THIRTY people have been killed on the country’s roads since the start of summer holidays, Arrive Alive said on Monday. Most of the accidents were caused by speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, unroadworthy vehicles and negligent driving. Arrive Alive was also concerned about the number of pedestrians killed as a result of failure […]

EGYPTIAN police have arrested a gang of pickpockets who distracted their victims by pretending to produce the Egyptian version of the popular television show “Candid Camera.” The two truck drivers and an unemployed man made away with around $270000 in several months while robbing 28 people leaving banks in the capital, police said. They used […]

WILDLIFE authorities say an increase in the number of elephants migrating to Uganda from the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a sign of worsening poaching in the area. Over 50 elephants have fled the DRC into western Uganda, according to a statement by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The poaching had […]

WARRING parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are expected to meet in Zimbabwe this week finally to sign a pact to pull back troops back at least 15km from the front lines. Parties to the two-year conflict – the DRC government, its allies from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, with Rwanda and Uganda, which back […]

THE die-hard Northern Cape Afrikaner town of Orania will keep its council for the time being despite municipal elections under which it was to have been swallowed into a larger council, a court has ruled. The town, with an all-white population of 650, became a private settlement of right-wing Afrikaners in 1991 and elected its […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Addis Ababa | Tuesday THE United Nations’ top Aids official has appealed for a social mobilisation against Aids, which affects more than 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. “Reducing vulnerability to Aids and its impact is about creating a social vaccine, or better a social immune system,” UNAIDS head Peter Piot told African […]

ALGERIA intends to increase its crude oil output by more than 50% by 2004, said Algerian Energy and Mining Minister Shakib Khelil, from its present level of 900000 to 1.4m barrels per day. The hydrocarbons sector is the backbone of the Algerian economy, accounting for roughly 52% of budget revenues, 25% of Gross Domestic Product […]

UN SECRETARY General Kofi Annan has launched a conference on new and restored democracies, praising Benin in his opening address as a “shining example” of democracy in Africa. “In transferring power smoothly, through the ballot box, Benin is a shining example for Africa and other continents to follow,” Annan told representatives from more than 90 […]

ACTING on the orders of then head of state General Ibrahim Babangida, the Nigerian army in 1993 killed 118 people engaged in a pro-democracy protest, a rights panel has heard. Babangida ordered troops to break up protests against his regime’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, human rights activist Beko Ransome-Kuti said. He […]

AN unpopular Swazi chief has narrowly escaped the ultimate insult from about 50 angry women, who threatened to take their clothes off and flash their buttocks at him. The women, aged between 30 and 50, gathered outside Chief Maguga Dlamini’s house last week in preparation for their unique protest. In Swazi culture it is considered […]