Linking early warning to early action in the Sahel

DAKAR, 18 June 2013 (IRIN) - While aid agencies agree that early warning systems offer the chance to mitigate humanitarian crises, difficulty in funding pre-emptive measures and government sensitivities in admitting a looming disaster continue to hamper early action. full report

Preparing for floods in West Africa

DAKAR/NIAMEY, 14 June 2013 (IRIN) - West African and Sahel countries are setting up measures to minimize flood damage as the annual rainy season approaches. The African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) in a seasonal weather outlook says near-average or above-average rainfall is likely over the western Sahel, which stretches across Mauritania, Senegal and western and central Niger. full report

Military’s shutdown of NE Nigeria telecoms disrupts trade

KANO, 11 June 2013 (IRIN) - With mobile phone signals shut down since 15 May in large parts of three northeastern states following a military offensive against Boko Haram (BH) Islamists, anxious residents say the sick are cut off from medical help, commercial supplies are dwindling and food prices rising. full report

Rising Niger Delta oil theft threatens security

WARRI/DAKAR, 4 June 2013 (IRIN) - Oil theft - known as bunkering - in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is soaring following a brief lull, leading residents and community leaders once again to call on the federal government to do more to address the area’s chronic under-development. full report

Senegal looking more vulnerable to extremism, instability

DAKAR, 30 May 2013 (IRIN) - As violence rages in northern Nigeria, and international peacekeepers gear up to keep the peace in northern Mali, fears abound that Islamist movements will spread across borders, stoking instability elsewhere in the region, including Senegal which is not immune to the spread of extremist rhetoric, argues a just-published report by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS). full report

Digital jobs offer skills, promise to Africa's unemployed youth

JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI, 28 May 2013 (IRIN) - Although Africa’s economy has expanded rapidly in recent years, it has not kept pace with the growth of its youth population or their need for jobs. full report

Analysis: Slowing Nigerian grain trade threatens Sahel food security

DAKAR/KANO, 27 May 2013 (IRIN) - Northern Nigeria’s grain trade, which supplies almost half of the Sahel’s cereals, has slowed severely, while abnormally high prices of staple grains across the Sahel are causing serious food security concerns in this chronically vulnerable region. full report

Analysis: Nigerians on the run as military combat Boko Haram

KANO, 22 May 2013 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of residents of northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State have fled their homes - thousands of them into neighbouring Niger and Cameroon - following airstrikes by Nigerian fighter jets on Boko Haram (BH) camps from 15 May. full report

Boko Haram attacks hit school attendance in Borno State

KANO, NIGERIA, 14 May 2013 (IRIN) - Around 15,000 children in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, have stopped attending classes since February 2013, according to a Borno State Ministry of Education official who preferred anonymity, as Boko Haram extremists continue a wave of attacks on state schools. full report