[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 15 November (IRIN) - Heads of state from countries in and around the Great Lakes region are set to take part in a two-day conference starting on Friday in Dar es Salaam that has been 20 years on the making.

With top international officials expected, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the current chairman of the African Union, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the conference aims to consolidate the current post-conflict transitional peace processes taking

Déclaration d'une adjointe au porte-parole du Quai d'Orsay

(Paris, le 26 octobre 2004)

Une réunion des bailleurs de fonds de la lutte préventive contre les criquets pèlerins en Afrique du Nord et du Nord-Ouest s'est tenue hier à Paris à l'initiative du ministère des Affaires étrangères et avec la collaboration de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'Agriculture et l'Alimentation (OAA-FAO).

Se déroulant dans le contexte de la grave invasion acridienne qui sévit actuellement dans cette région, la réunion a permis à l'Organisation pour Agriculture et l'Alimentation de présenter

DAKAR, Sept 29 (AFP) - The United States is to provide six aircraft, pesticides and other materials to aid west Africa's battle against the worst locust invasion in more than a decade, a senior US development official said Wednesday.
Wrapping up a 10-day visit to Senegal, Mali and Mauritania, the country worst-hit by this year's invasion of the grasshopper-like insects, Roger Winter of the US development agency USAID also pledged 3.2 million dollars in immediate agricultural aid to protect crops in the infected countries.

"I have seen the damage caused

COTONOU, Sept 3 (AFP) - As the small west African state of Benin prepares to repel a massive locust invasion, some farmers and health experts are concerned about the long-term effects of pesticide sprays, they told AFP on Friday.

For the past two months a broad swathe of arid land just south of the Sahara desert has been under attack from the worst plague of locusts in 17 years. Beninese officials expect the insects to arrive within the coming weeks.

Military units have been mobilised to help spray farmland from land and air with pesticides designed to eradicate

Amount of decision: 1,000,000 euro
Decision reference number: ECHO/-WF/BUD/2004/02000

Explanatory Memorandum

1 - Rationale, needs and target population:

1.1. - Rationale:

Between January and April 2003 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 6,062 cases of meningitis (634 deaths) in Africa, most of them in Burkina Faso, 168 suspected cases of yellow fever (14 deaths), mainly in West Africa and 3,995 cases of cholera (61 death) (note: this figure may have increased significantly after the recent epidemic in Liberia). The threat involved with epidemics is that their