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/ 7 January 2005

Hope turns to horror for Sri Lankan teen

She survived the tsunami, only to suffer the inhumanity of her rescuer. The young woman was accompanying her family on a pilgrimage when the tunami hit. The journey was to seek protection. Instead, she nearly drowned, and was then raped. ”He told me to grab his hand, that he will save me,” said the 18-year-old girl, who asked not to be named for fear of being ostracised by her village.

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/ 6 January 2005

The great West African banknote swap

West Africa’s central bank enrolled town criers, United Nations peacekeepers and even desert pilots as it pulled out all the stops for an unprecedented, 10-week campaign to swap old banknotes for new that ended last week. The Central Bank of the States of West Africa hailed the campaign as a triumph.

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/ 6 January 2005

AU agrees to send peace force to Somalia

The African Union has agreed in principle to deploy a peace support mission in the troubled Horn of Africa state of Somalia, which is trying to emerge from 13 years of anarchy, the AU said in a statement on Thursday. The mission will be the first multinational force in Somalia since the end of a failed, United Nations-mandated intervention in 1995.

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/ 6 January 2005

Mandela admits son died of Aids

It is best for a family to be open about suffering from terminal diseases rather than let rumours spread like wildfire, former president Nelson Mandela said in Johannesburg on Thursday after announcing that he lost his son, Makgatho Mandela, earlier in the day to Aids.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?cg=BreakingNews-National&ao=177494">Nelson Mandela’s son dies</a>