TWENTY people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo after eating a poisonous kind of manioc. The people died last week on the island of Idjwi after eating a type of manioc whose pulp contains a high concentration of cyanic acid. Six people survived the incident. “The victims probably neglected to soak the manioc […]

FRENCH telecommunications equipment company Alcatel said this week it had won a contract from the Tunisian National Broadcasting Company for the digitised audio-video transmission of the Mediterranean Games, to be held in Tunisia in October 2001. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alcatel will supply infrastructure which will allow 12 regional radio stations […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Wednesday MPUMALANGA’S controversial parks chief Alan Gray has been dismissed for gross misconduct and financial irregularities – after a two-year disciplinary process that cost the taxpayer over R1m. The dismissal, just two days before his five-year employment contract with the Mpumalanga Parks Board lapsed, was recommended by an independent disciplinary panel […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH African diamond producer De Beers Consolidated Mines is to press ahead with a new mine in Botswana, the BK kimberlites project, at a cost of 225m pula (US $45m), according to Debswana managing director Louis Nchindo. The mine consists of four small pipes about 20km east of the Orapa […]

AN Egyptian engineer and a former Russian officer, who allegedly recruited him in Spain, are facing charges before Egypt’s state security court for allegedly receiving money from Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to supply information on the political, economic and military situation in Egypt. Egyptian Sherif Fawzi al-Filali, a 34-year-old engineer, allegedly confessed to having received […]

THE European Union has committed some R500m for water and sanitation projects in three provinces in South Africa, water affairs minister Ronnie Kasrils has announced. Close to 2.4 million people in the Northern Province, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal stand to benefit from the grant. EU Ambassador to South Africa Michael Laidler expressed satisfaction at […]

AGENTS of late Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha were behind a bombing in 1996 used to kill and discredit the opposition, a retired senior policeman said this week. Security agents planted a car bomb which killed the security chief of Lagos airport security and then arrested opposition leaders, including former finance minister Olu Falae and […]

AFRICAN oil producers meeting in Gabon are looking at ways of increasing their role in exploiting the continent’s oil reserves. Officials said the four-day Association of African Oil Producers seminar, which began this week, would look at ways of developing African staff and boosting cooperation among African producers. Association Chairman Paul Tongui of Gabon, addressing […]

STEVEN SWINDELLS, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa’s rampant Aids epidemic could stall population growth within 10 years and devastate the country’s economy, new studies have showed. Africa’s biggest economy faces slower economic growth, shrinking GDP, increased household poverty and the loss of its most economically active people as HIV-Aids takes more lives in the next […]

DANIEL BASES, United Nations | Wednesday HUNGER, disease, homelessness and abuse has left a staggering 16 million Congolese – more than a third of the population – with their lives in tatters as a result of the country’s protracted civil war, a UN official said this week. Carolyn McAskie, the acting UN emergency relief coordinator, […]