30/May/2009 WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 480 for 23 - 29 May 2009

TO BE NOTED:

	humanitarian news and analysis UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Table of contents
1. NIGERIA: Displaced out of aid workers' reach
2. In Brief: Nigeria’s Cross River state passes child rights act
3. In Brief: Polio campaign to target ‘at-risk’ Liberia
4. CHAD: Scores of children among rebels rounded up in east
5. WEST AFRICA: Protecting children from orphan-dealers
6. WEST AFRICA: West Africa faces yellow fever vaccine shortage
7. NIGERIA: Relief workers slowly access conflict-hit Delta creeks
8. NIGERIA: Timeline of recent events in Niger Delta
9. LIBERIA: First birth registrations in Liberia for 19 years
10. BENIN: Polio vaccine drive suspended by health sector strike

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NIGERIA: Displaced out of aid workers' reach DAKAR, 25 May 2009 (IRIN) - Aid agencies are unable to access an area in the Niger Delta where more than 2,000 people are believed to be hiding in the bush after a military offensive against militants forced families to flee their homes. full report

In Brief: Nigeria’s Cross River state passes child rights act DAKAR, 26 May 2009 (IRIN) - As violence continues in Delta and Rivers states in the Niger Delta region, international community members welcomed the passing into law of the Child Rights Act on 26 May in nearby Cross River state. full report

In Brief: Polio campaign to target ‘at-risk’ Liberia MONROVIA, 26 May 2009 (IRIN) - Liberia – declared polio-free since 2006– will be among 11 West African countries covered in a vaccination campaign to be launched 29 May by the World Health Organization (WHO). full report

CHAD: Scores of children among rebels rounded up in east N'DJAMENA, 27 May 2009 (IRIN) - At least 85 minors are among 212 suspected rebels imprisoned by the Chadian government after recent clashes between rebels and the army in eastern Chad, according to UN Children’s Fund officials, who have visited the children. full report

WEST AFRICA: Protecting children from orphan-dealers ACCRA, 27 May 2009 (IRIN) - The recent rape of an eight-month-old boy in an orphanage in the Ghanaian capital Accra revealed conditions that child rights advocates say are rampant across West African orphanages. When the authorities investigated the incident they discovered 27 of the 32 children living in the home were not orphans. full report

WEST AFRICA: West Africa faces yellow fever vaccine shortage DAKAR, 27 May 2009 (IRIN) - Up to 150 million people in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria could be at risk of contracting yellow fever says the World Health Organization, as the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Yellow Fever Vaccine says it has just a quarter of the US$186 million it needs to vaccinate people in 12 at-risk countries. full report

NIGERIA: Relief workers slowly access conflict-hit Delta creeks DAKAR, 28 May 2009 (IRIN) - The Nigeria Red Cross says conflict-hit areas it has been able to access in the Niger Delta are in better condition than anticipated, but that continued restrictions on aid workers’ movement leaves many questions unanswered. full report

NIGERIA: Timeline of recent events in Niger Delta DAKAR, 28 May 2009 (IRIN) - Thousands of people are displaced in the Niger Delta region after the military stormed the area in pursuit of militants it said had attacked government troops. The move comes two months after President Umaru Yar'Adua said he would consider amnesty for some militants. Yar'Adua and his predecessors have battled for years with the local groups - perpetrators of regular violent attacks and kidnappings - who say they are fighting for the people's rights in the oil-rich region. IRIN highlights some of the events leading up to the latest clashes. full report

LIBERIA: First birth registrations in Liberia for 19 years MONROVIA, 29 May 2009 (IRIN) - The Liberian government says it has resumed registering births following a 19-year interruption due to the civil war. full report

BENIN: Polio vaccine drive suspended by health sector strike DAKAR, 29 May 2009 (IRIN) - Benin has suspended indefinitely a polio vaccination campaign because of a health workers’ strike, as polio re-emerges in several West African countries. full report