POLITICS: Liberia Leader Furious at U.N. Plan to Ban Timber Export

Liberian President Charles Taylor appears to be furious with last week's announcement by the United Nations to impose a ban on his country's timber export within two months "unless the government ends its support to rebel groups in neighbouring states".

TECHNOLOGY: UN Pledges to Set the African Virtual Library in Motion

Every computer equipped to play C-Roms or with access to the Internet is a "virtual library," where the world's knowledge can be downloaded for enquiring users.

ENVIRONMENT-BURKINA FASO: Each Year, Consumers Face Similar Water Crisis

For 25-year-old Ablasse Kindo, selling water has been his life. For nearly half his life, it has provided him with all his comforts.

ENVIRONMENT-MALI: City Runs Out of Water

"Taking bath, which most people always take for granted, has become a luxury here,'' says Ahmouden Ag Ikmass, deputy mayor of Kidal, referring to the acute water shortage in the region.

RIGHTS: Sierra Leone’s War Crimes Tribunal Continues to Stir Controversy

Controversy has arisen between the UN-backed Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal and the Liberian government over the jurisdiction of the court.

POLITICS-WEST AFRICA: Consulting Africa’s Elders On Conflict Issues

-Among the many pictures adorning the corridors and walls of the United Nations Office in New York is one of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and his wife Nane cuddling a three year old Sierra Leonean Girl who has both hands chopped off.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Creating A Positive Public Image For Africa

-No good news ever appears to emerge out of Africa.

TRADE-AFRICA: Farmers Demand Compensation to Offset U.S. Cotton Subsidies

West and central African cotton-producing countries have applied to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for financial compensation from industrialised nations whose agricultural subsidies threaten the survival of their cotton industry.

ENVIRONMENT-BENIN: Floods Pose a Major Health Risk

Health officials in Benin fear that residents of Cotonou, the country's economic capital, may face a resurgence of water-borne diseases with the mid-April's start of the rainy season.

RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: War Crimes Court Urges Liberia to Hand over Fugitives

The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has urged President Charles Taylor of Liberia to hand over fugitives who "bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes" during the country's decade-long civil war, which ended in 1999.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: UN Team Assesses Deteriorating Security Situation

A U.N.-backed team began a five-day visit to Liberia on May 4 to assess the country's deteriorating security situation, diplomats say.

POLITICS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Efforts to End Civil War Take On an Int’l Tone

Wary political efforts to put a stop to more than seven months of civil war in Cote d'Ivoire took on an international tone this week, with government and rebel forces sitting down again for peace talks as war-torn Liberia weighed in and the United Nations asked for millions of dollars in aid for the region.

ECONOMY-BURKINA FASO: War Prevents Cattle Export to Cote d’Ivoire

Cattle traders in this impoverished West African state of Burkina Faso have lost more than 17 million U.S. dollars in revenue, as a result of the civil war in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire where they export most of their animals.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Civil Groups Question the Merits of Foreign-Funded Polls

Debates about foreign financing of elections in West Africa is beginning to take the central political stage, as civil groups question the merits of such funding. Take Mali's 2002 elections, for example, which cost about 34 million U.S. dollars. More than a quarter of that amount, or 9 million U.S. dollars, was footed by foreign institutions and countries, according to Abderhamane Niang, an election consultant from Mali. ''Our elections are so expensive that they always drain our resources, but the foreign funding, which we receive for running such elections, undermine our national sovereignty,'' Niang argues.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Election Tribunals Sworn In As Obasanjo Formulates Cabinet

-Despite the rejection by Nigeria's main opposition party of the results of the presidential polls, election tribunals have been inaugurated and the re-elected President Olusegun Obasanjo has promised the nation a competent and broad-based cabinet

ENVIRONMENT: Torrential Rains Wreak Havoc in Nigeria

This year's torrential rains have wrecked havoc in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, affecting some of the city's 10 million residents.

RIGHTS-LIBERIA: War Threatens Survival of Children

Liberia's long-running war - coupled with the UN sanction on diamonds' trade, and the high level of poverty and unemployment - seriously threatens the survival of the country's children.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Soldiers Flee into Sierra Leone as Fighting Intensifies

"I fled across the border into Sierra Leone at the heat of battle in Cape Mount Country in the Northwest Liberia," says Major Wilfred Parson of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).

POLITICS-NIGERIA: President Obasanjo Wins Second Term

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo the winner of Saturday's presidential poll.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: President Obasanjo Heads For Another Term

-Barring all unforeseen circumstances, President Olusegun Obasanjo is expected to be sworn-in as Nigeria's President on May 29 for a second term of office.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Odds Favour Obasanjo For Re-election

-As enthusiastic voters Saturday trooped out in large numbers to vote in the country's Presidential elections and select who will rule them for the next four years, political analysts have predicted victory for incumbent President, Olusegun Obasanjo.