OWN CORRESPONDENT, Warri | Sunday 10.00pm. YOUTHS from the Ijaw community in the Niger Delta stepped up attacks on a rival group this weekend, raiding their ancestral home, kidnapping residents and seizing police weapons, witnesses said on Sunday. Ode-Itsekiri, the traditional birthplace of the Itsekiri people of the Niger Delta, was razed in a pre-dawn […]

David Shapshak in Tokyo So you live in an African country and you want to buy a good reconditioned second- hand car. With not much to find in the local yellow pages, nor much variety in the pricey domestic market, what do you do? Simple, you buy and import a foreign car. The success of […]

Anthony Orliange Manga and Sori are youngsters about to finish school. In the evening they meet, “to revise for exams”, as they tell their parents. Actually, they share amorous moments of tenderness in Sori’s car, or outside cafs. Tired of concealing their relationship, they try to come out. But under such dire circumstances they are […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Freetown | Friday 7.30pm. FODAY Sankoh, the rebel leader who waged war against four Sierra Leonean governments and described himself as a “man of peace”, was sentenced to death on treason and murder charges in Freetown High Court on Friday. The leader of the Revolutionary United Front launched his rebellion in […]

David Gleason : A SECOND LOOK Anglo American Corporation chair Julian Ogilvie-Thompson’s announcement last week that it is to become a United Kingdom registered company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange poses as many questions as it does answers. The decision to shift Anglo’s head office to Britain follows the path blazed […]

In his new book, Gareth Patterson describes for the first time the sting operation that blew the lid off the ‘canned’ lion hunting industry in South Africa In order to expose the illegal trophy hunting of endangered species and canned lion hunting, the Cook Report team had established a bogus trophy hunting outfitting company called […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bujumbura | Friday 9.00pm. BURUNDI’S government, opposition and rebels on Thursday wrapped up a third round of talks aimed at ending six years of civil war with an agreement to meet again in January, but with few concrete decisions. The next round is set for January 18 to continue a peace process begun […]

Maureen Barnes : Down the tube Last week, in what was the most riveting programme to date, Special Assignment dealt with the extraordinary affair of Vito Palazzolo, the man who seems to have enjoyed special consideration not only from the Nats, but from the present establishment. The team did a neat investigation of the background […]

eM&G reporter Aggressive turf wars are being fought in cyberspace as companies attempt to grab more of the electronic marketplace. A new twist is Vodacom’s move to become an Internet service provider (ISP). The communications company will be offering three Internet access packages, including a prepaid option. Vodacom aims to be the largest ISP by […]

funds The new census figures prove that several provinces are not receiving a fair share of the national spending pie, writes Ann Eveleth South Africa’s poorest provinces may have to struggle with a “Cinderella” funding complex for the next five years, in spite of new census figures that prove they are underfunded. It will take […]