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/ 12 December 2005
A Ugandan court on Monday refused for a third time to release detained opposition leader Kizza Besigye, as a judge set a trial date for next week for him to face treason and rape charges. Besigye, seen as President Yoweri Museveni’s top rival in elections set for March, has remained in prison since mid-November.
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/ 12 December 2005
As the last three survivors of Nigeria’s latest bloody aviation disaster struggled to cling to life on Monday, the bereaved city of Port Harcourt asked why an elderly aircraft could be allowed to spill so much young blood. A newspaper showed school pictures of members of a 71-strong party that was torn up and burnt to death on Saturday.
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/ 12 December 2005
Two children died in Pola Park east of Johannesburg on Monday after their mother’s ex-boyfriend allegedly set fire to the shack they were sleeping in, police said. The man, in his 40s, had an argument with the children’s mother while she was with her boyfriend in a shack at the Britti squatter camp on Sunday night, police said.
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/ 12 December 2005
Sudan’s top leadership, including President Omar el-Beshir, bears responsibility for widespread atrocities committed in the troubled western Darfur region, a leading human rights watchdog said on Monday. ”The Sudanese government at the highest levels is responsible for widespread and systematic abuses in Darfur,” Human Rights Watch said.
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/ 12 December 2005
Lawyers for Trevor Ncube, owner of the Mail & Guardian, will be filing an urgent application in the Zimbabwe High Court on Monday against that country’s relevant authorities to explain why his passport was confiscated last week. ”I don’t see why they would not want to give me back my passport,” Ncube said on Monday morning.
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/ 12 December 2005
The MTN Group has acquired a 100% stake in Libertis Telecom, which has 190 000 subscribers, or a market base of less than 40%, in the Congo for a consideration of $102,5-million (R650-million), it was announced on Monday. The Congolese deal increases MTN’s footprint to 11 countries.
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/ 12 December 2005
Many young Australians are either too drug-addled or too fat to join the army, according to a Defence Force report on recruitment that was released on Monday. Drug abuse and obesity levels are so high that the numbers of new recruits are likely to go down rather than up in the next five years, the report warned.
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/ 12 December 2005
The state has failed to prove its corruption case against former Western Cape premier Peter Marais, his lawyer told the Bellville Regional Court on Monday when applying for his client’s discharge. Marais’s co-accused, former Western Cape environment minister David Malatsi, has also applied for his discharge.
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/ 12 December 2005
Satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys, whose alter ego is Evita Bezuidenhout, has sent a Christmas message to South Africa and President Thabo Mbeki. He has played on the words of the Lord’s Prayer in what he described as a festive-season message of good hope for South Africa.
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/ 12 December 2005
Chelsea’s club captain, John Terry, headed home a Frank Lampard corner in the 67th minute to seal a hard-fought 1-0 victory on Saturday over Wigan Athletic’s battling warriors and keep the Blues brigade sailing high at the top of the English Premiership.