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/ 7 January 2005

Peterhansel grabs seventh Dakar stage

Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel, driving a Mitsubishi, won the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally on Thursday to storm to the top of the overall standings. The Frenchman clocked 8 hours, 21 minutes and 57 seconds over the 660km stage from Zouerat to Tichit to clinch his second stage win this year, having also been victorious on Wednesday.

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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>