Tuesday February 8, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines:

The Department of Home Affairs said on Monday that over 30 000 South Africans obtained their identity documents or other forms of identification over the weekend so as to register for the coming local government elections.

Out of 31 118 people, 20 516 collected their IDs from various home affairs offices around the country, while the remainder were issued with temporary identity certificates.

This was highly commended by department minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who reiterated her appreciation to the officials who availed themselves throughout the extended hours.

Department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said that the department was ready to assist more people to acquire enabling documents, to allow them to vote in the run up to the elections on a date still to be announced.

South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to declare its independence in final results of a referendum made public on Monday, opening the door to Africa's newest state and a fresh period of uncertainty for the fractured region.

A total of 98,83% of voters from Sudan's oil-producing south chose to secede from the north in last month's referendum.

The referendum is the climax of a 2005 north–south peace accord that set out to end Africa's longest civil war and instil democracy in a country that straddles the continent's Arab-sub Saharan divide.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said earlier that he accepted the result of the vote, allaying fears that the split could reignite conflict over the control of the south's oil reserves.

Protesters called for a push on Tuesday to eject President Hosni Mubarak from power after the government conceded little ground in talks with the opposition and sought to squeeze demonstrators out of central Cairo.

The protesters, barricaded in a tent camp in Tahrir Square, have vowed to stay until Mubarak quits. Protesters hope to take their two-week campaign to the streets with more mass demonstrations on Tuesday and Friday.

Tuesday's demonstrations will test the protesters' ability to maintain pressure on the government after Mubarak, 82, refused calls to end his 30-year rule now. He has said he will stay until an election in September but won’t run in it.

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in previous demonstrations, with the United Nations saying 300 people may have died so far.

Also making headlines:

Ethiopia and the United Nations said on Monday that 2,8-million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid in 2011, and appealed for $227-million to fund programmes for the first six months.

Uganda's army says it will respect the result of a presidential election even if long-serving leader Yoweri Museveni loses the February 18 vote.

And, Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele said on Monday that there’ll be further discussions on the tolling system to be levied on Gauteng highways.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.