US TROOPS IN MALAWI
SIXTY US soldiers will on Friday begin training Malawi’s 800 army officers for peacekeeping operations, the American embassy said on Thursday. Led by Major Brian Stackhouse, the Americans arrived on Wednesday as part of the US-sponsored African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI). The Americans are training troops from several African countries with the aim of creating peacekeeping units which can be deployed rapidly to crisis areas on the continent.
MADIBA MEETS SAUDIS
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela on Thursday met a Saudi Arabian delegation led by Saudi defence minister Prince Abdul Aziz Al-Saud at Tuynhuys in Cape Town for trade talks, especially oil imports and arms sales. After the 20-minute meeting, Mandela said there will be further talks on bilateral trade later on Thursday, and on Sunday. However, both men played down the proposed R7-billion arms deal, saying merely that discussion had revolved around trade — particularly oil and other forms of assistance.
JOHN VORSTER RENAMED
The notorious John Vorster Square police station, reputed to be the largest in the world, was renamed Johannesburg Central Police Station on Wednesdday, Heritage Day, at a ceremony led by Gauteng safety and security MEC Jessie Duarte, herself a former detainee at the police station. Many of the dignitaries who attended the ceremony were also detainees on the infamous 11th floor, which once housed the security police.
CRASH TAPES HEARD
ANGOLAN authorities have released tapes of their air traffic controllers to US and German investigators into last week’s mid-air collision between US and German military aircraft. Earlier, reports from Windhoek had said the Angolan authorities were refusing to co-operate.
ASMAL HEADS WORLD COMMISSION
WATER Affairs Minister Kader Asmal has been appointed to head a new world commission on dams, a joint initiative of the World Bank and the World Conservation Union. The commission aims to look at the costs and benefits of large dam projects around the world.
STEEL CHIEF DIES IN FIRE
FRED BOSHOFF, the CEO of the Columbus Stainless Steel Corporation, was killed while fighting a fire on his Witbank farm when his bakkie was trapped in a hole and he was engulfed in flames. Also killed was his brother in law, while his wife is in hospital with severe burns.
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