DEVELOPMENT-SENEGAL: Water Shortages Hit Women the Most

Balancing a large bucket of water on her head, Fatou Sarr, a 20-year-old domestic, reflects the plight of hundreds of thousands of women in Senegal who spend hours searching for clean water everyday.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Rebels Closing in on the Capital Monrovia

Rebels of the Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) are closing in on the capital Monrovia, engaging government forces in battles some ten kilometres outside the city, aid workers told IPS this week.

HEALTH-GABON: People Living with AIDS Turn to Traditional Healers

With medical bills constantly shooting up, people living with HIV/AIDS in Gabon are increasingly turning to traditional healers for treatment.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Darkness Returns as Niger Delta Ethnic Crisis Takes Its Toll

''Are we back in the old times when having electricity is like a miracle? At work, there is hardly electricity for two hours and when one gets home in the evening after the day's work, it is the same at home, no light,'' a sweaty Yinka Dada, complains as he moved out of his office to take fresh air under an almond tree in the premises of a government parastatal here.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: Ethnic Clashes Result In Closure of Crude Oil Production

Nigeria's petroleum industry may not benefit from the bombardment of Iraq by the United Stated-led coalition after ethnic clashes last week forced multi-national companies to shut down of operations in Warri, one of the major oil-producing cities in the Niger Delta region.

ECONOMY: Cote D’Ivoire on the Brink of a Breakdown – Premier

''Our country is on the brink of a breakdown. It is being torn apart and crippled by a civil war, and our economy is collapsing,'' laments Seydou Diarra, the prime minister of Cote d'Ivoire.

POLITICS-IRAQ: Little Direct Support for Bush and Blair in Africa

With an American-led war on Iraq now seemingly inevitable, there is little direct support in sub-Saharan Africa for U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but little appetite also for an African campaign against the conflict.

POLITICS: An Attack on Iraq a Mistake – African Intellectuals

Belated though, African intellectuals have joined their colleagues around the world in calling on the United States not to risk destabilising the world by launching an attack on Iraq.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Opposition Leader Calls for Postponement of Elections

''The environment is not conducive now for holding of elections, much more needs to be done about security perhaps putting in place a stabilisation force,'' says Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, leader of the opposition Unity Party.

POLITICS: France Appears to Have Failed to Push Africa Into Its Camp on Iraq

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin's lightening visits to Angola, Cameroon and Guinea - all members of the UN Security Council - appears unlikely to have pushed any of the three decisively into the French camp on Iraq. De Villepin, 49, has a long track record in Africa, beginning his diplomatic career in the Ministry of African and Malgachy Affairs in the early 1980s and more recently emerging as a key actor in France's efforts to resolve the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire.

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Prominent Personalities Indicted for War Crimes

Seven prominent persons, including the country's Minister of Internal Affairs, Sam Hinga Norman, were this week indicted and detained ahead of an appearance before a UN-backed Special Court for alleged atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's civil war.

RIGHTS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Death Squads Out of Control

Death squads are terrorising Cote d'Ivoire, leaving behind a trail of destruction and tears.

POLITICS-LIBERIA: Tension Mounting on the Sierra Leone Border

Tension is mounting on the Sierra Leone/Liberia border as Liberian government forces engage rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) who are seeking to overthrow President Charles Taylor.

POLITICS: Little Mobilisation of African Opinion Against the War in Iraq

There has been little mobilisation of African opinion against the war in Iraq, but the mood is slowly changing, says a Senegalese opposition leader.

DEVELOPMENT-BURKINA FASO: When Rains Fail, Farmers Switch to Irrigation

Alphonse Ouedraogo is no stranger to drought and famine, a perennial scourge which afflicts the impoverished West African nation of Burkina Faso always.

POLITICS: Guinea Poised to Play a Crucial Role as U.S. Steps Pressure on Iraq

Guinea's presidency of the UN Security Council comes at a crucial moment when attention is focused on Iraq and U.S. preparation for war in the Gulf.

HEALTH-SENEGAL: Patients Returning to Ancient Herbal Medicine

Long forgotten, Senegalese are slowly returning to aloe, an ancient herbal medicine, which has been used in Africa and Asia for more than 6,000 years.

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Soldiers, Ex-Combatants Facing Treason Charges

Seventeen people appeared in a Freetown Magistrate Court this week on charges of treason, following a month-long police investigation into an alleged plot to topple the government of Sierra Leone.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Electricity Returns to Villages after 20 Years of Darkness

This small community of about 5,000 inhabitants was among the first villages to benefit from Nigeria's first rural electrification programme in 1970, but darkness returned to the village just two years after the inauguration of the project as thieves carted away the electrical equipment.

ENERGY-GABON: Abundant, but Little Used, Natural Resources

Gabon has embarked on a programme to develop its energy resources, which has remained untapped due to the country's poorly developed energy sector.

RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: UN Envoy Stunned by Magnitude of Child Slavery

''I cannot believe that in this day and age, so many children could be forced to slave away in the mines earning next to nothing; this is appalling,'' says UN Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, who is visiting the war scarred West African country.