ANGOLA BLAMED FOR CRASH
The mid-air collision between a German and a US transport aircraft off the coast of Namibia last month has been blamed on Angolan air traffic authorities. An official German inquiry into the incident has found that Namibian air traffic controllers in Winhoek informed their Angolan counterparts of the positions of the two aircraft, but the information only reached Angolan air traffic control an hour after it was received by the Luanda telephone exchange. Luandan authorities said the collision occurred outside their airspace and their equipment was not sophisticated enough to track the planes
RAIN KILLS N PROV FIRES
VELD fires that have killed livestock and destroyed more than 100 000 hectares of grazing land in and around Vaalwater in Northern Province since Sunday were on Wednesday night finally extinguished by rain. “God sent us the big fireman, and every single fire was extinguished,” said Vaalwater police station commander Captain Staal Nienaber. The fires are believed to have destroyed more than 200 000 hectares of grazing and killed numerous head of livestock since Sunday, and have been described as the worst in 30 years. Between 25 and 40 game and cattle farms were destroyed. Cattle on at least one farm and kudu on another burnt to death. Three rhino were also killed by fire.
FELGATE TELLS OF ‘IRA’ TACTICS
THE Inkatha Freedom Party’s most senior ‘defector’, former Buthelezi confidante Walter Felgate, spoke for the first time about the party’s hidden agenda on Wednesday. He told a Johannesburg meeting that party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi had written to him saying that the IFP could campaign both through parliament and through dissent “like the IRA and Sinn Fein”. He said he believes that the IFP’s future tactics will be to rely increasingly on the authority of rural chiefs, rather than mass support.
AFRICA POST FOR JACKSON
US President Bill Clinton on Wednesday appointed veteran civil rights activist Jesse Jackson as his special envoy for the promotion of democracy in Africa. Jackson will work on specific projects to promote and sustain democratic reform in Africa, where the number of democratic nations has grown from five to 23 in six years. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Jackson will have dual designation as envoy for both Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. His portfolio is designed specifically to promote democratic progress and democratic reform in Africa, McCurry said.
KASRILS DEMANDS FBI APOLOGY
DEPUTY Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils says he wants a formal apology from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation for making unauthorised use of his name and signature in an operation to trap three suspected spies. FBI agents used Kasrils’s name and forged his signature for over a year during the “false flag” sting operation against unionist Kurt Sand; his wife Theresa Squillacote, a senior defence department attorney; and private investigator and linguist James Clark. The trio are accused of being spies for East Germany during the 1980s.
CHINA CLOSES LIBERIAN CONSULATE
CHINA on Thursday ordered the closure of Liberia’s consulate in Hong Kong after Monrovia recognised Taiwan as well Beijing. The order against the consulate, which is staffed only by an honorary consul, is effective immediately, the Chinese foreign ministry said. “The Chinese government has hereby decided to close the honorary consulate of Liberia in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as of today,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said. He blamed the move on the decision by the new Liberian government of President Charles Taylor to recognise both China and Taiwan at ambassadorial level in September. China cut diplomatic links between Beijing and Monrovia on September 10 in reaction to the decision.
MADIBA TO EGYPT
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela will make a 24-hour visit to Cairo on October 20 as part of a Middle Eastern tour, the South African embassy in Cairo said on Thursday. It will be Mandela’s first visit to Egypt since visiting Cairo in 1990 some months after his release from prison. No details have yet been given about other stages of Mandela’s tour of the region other than that he will also visit Saudi Arabia during the tour.
FRENCH MINISTER ARRIVES
FRENCH Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine arrived in Cape Town on Thursday morning for an official visit, during which it is expected he will unveil details of France’s revised policy towards Africa. Later on Thursday Vedrine was to meet his South African counterpart, Alfred Nzo. The two are set to sign agreements on the establishment of a joint political dialogue forum, as well as on French aid for the transformation of the South African education system.
ETHIOPIA ‘ABOUT TO INVADE SOMALIA’
SOMALI warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid has warned United Nationas Secretary General Kofi Annan in a letter made public on Thursday that Ethiopia is planning further armed intervention in Somalia. The letter, dated September 25 and released by Aidid aides in Nairobi, reiterates his refusal to take part in a reconciliation conference which 26 factions are planning to hold in the northeastern town of Bossasso early next month. It argues that the main objective of the “rushed conference” is to “legitimise further Ethiopian intervention into Somalia”. Ethiopian troops have crossed the border several times since August last year in pursuit of Al-Itihad Al-Islam guerrillas fighting for the secession of Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, which is inhabited by ethnic Somalis. The guerrillas maintain close links with Aidid’s faction.
SPCA MAKES RULES
THE SPCA’s national council on Thursday said it is working to establish rules for the capture and transportation of wild animals following the death of four zebras in stifling heat on the back of a truck last week. SPCA wildlife unit manager Rick Allan said the society, in conjuction with other interested bodies, has been working for two years on a wildlife translocation code to regulate the transportation of wild animals. “Once the guildelines are finalised we will lobby the Department of Environmental Affairs to have them adopted as legislation,” Allan said.