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/ 27 May 2008

Muluzi laughs off coup claim

Malawi’s former president Bakili Muluzi on Tuesday laughed off accusations that he was trying to topple his successor as his lawyers launched a high court bid to end his house arrest. Muluzi has denied any knowledge of documents which purportedly linked him to a coup against President Bingu wa Mutharika.

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/ 27 May 2008

Burma junta unmoved, extends Suu Kyi arrest

Burma’s junta extended the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, a move likely to dismay Western nations who promised millions of dollars in aid after Cyclone Nargis. Officials drove to the Nobel laureate’s lakeside Rangoon home to read out a six-month extension order in person.

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/ 27 May 2008

Australian troops ‘scorned’ for low-risk missions

Australian soldiers are ashamed of their low-risk missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and are scorned by troops of other nations, two officers charged in comments published on Tuesday. ”The restrictions and policies enforced on infantrymen in Iraq have resulted in the widespread perception that our army is plagued by institutional cowardice,” Major Jim Hammett said.

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/ 27 May 2008

MDC says 50 killed in violent attacks

A month before a presidential election run-off, Zimbabwe’s opposition said on Tuesday conditions were not conducive for a free and fair poll, but still expressed confidence it would oust Robert Mugabe. "As of yesterday [Monday], at least 50 of our supporters had been killed in violent attacks." the Movement for Democratic Change said.

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/ 27 May 2008

Mbeki’s rule in limbo as townships burn

President Thabo Mbeki faces an uphill battle to remain politically relevant in his last year in office after his failure to contain an eruption of violence that has killed dozens of foreign workers in South Africa. Mbeki was already under fire for failing to prevent a crippling power shortage when mobs went on the rampage this month.

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/ 26 May 2008

Govt under pressure over violence

The South African government came under pressure on Monday to deal with the aftermath of deadly anti-foreigner violence that has displaced an estimated 35 000 people. As thousands headed for the borders, a growing humanitarian crisis was developing domestically with crowds of foreigners sheltering at police stations.

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/ 26 May 2008

Nigeria rebels attack oil pipeline

Rebels from Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta said on Monday they had attacked a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline and killed 11 soldiers, but the army denied there had been any attack. The rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that it had sabotaged the Shell pipeline at Awoba flow station.

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/ 26 May 2008

Malawi ex-leader Muluzi held on coup charge

Former Malawian president Bakili Muluzi was arrested in connection with an alleged coup plot as he returned home from Britain on Sunday, his lawyer said. Five members of Muluzi’s United Democratic Front and three army generals were arrested last week on suspicion of being part of a plot to bring him to power, and an arrest warrant was issued for Muluzi.

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/ 26 May 2008

Mozambicans flee over the border

Mozambique has received nearly 20 000 citizens fleeing South Africa, said Deputy Foreign Minister Henrique Banze, adding that the government there had set up three reception centres around the capital Maputo. He denied reports that the Mozambican government had declared a state of emergency.

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/ 24 May 2008

‘Xenophobia hurts like apartheid’

Thousands of people marched through Johannesburg on Saturday, calling for an end to the violence that has killed at least 50 African migrants and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. People in Hillbrow, home to many African immigrants, cheered the march, which was organised by churches and labour unions.

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/ 24 May 2008

Sudan oil region fighting could displace 90 000

Up to 90 000 people could be displaced by fighting in Sudan’s bitterly contested oil region of Abyei where the United Nations is racing against time to provide aid relief and prevent a return to civil war. Two rounds of heavy fighting between government soldiers and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army have largely obliterated Abyei’s once bustling main town.

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/ 24 May 2008

Overwhelmed by death, Sichuan disinfects

On a hillside above a collapsed middle school in Sichuan, biohazard workers in white suits scattered lime and sprayed disinfectant on hundreds of small, fresh graves, while two armed policemen stood watch. Then a backhoe scooped up fresh dirt and completely covered the graves with their small triangles of cinderblock or stone, the white flowers and offerings.