THE Nigerian government has agreed to sell the country’s only naval training vessel, the MV Trainer, which has fallen into disrepair, Information Minister Jerry Gana said. The government decision follows the recommendation of a committee set up by ministry of transport, he said. The naval ship was originally sold off in 1979 for $785000 to […]

A MICHIGAN, US judge has terminated the parental rights of a Cameroon couple whose plan to get their daughter an American education ended with her becoming a virtual slave. The couple, Fru David Forya and Fru Justina Damasang, sent one of their six children from their home in Bemenda, Cameroon, to live with Joseph and […]

CHINA is sure it will win over rival Taiwan’s lingering diplomatic allies in Africa one day but will not try to poach on them at a Sino-African conference in Beijing next month, says a senior Chinese diplomat said. China, which will host foreign and trade ministers of its 44 African diplomatic allies at a Sino-African […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT AND JEREMY LOVELL, Cape Town | Thursday THE South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) has slammed government plans to bring in a tough anti-violence law after a spate of bombs in Cape Town, saying they were ”unnecessary and potentially unconstitutional.” ”We are very uneasy about the possibility of a law against terrorism in […]

MALAWIAN President Bakili Muluzi has sued a newspaper for publishing a story that claims he masterminded a $2m government corruption scheme. The independent weekly Chronicle said Muluzi organized a scheme to award building contracts to supporters, who in turn gave money to his party for last year’s general elections. The newspaper based its story on […]

SOUTH African meat producers say neighbouring countries are overreacting by banning meat imports after an isolated outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius have all banned imports of South African pork, cattle and sheep from the affected KwaZulu-Natal province, where the outbreak occurred on a single farm, and neighbouring Mpumalanga. The National Director of […]

SOUTH African financial services group Corpcapital Bank has received approval to set up a company to strip and market the components of domestic government bonds for the first time. South Africa’s Bond Exchange (BESA) had given the go-ahead to list the special purpose company, Stripco Ltd, to acquire the debt, break it up into interest […]

SIERRA Leone’s government forces have captured three bases from the West Side Boys, the maverick militia who held British soldiers hostage for over two weeks, state radio said. The West Side Boys seized 11 British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer on August 25. They released five Britons shortly afterwards, and British troops freed the […]

TWELVE people died in Algeria, including seven Muslim rebels, in the latest wave of clashes with security forces, local newspapers reported. A group of unidentified men shot dead five civilians and burnt their bodies in the town of Bou Ismail, 60km west of Algiers, while army soldiers killed seven Muslim rebels and captured two others […]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has told parliament there is no need to put pressure on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe over the seizure of white-owned farms, saying illegal land seizures should not be tolerated, but the redistribution of land left in white hands as a legacy of colonialism had to be addressed urgently. Mbeki repeated that if […]