SOUTH AFRICA
CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s main opposition leader, Helen Zille, says that President Thabo Mbeki’s suspension of a top prosecutor and dismissal of a Deputy Health Minister have undermined public confidence and threatened the Constitution. Mbeki, more than halfway through his second and final term as president, has been under fire for the past month since he suspended Vusi Pikoli as head of the National Prosecuting Authority. The government claims that Pikoli was suspended because of a breakdown in his relationship with the Justice Minister, but many political analysts and opposition politicians say it was because he obtained an arrest warrant for Jackie Selebi, the national police chief, for alleged links to organised crime. Zille is stressing that, if it were true that Mbeki had suspended Pikoli to protect Selebi - the warrant has since been withdrawn - this would be unconstitutional meddling in the judiciary.
JOHANNESBURG – South African reggae star Lucky Dube, 43, is shot and killed in front of his son and daughter, in an apparent carjacking attempt. Dube, who recorded more than 20 albums in his career, was the biggest-selling reggae singer in South Africa and won over 20 awards locally and internationally.
AFRICA
RABAT – French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Morocco for a three-day visit to flesh out his idea of a Mediterranean union, lobby for French business and try to salvage a $1,5-billion fighter plane deal. Relations with Morocco got off to a shaky start when Sarkozy chose its regional rival Algeria for his first visit outside Europe after his election earlier this year. However, sources say reconciliation is in the air as the staunch allies prepare to unveil some 15 agreements in areas such as high-speed trains, military equipment and nuclear power, industry and political.
WORLD
NEW YORK – Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso are elected to nonpermanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2008/9. The three countries obtained the required two-thirds majority of votes from the 192-member United Nations General Assembly. Human rights groups that call Libya and Vietnam undemocratic have expressed dismay at the prospect of the countries sitting on the council, which has the power to dispatch peacekeeping forces or impose sanctions. Countries that will leave the Security Council on December 31 are the Republic of Congo , Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia. Remaining on it are Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa, along with the veto-holding permanent members the US, Russia, the UK, France and China.
LONDON – Mozambique's former President Joaquim Chissano, who stood aside after leading his country to peace and democracy after years of civil war, wins the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership on Monday. The $5-million prize, the world's largest individual award, was presented by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a ceremony in London's City Hall. Chissano, a former revolutionary who fought Portuguese colonial rule, served as president of the Southern African country from 1986 until 2005, winning praise for his pragmatic policies in a nation once one of the poorest in the world.
STOCKHOLM – Sweden and Finland call for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to be excluded from an European Union (EU)-Africa summit in December but have left open whether they will join a British boycott if he shows up. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he has not decided whether to attend the December 8-9 summit in Lisbon if Mugabe comes, adding that serious discussion on Zimbabwe and human rights is a precondition for his attendance.
Pressed by competition for scarce resources with China, the EU wants to hold its first summit with African leaders in seven years in December, but has not yet solved the thorny issue of Mugabe's attendance.
CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s main opposition leader, Helen Zille, says that President Thabo Mbeki’s suspension of a top prosecutor and dismissal of a Deputy Health Minister have undermined public confidence and threatened the Constitution. Mbeki, more than halfway through his second and final term as president, has been under fire for the past month since he suspended Vusi Pikoli as head of the National Prosecuting Authority. The government claims that Pikoli was suspended because of a breakdown in his relationship with the Justice Minister, but many political analysts and opposition politicians say it was because he obtained an arrest warrant for Jackie Selebi, the national police chief, for alleged links to organised crime. Zille is stressing that, if it were true that Mbeki had suspended Pikoli to protect Selebi - the warrant has since been withdrawn - this would be unconstitutional meddling in the judiciary.
JOHANNESBURG – South African reggae star Lucky Dube, 43, is shot and killed in front of his son and daughter, in an apparent carjacking attempt. Dube, who recorded more than 20 albums in his career, was the biggest-selling reggae singer in South Africa and won over 20 awards locally and internationally.
AFRICA
RABAT – French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Morocco for a three-day visit to flesh out his idea of a Mediterranean union, lobby for French business and try to salvage a $1,5-billion fighter plane deal. Relations with Morocco got off to a shaky start when Sarkozy chose its regional rival Algeria for his first visit outside Europe after his election earlier this year. However, sources say reconciliation is in the air as the staunch allies prepare to unveil some 15 agreements in areas such as high-speed trains, military equipment and nuclear power, industry and political.
WORLD
NEW YORK – Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso are elected to nonpermanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2008/9. The three countries obtained the required two-thirds majority of votes from the 192-member United Nations General Assembly. Human rights groups that call Libya and Vietnam undemocratic have expressed dismay at the prospect of the countries sitting on the council, which has the power to dispatch peacekeeping forces or impose sanctions. Countries that will leave the Security Council on December 31 are the Republic of Congo , Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia. Remaining on it are Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa, along with the veto-holding permanent members the US, Russia, the UK, France and China.
LONDON – Mozambique's former President Joaquim Chissano, who stood aside after leading his country to peace and democracy after years of civil war, wins the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership on Monday. The $5-million prize, the world's largest individual award, was presented by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a ceremony in London's City Hall. Chissano, a former revolutionary who fought Portuguese colonial rule, served as president of the Southern African country from 1986 until 2005, winning praise for his pragmatic policies in a nation once one of the poorest in the world.
STOCKHOLM – Sweden and Finland call for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to be excluded from an European Union (EU)-Africa summit in December but have left open whether they will join a British boycott if he shows up. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he has not decided whether to attend the December 8-9 summit in Lisbon if Mugabe comes, adding that serious discussion on Zimbabwe and human rights is a precondition for his attendance.
Pressed by competition for scarce resources with China, the EU wants to hold its first summit with African leaders in seven years in December, but has not yet solved the thorny issue of Mugabe's attendance.
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