OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Thursday 3.00pm. RENEWED protests in Lesotho on Thursday developed into running gun battles in which nine people were injured. Early on Thursday anti-government protesters blocked the roads in the capital Maseru in order to prevent hundreds of people from going to work. The anti-govenrment protesters were confronted by government loyalists. Police […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Abuja | Thursday 10.00pm. MORE than 100 political leaders from southern Nigeria met in Lagos on Wednesday to reaffirm their commitment to the radical restructuring of the country’s federation. They are calling for a devolution of power to the south and the splitting of the army into regional units. The meeting was held […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maputo | Thursday 9.00PM. MOZAMBICAN opposition parties’ calls for the cancellation of the country’s first-ever local elections were anulled on Thursday when the Mozambique Supreme Court proclaimed the elections to be valid. The court admitted in a statement that there were some irregularities on the June 30 polling day, but said they were […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.00pm. THE Inkatha Freedom Party will apply for an urgent interdict against the Mail & Guardian on Thursday morning after objecting to an article published in the paper last Friday. The IFP contacted the M&G on Wednesday, demanding that last Friday’s issue, which carried the article “How IFP milked KwaZulu-Natal […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Thursday 10.00pm. UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan will hold a special meeting of southern African states on the Angolan crisis at this month’s Non-Aligned Movement summit in Durban, South African officials said on Thursday. Annan’s special envoy to Angola, Lakdar Brahimi outlined plans for the meeting when he briefed South Africa’s Deputy […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Goma | Thursday 11.00PM. REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo claim to have seized a dam at Inga, 250km south-west of Kinshasa, which supplies the capital with electrical power. At the same time a power blackout in Kinshasa itself has sparked panic that the rebels are within reach of the capital. Jean-Pierre […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.30AM. PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela’s testimony in the Pretoria High Court application by the SA Rugby Football Union to overturn a presidential inquiry into its affairs was criticised by the judge in his judgment, finally released on Wednesday. In his 1159-page judgment giving his reasons for ruling in favour of Sarfu, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Thursday 6.00PM. RICHMOND police station in KwaZulu-Natal is to be closed immediately and all its staff relocated. A national intervention unit will be deployed to take over police services in the community, National police Commissioner George Fivaz has announced. Fivaz said normal policing had become impossible in Richmond because of the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nairobi | Wednesday 10.30pm. KENYAN authorities have arrested a number of people in connection with the devastating car bomb attack on the United States embassy in Nairobi, President Daniel arap Moi said on Wednesday. The announcement followed the declaration by rescue workers that the search for survivors was over. “A number of persons […]