No image available
/ 20 February 2007
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe turns 83 on Wednesday, fit for his age and combative in the face of a crumbling economy, social unrest and a looming battle over who will succeed him. Mugabe will celebrate his birthday with a huge party on Saturday. But gathering clouds risk overshadowing the festivities.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
Iran wants talks on its nuclear programme but rejects preconditions demanding it freeze the work, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, just ahead of a United Nations deadline for Tehran to back down. The UN Security Council has given Iran until Wednesday to stop enriching uranium. Tehran says the process will only make fuel for power plants.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
Janjaweed militias have been concentrating forces to the north of el-Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, an African Union military source said on Tuesday, corroborating a United Nations report. Janjaweed is the local name for militia forces drawn mainly from the nomadic Arab tribes of the area and blamed for much of the killing in Darfur.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
One of the men who allegedly plotted to topple the government of Equatorial Guinea feels he has done nothing wrong, despite pleading guilty, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Tuesday. Harry Carlse, who turned state witness, was testifying against eight alleged co-conspirators accused of contravening the Regulations on Foreign Military Assistance Act.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
Given his military background, it is likely Ananias Mathe could have squeezed through the tiny window of a C-Max prison cell on his own to escape from jail last year, a ministerial task team has found. It is possible he did so without the assistance of prison warders, task team member Paul Govindsamy said on Tuesday. However, MPs disagreed.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
South African President Thabo Mbeki met FirstRand Limited chairperson GT Ferreira, FirstRand Limited CEO Paul Harris and FirstRand Bank CEO Sizwe Nxasana in Pretoria on Tuesday, the Presidency said. According to presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga, the group ”apprised the president on their widely publicised media advertisement campaign on crime”.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
Police have lashed out at a message campaign warning white people that black people will attack them when former president Nelson Mandela dies, saying they are without substance. A spokesperson for the police national commissioner, Director Sally de Beer, said the messages also incited white people to prepare to congregate at pre-identified ”safe areas” and to defend themselves.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
The presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone flew to neighbouring Guinea on Tuesday for talks on how to prevent its violent political unrest from destabilising their own states. Liberian head of state Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone were due to meet Guinean President Lansana Conte.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
President Thabo Mbeki should explain why he needs a security wall worth R90-million for his residence if there is no crime problem in the country, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Tuesday. ”He should tell us why he will have a wall … while ordinary South Africans continue to suffer the effects of crime without such luxury,” said DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard.
No image available
/ 20 February 2007
South Africa is considering enriching its own uranium to fuel new nuclear power plants — including pebble-bed modular reactors — to be built in coming decades, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Tuesday. Speaking at the opening of the French-South African Energy Conference, she said her department is finalising an energy and technology strategy.