¤ AFRICA: AU wants peace, security and bigger global role in 2012
 WASHINGTON 12 January 2012 (IRIN) - The African Union (AU) has unveiled an ambitious wish-list of priorities for Africa that would give the continent a stronger global voice, boost democracy and encourage peace and security. |
¤ SAHEL: Act now to avoid another crisis, say aid agencies
 DAKAR 14 December 2011 (IRIN) - Aid agencies are warning donors to act now to avert another drought-related food crisis in the Sahel that could mean over 11 million people sink into further food insecurity, poverty or malnutrition. |
¤ WEST AFRICA: Sahel the danger zone for food insecurity
 DAKAR 27 October 2011 (IRIN) - Erratic rains and high imported rice and wheat prices against a backdrop of chronic food insecurity and malnutrition in parts of the Sahel, will leave millions of people at risk of food insecurity, according to the latest crop assessments. |
¤ WEST AFRICA: Building resilience in the Sahel
 LONDON 27 October 2011 (IRIN) - In 2005, drought and famine hit the Sahel, claiming many lives. The pattern was repeated in 2010, with the crisis most acute in Niger. And now the early warning signs are there for problems again next year, in 2012. |
¤ FOOD: Rumpus over GM food aid
 JOHANNESBURG 18 October 2011 (IRIN) - Genetically modified (GM) food aid bound for Africa has long been a bone of contention among governments, scientists, activists, consumers and aid workers. |
¤ WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: Cholera thriving two years on
 DAKAR 12 October 2011 (IRIN) - Three simultaneous cholera epidemics have affected 24 countries in West and Central Africa, with 85,000 infections and 2,466 deaths since the beginning of 2011, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). |
¤ LIBYA: Sub-Saharan migrants keep their heads down
 SIDI BILAL 20 September 2011 (IRIN) - In an abandoned port on the outskirts of Tripoli, a young woman timidly peeks out from behind the blanket that forms a wall in her improvised home. She is one of hundreds of migrants who have gathered in this makeshift camp since a popular uprising to overthrow dictator Muammar Gaddafi spread to the Libyan capital in August. |
¤ CHAD-NIGER: Lean season awaits migrants escaping Libya
 AGADEZ/NIAMEY/DAKAR 20 September 2011 (IRIN) - While the world’s politicians conjure up fears of a “tsunami of migrants” flooding Europe, in reality it is Libya’s economically vulnerable and chronically food-insecure neighbours Niger and Chad that are struggling to cope with an influx of returning migrants, says spokesperson of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Jean Philippe Chauzy. |
¤ DISASTERS: New risk index helps identify vulnerability
 JOHANNESBURG 05 September 2011 (IRIN) - A new disaster risk index launched by the UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn could help donors and aid organizations better understand why some countries are more at risk of calamity than others, and shape their responses when disaster strikes. |
¤ HEALTH: Cholera soars in Lake Chad Basin countries
 DAKAR 30 August 2011 (IRIN) - Cholera has killed at least 1,200 people this year in the countries surrounding Lake Chad - Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria; the illness, linked primarily to poor sanitation and lack of potable water, has struck some 38,800 people in the region this year and continues to spread. |
