The elusive leader of a brutal 19-year northern Uganda rebellion held his first formal meeting with a chief peace mediator and a Ugandan government negotiator on Tuesday. Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, warmly shook hands with Riek Machar, who is Vice-President of the autonomous government of Southern Sudan and chief mediator of the peace talks.
A fire at a Ugandan primary school killed six boys trapped in a dormitory, officials said on Tuesday. A charcoal stove placed by a wall started the blaze late on Monday. Fire then spread through a building of the army school in Jinja, about 80km east of the capital Kampala.
Nigeria took another step towards acquiring nuclear technology for civilian use when it officially swore in the board of the National Atomic Energy Commission. The ceremony on Monday was presided over by Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also head of the body.
Television news groups have received the go-ahead from the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein to capture court footage during the upcoming appeal hearing of Durban businessman Schabir Shaik, a court official said on Tuesday. ”The president of the Supreme Court of Appeal decided that media coverage will be allowed in court during the matter,” he said.
The biggest population of foreign nationals engaged in crime in South Africa hailed from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Mozambique, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told journalists on Tuesday. He also said the violent nature of crime in the country is to be investigated as part of a revamped crime-fighting plan.
A new United States magazine is targeting a constantly shifting, often ignored group of Americans who have been among those most affected by the ”war on terror” — more than two-thirds of a million children whose parents are in the armed services and who call themselves ”military brats”.
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will press for an unconditional ceasefire in Lebanon at an emergency meeting in Malaysia this week, the Malaysian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current chairperson of the OIC, called for the August 3 meeting after weeks of military aggression by Israel against Lebanon.
Whip out your winter woollies, put on thick socks and boots and stock up on firewood — it is going to be cold and wet in the entire country this week. The South African Weather Service said on Tuesday a strong cold front was moving in over the interior with snow already being reported in the Western Cape.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday sidestepped the Bush administration’s refusal to act on climate change by signing what was hailed as a ground-breaking agreement with California, the world’s 12th largest carbon emitter, to fight global warming.
There was panic in Zimbabwe on Monday as people rushed to deposit old bearer cheques to beat a deadline set by the central bank, Harare’s Herald newspaper reported. Its website said some people arrived with trunks full of bearer cheques at banks ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to freely deposit a maximum of Z-million.