Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi paid tribute on Thursday to former president Nelson Mandela for his courage in announcing the death of his son to Aids. Makgatho Mandela (54) died in a Johannesburg clinic on Thursday. He was Mandela’s eldest child.
Mandela admits son died of Aids
Nelson Mandela’s son dies
Zimbabwe Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo’s bid to appeal against his exclusion from the ruling Zanu-PF’s primary elections in Tsholotsho will not succeed once the party’s central committee adopts the decision to reserve the seat for a woman candidate, Zanu-PF’s secretary for administration said on Thursday.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-Africa&ao=177561">Sunday Times article upsets Moyo</a>
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Thursday accused his predecessor of complicity in a plot by his own party to assassinate him — but said he forgave all those involved. Former president Bakili Muluzi’s spokesperson and a representative of the governing United Democratic Front rejected the claim as outrageous.
New evidence of serious irregularities in South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal has emerged from confidential documents wrestled into the public domain by defence contractor Richard Young. The documents were given to Young last month after a marathon legal battle.
The South African government has strongly denied that it was slow in reacting to the tsunami disaster in South-East Asia. Opposition parties and the public have criticised the government for taking too long to help victims of the disaster, comparing it with civil society organisations that sprang into action when the extent of the devastation became apparent.
”I have been waiting for over a week for the opportunity to sit down and put together my thoughts on our experiences in Thailand, but now that I do have the time it seems like an odd thing to do. This may be because I want it to be far away, I want very much to move on.” A South African survivor of the Asian tsunami disaster tells his story.
Doctors at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib used their medical knowledge to help devise coercive interrogation methods for detainees, including sleep deprivation, stress positions and other abuse, it was reported on Thursday. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine shows doctors were active participants in the abuse of prisoners.
The mother of Europe’s most prolific art thief was in court in France on Thursday, charged with throwing many of the invaluable paintings her son had stolen into the local canal. She also allegedly forced works of art down the waste-disposal system at their home in Alsace, eastern France, and put others out for the rubbish collectors to take away.
In a refugee camp set up in the grounds of a women’s college, seven-month-old Fatima is wailing in the arms of her grandmother. Thin and frail, the baby has survived the waves that pounded her beachside home only to find herself threatened by another killer: diarrhoea.
Iraq’s government extended a state of emergency for another 30 days on Thursday night ahead of a security lockdown for the first elections since the United States-led invasion. Unprecedented security controls will be imposed for the vote on January 30, including drastic travel restrictions and night-time curfews.