SOUTH AFRICA
PRETORIA – South African government, business and civil society groups pledge to tackle social problems highlighted by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), with the country’s Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi heading a workshop on a programme of action on issues outlined in the APRM. South Africa has denied accusations that it dragged its feet on the initiative, submitting its long-awaited response to the peer review at an African Union summit in Ghana in July, and citing “factual errors” in the review as the reason for its delayed programme of action. The review highlighted growing corruption, rampant crime and xenophobia, according to a leaked copy of the report obtained by Reuters.
CAPE TOWN – South African police fire rubber bullets at demonstrators burning tyres and stoning cars on a highway into Cape Town in protest against government failures to provide basic amenities. Thousands of South Africans from mostly black townships and shantytowns have taken to the streets in recent months to voice anger over the lack of electricity, water, sewage and other services in poor neighbourhoods. In some cases, crowds have attacked and even killed officials of the ruling African National Congress. The protesters outside Cape Town are protesting about the lack of housing at a multimillion rand flagship settlement that was supposed to take in hundreds of people currently living in informal settlements.
PRETORIA – Parts of a global nuclear smuggling ring, initiated by the disgraced father of Pakistan’s atom bomb, may remain active, and nations must do more to crack down on the network, says South Africa. The plea follows the conviction by a South African court of a German engineer for his part in the network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, who admitted giving proliferation-prone nuclear technology to nations under international embargo. The network apparently operated in more than 30 countries, senior South African envoy Abdul Minty tells a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IEIA’s) board of governors. Some of those entities may remain active. “What is now required from all countries affected by the illicit network is enhanced efforts by the respective authorities in close cooperation with the IEIA”, says Minty.
AFRICA
KHARTOUM – Sudan and Darfur rebels will hold talks on October 27 in Libya to push for peace ahead of the expected deployment of a 26 000-strong peace force in Darfur, a United Nations-Sudanese government statement says. The announcement coincides with the end of a three-day tour of Sudan by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, that included talks with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and leaders of key Darfur rebel factions. International experts estimated that some 200 000 people have died and more than two-million have been driven from their homes in Darfur since the conflict broke out in 2003. A 2006 peace deal between Khartoum and one rebel faction failed to quell the violence. In July, the UN Security Council approved a plan for 26 000 UN and African Union (AU) peacekeepers to take over from a smaller and ineffective AU force currently operating in Darfur.
HARARE – Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe, resigns, two months after being sued for adultery in a case which he calls a vicious government-backed attack. The 60-year-old cleric, head of the southern Bulawayo archdiocese since 1997, says in a statement that his resignation is to protect the church, but that he will defend himself against the adultery charges in court.
PRETORIA – Africa will suffer the most if the world fails to reduce global warming, with parts of the impoverished continent becoming uncultivable or uninhabitable, top British government scientists warn. In a presentation in Pretoria, David King, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, explains that climate change, if unchecked, will lead to worsening drought in Africa, as well as flooding along much of its coastline. This will see an additional 70-million Africans at risk of hunger by the 2080s. Although consensus is building on the need for a new global agreement on carbon dioxide emissions, the US and China, the world’s two top emitters, are among those that have expressed reservations about how a global agreement will be implemented.
HARARE – Zimbabwean police summons the leader of the country’s main opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, for questioning after his tour of shops to assess the impact of President Robert Mugabe’s controversial price freeze. Tsvangirai visited shops in Harare in early August, in the company of journalists, to find out how businesses were coping with the measure, which he said was unsustainable and had left inflation-battered consumers worse off. The police have reportedly indicated that the opposition leader’s conduct during the tour had “compromised the security arrangements” of the shops visited. Tsvangirai has been arrested several times by Mugabe’s government.
PRETORIA – South African government, business and civil society groups pledge to tackle social problems highlighted by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), with the country’s Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi heading a workshop on a programme of action on issues outlined in the APRM. South Africa has denied accusations that it dragged its feet on the initiative, submitting its long-awaited response to the peer review at an African Union summit in Ghana in July, and citing “factual errors” in the review as the reason for its delayed programme of action. The review highlighted growing corruption, rampant crime and xenophobia, according to a leaked copy of the report obtained by Reuters.
CAPE TOWN – South African police fire rubber bullets at demonstrators burning tyres and stoning cars on a highway into Cape Town in protest against government failures to provide basic amenities. Thousands of South Africans from mostly black townships and shantytowns have taken to the streets in recent months to voice anger over the lack of electricity, water, sewage and other services in poor neighbourhoods. In some cases, crowds have attacked and even killed officials of the ruling African National Congress. The protesters outside Cape Town are protesting about the lack of housing at a multimillion rand flagship settlement that was supposed to take in hundreds of people currently living in informal settlements.
PRETORIA – Parts of a global nuclear smuggling ring, initiated by the disgraced father of Pakistan’s atom bomb, may remain active, and nations must do more to crack down on the network, says South Africa. The plea follows the conviction by a South African court of a German engineer for his part in the network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, who admitted giving proliferation-prone nuclear technology to nations under international embargo. The network apparently operated in more than 30 countries, senior South African envoy Abdul Minty tells a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IEIA’s) board of governors. Some of those entities may remain active. “What is now required from all countries affected by the illicit network is enhanced efforts by the respective authorities in close cooperation with the IEIA”, says Minty.
AFRICA
KHARTOUM – Sudan and Darfur rebels will hold talks on October 27 in Libya to push for peace ahead of the expected deployment of a 26 000-strong peace force in Darfur, a United Nations-Sudanese government statement says. The announcement coincides with the end of a three-day tour of Sudan by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, that included talks with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and leaders of key Darfur rebel factions. International experts estimated that some 200 000 people have died and more than two-million have been driven from their homes in Darfur since the conflict broke out in 2003. A 2006 peace deal between Khartoum and one rebel faction failed to quell the violence. In July, the UN Security Council approved a plan for 26 000 UN and African Union (AU) peacekeepers to take over from a smaller and ineffective AU force currently operating in Darfur.
HARARE – Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe, resigns, two months after being sued for adultery in a case which he calls a vicious government-backed attack. The 60-year-old cleric, head of the southern Bulawayo archdiocese since 1997, says in a statement that his resignation is to protect the church, but that he will defend himself against the adultery charges in court.
PRETORIA – Africa will suffer the most if the world fails to reduce global warming, with parts of the impoverished continent becoming uncultivable or uninhabitable, top British government scientists warn. In a presentation in Pretoria, David King, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, explains that climate change, if unchecked, will lead to worsening drought in Africa, as well as flooding along much of its coastline. This will see an additional 70-million Africans at risk of hunger by the 2080s. Although consensus is building on the need for a new global agreement on carbon dioxide emissions, the US and China, the world’s two top emitters, are among those that have expressed reservations about how a global agreement will be implemented.
HARARE – Zimbabwean police summons the leader of the country’s main opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, for questioning after his tour of shops to assess the impact of President Robert Mugabe’s controversial price freeze. Tsvangirai visited shops in Harare in early August, in the company of journalists, to find out how businesses were coping with the measure, which he said was unsustainable and had left inflation-battered consumers worse off. The police have reportedly indicated that the opposition leader’s conduct during the tour had “compromised the security arrangements” of the shops visited. Tsvangirai has been arrested several times by Mugabe’s government.
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