student, preaching love and patience and understanding among lovers and all people of the world.