Hundreds of thousands of people lured back to southern Sudan have high hopes of peace after a 21-year civil war, but there are warnings of chronic food shortage, poor infrastructure and desolate homelands peppered with landmines. To date, at least 200 000 people have returned to south Sudan in the wake of a peace accord.
Water levels on Lake Tanganyika, the world’s second-deepest lake, have dropped more than 1,5m, creating problems at Burundi’s main port and raising concerns among environmentalists. An environmental specialist said climate change and deforestation are contributing to the lower lake levels.
Zambia’s opposition on Friday decided against defying a police ban and called off a planned protest over severe fuel shortages that have disrupted transport and mining operations in the Southern African country. ”Police had planned to beat up innocent people at the demonstration,” said an opposition spokesperson.
Chief nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday he feels ”humbled” after winning the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, and said it sends ”a very strong message” about the importance of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) role. However, criticism over the choice of ElBaradei and the IAEA flooded in from around the world.
A 71-year-old woman in Croatia attacked and seriously injured another elderly woman over an alleged affair with a 78-year-old man, the daily Vecernji List said on Friday. The jealous granny in the northern town of Cakovec reportedly used a wooden stick to attack her 75-year-old neighbour.
Pretoria advocate Cezanne Visser had admitted to committing sexually explicit deeds with her then lover Dirk Prinsloo in front of two girls in 2002, the Pretoria High Court heard on Friday. Children’s home manager Martie Booyse told the court Visser had admitted to allegations levelled by the two girls.
The Durban Magistrate’s Court will be closed between 9am and 11am on Tuesday next week until the corruption case against former deputy president Jacob Zuma is completed. Court manager Cyril Mncwabe insisted that Zuma is not getting ”preferential treatment” and that the magistrates have agreed to make up for the lost time.
President Thabo Mbeki on Friday accused the countries of the North of having the wherewithal, but lacking sufficient will to help end poverty in Africa. He said recent events in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan coast have brought into sharp international focus the fact that Spain is facing a new invasion from the South.
Nigeria’s anti-graft agency said on Friday it has returned ,5-million to a Chinese old woman who was victim of an advance fee fraud perpetrated over a five-year period. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said in a statement the money was handed back to 86-year-old Juliana Ching in Hong Kong on September 26, 2005 after it was recovered from a criminal gang.
There was ”bewilderment and disbelief” when Mail & Guardian cartoonist Zapiro, alias Jonathan Shapiro, heard that he had been chosen as this year’s principal Prince Claus laureate in The Netherlands, with prize money of €100 000 (almost R800 000).