THE new prime minister of Mauritius, Anerood Jugnauth, and the 23 members of his government have been sworn into office in the presence of President Cassam Uteem. At the head of an alliance with Paul Berenger’s Mauritian Militant Movement, Jugnauth’s Militant Socialist Movement won a sweeping victory in a general election last week, obtaining 54 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Monday SOUTH African gold producer Anglogold is to boycott this week’s Bank of England gold auction, which it says is likely to receive an “unenthusiastic” response from the marketplace. Echoing the sentiment of many other gold market industry players, AngloGold marketing executive director Kelvin Williams described the auction format as […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Monday GOVERNMENT is racing to quell fears over the potential economic implications for South Africa of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on a pig farm in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, but warns that the country could face disaster if the disease is not contained. Strict emergency measures have been put in place […]

AUSTRALIAN diamond mining group Ashton Mining Ltd says Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has extended its consideration of De Beers A$522m takeover offer. ”It is not unusual in large and more complex cases to take more time to consider them,” said Peter Biggs, acting general manager of the Foreign Investment Policy division in Treasury. […]

ASHLEY SEAGER, London | Monday COMMONWEALTH finance ministers gather for their annual meeting this week in Malta with debt, international financial crisis prevention and tax havens on the menu for discussion. Meeting just ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in the Czech capital Prague, the group of 54 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and ELLIS MNYANDU, Johannesburg | Monday TENSIONS within South Africa’s governing coalition will come under the spotlight as the annual congress of labour federation COSATU gets underway, with analysts highlighting ”serious policy differences” between government and the unions. President Thabo Mbeki will open the four-day meeting of the 1.8million-strong Congress of South African […]

ARMED assailants managed to get into the home of Ivory Coast’s military ruler, General Robert Guei, in the early hours of Monday, but Guei was still alive, a senior military source said. The attackers had forced the driver of an armoured car stationed near the residence to drive into the gates to break them down […]

GODFREY MUTIZWA, Nairobi | Monday THREE Rwandan journalists accused of inciting the genocide of up to 800 000 people in Rwanda in 1994 go on trial in a UN court this week on charges of conspiracy and incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza was director of public affairs in the Rwandan […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Johannesburg | Monday PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has played down tensions between labour federation Cosatu and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the opening address at Cosatu’s annual congress, where ”serious policy differences” between government and the unions are expected to emerge. Addressing the delegates in Midrand, he instead joked about […]

ARMED assailants managed to get into the home of Ivory Coast’s military ruler, General Robert Guei, in the early hours of Monday, but Guei was still alive, a senior military source said. The attackers had forced the driver of an armoured car stationed near the residence to drive into the gates to break them down […]