A EGYPTIAN digging a hole in his yard has unearthed a section of a 2000-year-old Roman tunnel on the western banks of the Nile River, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Wednesday. An SCA team rushed to the area of Giza in southern Cairo found that the tunnel runs 17m under buildings and a street that skirts the Nile, SCA chief Gaballah Ali Gaballah said.Several clay pots from the Roman period (30BC-395AD) were also found during an intial fact-finding mission on the site, Gaballah said in statements published by the government press.He said the tunnel could have been part of Babylon, an ancient fortress set up around 500 B.C. to protect the old city of Cairo.Gaballah has ordered a full excavation on the site which has been put under police protection.
307 TO OBSERVE SA POLL
SOME 307 international observers, drawn mainly from South African Development Community countries, will monitor the June 2 general elections Independent Electoral Commission chair Brigalia Bam said on Tuesday. Bam added that strict security measures will be in place for the poll. “There is no reason to believe there will be a miscarriage of the elections,” she said. Chief electoral officer Mandla Mchunu said between 150000 and 160000 teachers will be recruited to run the 15000 voting stations to be set up for the poll. He said the remainder of the required total electoral workforce of 220000 will be drawn from the ranks of the unemployed and other volunteers.