Articles

ECONOMIC WOES 

Though new and often circuitous trade routes have appeared, using ports in Ghana, Guinea, Benin, Senegal and Togo, the cost of imports has risen and exports are less competitively priced by the time they reach cargo ships.

The economic squeeze has hit hard for Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso who, along with Sierra Leone, hold the bottom four places in the UN's 2005 Human Development Index.

The 2005 food crisis that swept through West Africa highlighted the depth of poverty in the southern fringes of the Sahara desert, where subsistence farmers and nomadic herders eke out a living in a harsh and often unpredictable climate.

Niger, the world's poorest country, was hardest hit. Aid appeals went largely unfunded until images of emaciated babies were beamed across television screens around the globe and prompted donors to dig into their pockets.

While locust plagues and drought caused problems with the harvest, many aid workers said the underlying problem behind the 2005 crisis was simply deep-rooted poverty. West African children die of hunger every year, usually out of sight of television cameras, and according to UN figures 13 million children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition in the region.

While hunger hit the arid north, heavy seasonal rains proved deadly in the forested zone further south. Guinea Bissau became the epicentre of a region-wide cholera epidemic in 2005. The water-borne disease killed hundreds and struck tens of thousands more, with children and the elderly bearing the brunt.

In August, the government of Guinea Bissau, struggling to cast off the legacy of years of political instability, admitted it was so cash-strapped that it couldn't find US $104,000 to stop the spiralling cholera epidemic in its tracks.

Ultimately, the UN launched a region-wide appeal for US $3.2 million to tackle the epidemic. But that failed to secure a single donation and the disease ran its natural course, petering out with the rains.

Guinea-Bissau's residents also went to the polls in 2005 to choose a new President, in a process that reminded observers that political rivalries still ran deep. Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, a former military ruler, won the run-off, but his rival refused to recognise the result and a disgruntled Prime Minister was swiftly sacked.  

TOGO TURMOIL

Tensions also flared unexpectedly in Togo, when Gnassingbe Eyadema - then the longest ruling head of state on the continent - died suddenly in February and his son seized power with the backing of the army.

Violent protests at home and diplomatic pressure from abroad forced Faure Gnassingbe to hold elections, but the opposition said the April ballot was rigged and more clashes followed.

According to a subsequent UN investigation, at least 400 people died in the violence, most of them opposition supporters targeted by government security forces. Some 25,000 refugees fled to neighbouring Ghana and Benin, fearing reprisals.

With Eyadema dead, the mantle of Africa's longest-serving head of state passed to President Omar Bongo of Gabon, who won another term in elections in November.

Another political veteran of the region who extended his 18-year rule in 2005 was Blaise Compaore, whose interpretation of the constitutional term limits raised opposition hackles but allowed him to scoop a third term in the November elections with more than 80 percent of the vote.

In Chad, President Idriss Deby got the seal of approval in a June referendum to amend the constitution and enable him to run as a presidential candidate in 2006.

But Deby's grip on power looked fraught as the year ended, as he sacked his presidential guard and mutinous soldiers gathered in the east. An attack on a border post by rebels, whom he accuses neighbouring Sudan of backing, only inflamed regional tensions and the future seems problematic.

Deby's decision to scrap a fund set up to safeguard a portion of the country's petrodollars for future generations also brought international censure. The move was deemed a "material breach" of contract by the World Bank, which helped set up the innovative scheme to ensure that oil profits reached the people.

Time ran out with a jolt for Maaouya Ould Taya, President of Mauritania for 21 years. Ould Taya was ousted in August in the region's only coup, which proved to be bloodless.

The new military junta has promised a swift return to democracy and fresh elections for March 2007. But that leaves plenty of time for a change of heart, warn analysts. Oil revenues are set to begin flowing into state coffers in early 2006 and that could encourage Mauritania's new rulers to prolong their stay in power.

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