Polio this week - As of 12 June 2013

N°: 158/2013

7 June 2013 [Lagos-Nigeria]

The ECOWAS Commission has called for strong support for the operationalization of its conflict prevention framework, the ECPF, as a major tool for addressing the proximate and structural causes of violent conflicts and the promotion of human security and peace building in the region.

By Tommy Trenchard

FREETOWN , Jun 7 2013 (IPS) - On a street corner in downtown Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city, 12-year-old Kaita sits with a friend on a peeling steel railing watching the headlights of motorbikes cruising through the otherwise silent streets. It is after midnight, and motionless human forms lie curled up in doorways or stretched out on pavements nearby. For Kaita, these streets are home, and have been for almost six years.

At the request of the Government of Sierra Leone and in coordination with the Libyan authorities and the Sierra Leonean embassy, IOM has helped 35 Sierra Leonean migrants stranded in Libya to voluntarily return home from the south of the country.

IOM worked with a local NGO partner to bring the migrants to Tripoli from the southern city of Sabha. In Tripoli it provided arranged exit visas and arranged their travel home on a commercial flight.

By Josh Harris, Communications Officer

May 31, 2013— Mabinty Kargbo is worried about how she will feed her family over the next three months. She gave birth to twin girls 6 months ago, joining her 4 year old daughter and 10 year old son. Life has never been easy in the community of Mile 91 where she lives, a town so lacking in infrastructure and defining features that it has only been named in terms of its distance from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. For Mabinty, life got even harder this year when her husband suddenly left, leaving her alone with four children.

Hundreds of women have taken part in workshops where specially trained community members lead sessions on issues such as rape, incest and eviction of widows.

ECOWAS has called for more support from the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) for effective implementation of the region’s gender, child and humanitarian policies.

The Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Toga McIntosh told a visiting delegation led by the fund’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa Mr. Benot Kalasa, that the organization "is desirous of working with you in this area and facilitating project implementation and coordination for greater impact."

(FREETOWN) — Once a recruiter of child soldiers, Sierra Leone is now poised to become a leader in preventing the use of children in armed conflict, as officers from the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and Sierra Leone Prison Services (SLPS) prepare to take part in the country's first ever training programme for security sector actors on how to prevent the use of child soldiers.

N°: 129/2013

13 mai 2013 [Nzerekore - Guinea]

Une équipe multidisciplinaire de la Commission de la CEDEAO vient d’effectuer dans la région administrative de Nzérékoré, en Guinée, une mission destinée à évaluer les résultats du Projet d'appui à la CEDEAO pour le Développement et la Paix (PADEP) dont l’objectif sectoriel est de contribuer à la promotion de la paix et du développement dans les Etats membres.