OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Saturday 6.00pm. ZAMBIA denied on Saturday that it had put its troops on high alert along the border with Angola in anticipation of Angolan soldiers chasing UNITA rebels across the frontier. Government chief spokesman and Information Minister Newstead Zimba and Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa both issued separate statements denying that the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bamako | Saturday 8.00pm. JAPAN’s Kenjiro Shinozuka and Spain’s Joan Roma won the third stage of the Paris-Dakar rally on Saturday to extend their overall lead in the car and motorbike sections. Shinozuka, in his Mitsubishi, slightly increased his advantage in this 670km stretch with 399km of specials between Nioro and Bamako in […]
THE government of the Comoro islands, established after a military putsch last April, said on Friday that a Christmas Eve coup in Cte d’Ivoire may have averted civil war in the west African country. “Coups d’etat, though they may be condemned, can in certain situations avert disasters and prevent populations facing situations of anarchy and […]
IRISH Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will visit South Africa and Lesotho next week in the first official visit by an Irish prime minister to southern Africa, officials said on Friday. Ahern, accompanied by a delegation of trade and aid officials, will visit Lesotho’s King Letsie III on Monday. The prime minister will also meet his […]
AFRICAN Footballer of the Year Nwankwo Kanu has been ordered to report to Nigeria’s African Nations Cup training camp by Friday at the latest despite his English club Arsenal insisting that he must play a cup game this weekend. “Kanu’s release is not negotiable,” said the secretary-general of Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Tijjani Yusuf. “Kanu […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Thursday 4.30pm. AN inspection team from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has given pass marks to the two Nigerian stadiums that will stage the 22nd African Nations Cup from January 23. “Everything we have seen so far has been positive,” said the leader of the two-man team, General Zoumaro Gnofane […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Dakar | Thursday 8.00pm. LAST year’s Paris-Dakar motorcycle winner Richard Sainct laid down the gauntlet right from the start of this year’s even on Thursday as he won the 588km first special from Dakar to Tambacounda on his BMW. The Frenchman, who finished 40 seconds ahead of Spaniard Juan Roma and 2min 09sec […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Perth | Friday 2.00pm. SOUTH Africa will meet Thailand’s tennis minnows for the Hopman Cup on Saturday in Perth following the Thai team’s giant-killing run to the final of the A$900000 mixed teams tournament. The Thai pair of Paradorn Srichaphan and Tamarine Tanasugarn have upset fancied teams including hosts Australia and Slovakia in […]
PERFECT sailing conditions have been forecast for the start of the sixth Cape-to-Rio yacht race, which gets under way on Saturday at 3pm from the Cape Town harbour. A record 80 boats from nine different countries are contesting the highly tactical race of more than 3000 nautical miles. Nine yachts in the slower cruising class […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 4.30pm. THE battle lines have been drawn for control of African football with supremo Issa Hayatou of Cameroon facing opposition for the first time since taking charge 12 years ago. African Football Confederation (CAF) president Hayatou, 53, a former international athlete who has twice been re-elected unopposed, will be challenged […]
EthnicTutsis in Burundi opposed to talks aimed at bringing an end to more than six years of civil war have called on newly appointed mediator Nelson Mandela to visit the country.
171 people arrested after a clash between rival tribes near Umtata in the Eastern Cape at the weekend appeared in court on Wednesday. The death toll in Sunday’s clashes, at the town of Flagstaff, rose to six on Wednesday after police discovered the body of a man who had been missing. The 171 people, who […]
AN oil spill is threatening the central African coast off the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, local government said on Wednesday. A large oil-slick has hit the Atlantic waters near the port of Futila, killing large quantities of fish, a local fisheries official said. The local administration said the spill resulted from operations by US oil […]
THE self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland has given Ethiopia free access to a dock which will allow the land-locked country to receive critical food supplies, Ethiopian officials announced on Thursday. Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Ayenew Bitewlign confirmed that Ethiopia has been given formal permission to use the port of Berbera in the north-eastern rump of […]
EGYPTS’S oil reserves have more than doubled with a huge discovery during deep water drilling off its Mediterranean coast, Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi announced on Monday. The find, made by three international companies which he did not name, will increase the country’s oil reserves from 3,7-billion barrels to 8,2-billion. Gas deposits lying beneath the oil […]
MALAWI has awarded a historic 50% bonus to its 130000 poorly paid civil servants, a top government official said on Thursday. Alfred Upindi, secretary to the president and cabinet, said that President Bakili Muluzi has ordered the bonuses to be paid, for the first since colonial rule ended in 1964. He said the funds to […]
US Vice President Al Gore and prominent African leaders, including former South African president Nelson Mandela, will address the 15-member UN Security Council on a series African issues this month. Gore will preside over this year’s first public council meeting on Monday, the first US vice president in history to do so. The meeting will […]
AN ESTIMATED 128000 or 20% of some 640000 teenagers in Kenya’s secondary schools are infected with the HIV virus, Education Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said on Thursday. Most secondary school pupils in Kenya are aged between 14 and 17. President Daniel arap Moi last November declared Aids, which kills an estimated 500 Kenyans every day, a […]
GRAEME Pollock was named South Africa’s Cricketer of the Century in Cape Town on Sunday at a ceremony in which close contender Basil D’Oliveira walked onto the Newlands ground for the first time in his life. The 55-year-old Pollock, an elegant left-handed batsman whose Test average of 60.97 was second only to that of Australian […]
FLOODS have caused extensive damage to roads, animals and crops in several Northern Cape farming towns following heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours. In Postmasburge streets were flooded and bridges collapsed. In the farming community of Gatkoppies four houses were badly damaged, 10 goats were killed and 50 others washed away and vegetables worth […]
ALL-ROUNDER Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out of the remainder of England’s tour of South Africa after fracturing his foot while bowling during the fourth test. The initial diagnosis on Monday was confirmed by a specialist on Tuesday and Flintoff will now spend up to a month in plaster. “Andrew needs to spend three to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 3.45pm. SOUTH Africa have claimed a series win over England in the fourth Test at Newlands, wreaking havoc with the ball and bowling out the visitors for 126 runs in their second innings, victory by an innings and 37 runs. The South Africans scored 421 runs in their first-innings, […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Tuesday 1.00pm. A DELEGATION from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) arrived in Lagos on Monday to begin an inspection of facilities to be used for the 2000 African Nations Cup to be jointly hosted by Ghana and Nigeria. The two-man delegation inspected the pitches, control and changing rooms, sports, health […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Wednesday 6.00pm. THE Zambian government began emergency talks late on Wednesday with senior doctors who earlier issued an ultimatum to go on strike over the sacking of their junior counterparts, a health official said. Elwyn Chomba, the executive director of the country’s largest University Teaching Hospital (UTH),said the meeting to avert […]
THE Angolan army said on Wednesday it has found a massive Unita heavy arms depot near the central town of Andulo. It also said that its troops have killed 400 rebels in operations close to the southeastern borders. A senior officer in the Angolan Armed Forces, General Jorge Barros, told state media that the 100-ton […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Sunday 1.00pm. SOUTH Africa raced to victory over Belgium in the Hopman Cup mixed teams tournament in Perth on Sunday. The experienced Amanda Coetzer and Wayne Ferreira both won their singles clashes to give South Africa an unbeatable 2-0 lead before the mixed doubles. Coetzer, 28, ranked 11th in the […]
FORMER fighters of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front have reopened key roads in the interior that had been closed several years, commuters arriving in the capital said on Tuesday. The reopened roads include those linking Kenema and Koindu, Kono, Kailahun and other places in the east, travellers said. Over the weekend, Vice President Joe Demby […]
MOZAMBIQUE’s main opposition party, Renamo, on Tuesday rejected the Supreme Court’s endorsement of December elections and called once again for a recount. Earlier Tuesday, Mozambique’s Supreme Court had ruled that the presidential and general elections were in order, dismissing Renamo’s allegations of fraud. President Joaquim Chissano told reporters that Frelimo’s 133 MPs will take their […]
A GOVERNMENT delegation to tornado-wrecked areas in Transkei had to abandon their visit on Tuesday due to heavy rainfall and lightning. The tornado struck several Transkei areas on Saturday leaving three people dead and hundreds homeless. Government said it will be conducting “proper costing of the damage” — a process that was being hampered by […]
A HIGH Court application against Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Zuma by the department’s media director was heard in Pretoria on Wednesday. Marco Boni brought an urgent application asking the court to order Zuma to grant him his severance package, which he said was initially approved by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad, but later declined […]
MALAWIAN crocodile hunters have asked for their culling quota to be increased fourfold from 200 to 800 animals in an attempt to put an end to crocodile terror at a time when the reptiles kill at least two people a day. Malawi Crocodile Hunters Association president Khalid Hassen said that the country’s crocodile population is […]
AT least three Xhosa circumcision initiates have died and a large number have been admitted to Eastern Cape hospitals recently following botched circumcision procedures. Doctors said traditional surgeons often use the same blade on a string of initiates. At least 42 patients were admitted to northern Eastern Cape hospitals since December for treatment for serious […]