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/ 14 November 2007
Chevron, the number-two United States oil company, has agreed to pay -million to resolve criminal and civil liabilities related to procurement of oil under the United Nations oil-for-food programme, US prosecutors said on Wednesday. Chevron will not be prosecuted and will continue to cooperate with investigators, they said.
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/ 14 November 2007
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday urged arch-rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia to settle their border dispute peacefully and to take ”concrete steps” to demarcate their frontier. It also appealed to the two sides to ”refrain from using force and settle their disagreements by peaceful means”.
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/ 14 November 2007
A decade of healthy growth in Africa has put the continent on track to tackle its high poverty levels, the World Bank said on Wednesday, releasing its 2007 Africa Development Indicators. ”After years of stop-and-start results, many African economies appear to be growing at the fast and steady rates,” the report says.
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/ 14 November 2007
Africa’s small-scale farmers growing local crops can lead a belated ”green revolution” on the world’s poorest continent, the new head of a -million agricultural project said. Higher output of foods such as cassava and sorghum could help reduce imports of rice, wheat and maize, said Amos Namanga Ngongi.
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/ 13 November 2007
Thousands of refugees poured out of camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s violent North Kivu province on Tuesday after the army said Tutsi-dominated insurgents attacked its positions. Army troops repelled the dawn raid on their positions near Mugunga camp, killing 27 fighters loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda.
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/ 13 November 2007
Detained Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on Tuesday for military leader Pervez Musharraf to step down as president, isolating him in the run-up to a general election. Britain stepped up pressure on Musharraf, who imposed emergency rule on November 3, backing a 10-day Commonwealth ultimatum for him to end the emergency.
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/ 13 November 2007
Pakistani police put opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest for a week on Tuesday to thwart a protest procession as President Pervez Musharraf came under growing international pressure to end emergency rule. Military ruler Musharraf set off a storm of criticism when he imposed emergency rule on November 3.
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/ 13 November 2007
The numbers of women seeking treatment for rape in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen as a conflict that has already left four million dead over the past decade has reignited. Human rights groups describe gang rapes as commonplace and often accompanied by ”barbaric” acts of torture.
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/ 13 November 2007
The death penalty is a violation of fundamental human rights, and it should be abolished around the world, Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote in the Guardian on Tuesday, ahead of a vote on a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for a moratorium on executions.
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/ 13 November 2007
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday hailed as a ”significant breakthrough” last week’s agreement by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda to deal with illegal armed groups in the eastern DRC. Ban urged both Kinshasa and Kigali to ”act urgently to implement all the agreed measures”.
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/ 12 November 2007
About three million South African have diabetes and an estimated three million people living with diabetes remain undiagnosed, the International Diabetes Foundation said on Monday. Recently released figures also show that diabetes currently affects 246-million people globally and is expected to affect 380-million people by 2025.
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/ 11 November 2007
Uganda hopes that recent oil discoveries will lift it out of poverty, but the conflict-scarred east African country is taking a cautious approach towards its new status as an oil-producing nation. Oil found in the west on the banks of Lake Albert is propelling the country into a new phase of its economic history.
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/ 11 November 2007
The toll from some of the worst fighting in Somalia’s war-wracked capital climbed to 59 on Saturday, as thousands fled the city fearing more clashes between Ethiopian forces and rebels, witnesses said. Residents recovered bullet-riven bodies, ripped limbs and shattered skulls on the blood-streaked streets.
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/ 10 November 2007
Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi received rare front-page billing on Saturday in Burma’s state-controlled press, which said the ruling junta is ”putting energy” into democratic reforms demanded by the international community. Suu Kyi was allowed to meet leaders of her opposition party on Friday.
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/ 10 November 2007
A government official in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) suspected of ordering up to 17 tonnes of radioactive waste dumped in a river in the south-east of the country has been arrested, authorities said on Friday. Environment Minister Didace Pembe declined to identify the person who was arrested.
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/ 10 November 2007
Ethiopian troops shelled suspected Islamist hideouts on Friday in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, where some of the worst clashes in months have left at least 43 dead in two days, many of them civilians. The escalating violence came as the Ethiopian army tried to flush out pockets of insurgents in southern districts of the Somali capital.
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/ 10 November 2007
The enthusiasm that came with the storming to office of Guinea’s latest prime minister has waned and there are doubts over his capability to lift the country out of misery, a global think tank said on Friday. Lansana Kouyate, an ex-United Nations diplomat, was early this year named Prime Minister by ailing President Lansana Conte.
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/ 10 November 2007
South African diplomats have expressed shock at strong United States government criticism in the New York Times this week of the country’s stance over a United Nations resolution, introduced by the US, that condemns rape by governments and military formations.
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/ 10 November 2007
Lives are being lost in many countries through lack of cooperation between tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/Aids health programmes, a senior United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/Aids official said in Cape Town on Friday. Dr Alasdair Reid was speaking at a media briefing held alongside a major conference on lung health in the city.
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/ 9 November 2007
An outbreak of cholera has swept a hideout camp housing Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, infecting its leader, Joseph Kony; his deputy, Vincent Otti; and scores of fighters, a spokesperson said on Friday. The outbreak was first reported in September, but details of fatalities remain unclear.
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/ 9 November 2007
Mozambique is among Southern and East African countries that will benefit from new, -million energy projects. The United Nations Environment Programme said in a press release issued on Thursday that the projects will use tea and sugar residues to generate energy.
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/ 9 November 2007
Corpses were scattered on Mogadishu streets on Friday after overnight fighting between Somali insurgents and Ethiopian troops that killed 12 people. The bodies of the dead could be seen in the city’s northern Sqa Holaha neighbourhood, where insurgents dragged dead Ethiopians through the streets on Thursday.
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/ 8 November 2007
Chad will investigate reports that at least 74 Chadian children were flown to France more than a month-and-a-half ago without their parents’ knowledge, a senior judicial official said on Thursday. A network of local human rights groups wrote to the public prosecutor’s department with details about the 74 children.
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/ 8 November 2007
The United States and French presidents forged a common front against Iran’s nuclear ambitions on Wednesday, signalling a further warming of once-chilly relations between Washington and Paris. US President George Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed to keep the pressure on Tehran, which has defied demands to halt uranium enrichment.
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/ 8 November 2007
Ending imports of fresh food from Africa under the pretext of combating climate change risks destroying entire communities that have become dependent on the trade, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Britain said on Wednesday. Food miles — the distance food travels from producer to consumer — have become a highly divisive issue.
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/ 7 November 2007
Iran has achieved a landmark in its controversial uranium-enrichment programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday, suggesting that the country now has 3 000 centrifuges fully operating. ”We have now reached 3 000 machines,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of Iranians gathered in Birjand, eastern Iran.
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/ 7 November 2007
In certain parts of Africa, female genital mutilation (FGM) has been linked to religion, with Muslim communities mistakenly believing that the practice is a religious requirement. But in Côte d’Ivoire, religion is also being put at the service of fighting FGM — sometimes referred to as female circumcision.
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/ 7 November 2007
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Tuesday he was committed to the north-south peace deal that ended Africa’s longest civil war and there would be no return to hostilities after a crisis threatened the pact. ”I would like to assure you there will be no return to war whatsoever,” he said at a state banquet with South African President Thabo Mbeki.
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/ 7 November 2007
Two of Africa’s most respected elder statesmen, Botswana’s former president Ketumile Masire and Mozambican ex-leader Joaquim Chissano, believe the continent is finally shedding its reputation as a theatre of conflict and corrupt governance.
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/ 6 November 2007
Sudan has asked South Africa to mediate on Darfur, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Tuesday as attempts to end a conflict that has killed more than 200 000 and forced 2,5-million from their homes appeared to founder. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir met President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday.
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/ 6 November 2007
A Kenyan judge has ordered an investigation of a United States children’s charity accused in a civil suit of exploiting and trafficking children, a court official said on Tuesday. The court on Monday extended an order first issued on October 9 barring Kids Alive Kenya from operating in the country until the suit filed against it has been resolved.
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/ 6 November 2007
The United Nations has bailed out Sierra Leone’s national amputees’ football team with a cash boost that paves way for their participation in the World Cup tournament kicking off at the weekend in Turkey. Team secretary Kemoh Sheriff said the donation shows that ”we are not forgotten”.