A two-day ECOWAS Regional Consultation on conflict prevention in the Sene-Gambia Zone ended last Friday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

Speaking at the occasion, Ambassador Babou Ousman Jobe of The ECOWAS Council of the Wise stated that one of the objectives of the programme is to build the capacity of West African Civil Society coalitions in monitoring governance and human rights with the goal of complementing ongoing activities aimed at promoting regional Security and contributing to security sector transformation processes in West Africa.

The ambassador has called on civil society organisations to work closely with government to prevent conflicts within West Africa.

For his part, the director of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Jibrin Ibrahima, said the reason for organising the meeting in Banjul is meant to reduce and manage the long standing conflicts in the Sene- Gambian Zone citing the Cassamance as one example.

He has assured participants that the recommendation of the meeting will be fully implemented at the level of ECOWAS

Drought, conflict, hyperinflation, high food and fuel prices, the weakness of the Somali shilling and a succession of poor harvests have increased the number of people needing food and other assistance to 2.6 million – up 40 percent from January.

At a news conference in Nairobi on 22 July, Mark Bowden, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, called the situation “fluid” and warned that “we are months before a major crisis” as the situation was likely to deteriorate further, potentially affecting 3.5 million, or half the total population.

Bowden said that “although this is a frightening figure to deal with”, it was the responsibility of the humanitarian community to provide assistance and seek ways to address the crisis.

Already, UN agencies and NGO partners of the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) had revised upwards the financial requirements from the original US$406 million to $637 million, an increase of 53 percent, in their mid-year review. Financing the CAP would be a challenge as the global price rises had increased costs and affected donor governments’ budgets too.

In Somalia, the critical food and livelihood crisis, combined with price hikes, very poor rains in the southern and central parts of the country, violence and limited or no access to the affected populations, was further exacerbating the situation and severely restricting the ability of humanitarian organisations to deliver assistance.

At the press conference, Beatrice Spadacini, media and communications manager for CARE International, said access was the greatest challenge facing humanitarian organisations.

She said in many parts of the country, particularly the central and southern regions, aid workers were increasingly being targeted. At least 19 UN and NGO aid workers have been killed and 13 others abducted since the start of 2008 and 31 piracy cases reported, in addition to 82 looting incidents.

Per Engebak, the director for the UN Children's Fund in eastern and southern Africa, said on average, it took 47 days to cover 200km, bypassing 400 checkpoints to deliver assistance to the vulnerable population,.

Peter Smerdon, a senior public affairs officer for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said: “WFP needs to double the amount of food it is bringing into Somalia to 32,000MT per month.” The agency was urgently appealing to governments to escort naval vessels to protect ships loaded with WFP food from piracy. At least 90 percent of all WFP food for Somalia arrives by sea.

Smerdon said the first unescorted ship loaded with WFP food was due to leave Mombasa on 22 July. Another ship had refused to load 12,000MT of cereals in South Africa without naval support, he added, and if this cargo did not leave South Africa soon for Mogadishu, one million people in Somalia would not receive cereals - the bulk of the food ration - in August.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Crop Prospects and Food Situation report released in July forecasts that the main Gu cereal crop, due for harvest from next month, is largely expected to fail as a result of a late start and poor rains in most parts of the country. According to the FAO’s Food Security Analysis Unit, if the Gu rains fail, the Somali shilling continues to fall, food prices continue to increase and civil insecurity worsens, potentially half the total population could face a humanitarian emergency or acute food and livelihoods crisis.

IRIN 

The Center for Democracy and Development (CCD) & West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) organize a two days regional consultative meeting on conflicts in the Senegambia zone of West Africa in Banjul The Gambia from the 24 -25 July 2008 at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. The meeting which is a regional one brought together civil society organizations in the region under one roof. The meeting aimed at discussing at length with the view of resolving issues of conflict in the zone, comprising, the Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde.

Professor Boubacar Barry, a theoretician of Senegabia and a thinker of integration, born in Guinea but a Senegalese, teaches at Chiehk Anta Dioup University, since 1972.He is involved in the initiations of several networks, who are working on a Center of Integration which will be base in Praia soon.

In his keynote address said Senegambia is wider than the defined ECOWAS zones which was limited to only four countries, why not include Mali and Guinea Conakry which are also part of this wider region.  He said there are no limits historically speaking to the tribes in the region.

 Therefore his first conclusion is West Africa is indivisible. “We should move from these nation states which we wanted to build for the past 15years” said Professor Barry. He said the crisis in Casamance, Liberia, Sierra Leone, so on are all internal crises, this goes beyond the nation states, he said the nation states spills over the West African region so why cant we go beyond the nation states, he asked.

 We must come back to this internal dynamics to solve this crises and conflicts. Why can’t we solve these developing crises, rather than allowing them repeating themselves? He pointed out that there is a conflict in development in Guinea and we are not doing anything about it, are we going to wait until it blow off, before we act?

 Fragmentation is another area where Barry dilated on.  He said is one thing that affects our developments. He said one takes a flight to Guinea or Mali each has their own flags and other national identities, why? ,

 He indicated that Cape Verde is one of the smallest countries in our region, but it’s now a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), so it’s not the size that matters but governance structures.

He referred to fragmentation as two separate fragmentations; one of knowledge, which is the languages of the colonial masters, the second fragmentation is about religions be it Islam and Christianity. Again it is either in French or Arabic when it comes to religion. How can we be fragmented to such a level and yet solve such problems? It’s true that at elections we speak to our electorates in our local languages just to get votes. “We cannot solve conflicts with a fragmented knowledge or religion” said Professor Barry. It is his opinion that the Senegambia zone will continue to be the losers under such fragmentation. He said it is because of such fragmentation that we cannot bridge the river Gambia, thus making communication impossible.

Dr. Siga Jagne Director of Pro-PAG and co organizer of the conference in her remark indicated that Gambia is a critical country as far as conflict resolution is concern.  It is one country where all the countries in the neighborhood run to when there is disturbance. In this regard she said it’s important that we sit to discuss so that peace prevails in the sub-region and hope Gambia will soon set up its own network to join the rest.

The Center for Development and Democracy, (CDD) Director Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim in his remarks said one of the things they in the civil society cherish is our participation in activities like early warning and prevention mechanism in conflicts preventions. He said part of the limitation in our democratic development has been the excessive conflicts in the areas.

By ECOWAS definition of Senegambia zone, includes The Gambia, Senegal, Bissau Guinea and Cape Verde. The meeting will not only look at the conflict resolution in this zone but as well to find solutions to it. ECOWAS has a mechanism with regional organizations like, WANEP, which feeds it with early warning signal of conflict, a mechanism that help us act promptly.

Dele Sonubi, of the West Africa Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) deputizing for the General Secretary, told the conference that WACSOF is an umbrella organization of civil society organizations in our region, and there head office is in Nigeria due the proximity to the ECOWAS head office. He said this meeting’s recommendation will not gather dust as WACOSOF will definitely push it to make sure that actions are taken. He invited all to take active interest in WACSOF.

ECOWAS regional office coordinators, Moussa Dabal, welcomed and thank on behalf of the Secretary General of ECOWAS all who come here. He said this is a commitment shown by the civil society organizations in the region. Dabal noted that there have been a lot of conflicts in the region; on 28 May 1975 ECOWAS was founded with the primary role of economic affairs, the political issues were not part of the agenda at the time. But with experience today, development cannot take place in the absence of good governance and democracy.

The early warning system is in four zones, zone one is the Senegambia zone with head offices in Gambia. Zone two is based in Liberia, zone three is based Burkina, and zone four has its head office in Benin.

Today, 8 May, the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Chad is celebrating not only World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day but also the 30th anniversary of its humanitarian work in the country.

The ICRC established a full-time presence in Chad in 1978 to meet needs arising from the armed conflict between the government and the National Liberation Front of Chad. Between 1978 and 1982, ICRC staff working in Faya-Largeau, Bardaï, Abéché, N’Djamena and Moundou assisted thousands of victims of the armed conflicts and other violent situations that affected the country.

“It’s gratifying that even 30 years on, we still come across ex-detainees who well remember delegates visiting them in 1979, and people who received medical care from the ICRC at the height of the fighting in N’Djamena,” says Thomas Merkelbach, head of the organization’s delegation in N’Djamena.

The ICRC worked in Chad for a number of years, adapting its activities as the situation improved. In 1997, management of its operations in Chad was transferred to the organization’s regional delegation in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

However, the situation in eastern Chad began to worsen in 2003 and the ICRC required a more regular presence in the country to be able to assess the situation of the civilian population and respond to its needs where necessary. The organization therefore reopened its delegation in N’Djamena and now has a sub-delegation in Abéché and seven operational bases from which it carries out activities across the whole country.

To mark the 30th anniversary, the ICRC delegation in N’Djamena has organized an exhibition of photographs which tell the story of its operations in Chad since 1978.

“The exhibition will run from 8 to 15 May. It is above all an opportunity for us to show what has been accomplished with and for the people of Chad over the years, in both good times and bad,” said Stéphane Beytrison, head of the sub-delegation in Abéché. “In the 1980s, our work primarily involved helping detainees and civilian internees and responding to emergencies such as the fighting in N’Djamena. Since 2003, however, we have also had to deal with the long-term consequences of displacement caused by the poor security conditions in several regions of eastern Chad. This is not something that makes the headlines, but it has a major impact on daily living and threatens the future of several thousand Chadian men, women and children.”

The ICRC would also like to take this opportunity to express its solidarity with the family and colleagues of Pascal Marlinge, country director of Save the Children UK in Chad, who was murdered on 1 May 2008 in eastern Chad, on the road between Farchana and Adré. This killing is one of many that have shocked and saddened the humanitarian community here in recent years.

The ICRC engages in bilateral dialogue with all parties to the conflict to remind them of the need to spare civilians from the consequences of armed conflict.

International Committee of the Red Cross