SCORES of Ethiopian refugees living in Sudan are protesting to the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) over a plan for them to return home or lose their refugee status. The group objects to a decision by the UNHCR to deprive them of their refugee status because the reasons that drove them from Ethiopia vanished […]

AN Ethiopian flag raised on the moon in July 1971 by US astronaut James B. Irwin has been officially returned to President Negasso Gidada. Irwin’s widow Mary handed the green, yellow and red flag over at a ceremony at the national palace at the weekend. The Apollo 15 mission carried the flags of all members […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Gaborone | Tuesday SOUTH African Marietta Bosch, who has been on death row in Gaborone Central Prison for a year, has lost her appeal in the Botswana Appeal Court against her conviction for murder. The sentence was confirmed by the Botswana Appeals Court. Bosch’s last resort before being hanged for murder is to […]

PRESIDENT Sam Nujoma has urged young Namibians to refrain from alcohol abuse to avoid the spread of the deadly HIV/Aids pandemic, the Namibian Press Agency reported. Addressing over 2_000 residents at the Rundu Sports Stadium, Nujoma said children in every house should be informed about the dangers of the HIV/Aids scourge that was “wiping out […]

LAWYERS for the sons of late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha have asked Luxembourg’s administrative tribunal to lift a freeze on assets which he had on deposit in the grand duchy. If the request is approved, some 670m euros ($616.4m) in Abacha’s name at the Warburg Bank in Luxembourg would go to his two sons. Abacha, […]

THE UN World Food Programme says 100_000 people are suffering from malnutrition in central and northern Burundi, calling the situation there “catastrophic”. The WFP said the northeast Karuzi province was worst hit, with 24% of 360 000 inhabitants malnourished. Fourteen percent of these people were suffering from severe malnutrition. A therapeutic nutrition centre in the […]

THE UN refugee agency has urged the Angolan government to give stronger support to programmes to help 3.8 million people displaced by the civil war which has wracked the country for more than 25 years. UN officials said the government had recently provided $70m for humanitarian aid in 2001, adding that the authorities had given […]

SOUTH Africa’s third largest gold miner, Harmony Gold, has unveiled a 30% jump in its December quarter profit, but its share fell as the market digested two months of steady gains. The company said its cash operating profit jumped to a record R184.8m in the three months to December 31 from R142.6m the previous quarter, […]