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NEWSBLOG: Behind the headlines - April 13, 2006

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 13 April 2006 00:00 GMT

Maria Alcivar&${esc.hash}39;s belongings are piled into a boat as she prepares to evacuate in Tosagua, a coastal city in the province of Manabi, Ecuador, March 8, 2006. REUTERS/Enrique Hernandez

International aid needed after floods in Ecuador, warning that violence in Nigeria&${esc.hash}39;s oil region could get worse before it gets better, and Western Sahara&${esc.hash}39;s Polisario Front launches a new TV station...

It started raining in coastal Ecuador about ten weeks ago, and the resulting floods have now affected 28,000 families, with over 11,000 of them needing urgent assistance, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It took two months for the government to request international assistance, but it has now done so.

So far various U.N. bodies have stepped in &${esc.hash}39; providing money and oral re-hydration salts &${esc.hash}39; while the World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation have been working on clean water and health centre provision. Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and the Red Cross have also chipped in, but 40 percent of needs have yet to be met.

While the floods remain, land is submerged and farming is impossible. People in coastal areas need more food, a range of supplies and funds for recovery. The government also wants to start re-foresting upstream river basins to provide protection during next winter&${esc.hash}39;s rainy season.

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There&${esc.hash}39;s not a lot of optimism surrounding Nigeria at the moment. Police have been cracking down on President Olusegun Obasanjo&${esc.hash}39;s political opponents who are dead against him running for a third-term. An amendment that would make this possible was presented to lawmakers this week.

And there&${esc.hash}39;s concern about the escalating level of violence in the oil-producing southern delta region. The president has established a committee to draw up an action plan to deal with the crisis, which has hit exports badly. But no one&${esc.hash}39;s holding their breath for a quick fix.

At a meeting at the London-based think tank Chatham House last night, Jonathan Bearman, head of oil consultancy Clearwater Research Services UK, argued that the situation in the Niger Delta is likely to get worse before it gets better &${esc.hash}39; particularly in the run-up to the 2007 elections. He argued that the government doesn&${esc.hash}39;t have the capacity to deal with the situation alone.

One option, in his view, would be to set up a commission, with international involvement, that would bring militant groups, government officials and the oil industry together to work out a deal giving local communities a greater share in oil assets and revenues.

Others at the meeting were sceptical about whether external intervention could really help &${esc.hash}39; instead the key issue was to focus on ensuring real democracy in the region. It&${esc.hash}39;s generally acknowledged that the 2003 elections were rigged there.

Michael Peel, a former West Africa correspondent for the Financial Times, told how election officials were so busy thumb-printing dodgy ballot papers and stuffing boxes that they got rather annoyed when people actually turned up to vote. However, no one at the meeting could really answer the question of how a fairer vote might be assured this time round.

Bearman warned that the controversy over the possibility of Obasanjo running for a third term is bringing Nigeria to the brink of a &${esc.hash}39;political crisis&${esc.hash}39;. Dr Kathryn Nwajiaku, an expert on the Niger Delta at Oxford University, said it&${esc.hash}39;s essential for anyone hoping to tackle the delta violence to understand the role oil plays in elections.

Most certainly, improved governance would have to be at the heart of any successful conflict-resolution initiative. But saying that and achieving it are two very different things. In the meantime, as Bearman put it, &${esc.hash}39;things won&${esc.hash}39;t be pleasant&${esc.hash}39;.

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Last year Morocco launched its fight for Western Sahara into space in the form of a satellite TV channel, aimed mainly at Saharans. Now the other side is fighting back.

The Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which has been in dispute with Morocco for decades over the ownership of Western Sahara, has launched Polisario Television. The new channel will be beamed into Saharan refugee camps in Tindouf, 1,800 km southwest of Algiers on the Moroccan border, according to the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat.

It will document conditions in the disputed Saharan territories and will highlight &${esc.hash}39;human rights violations&${esc.hash}39; in those that are under Moroccan control. There will also be cultural programmes on the &${esc.hash}39;special nature&${esc.hash}39; of the Saharan people.

Aisling Irwin and Megan Rowling AlertNet journalists

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