Eritrean police have arrested several United Nations peacekeepers who allegedly were trying to smuggle people out of Eritrea, the information ministry said. An unspecified number of staff from the UN’s Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea were seized as they tried to cross into arch-rival Ethiopia, said Tuesday’s statement on the Eritrean information ministry website.
Uganda’s army by Wednesday had not chosen the safe routes northern rebels are supposed to take from the bush to camps in southern Sudan as part of a truce that may mark the end of one of Africa’s longest wars. The delay in announcing the routes should not deter Lord’s Resistance Army guerrillas in the north from setting off on foot, a government spokesperson said.
Nigeria’s state security service arrested 15 persons suspected of terrorising the oil-rich but volatile Niger Delta region, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday. State Security Service spokesperson Ado Mu’azu was quoted as saying the suspects were arrested following President Olusegun Obasanjo’s directive to hunt down militants.
A full bench of the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday dismissed an application by the Muckleneuk/Lukasrand property owners and residents association to stop the Gautrain from running through their area. Residents said they were not against the Gautrain, but said they would prefer a tunnel or another route.
The leader of a militant Brazilian peasant organisation says it will take to the streets to force President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva toward more social and land reform if he wins re-election in October. Joao Pedro Stedile, chief of the Landless Rural Workers Movement, said that if Lula stuck with the fiscally conservative policies he would lose his grass-roots political base.
If a monopoly is what every true-blooded ambitious corporate desires for itself, it can all too easily be a consumer’s worst nightmare. This is where strong, but even-handed watchdogs are essential. Thembani Bukula, the man in charge of regulating South Africa’s electricity industry, explains it neatly.
Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq has said umpire Darrell Hair is now in ”big trouble” as the ball-tampering row took a new twist. Pakistan Cricket Board chiefs on Tuesday called on the International Cricket Council to hold an inquiry into the conduct of 53-year-old Australian umpire Hair before disciplinary charges, due to be heard late next month, are considered against Inzamam.
Five games and four players down and the Springboks believe more than ever that victory is 80 minutes away. On Tuesday the Springboks went through their paces without fullback Percy Montgomery, who was suffering from a stomach bug, scrumhalf Fourie du Preez with an ear infection, hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle not feeling well and CJ van der Linde, who is suffering from a neck injury.
Kevin Pietersen says heartbreaking racial quotas forced him into making the biggest decision of his life, to quit his native South Africa and move to England. The batsman said his starring role in last summer’s Ashes’ triumph only happened when racial discrimination resulted in him being left out of the KwaZulu-Natal side because of the colour of his skin.
A tolling bell and 332 white balloons — one for each victim — will commemorate on Friday the second anniversary of the school hostage massacre in Beslan, where the mental and political scars of the tragedy remain raw.