Delegations from Somalia’s transitional government and the rival Islamic alliance were due to travel to Sudan on Wednesday to participate in Arab League-led mediation efforts, officials said. Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, the current chairperson of the Arab League, said on Tuesday he would try to bring the two factions to the negotiating table.
Several people were feared dead after an oil tanker exploded while discharging fuel at Nigeria’s main seaport in Lagos on Wednesday. ”It is still difficult to [tell] the exact number of dead, but there were indications that could have been several human and material casualties,” Christopher Borha, public relations manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority said.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has escalated his rejection of the United Nations deploying peacekeepers in Darfur, saying they would be neo-colonialists and accusing Jewish organisations of pushing for their deployment. His comments are likely to increase tension with the UN Security Council and provoke an angry response.
The forestry sector could lose almost R900-million because of invasive alien wasps, says Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks. In written reply to a question by Democratic Alliance MP Janet Semple in the National Assembly, Hendricks said a control programme to limit damage had been introduced.
The claim by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that it had merely issued guidelines on the use of commentators indicated that it was on a slippery slope towards the dark days of apartheid when banned persons were prevented from writing or speaking publicly, the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) argued on Wednesday.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in South Africa on Wednesday on a groundbreaking visit during which the two giants are to sign a nuclear cooperation pact and discuss the thorny question of textile imports from Beijing. South African officials have said the proposed agreement between South Africa and power-hungry China on the peaceful use of nuclear energy was vital.
Zimbabwe Information Minister Tichaona Jokonya has restructured the state broadcaster in an apparent bid to wipe out changes made by his controversial predecessor Jonathan Moyo, according to reports on Wednesday. Jokonya said the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings would have a new board of directors.
Dan Rather, one of the giants of American broadcast journalism, is to leave the channel he has worked at for 44 years, for a position at a little watched cable channel. CBS announced on Tuesday that Rather (74) would be leaving the channel where he hosted the evening news for 24 years until he stood down last year.
Injuries have continued to hamper the Springbok team ahead of their one-off Test against France on Saturday in Cape Town. Springbok coach Jake White named a team for the first time without both his enforcers in Schalk Burger and Bakkies Botha, who have been ruled out due to injury.
Gold Fields confirmed on Wednesday that one mineworker was killed in a surface blasting accident at its Beatrix Mine in the Free State shortly before 9am on Wednesday morning. Three other workers were injured and taken to the St Helena hospital in Welkom, the group said.