Thursday March 24, 2011

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Brad Dubbelman

Making headlines:

The trade relationship between South African and India will be defined by economic growth in the years to come, the Indian High Commissioner to South Africa Virendra Gupta said on Wednesday. Gupta told journalists at the launch of the Indian High Commission’s new website to promote bilateral relations, that job creation, value addition and government policy on beneficiation would influence the relationship between the two countries in future. Bilateral trade between the two countries already reached $10-billion a year, with India being South Africa’s sixth largest trading partner globally. A bilateral trade target of $15-billion has been set for 2014.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has urged the United Nations to take more decisive action to end a political crisis in the Côte d’Ivoire, saying instability posed a threat to West Africa's security. Opening a summit of heads of state from regional West African bloc Ecowas, Jonathan said he hoped the standoff in the former French colony could be solved without the use of force but urged the world body to take firmer steps. Meanwhile, Angola said its position was in line with that of the African Union, which has endorsed Alassane Ouattara as the top cocoa grower's elected president despite incumbent Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down after a November 28 poll.

A South African opposition lawmaker was ejected from Parliament on Wednesday after suggesting a Minister had "blood on his hands" for authorising the sale of arms to Libya. David Maynier, a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance, was ordered to leave after asking Justice Minister Jeff Radebe for details of the sale of weapons to Colonel Muammar Gadaffi's forces in the past few years. "Will the honourable minister tell us in plain language with a simple yes or no, whether he authorised the export of more than 100 sniper rifles and more than 50 000 rounds of ammunition to Libya in 2010, and if the answer is yes, will the honourable minister tell this house what it feels like to have blood on his hands," Maynier said. His comments were ruled "out of order" and he was asked to leave the chamber by the presiding officer after refusing to retract the remarks.

Also making headlines:
Western warplanes hit Libya for a fifth consecutive night, but have so far failed to stop Muammar Gaddafi's tanks shelling rebel-held towns or dislodge his armour from a strategic junction in the east.
South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will seek to strengthen bilateral, political and economic relations with the US when he embarks on a working visit to that country next week.
And, power parastatal Eskom has partnered with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to fight corruption.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.