Monday, February 23, 2009
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Amy Witherden.
Making headlines:
In an address to the National House of Traditional Leaders, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said that the proposed African Union government is a long-term goal and cannot be "decreed" into being.
He explained that the AU government should be the culmination of a process driven by regional economic communities. Accordingly, the country's efforts should be directed at strengthening the Southern African Development Community.
Motlanthe emphasised that an AU government cannot be forced, or decreed into being.

In other news, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation says that the world's poorest nations need help from richer countries to develop manufacturing, rather than natural resources or agriculture, if they are to escape poverty.
Director-general of UNIDO Kandeh Yumkella said that failure to help the "bottom billion" - people living on less than a dollar a day - could fuel mass migration and global insecurity.
While the Organisation favours manufacturing over natural resources, it warns that poor nations must think carefully about what products they make for export.
Wealthy nations can help poor ones create success by investing in their industries and allowing them access to world markets, possibly through trade preferences.

In other news, African National Congress President Jacob Zuma has rejected claims that the party had abused an elderly Nelson Mandela for electioneering purposes.
Zuma rejected media claims that the party had risked Mandela's health and flouted security procedures by parading him at an election rally in the Eastern Cape last weekend.
Zuma said that Mandela wanted to be at the rally. He said that the ANC is "Madiba's ANC", and that the media should be ashamed of thinking that they know Mandela and his needs better than the ANC.

Also making headlines:
Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile accuses the Democratic Alliance of apartheid politics.
Sudan's government is concerned that investors are wary of the pending war crimes case against its President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
And, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille makes ten commitments to South Africa.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.