AN African warrior, stuffed, preserved and on show in Spain for 100 years, is going home for burial after a Haitian doctor complained to the United Nations at the undignified treatment of his remains. Thus ends a dispute which rose to the level of an international diplomatic incident with several African states challenging the right […]

SIXTY people were killed when their bus was swept away in floods caused by torrential rains. Police said the bus, travelling from the capital to Harar in the east, was caught in floodwaters near Wollenchiti, 125 km south of Addis Ababa. The bus was carrying 66 people. The bodies of 60, including three children and […]

SOUTH Africa and Botswana have signed a bilateral military pact on defence and security, SABC radio news reported on Friday. Speaking at the signing ceremony in Gaberone, SA Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the time had come for Africa to control and manage its political and military conflicts. The agreement would bind the two countries […]

SOUTH Africa is to host the biggest aerospace and defence exhibition ever to be staged in Africa in early September, the SA Air Force said on Friday. SAAF chief Lieutenant-General Roelf Beukes said the show at Waterkloof air base near Pretoria would feature about 250 exhibitors from all over the world. Briefing reporters at the […]

THE UN Security Council debated on Thursday a British proposal to ban trade in diamonds mined from rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone. Diamonds are the major source of revenue for the Revolutionary United Front rebels, who in May took 500 UN peacekeepers hostage. The proposed resolution says that “all states shall take the necessary measures […]

FORMER brothers-in-rebellion and now Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda will try to mend fences on Saturday after their armed forces clashed earlier this month in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The pair are expected to try to settle their differences in two days of meetings, in the wake of heavy […]

Former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa distanced himself from shady “freelance” financier Jean Mopotu this week following revelations that the Zairian tried to source funding for Phosa’s ambitious R390-million casino development in Mozambique. Mopotu attained notoriety in 1998 when he helped international fraud fugitive and suspected chemical weapons dealer Moshe Regenstreich mastermind Mpumalanga’s R1,3-billion promissory note […]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki will chair a new super cabinet committee which will “co-ordinate and monitor” everything related to national security. The inter-ministerial committee, to be known as the National Security Council, will be able to deal swiftly with security threats including natural disasters, regional conflicts and internal instability, government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said after the […]

A BRITISH man has jumped 2120 metres in a parachute made according to a design sketched by Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century, proving that the pyramid-shaped contraption works. Beeld newspaper said Adrian Nicholas launched himself from a hot air balloon drifting close to the Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga province, at […]