US $5 million BOAD loan for water project

Senegal is to receive a loan of three-billion francs CFA (US $4.8 million) from the Banque Ouest Africaine de Developme (BOAD) for a water-supply project, the bank said. The loan, signed on Friday in Lome, will help finance Phase II of the Kassack North project, which will bring water to 400 hectares of land and also entails the construction of two drinking water supply systems. When completed, it will enable its beneficiaries to produce an additional 2,600 mt of rice and 3,800 mt of vegetables each year, according to the BOAD. Children: UNICEF welcomes Security Council resolution The UN Security Council's adoption of a resolution on children in armed conflict is a ground-breaking decision that puts the plight of tens of millions of youngsters victimised by war at the centre of the international peace and security agenda, UNICEF says. It "is a major boost to efforts to protect the rights of\ millions of children who are killed, maimed, orphaned and driven from their homes by conflicts around the globe," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said on Friday. The 25 August resolution recommends the prosecution by governments of people who recruit children as fighters and the provision of special protection for children against rape and other abuses. It also recommends the incorporation of children's welfare into peace negotiations and calls on the UN Secretary General to make sure that peacekeeping forces receive special training in child protection. "UNICEF has fought long to end the recruitment of some 300,000 child soldiers around the world," Bellamy said. "This resolution strengthens our campaign to disarm, demobilise, rehabilitate and reintegrate these youngsters." Countries in which UNICEF has assisted demobilisation programmes for child soldiers include Angola, Eritrea, Liberia, Mozambique Rwanda and Sierra Leone.