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/ 17 February 2004
Rape and indecent assault charges against three University of Pretoria (Tuks) students and a former student were withdrawn in the Pretoria Regional Court on Tuesday due to insufficient evidence. Two of the accused are the grandsons of former foreign affairs minister Pik Botha.
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/ 17 February 2004
Former soldiers took Haiti’s rebellion to the key central city of Hinche, torching the police station and freeing prisoners as President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed for international help to end a bloody uprising. Rebels have driven police out of more than a dozen towns in 12 days.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=31350">Aristide vows to complete mandate</a>
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/ 17 February 2004
Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is one of the largest wetlands in the world. It is a source of great irony, therefore, that people living in the area struggle to get hold of clean drinking water: they take what they can from creeks and rivers. Providing safe drinking water for the country’s 120-million people will require considerable investment in the future.
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/ 17 February 2004
Men eager to marry virgins in Chief Naboth Makoni’s eastern border town in Zimbabwe must produce documented proof of their HIV-negative status as part of Makoni’s controversial anti-Aids campaign. His unorthodox initiative has drawn the ire of women’s rights activists and health care workers, to name but a few.
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/ 17 February 2004
Israeli President Moshe Katzav has called for Muslims around the world to end suicide bombings, but said that as long as ”terrorism” existed his country would have no option but to build its controversial barrier cutting off the Palestinian population. Katzav made the comments late on Monday in Paris.
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/ 17 February 2004
Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide vowed to remain in office until his term runs out in 2006, and charged that the rebels trying to depose him fear elections, in an interview published by The New York Times on Tuesday. He is facing a rebellion in several cities that since February 5 has cost the lives of more than 55 people.
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/ 17 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday vowed to keep up the battle of preventing ”powerful countries and civilisations” from doing what they want to smaller countries. Mbeki was replying to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s credential hand-over speech by incoming Ambassador Mohammad Ali Ghanezadeh Ez Abadi.
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/ 17 February 2004
”Ritual murder is a fact in Swaziland. Our only protection is to adopt a defensive attitude,” says Robert Dube, a businessperson in the capital city, Mbabane. ”Ritual murder” has allegedly long been a dark and secret part of politics in Swaziland, a conservative kingdom where traditions good and bad are a key part of life.
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/ 17 February 2004
South African Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel is likely to unveil some reductions in personal income taxes as part of the government’s 2004/05 Budget when it is released on Wednesday, but these reductions will be smaller than those in previous years, according to Old Mutual Asset Managers.
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/ 17 February 2004
South African Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils has demanded that the Israeli government reverse "all unilateral actions [against the Palestinians] including the separation wall". Kasrils arrived in the Middle East on February 13 after receiving an invitation from Palestinian Agriculture Minister Rawhi Fattouh.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=31351">Israeli president defends barrier</a>