TWO people were killed and two injured when suspected Unita rebels ambushed their vehicles as they were carrying out a polio vaccination campaign in Angola, officials said on Monday. The health ministry initially said one person died in Saturday’s attack near Calomboloca, 80km southeast of Luanda. It was blamed on Unita rebels, who made off […]

HEAVY fighting erupted on Friday in the southern Somali port city of Kismayo, militia and humanitarian sources reported. Kismayo has been controlled since 1993 by warlord Mohamed Said Hirsi “Morgan,” a Marjerten, but it was unclear by late-afternoon if he still controlled the city or if a coalition of rival Marehan and the Habr Gedir […]

ZIMBABWE admitted on Thursday that the village of Manono in the Democratic Republic of Congo has fallen to rebel forces, but said Southern African Development Community troops made a “tactical withdrawal”. Army spokesman Chancellor Diye said in a statement that just 94 men had held out at Manono, the birthplace of DRC President Laurent Kabila, […]

DEPUTY Speaker Baleka Mbete was on Monday re-elected for a second five-year term, weathering a challenge from the Democratic Party — the first in its role as official opposition — in which the party nominated its own candidate for the post. Mbete had already been nominated by fellow African National Congress MP Bertha Gxowa, when […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Frankfurt | Monday 11.20am FINANCE ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations agreed on Saturday on the sale of 10-million ounces of IMF gold to finance debt reduction for the world’s poorest countries. “There will be a very limited amount of gold sales, 10-million ounces,” German Finance Minister Hans Eichel told […]

THE African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party on Thursday agreed to form a coalition government in KwaZulu-Natal. In a joint statement the parties said that they commit themselves to a need for the formation of a coalition government between the ANC and IFP. They said they hope “to finalise the talks in due […]

OLD Mutual Unit Trusts announced on Monday that it is to temporarily stop inflows into its R320-million Global Technology Fund. This decsion comes after the government’s decision to limit foreign investments to 15% of domestic and not total assets. Old Mutual Unit Trusts’ managing director, Pieter van Niekerk, said that the fund would not accept […]

PAN Africanist Congress secretary general Ngila Muendane told SABC TV news on Wednesday that he was unaware of his apparent removal from the party’s National Assembly list. Muendane told the station: “I don’t know what is happening … I’m just hearing it from you.” He had been number three on the party’s parliamentary list, but […]

DEDICATED teams of detectives will probe all police attacks and killings in the flashpoint provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced on Friday. The announcement came as the number of policemen murdered so far this year touched the 100 mark, according to figures released […]

ARNOLD Mentz, the Commissioner of the Southern African Tour, announced he is to leave his current position and move into a facilitation role in the structuring of a new golf development body, which will focus on the previously disadvantaged. Mentz joined as Commissioner of the SA Tour in November 1996 at the request of Johann […]