THE Sudanese government has said it doubts foreign oil companies, notably the Canadian company Talisman, will pull-out from the Sudan under the threat of sanctions from the United States, Sudan’s foreign minister was quoted saying to local newspapers on Tuesday. “Numerous signals we have received confirmed that all oil companies, including Talisman, will continue operating […]
A GROWING number of Swaziland schools are introducing compulsory pregnancy tests at the start of the year so that parents can hold their daughters back. The idea is that parents not waste money on school fees, uniforms and textbooks, only to have their daughters drop out later on. The kingdom’s Ministry of Education does not […]
THE United States has approved $10-million in financial assistance to help the Nigerian air force to develop its fleet, officials said on Tuesday. The military package, approved for fiscal 2001, is to purchase spare parts for the Nigerian air force’s grounded C-130 planes, the US Information Service (USIS) said. It said the money would also […]
THE government of Zimbabwe, where food shortages are looming, has granted a monopoly to allow a grain marketing parastatal to buy maize and wheat — the two main staple crops — from farmers. The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) becomes the sole and official buyer of grains from all farmers across the country, while millers will […]
THE newly formed opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has won a parliamentary by-election in Lusaka which was marred by violence. “The FDD candidate won in 32 polling centres out of 34,” said an election officer, describing it as a “landslide victory.” FDD secretary-general Edith Nawakwi said her party’s victory signified a major shift […]
A GRADE 9 pupil from Swakopmund is lucky to be alive after he was stabbed in the neck and chest by a classmate last week. Marshall Maasdorp (14) from Westside High School in Vineta was stabbed with a steak knife after an argument with another pupil. Maasdorp said initially he did not feel the stab […]
AT least 13 people including two children were killed and more than 30 wounded on Monday in heavy fighting in Mogadishu, witnesses said. More than 40 people have been killed since Thursday in almost daily battles between a shifting array of warlords and businessmen backed by heavily armed militiamen. Witnesses said Monday’s conflict, now in […]
AN operation to control an infestation of quelea birds in southern Ethiopia has been launched by the Ministry of Agriculture. With a spray aircraft and support team provided by the Desert Locust Control Organisation (DLCO) and pesticide donated by the government of Japan, control operations in Konso and Derashie have so far destroyed 5,1-million birds. […]
AT least 70 people were killed and 15 wounded when armed men attacked the north Angolan diamond-mining town of Chinguvu, close to the Congo border, Lusa reported on Monday. Quoting an unnamed military source who identified the attackers as Unita, the news agency said about 100 rebels were involved in the Saturday assault on a […]
THE Governor of Angola’s Cunene Province, Pedro Mutindi, has been flown to the Roman Catholic Hospital in Windhoek after sustaining “serious injuries” in a landmine blast near Ondjiva. Hospital sources told The Namibian that Mutindi was flown in on Sunday and is in a “critical condition” in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. “He has been […]