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West Africa Web Links

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

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Below are links by topical categories to resources primarily in English providing information generally on conflict in West Africa, particularly the Mano River Union countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. For related web links, see Sierra Leone Web Links, and Regional Resources: Africa. For more USIP resources see Western Africa.

These links complement the Special Report: Responding to War and State Collapse in West Africa.

General Resources

The sites below collect links to other Internet resources which describe the background, history and current events in West Africa.

  • Africa South of the Sahara: West Africa
    An extensive collection of well-annotated links compiled by Karen Fung at Stanford University for the African Studies Association. Includes links to email lists, special projects, databases and archives, articles and documents, NGOs, news and general sources. Organized alphabetically within country (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, region or topic. The web site also has topical categories of links, as well as a site searching capability.
  • African Studies WWW, University of Pennsylvania
    Annotated links from the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, organized by topic and by African country. Country links vary according to individual country but generally include a flag image, map, documents, language resources, regional resources, etc.
  • INCORE guides to Internet sources on conflict and ethnicity
    A selective list of annotated links to news sources, articles and documents, NGOs, maps, general sources, etc. from the Initiative on Conflict Resolution & Ethnicity, a joint project of the University of Ulster and the United Nations University. Includes a general guide on Africa, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
  • Index on Africa
    The web site for Index on Africa, a project of the Norwegian Council for Africa, contains extensive annotated links organized by topical category and country. Also includes news and information, and discussion boards. Within each individual country page, (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone), links are organized by subject category. Includes the date a specific link was added and the tabulation of hits since then. Search capability and a news list subscription are also available for the web site.

Government Agencies, International Organizations and Regional Initiatives

African Union

  • African Union
    Successor organization to the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the African Union's web site has news and events, documents, a listing of member states (including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) and related web links.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

United Nations

  • Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN): West Africa
    IRIN, a unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), provides a clearinghouse of information for humanitarian and international communities on the crises in sub-Saharan Africa. Its web site contains special reports and news briefs organized by country and region. Includes links to related web sites and contains a special January 2002 report on the Mano River Union. An e-mail subscription for IRIN reports is also available.
  • Reliefweb: West Africa: The Latest
    Sponsored by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, this site provides extensive current news and information on a broad range of humanitarian relief issues in West Africa and worldwide. The web site includes maps, a archive of documents, links to related sites and a search engine. It has the latest news and information on complex emergencies and by individual country.
  • UNHCR: Country of Origin and Legal Information
    The web site for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has databases for country of origin and legal information documents and reports. Pull-down menus allow selection by country and/or subject and a specific search engine feature is also provided. Each country compilation includes links to country reports, legal documents, news and maps.
  • United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)
    The web for this UN peacekeeping mission describes the mission's mandate, background information, links to latest news, documents, including Security Council Resolutions, maps and fact sheet.

United States

Maps and Guides

  • CIA World Factbook
    Country information for each country, including those in West Africa, covering the geography, people, economy, government, and infrastructure. Includes a map of each country.
  • Maps of Africa
    Maps from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection of the University of Texas at Austin for West African countries include: Guinea Maps, Liberia Maps and Sierra Leone Maps. These maps were produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
  • ReliefWeb Map Centre: West Africa
    Regional maps from the ReliefWeb Map Centre include situational maps of refugees and links to maps for each country.
  • Your Nation
    An interactive database with information derived from the CIA World Factbook, Your Nation allows the user to compare or rank statistics for any two countries or display a statistical summary for an individual country. Settings are customizable.

Media and News Sources

Peace Agreements and Political Resources

  • African Governments on the WWW
    Part of a web site of world-wide governments on the web collecting links of all aspects of a country's official representation on the Web, including internal and external ministries, embassies, missions to the United Nations and related web sites.
  • USIP Peace Agreements Digital Collection
    Includes the full text of peace agreements related to the conflicts in Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
  • Political Resources on the Net: Africa
    Links to information on elections, various political parties and organizations, news and general resources for each individual country (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, . Also includes links to other web sites for resources on Africa.

Updated: January 27 2004

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s).

PUBLICATION TYPE: Article