Friday August 6, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines.

Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika will be released from detention ahead of his bail application in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday morning. Handing down judgment in the High Court in Pretoria shortly before 10:00 on Thursday night, Judge Johan Kruger said that it was not in the best interest of the rule of law, and it would be unlawful to detain Wa Afrika for one minute longer. "The freedom of the individual is a constitutionally protected value and so is due process," Kruger said. "In the constitutional State, the Constitution reigns supreme. I am of the view that justice will be served if he is released. It is unlikely that a few hours of freedom should cause irrevocable harm to the State's case. If we err, we err on the side of freedom."
The Sunday Times earlier filed an urgent interdict to have the journalist released, following his arrest outside the paper's office by members of the Hawks special police unit on Wednesday.

India has signed a deal with Democratic Republic of Congo to extend a $42- million credit line for building a hydroelectric plant, Congolese and Indian officials said on Thursday.
The deal falls under a $263-million loan commitment from India that it agreed with Congo late last year. Congo, which won $8-billion of debt relief granted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund last month, is looking to Asia to help rebuild its infrastructure after years of corrupt dictatorship and a devastating 1998 to 2003 war. The deal marks the third loan from India, following $25-million for 3 000 water pumps and $33.5-million for 346 Indian-made buses and a cement plant last year. Congo will only start repaying after five years, and then will pay 1,75% interest over 20 years. The bulk of labourers are likely to be Congolese.
Meanwhile, President Joseph Kabila has warned that Congo must not to over-reach itself with onerous new loans as Congo's Budget Minister Jean Baptise Ntahwa told reporters on Thursday that $262-million intended for debt service payments had been freed up this year following debt relief. "We produce almost nothing...we have nothing to export," said Ntahwa.

South Africa has recalled its ambassador to Kigali following a diplomatic row over the shooting of an exiled Rwandan army general in Johannesburg, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
"We have recalled our ambassador to Rwanda for consultations. Let me be categorical. We have not broken diplomatic relations with Rwanda," Foreign Ministry director-general Ayanda Ntsaluba told a news conference. The move is traditionally the strongest demonstration of official disapproval short of severing diplomatic relations, but Ntsaluba said that Pretoria was in discussions with the Rwandan government. Dissident Rwandan general Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot and wounded on June 19, in an apparent assassination attempt.

Also making headlines:
Kenya's electoral authority officially ratified a proposed constitution on Thursday, after 67% of the votes cast approved the new constitution.
Deputy press ombudsman Johan Retief, has found the City Press newspaper guilty of breaching the Press Code in an article about Afircan National Congress treasurer general Mathews Phosa and ordered it to apologise. And;
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir returned to Khartoum on Thursday, after a two-day visit to Libya, saying that he had secured Libyan guarantees to curb any Darfur rebel attacks.
That's a roundup of news making headlines today.