CONSTRUCTION COLLAPSE ONE construction worker is dead and two others seriously injured after a 10-ton concrete slab fell on them during the construction of a government office block in Maseru, Lesotho. The workers had been contracted under Johannesburg-based South African company, Stocks & Stocks. Lesotho police say there is evidence the accident happened because of negligence by site authorities. Stocks & Stocks will send a lawyer to Maseru immediately, to investigate the causes of the accident.
UNITA WILL BEHAVE ANGOLAN rebel movement Unita says it will retract threats to pull out of the country’s peace accord, following UN-imposed sanctions.
. The United Nations imposed sanctions against Unita last week after the movement’s repeated failure to keep to the terms of its 1994 peace agreement. Last week, Unita leaders held intensive discussions at thier remote Andulo headquarters, before announcing that the sanctions were “unfair” and “senseless”.
RENAMO PROTESTS ARMY BILL THE Renamo opposition group in Mozambique’s parliament walked out in protest on Monday after a bill to resume military conscription was passed. Renamo fears that a conscript army may be both partisan and costly. “We want a non-partisan, professional and small armed forces that have great mobility and combat readiness. Such armed forces must be scaled in accordance with the economic difficulties of the country,” a spokesman said..
FEWER JAILED THE Centre for Statistical Services (CSS) announced on Tuesday there has been an overall 17,9% decline in the number of convictions during 1994/95 (260 887) when compared with the year before (318 068). A full report on crime in South Africa is available from the centre.
SOMALI FLOOD DISASTER FLOODS attributed to the El Nino phenomenon have wreaked havoc in Somalia – over 300 000 people are homeless, diseases like diarrhoea and malaria are spreading unchecked, and vicious crocodiles are swimming through the floodwaters into submerged homes. Nearly 20 villages were destroyed by the waters when the Juba River burst its banks yesterday. An foreign Aid worker in the Juba area said they shot a raiding crocodile in the compound this morning. “Crocodiles and snakes are moving about in the waters, and snakes are sneaking in where it’s dry,” he said. The United Naitons is considering launching airdrops of food and medical supplies to help the thousands of flood victims.