A PROPOSED new land policy in Malawi stipulates that foreigners who own freehold land in the country have seven years to either become citizens, or forfeit their land to locals. Land minister Thengo Maloya explained that the proposed policy aimed to prevent land wars and instill investor confidence. “Malawians are no longer sleeping. They suffered […]

ZENZELE KUHLASE, White River | Thursday NURSES protesting against the shortage of medicine and equipment at Themba Hospital in Mpumalanga, are contravening regulations, warned health department spokesman Dumisani Mlangeni on Thursday. The nurses have refused to wear uniforms since Tuesday and Mlangeni said that this contravened regulations that do not allow nurses out of uniform […]

THIRTY people were crushed to death in a road accident in central Zambia, press reports said on Thursday. The crash took place on Wednesday at Kapiri Mposhi, a rural town about 75km north of the capital, when a bus with 74 passengers collided with a van and plunged into a river. “Twenty-seven people died on […]

THE minister of forestry economy of the Republic of Congo (ROC) Henri Djombo has announced the protection of what scientists are calling “the most pristine rain forest left in Africa,” according to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Congolaise Industrielle des Bois, a private timber company, announced that it would forfeit its harvesting […]

CHINA is to write off $18,6-million owed by Zanzibar in an effort to help boost the economy of Tanzania’s semi-autonomous off-shore state. The decision was announced during a meeting at State House here between a Chinese delegation and Zanzibar President Amani Karume. Karume said “the writing-off of this debt is a great relief to our […]

THE six-month ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo is holding, but the situation in the giant central African nation remains fragile, the UN special envoy to the region said on Wednesday. Kamel Morjane, the Special Representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the DRC said while the situation was a great deal better compared with […]

LIBYAN leader Muammer Gadaffi announced on Wednesday his intention of creating a fund for the rehabilitation of southern Sudan, which has been torn by an 18-year civil war. During a meeting with Sudanese officials in Khartoum, Gaddafi pledged Libya would be the first contributor to the fund and said he would urge other African countries […]

NIGERIA loses several thousand children to human trafficking a year, the Vanguard newspaper said on Sunday, quoting an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report. The paper quoted the ILO report as saying that in 1996 alone, over 4 000 children were trafficked from the southern and southeast parts of the country. It said the children were […]