/ 17 February 2000

US LAWYER TO REPRESENT AFRICAN SMOKERS

US envoy Reverend Jesse Jackson, concluding a two-week mission to promote investment in Africa, urged US companies on Tuesday to partner with African businessmen and said he will be there to help. He also said that US lawyer Willie Gary, with experience suing the tobacco industry, is contemplating spending as much as $30-million of his own money to do research that would culminate in lawsuits against cigarette makers with African nations as plaintiffs. The lawsuit will charge US tobacco companies with causing cancer with their product and with dumping “defective” cigarettes on the African market, Jackson said.