Ten years ago, United States Marine Staff Sergeant Mark Hardin arrived in Haiti as part of a US force to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. Earlier this week, after the US had forced Aristide to leave, Hardin was back. ”It looks like nothing’s changed,” he said.
The hamlet where Nelson Mandela spent his boyhood may have attracted big businesses keen to link up to South Africa’s most famous name but it still faces huge social and economic problems that bedevil thousands of villages in the country.
”First wages were cut, now workers are just waiting to be told to pack their bags and go,” Joseph Talane, a worker at De Beers’s Cullinan mine, remarked gloomily this week. Talane’s job is under threat after De Beers announced its intention to fire 14% of its South African workers because of the continuing effect of the strong rand on earnings. Five of De Beers’s seven mines are running at a loss.
Walt Disney on Wednesday night said it would split the role of chairperson and chief executive after an unprecedented 43% of shareholders withheld their support for Michael Eisner’s re-election at the company’s rowdy annual meeting.
The British ambassador to the United Nations has been summoned to a meeting on Thursday with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, to discuss allegations that his office had been bugged by British intelligence, according to UN sources.
Pakistan on Wednesday offered to share military assistance, including ”nuclear power” with Nigeria, in defiance of President George Bush’s new counter-proliferation initiative.
United States forces were on Wednesday night interrogating 15 men suspected of involvement in the devastating bombings in Kerbala as Iraq’s political and religious leaders renewed calls for calm amid fears that the coordinated strikes on Shia holy sites could spark sectarian strife.
Calls for calm ring out in Iraq
South African politics are clearly maturing as the country grapples with consolidating democracy. Compared with the political violence that racked the country in 1994 and the acrimonious relations between parties in 1999, there are positive signs that things are changing for the better. Interparty relations are much more tension-free and there is no apprehension that the 2004 election is under threat.
South African batsman Gary Kirsten has set his sights on reaching a century of Tests as the tourists seek to bounce back against New Zealand next week. ”My biggest goal is 100 Tests, which hopefully I’ll do on this tour,” said Kirsten, who already has a South African record 98 appearances under his belt. ”That’ll certainly be a major highlight for me.”
Santos consolidated their position on the top of the PSL log when they thrashed Moroka Swallows 5-1 at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night after leading 1-0 at half-time. And the difference could have been even bigger if Santos had not wasted three easy opportunities in the first half.