Peace talks aimed at ending Sudan’s 17-year civil war have started in earnest after lengthy opening consultations, officials said. The talks opened in the Kenyan capital on Saturday but delegates from the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the main rebel group, only sat down for face-to-face talks late on Monday.

EASTERN Cape police have found the bodies of Cape Town businesswoman Brenda Fairhead, 50, and her 11-year-old daughter Kia, in an area near the Keiskama bridge between Pedi and King William’s Town. The two failed to return home from a fishing trip on Sunday afternoon. Fairhead’s husband, who had gone to a wedding in Kleinmonde, […]

ALL of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) memmbers want to extend the cartel’s lower production quotas beyond March 20, the Kuwaiti oil minister, Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah, said on Saturday. Sheikh Saud also told the official KUNA news agency that the Opec summit initially planned for the end of March in Caracas has […]

MOZAMBIQUE’S President Joaquin Chissano on Monday appointed a new cabinet following general elections last month. Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi retained his post with Foreign Minister Leornado Simao and Interior Minister Almerino Manhenje. Chissano dropped Defence Minister, Aguiar Mazula, a civilian and replaced him with a retired army general, Tobias Dai. The finance portfolio was given […]

FORMER foreign minister Alfred Nzo, who died last Thursday, will be buried in Johannesburg on Saturday. Memorial services will be held in Pretoria and Johannesburg on Wednesday. Nzo’s funeral service will be held at 9.00am on Saturday at the Rhema Church in Randburg, followed by the burial at West Park cemetery, African National Congress spokesman […]

DAVID SHAPSHAK, Cape Town | Monday 5.00pm. THREE rising black stars have been included in the four Super 12 2000 squads, named in Cape Town on Monday, but there is no place for eighthman AJ Venter until his contractual wrangles are concluded. Centres Wayne Julies and Kaya Malotana, part of the Springbok squad for last […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Tuesday 12.45pm. THE Nigeria Football Association (NFA) have rejected the request of English side Arsenal for striker Nwankwo Kanu to be released to the club for engagements during the Nations Cup which kicks off on Saturday. “Arsenal are irreponsible,” said NFA chairman Anthony Williams, reacting to the request from the English […]

ANGOLAN rebel forces killed more than 100 people near the central highland city of Kuito last week, a private Catholic radio station reported. The attack occurred at Chicandula, a village in Chinguar township in the province of Bie about 600 km (380 miles) southeast of the capital Luanda, said Radio Ecclesia, citing independent sources.

UNITED Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata arrived at a refugee camp in Tanzania on Monday to visit thousands of refugees who have fled civil war in neighbouring Burundi. Ogata’s visit coincides with what officials say is the region’s worst refugee crisis since 1997 and with a fresh mediation attempt in the Burundi conflict […]

FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel on Thursday asked that state institutions dealing with national security issues be exempted from a proposed law seeking to boost black businesses through preferential tenders. Manuel told a parliamentary committee drafting the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Bill there could be instances where certain key government departments were forced not to award […]