travel news review


10 May '99
Clashes between government troops and Casamance separatists in southern Senegal have led to further bloodshed. In the latest round of violence last week, 15 rebel soldiers and two government soldiers were killed in the regional capital of Ziguinchor, before the rebels retreated into neighbouring Guinea Bissau. Casamance is a geographically and culturally distinct region of Senegal south of the Gambia, and has been the site of a separatist struggle since the 1950s.

7 May '99
Clashes between government troops and Casamance separatists in southern Senegal have led to further bloodshed. In the latest round of violence last week, 15 rebel soldiers and two government soldiers were killed in the regional capital of Ziguinchor, before the rebels retreated into neighbouring Guinea Bissau. Casamance is a geographically and culturally distinct region of Senegal south of the Gambia, and has been the site of a separatist struggle since the 1950s.

15 February '99
After 25 years working on a programme for the eradication of onchocerciasis, or river blindness, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has much to celebrate with the announcement this week that the disease has been eradicated in West Africa.

The disease, transmitted by the black fly, which leaves parasites in the body, can eventually cause blindness and was a serious health concern in many West African countries. As the black fly was most commonly found along riverbanks, many fled these most fertile parts of the country causing major economic problems. The disease is still found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen.

8 July '98
Air Afrique, the West African multinational airline, has been forced to sell four of its fleet of 15 planes to pay off the airline's debts which are currently around US$3 million. The airline is jointly owned by Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mali and the Central African Republic. As most of these countries cannot afford a national airline, Air Afrique was established to provide them with a regular air service. Air Afrique will cease all flights to the US, France and South Africa but flights between West African countries will not be suspended.

28 January '98
A vaccine trial against schistosomiasis (bilharzia) will shortly commence in Senegal. The trial, which is partly funded by the EU and the Pasteur Institute in France, will be conducted in the northern Senegal region of St Louis, near the Mauritania border, where more than 800,000 people are believed to have contracted the disease. Other areas of Senegal where bilharzia is present include the regions of Tambacounda in the east and Louga in the north.