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/ 23 December 2004
A giant billboard in Johannesburg is promoting the Homecoming Revolution, a campaign that aims to persuade South Africans who are living abroad to return to their country, and help rebuild it. The initiative has particular resonance at a time of the year when absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.
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/ 16 December 2004
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has been the subject of a heated debate in the United States and Europe in recent weeks, accused of an oversight in handling the Iraq oil-for-food programme. Allegations of conflict of interest in the Annan family concerning the initiative have also been made. Annan’s critics allege that he should take responsibility for the matter, as it happened on his watch.
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/ 18 November 2004
South African President Thabo Mbeki is engaged in political firefighting in the Côte d’Ivoire, where fears of a full-scale civil war between government and rebel forces loom large. Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cocoa producer, began slipping into chaos on November 4 when the army attacked the rebel-held north, shattering a fragile 18-month ceasefire.
‘Everyone wants peace’
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/ 4 November 2004
While the American presidential contest was nail-biting, there appears to be little suspense amongst analysts about what George W Bush’s re-election as head of state means for Africa. The extent of the United States’ bilateral involvement with various African states will no doubt be influenced by its concerns about global terrorism. For many in the US, this was a decisive issue in the presidential campaign.
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/ 15 October 2004
The European Union’s decision this week to extend the ban on ostrich imports from South Africa because of an avian influenza scare in the country has caught the local ostrich sector by surprise, industry representatives say. "We were hoping to resume export by November 1," said Anton Kruger, general manager of the South African Ostrich Business Chamber.
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/ 15 September 2004
Debate about the role played by mercenaries in Africa has been revived in recent months, following the arrest and subsequent sentencing of 68 men accused of plotting to overthrow Teodoro Obiang Nguema: president of the tiny, oil-rich state of Equatorial Guinea. But prison terms — even death sentences — are unlikely to deter mercenaries from operating in Africa, say analysts.
A high-level South African delegation is in Angola this week to explore economic opportunities there, in the aftermath of that country’s civil war. Angola is sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer (after Nigeria), and within the 13-member Southern African Development Community, Angola is South Africa’s fourth-largest trading partner.
A three-day conference on ageing in Africa opened in the South African commercial hub of Johannesburg on Wednesday. "In parts of Africa, the burden placed on grandparents — especially grandmothers — is overwhelming," said Robert Huber of the United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development.
Stand at any border post in Southern Africa and watch who goes through it: women with heads and arms laden, people on bicycles and cars that have teetering piles of goods, mini-bus taxis with stacked roofs, dragging trailers. Previously disregarded, these informal vendors are increasingly seen as part of the solution to the region’s many economic problems.
The Zimbabwean media have degenerated into a state of chaos, with clear polarisation along party political lines, according to a report by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa). The Institute sent a delegation from Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia to Zimbabwe to examine the state of media freedom in the country in the run up to parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2005.