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/ 11 February 2005
The Central Bank of Kenya has secretly removed the South African Bank Note Company, a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, from a shortlist of international security printing firms in line to win a tender worth almost R800-million to print "new generation" currency for the East African country over the next five years.
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/ 11 February 2005
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most traditional absolute monarchies, took a tentative step towards democracy on Thursday when male citizens went to the polls in the first municipal elections the country has witnessed for 40 years. Candidates have splashed out money on advertising and laid on feasts for potential voters, but the authorities’ ”progressive step” has left reformers disappointed.
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/ 11 February 2005
Almost two-thirds of money promised by governments to help the millions of people affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami has not yet been received by the United Nations, confirming fears that many countries would try to wriggle out of their commitments. Speaking in Geneva this week, a UN official urged governments to pay up.
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/ 11 February 2005
New Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe could yet weather the political storm that surrounds his controversial appointment, thanks to his strong support from the army, analysts said this week. Decisive action by former colonial ruler France will be needed to reverse parliament’s decision to install Faure as president following the death of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema.
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/ 11 February 2005
Malawian President Bingu Mutharika’s tenure is becoming increasingly tenuous after the largest opposition, the Malawi Congress Party, joined the ruling United Democratic Party (UDF) in demanding that he step down. Mutharika resigned from the UDF last Saturday after a bitter nine-month stand-off with his predecessor and current party chair Bakili Muluzi over his tough stance on corruption.
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/ 11 February 2005
Benon Sevan, the UN Under-Secretary General who headed the Iraq oil-for-food Programme, was suspended last Friday after the Independent Inquiry Committee, appointed last year by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, released an interim report on the scandal-plagued humanitarian programme
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/ 11 February 2005
To experience the Johannesburg Metro Police force as a citizen and not as a journalist is to escape its spin on reams of statistics and the feel-good, make ’em feel safe” big talk of its chief, Chris Ngcobo. When the Metro Police was started, the idea was good. But since then, all I have seen is city cops speed-trapping by camera on various city bridges and last week’s grand launch of Operation Token Days.
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/ 11 February 2005
She was treated like a movie star wherever she went. Her face launched a thousand front pages. Europe’s leaders fell over themselves to welcome her. Her speech in Paris was the hottest ticket in town and her fleeting appearances in capital after capital merely enhanced the perception of glamour and power. In a few breathless days, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the Bette Davis of diplomacy.
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/ 10 February 2005
Last week, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) took the toughest decision we’ve ever had to in our five-year history: the national council voted to lift the suspension on participating in elections and entered the race under protest. Making tough choices is part and parcel of politics, but it did not come without soul-searching, writes MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube.