Crucial peace talks between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army will resume on Monday in Juba, according to Riek Machar, the chief mediator and southern Sudanese vice-president. "I am optimistic that this time they will come up with a positive result because I have seen the commitment of the Ugandan people," Machar told reporters.
July was the grimmest month for conflict prevention globally in three years, according to the respected International Crisis Group, which is an independent NGO working to resolve deadly conflict. In 36 months of publishing its monthly Crisis Watch the ICG said in a statement that it has not recorded such severe deteriorations in so many conflict situations as in the past month.
Think of it as the Ogies faktor. Crude oil, which had been brought at some cost from the coast to be stored as a strategic reserve in disused coal mines at Ogies, was later made available on a preferential basis to the Sasol/Total-owned Natref refinery at Vereeniging.
We celebrate National Women’s Day, as we rightly should, every year. But how do we deal with the fact that every day the bodies, minds and dignity of thousands of women are violated at the hands of their partners, in their own homes? Domestic violence has risen dramatically in post-apartheid South Africa, and by all accounts we are one of the most violent societies in the world.
Motorists paying record prices for fuel — R7 a litre in the case of Gauteng — will be more than a little surprised to learn that earlier this year an inter-governmental committee, after five years of deliberation, recommended to Cabinet that the system — where synthetic-fuel manufacturers were required to pay back monies received if oil prices were above $28,70 a barrel — be reinstated.
"I want to join your call, but I can’t, because I am too emotional about it, too conflicted, too scared, too horrified, too traumatised and too sad. I have taken to saying kaddish (mourner’s prayer) every night for the children of Lebanon, and I lie awake with the parents of kidnapped (or is it captured?) Israeli soldiers", writes Neville Sweijd
We in the media hold ourselves up as guardians of the greater good and as supplicants to the Constitution. A preliminary study focusing the camera on the state of women in the industry shows how far we still have to go. The survey’s portrayal is not flattering. One male editor assessed a woman trainee by asking whether she was "man enough" for the job, write Ferial Haffajee.
In a move to slash bandwidth prices, the government has instructed the communications regulator to nationalise the landing station for the undersea SAT-3 submarine cable and to declare it an essential facility. At present, as SAT-3’s largest investor, Telkom has monopoly rights on access to and pricing of international bandwidth on the undersea cable.
At an age when most people are enjoying a quiet retirement, Reshoketswe Mabulelong has started not just a new career but one which finds her wading across muddy building sites in a hard hat, shouting orders at men. "No, no, you can’t ask my age, just say I am a senior citizen," says Mabulelong sternly.
It has been described at once as "historic," "symbolic" and an incident to be handled with caution. But what should really be made of the meeting of opposition leaders that saw rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara hugging and pledging to work together?