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CONTENTS:
MAURITANIA: Nouakchott breaks ties with Iraq, bans pro-Iraq party NIGER: Health workers suspend polio vaccination boycott NIGER: World Bank unfreezes disbursements SENEGAL: WB lends Dakar US $10.2 million for Y2K preparedness CAPE VERDE: Fertility rate down 43 percent MALI: France gives US $2.9 for agriculture
MAURITANIA: Nouakchott breaks ties with Iraq, bans pro-Iraq party
Mauritania broke diplomatic ties with Gulf War ally Iraq on Thursday, accusing Baghdad of recruiting agents to destabilise it, news organisations reported.
The move followed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and Mauritania, which was condemned by Iraq and some other members of the Arab world.
On Wednesday, Mauritania banned the pro-Iraq Taliaa party, saying it had received orders from Iraq to undermine the government. Information Minister Rachid Ould Saleh told reporters Mauritania's government had "irrefutable information" that Taliaa had sent party members to Baghdad in October for talks with ranking Iraqi officials.
But the French news agency, AFP, quoted a top Taliaa official, Cheikhna Ould Mohamed, as denying on Tuesday the government's allegation. Talia, a news source told IRIN, had "strong links" to the Baath party of Iraq and adhered to Baathist principles of Pan Arabism.
NIGER: Health workers suspend polio vaccination boycott
Nurses and other health workers suspended on Wednesday their boycott of a national polio vaccination campaign, AFP reported union leaders as saying. The boycott over back pay and benefits was suspended after the government agreed to meet the state employees' demands.
NIGER: World Bank lifts unfreezes disbursements
Niger's government said on Tuesday that the World Bank had agreed to unfreeze disbursements for eight projects funded by the International Development Agency, now that Niger has paid its outstanding loans, news reports said. Reuters reported that the bank suspended the payouts two months ago when Niger ran up arrears of US. $1.9 million.
PANA cited a statement from the Niger prime minister's office saying that the debt repayment showed the transitional government's interest in "maintaining the existing confidence between our country and international financial institutions".
During recent strikes by state employees for the payment of salary arrears, the government insisted that its priority was to pay off its debts.
SENEGAL: WB lends Dakar US $10.2 million for Y2K preparedness
The World Bank loaned Senegal US $10.2 million on Tuesday to help its government prevent computer-based disruptions in the country's economic and financial sectors as a result of the transition to the year 2000.
CAPE VERDE: Fertility rate down 43 percent
The fertility rate in the Cape Verde Islands has decreased by about 43 percent during the past two decades, with women now having an average of four children, down from seven, the National Institute of Statistics said on Tuesday.
The institute's president, Francisco Fernandes Tavares, was presenting results of the archipelago's first demographic and reproductive health survey. He also said that infant mortality had decreased by 11 percent to 31 deaths per 1,000 during the first year of life.
MALI: France gives US $2.9 for agriculture
France agreed on Wednesday to give Mali 1.82 billion francs CFA (US $2.9 million) to improve agriculture, in the landlocked arid country, AFP reported on Wednesday. The money will go to l'Office du Niger pour la rÈalisation d'amÈnagements hydro-agricoles in the central region of SÈgou, the agency said quoting an official source in Bamako, the Malian capital. The grant, which comes from l'Agence franÁaise de DÈveloppement, will support agricultural research conducted by the Malian entity.
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Item: irin-english-1927
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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
Subscriber: afriweb@sas.upenn.edu Keyword: IRIN
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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