THE European Commission has approved 282m euros ($254m) in aid to Senegal over five years. The new allocation is 10% more than the last one accorded to the West African nation, and is in the form of grants and gifts, said the statement from the commission’s office in Senegal. The aid comes from the 9th […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Paris | Tuesday FRANCE has denied that it is behind a damning UN report accusing Uganda, Rwanda and rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of looting the country’s mineral resources. French Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin described as “totally aberrant” accusations by rebels that Paris had dictated the conclusions of a […]

DUMISANE LUBISI, Pietersburg | Tuesday LAWYERS defending nine rugby players accused of killing a rural teenager have demanded that the presiding magistrate recuse himself after he was caught chatting to the prosecutor in the case during lunch recess. Magistrate Ronnie Rambau of the Pietersburg Magistrate’s Court is presiding over the bail application of nine members […]

TWO very loud explosions rocked the Ethiopian capital late on Sunday, blasts which the police immediately attributed to artillery fired in error. State radio, citing Addis Ababa police, said that “the RPG (rocket-propelled grenades) mortar shots were fired accidentally.” There was no loss of life and no material damage, the radio said. Shortly after the […]

NIGERIA?S state-run electricity company NEPA is anxiously awaiting the launch of a US power project in the economic capital Lagos, officials said on Wednesday. The US firm Enron was due to have begun supplying electricity to the city grid in December, but the project has yet to take off. Authorities in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, […]

IN a bid to make the tourism sector its biggest foreign exchange earner by 2025, Tanzania has waived the obligatory yellow fever vaccination certificate. Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease characterised by fever, jaundice and internal bleeding and is most prevalent in central Africa as well as in central America and northern South America. […]

POLICE in Tanzania’s northwestern region of Kagera are holding two refugees from Burundi and Rwanda on suspicion that they killed a Roman Catholic priest last week. Kagera Regional Police Commander Ignas Mbinga named the suspects as Twagilemungu Ibrahim, 30, a Burundian and Yusuph Kazungu, 23, of Rwanda. Mbinga said that the suspects allegedly killed Father […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday FORMER US president Bill Clinton will introduce to South Africa the concept of town hall meetings at a two-day conference on civil society this week – but the conference is being boycotted by trade unions and non-governmental organisations. The boycotters claim the conference will not represent grass-roots views. Clinton will […]

LUCIA MUTIKANI, Johannesburg | Tuesday THE rand fell to a new low of 8.20/dollar on Monday as investors took fright over speculation a bid for diamond giant De Beers, set to trigger large capital inflows, may fail. Fears are mounting that Anglo American’s joint bid for De Beers, expected to result in capital inflows of […]

MINING, IT and financial stocks hoisted the South African bourse to a firmer close on a stronger gold price and US markets and a weaker currency, which benefits resources and rand-hedge stocks, dealers said. Anglo American proved a winner, lifting 2.72% or R13.20 to end on Thursday at R499. Dealers said Anglo, which is also […]