MISSING!
Fate of Sudan's VP Garang unclear
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There is confusion regarding the fate of Sudan's First Vice-President John Garang, who went missing on Sunday while flying back from Uganda.
State television first said he was missing, then that he had landed safely at a military base in the south.
But a later report said authorities were still trying to locate his plane, lost between Uganda and southern Sudan. The former rebel leader was sworn in three weeks ago as part of a peace deal ending a decades-long civil war. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir contacted his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni over Mr Garang's disappearance, state television said, reading a statement from Mr Bashir's office.
"Garang left Kampala heading for the New Sight camp in southern Sudan and contact was lost with the plane," the statement said. Previous reports said the aircraft had gone missing while flying Mr Garang back from Uganda, amid reports of bad weather there. Mr Garang left Uganda after talking with President Museveni about strengthening ties between the two countries.
But air traffic controllers in Khartoum reportedly lost contact with the aircraft - some reports talk of a military helicopter, others of a plane - on its way back. Military helicopters were sent to look for it, but have not located it. Then state television announced it had landed safe and sound at a military base.
But Mr Garang's former rebel movement, which he steered through a bloody 21-year civil war against the government in the north, is said to have been holding a crisis meeting in Kenya. It has refused to confirm reports that Mr Garang landed safely. The conflict in Sudan ended with the signing of the peace agreement in January. Three weeks ago, more than a million people filled the streets of Khartoum as he returned to the capital for the first time and was sworn in as Sudan's first vice-president and president of the south.
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SKIING IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Skiing without snow in South Africa.
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Barnaby Phillips - BBC News, South Africa.
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Thousands of enthusiasts travel to the remote resort each year
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Downhill skiing is a sport that requires strength, skill and guts - all prized qualities for South Africans.
In the few weeks of the southern hemisphere winter, thousands of ski enthusiasts make the long journey up into South Africa's Drakensberg mountains.
Their destination is the remote ski resort of Tiffindell, in the Eastern Cape, on the border with Lesotho. At an altitude of 3,000 metres, Tiffindell is certainly cold. But the problem for skiers is the lack of snow.
It's true that there is often some snow in the Drakensberg during winter, but not nearly enough to guarantee skiing.
So Tiffindell makes its own; snow machines line the 600 metre-long piste, shooting out compressed air and water particles, which freeze before hitting the ground. The result, from a distance, is very strange. Tiffindell is a single streak of white, amid the vast brown expanses of rock and grass on a dry Drakensberg hillside. "Maybe we are a little mad, but it just gets in your blood", admits Peter Pilz, the president of Snowsport South Africa, which promotes skiing and snowboarding in the country.
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The apres-ski ranks with the best
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"Lack of snow is a problem, and to make snow is costly and difficult. And with global warming, we are seeing less natural snow".
But Mr Pilz still has big dreams. "I want to see more and more South Africans - black and white - competing at international level".
For now, South Africa has only one Olympic skier. But South Africa is investing in its skiing future. The tiny village of Rhodes is tucked away at the bottom of the valley, beneath Tiffindell.
Here, many of the poorer black children live in shacks without electricity. Most of their parents are unemployed.
But, once a week, a group of these children drive up the steep mountain track to Tiffindell, and take to the slopes.
The resort supplies them with equipment. The headmaster of the local school, Pieter Steyn, is also a keen skier, and accompanies the children. He says learning to ski has built their confidence, and broadened their horizons.
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TERROR SUSPECT IN ZAMBIA.
UK terror suspect held in Zambia.
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A Briton has reportedly been arrested in Zambia over allegations he was involved in planning a US terror camp.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, of West Yorkshire, was held in the border town of Livingstone after entering the country from Zimbabwe, Zambian officials said. The Foreign Office said it was seeking access to a British national reportedly in custody, but did not name him. Counter-terrorism officials dismissed reports he was wanted for questioning over the 7 July London bombings.
James Ujaama pleaded guilty to involvement in the plot
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Mr Aswat, 30, who is of Indian descent, is reportedly being held at the request of the American authorities, after being under US surveillance in South Africa.
They want to question him about a 1999 plot to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Bly, Oregon.
James Ujaama, 38, a Muslim convert from Seattle who has lived in Britain, pleaded guilty to involvement in the plot in April 2003.
He faced up to 25 years in prison but received a two-year sentence after agreeing to co-operate in terrorism investigations until 2013.
Three US federal law enforcement officials said he was being questioned about Mr Aswat, who was referred to in the 2002 indictment of Ujaama by a federal grand jury in Seattle. Sources told CNN the British authorities had denied a US request to capture Mr Aswat in the UK.
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O.C.P. BACK IN LIBYA
US oil company returns to Libya.
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Occidental says it will be the first US oil company to resume operations
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The US-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation says Libya has given it permission to resume operations there for the first time in 19 years.
The company was forced to abandon production in Libya in the mid-1980s, because of sanctions against Tripoli imposed by the US government.
Its facilities were taken over by the Libyan state oil company. The US eased economic sanctions against Libya in 2004, opening the door for oil companies to return. Occidental is taking over operations from wells that have been producing 12,000-15,000 barrels of oil a day. The company was among a number of US oil producers to win exploration rights in Libya earlier this year.
US President Ronald Reagan expanded sanctions against Libya in 1986, barring US companies from doing business there and lifting special exemptions for oil companies, in response to accusations that the Libyan government was involved in promoting terrorism.
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COWS ARREST
Stray Nigerian cows face arrest,
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A number of accidents have been caused by stray cattle
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Officials in a northern Nigerian city have announced they will arrest stray animals after a number of accidents.
The animals' owners will also be fined by the mobile squad set up in Kaduna.
A Kaduna official said any owners who did not pay the fine will see their beast auctioned off. The fine for a stray cow will be $15. In July, an Air France plane ploughed into a herd of cows as it landed. In May, 25 people died when a lorry swerved to miss a cow and hit a bus.
Kaduna state's environment commissioner, Mohammed Musa Baba, told AFP news agency that strays were "a serious menace and a health hazard". "The state government has established mobile courts, backed by law, to arrest and detain any animals seen roaming the streets, especially cows, sheep and goats, which move in herds," he said.
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LIFE
THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE!
CATHY's weekly letter from Zimbabwe.
Dear Family and Friends,
For the last three months almost every single report from Zimbabwe has
been about the destruction of homes, stalls and informal structures in our
cities and towns. At first, when we could actually see the bulldozers, the
huge clouds of dust and the piles of rubble in our towns and
neighbourhoods, it was all very real and terrifying. Then we saw people
desperately looking for shelter, carrying their belongings and lining the
roads in their hundreds trying to get transport to move the remnants of
their homes out of town and away from the bulldozers. Now, two months
later, there is not much left for the ordinary passer by to see on the
roadsides of Marondera. There are still piles of rubble here and there but
mostly there are just empty spaces in the town. It is hard to believe that
just two months ago you could buy a banana or a twist of newspaper
brimming with ground nuts at the street corner. You could haggle with a
vendor over a huge orange mango, an avocado or a bowl of tomatoes or even
buy a hand made hammock on the side of the road. You could have your shoes
re heeled, your zip fixed or your bicycle spokes tightened by skilled self
employed men and women earning an honest living from the pavements and
alleyways all across Marondera. Now the town is virtually deserted, the
streets are quiet, you cannot even buy a banana on the roadside and
everywhere, still everywhere, the four month old ZANU PF election posters
cling to our lamp posts: "We are proud to be Zimbabweans on our land", the
banners say. "Our land is our sovereignty" the slogans shout at us as we
walk past them. We walk because after seven weeks there is still no
petrol or diesel, almost no buses or taxis are moving and very few
ordinary vehicles are still on the roads.
And the question everyone is asking is what has happened to all those
people whose homes and stalls were demolished. Where are they living now,
how are they surviving, have they got enough to eat? There are more
questions than answers. This week I talked with a man who lives in a rural
village and I am haunted by his stories, in shock at his descriptions. He
told me of people arriving from the cities but of there being no empty
houses where they can live. He told me of families doubling and tripling
up to try and accommodate the desperate newcomers. He told me of meagre
meals being shared and then watered down and shared yet again. He
described how there was no space for people's possessions and so lounge
suites and wardrobes were being stored on top of roofs - exposed to the
wind, the dust and the dew. There are not enough houses in the villages,
the wells are already running dry, all vegetable gardening has stopped due
to the shortage of water and there is no land for all these new people to
scratch a living on. It was this very excuse of congested rural villages
that the ZANU PF government used when they seized all the commercial farms
and turned our country from a food exporter to a begging bowl. Now the
rural villages are even more congested as yet more and more people arrive.
People who once fixed shoes and bicycles, wove baskets and chairs, knitted
jerseys or made hammocks now they just sit in the dusty villages,
homeless, unemployed, hungry and completely at the mercy of the government
systems to whom they will have to turn, for every single one of their most
basic human needs. Control is complete. Until next week, with love, cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle 30 July 2005 http://africantears.netfirms.com My
books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ;
www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand:
johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.exclusivebooks.com
RED SEA BOMBS
Egyptian police 'identify bomber'.
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Investigators have been sifting through the debris for clues
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Egyptian security sources have named a man who they believe was one of the bombers who carried out last weekend's attacks in Sharm al-Sheikh.
At least 64 people were killed when bombs exploded outside two hotels and a market in the Red Sea resort town.
The sources said they believed Moussa Badran was the suicide car bomber who wrecked the Ghazala Gardens hotel in Naama Bay. His is one of 15 names being linked to the three bombings by Egyptian police. Most are believed to be connected with last October's bombings of Sinai resorts farther north at Taba and Ras Shitan that killed 34 people, many of them Israelis.
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LOVE
LOVE IS A GAME THAT TWO CAN PLAY AND BOTH WIN.
ARMED ROBBERY
UK safari boss shot dead in Kenya .
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The British owner of a Kenyan safari lodge has been shot dead by robbers.
Dr John Goldson, 69, was shot in the chest after going to investigate when armed robbers took hostage a security guard at the tented tourist camp.
As they fled, they tried to hijack a car, killing driver John Mwangi and injuring his wife, police said. One of the robbers was also killed. Dr Goldson ran Crater Lake Lodge, in Navaisha, 55 miles (88.5km) north-east of Nairobi, with his wife Jan. The robbers who survived the raid fled the lodge camp with stolen mobile phones and cash.
District police chief Simon Kiragu said Dr Goldson had died instantly after being shot in the chest, at 2100 local time (1900 BST) on Tuesday. "When Dr Goldson went to inquire what was happening, the thugs shot him," he said. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Next of kin have been informed and we are providing consular assistance." It was not yet clear whether the dead robber was shot by police or another gang member by mistake, Mr Kiragu said. The wife of the dead driver, Pauline Wanjiku, is believed to be in a critical condition.
Crater Lake Lodge, a luxury camp at the bottom of an extinct volcano on the shores of Crater Lake, has been described as "Kenya's most romantic camp" and one of the country's "best kept secrets". A nearby game sanctuary has leopards, hippo, aardvark, spring hares and Colobus monkeys. Dr Goldson had a PhD in agricultural economics and had spent most of his life in Kenya. Visitors described him as a skilled chef and "gifted raconteur" with a dry wit.
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ANOTHER ZIMBABWE TO HAPPEN IN S.A.?
SA proposes quicker land reform.
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Landless people staged a protest march to the summit
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South Africa needs to revise its approach to land reform to end racial inequalities, government officials say.
At a national land summit in Johannesburg, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said the current market-based approach was not working.
Landless people's activists remained sceptical about the announcement. Eighty per cent of agricultural land is owned by white South Africans, who make up only 10% of the population - the legacy of apartheid laws.
Since coming to power in 1994, the current government has adopted a "willing buyer, willing seller" approach to land redistribution, paying market prices for land that white owners are prepared to sell, and then distributing it to landless blacks.
"The pace of reform has been negatively influenced by the willing buyer, willing seller approach, Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka told the meeting. "Markets don't have mechanisms to redistribute land for the poor." Asked whether this would require new legislation, Land and Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza told the BBC: "This will be decided by the outcome of the summit."
The Landless People's Movement (LPM), which has been campaigning for government to speed up land reform, seemed sceptical about the government's proposals. "It is one thing to say it, and another to implement it," said Randall Rossouw, an activist from Western Cape province.
The LPM staged a protest march to the conference venue, calling for an end to the willing buyer willing seller approach. Minister Didiza said that by 2014, the government will have been able to deliver 30% of agricultural land to the black majority. So far, only 4% of land has been acquired by the government from private owners for redistribution purposes, and unused state land has also been redistributed.
The land summit - which brings together politicians, landowners and organisations representing people who hope to benefit from land reform - will discuss ways of speeding up the redistribution process. White farmers are concerned that changes could create an atmosphere conducive for land grabs, similar to the land invasions seen on white-owned farms in Zimbabwe.
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NO MAN IS RICH ENOUGH TO BUY BACK HIS PAST!
KIDNAP OF ALGERIAN DIPLOMATS
Algeria pulls staff out of Iraq.
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The two Algerian diplomats were kidnapped in Baghdad
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Algeria has withdrawn all its diplomats from Iraq following the kidnap of two of its staff last week.
"I can confirm that there are no longer any Algerian diplomats in Baghdad," said minister Abdelkader Messahel.
Algeria said the decision was a precautionary measure and was not made in response to the kidnappers' demands. Iraq has been trying to encourage other countries to set up embassies in Baghdad, but Egypt's top envoy has already been abducted and killed.
The group al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed to have carried out both attacks. Ali Balarousi, Algeria's top envoy to the country, and his colleague, Azzedin Belkadi, were seized in Mansour, Baghdad, on Thursday. Pictures of what appeared to be identity papers belonging to Mr Belaroussi were posted on the internet on Monday.
Algerian Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui said his government was trying hard to get the two diplomats freed. "The government is not sitting idle. I cannot tell you what it is doing right now, but it is doing everything it can for the two nationals to be freed," he said.
BBC NEWS
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KOFI ANNAN TO VISIT ZIMBABWE !
Annan to inspect Zimbabwe slums.
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Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the campaign
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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is to visit Zimbabwe to inspect its controversial slum demolition programme at the invitation of its leader.
About 700,000 people have lost their homes or livelihoods in the operation.
Last week a UN report said the campaign violated international law and Mr Annan himself called it a "catastrophic injustice" to Zimbabwe's poorest.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has criticised the UN report. "He did invite me to come," Mr Annan said on Monday. "I would want to go to see how we can resolve some of the issues raised in the report. But I have not set a date yet." He added that the UN hoped to assemble any necessary aid for those affected while working with the Zimbabwean government to change the situation.
Zimbabwe says its policy - known as Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Rubbish) - is intended to crack down on black-market trading and other criminal activity in slum areas.
Hundreds of thousands of homes in the country's shanty towns have been torched and bulldozed in recent months.The UN report was compiled by Mr Annan's special envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, after a two-week fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe. The report found that programme had been carried out in "an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with indifference to human suffering".
Zimbabwe's government, it said, was collectively responsible and it urged prosecution of those who "may have caused criminal negligence".
BBC NEWS
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CAUSE
A LIFE WITHOUT CAUSE IS A LIFE WITHOUT EFFECT !
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME!
Malawi leader bans maize exports.
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Mutharika is asking citizens to contribute to a solidarity fund
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Malawi's president has banned all exports of the food staple maize as well as fertilizer as the country gets to grips with the current food crisis.
"From today, no maize should be exported to other countries because we have to feed ourselves first," Bingu wa Mutharika said on Monday.
He said it did not make sense for Malawi - hit by one of its worst food shortages in years - to export maize. At least 4.2m Malawians are in urgent need of food aid, according to the UN. The president also ordered a ban of fertiliser exports, saying "we need it here for our food production". There is a thriving unregulated trade of cheap Malawi maize and fertiliser in Zambia and Tanzania. Merchants buy the products cheap in Malawi and export them to neighbouring countries. Ironically, Malawian authorities buy the same maize at a higher price, especially in Tanzania.
"From today our borders are sealed," said Mr Mutharika, urging ordinary citizens to inspect trucks crossing borders and report suspicious exports. He also announced a "Feed the Nation" initiative - a countrywide campaign to collect contribution in the form of money and food to feed the needy.
"I urge everyone to contribute at least 10% of their earnings to the initiative," he said. Mr Mutharika, who donated 1m Malawi Kwacha (£5,000) to the initiative, said it was aimed at showing that Malawians can feed themselves before turning to international donors. Malawi requires at least two million metric tons of maize to feed its 11 million citizens but, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, due to persistent drought, the country recorded a 24% drop in maize production. The government has announced it will use $50m (£28m) to buy 300,000 tons of maize from South Africa.
BBC NEWS
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NAKED MARCH!
Mozambicans in naked poll protest.
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Mozambicans have not marched naked before
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Opposition supporters in a northern Mozambican town have marched naked to protest against alleged fraud in the mayoral election.
About 100 supporters of the opposition party, Renamo, stripped off and walked down the main street of Mocimboa da Praia on Thursday.
They shouted insults against the mayor and the governing party, Frelimo. Frelimo has condemned the protest, saying it broke the law. Renamo says people are fed up with rigged polls. The protest is said to have broken the law on indecent exposure and shocked many ordinary Mozambicans, says the BBC's Jose Tembe in Maputo.
Senior Renamo MP Vicente Ululu says the protesters are fed up with what they say are Frelimo's "fraudulent" ways of winning the elections.
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 I don't think the problem really requires that kind of protest, going nude in the street 
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"I think those people are not fools, they have never been insane. For me it means, they are really fed up... I don't condemn them," he told the BBC World Service's Focus programme.
When asked whether it was indecent to march naked in the streets where children might be found, he said: "I don't think it is a solution. I think when one comes to the end of not knowing what to do, he can do anything."
But Frelimo condemned the Renamo move. "This is a barbarity never experienced in the political history of independent Mozambique," said the party's secretary for information and propaganda, Edson Macuacua.
"Actually it is the most flagrant violation of the most elementary values and ethical, political and moral principles of citizenry. The protest was completely illegal, regardless of its merit or demerit, causes and objectives."
Many Mozambicans were equally unimpressed, says our correspondent. "I don't think the problem really requires that kind of protest, going nude in the street - first it's immoral, it makes no sense to just strip out of your clothes... just because you're protesting against alleged fraud in a local election," one man told the BBC.
"I personally did not see it," said another man, "but from what I read, that sends a very bad signal of the political situation in the country and if that represents a reality which is behind what happens in the election, we have something to think about."
BBC NEWS REPORT
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CHAD - FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Getting stuck in the mud in Chad.
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Stephanie Hancock gives her first impressions after arriving in Chad's capital, Ndjamena, to report for the BBC.
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Roads have turned into lakes
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When you think of Chad you will probably conjure up an image of a vast desert landscape, with not a drop of water anywhere.
This may be true for much of the time, but not at the moment as the rainy season has just begun here.
Chadians are very happy their long wait for the rains is over and the streets of Ndjamena are really bustling.
But rain is not always good news. After 30 years of civil war, Chad's infrastructure is almost non-existent. Very few roads are tarred, so the torrential rains are slowly turning Ndjamena into a giant mud bath. Things are so bad that whole neighbourhoods have become islands, cut off by lakes of muddy water. And young boys are renting out pirogues for residents to cross from one side to the other.
Strikes seem to be the norm here.
Drivers are angered by attempts to seize their taxi rank land
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Two weeks ago, it was the turn of the capital's security guards, complaining about low wages.
And last week Ndjamena became a ghost town when taxi drivers went on strike.
Meals are simple, such as grilled fish and rice. But people can be very generous.
At a dinner last week, my host served meat stew, four giant fish and two whole roast chickens - even though he had only invited two guests.
One unusual thing about the capital is that nobody appears to play music in the streets.
Driving to neighbouring Cameroon last week, I soon heard radios pumping out music, filling the streets with noise. By contrast, Ndjamena can seem sombre and quiet. Since my arrival, I have been contacted by many curious people to sum-up Chad. But this is almost impossible and is like nowhere I have ever visited.
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CATHY's weekly letter from Zimbabwe.
Dear Family and Friends,
Shocking reports this week told of how 300 homeless men, women and
children sheltering in Bulawayo churches were forcibly turned out in the
middle of the night by government officials and trucked off to a holding
camp. One Church leader described the midnight raid as brutal and horrific
and said: "They had elderly folk, and they were piling them onto vehicles;
they were frog-marching children ...who had been asleep." I know that any
parent who has woken their child from a deep sleep will feel the same
utter horror as I do at this description. I am appalled to think that our
government officials have become so cruel as to be able to carry out these
acts in the middle of the night, in mid winter, to defenceless women,
children and babies. Are they not also parents, fathers, grandfathers?
Also this week priests who had been helping displaced people in Mutare and
Bulawayo were called in for questioning by government officials. In
Bulawayo church leaders from various denominations were forbidden from
going into holding camps where hundreds of homeless people have been
taken. The churches were told that they have to have permission from the
political governor of the area before they may visit the poor and
destitute in the holding camp.
Meanwhile in an absolutely absurd Alice in Wonderland development in
Harare, the government started moving homeless people back to exactly the
same sites on which their homes had been demolished a few weeks ago. ZBC
television on Friday showed Zanu PF Minister Chombo preparing to address a
crowd of people whose homes had been demolished by government bulldozers.
The people clenched their fists, raised their arms and chanted slogans in
praise of Zanu PF and then listened as the Minister told them that those
who had lease agreements were to be taken "home" to their piles of rubble.
Minister Chombo told these people who have lost everything that not only
can they go back, but that they will be given free transport to get there.
The Minister then went on to announce that the people would be given
sheets of asbestos and treated timber poles which they could use to erect
"temporary structures" which they would be allowed to live in for one year
while they built their permanent homes. Oh dear, I am just left utterly
speechless.
As things get worse and worse in Zimbabwe, more and more people are seeing
the truth about what has really been going on here and are speaking out,
and for this we give thanks. We thank the South African Council of Churches
who have launched Operation Hope for Zimbabwe to assist the 700 000 people
made homeless by Operation Murambatsvina. We thank Nigerian poet and Nobel
Prize winner Wole Soyinka who this week said that: "A great revolutionary...
a liberation fighter has become a monster." Soyinka said that African
leaders should have the courage to sanction Zimbabwe - by refusing to give
it loans. And we thank the UN special envoy Anna Tibaijuka for her report,
her voice and her courageous words which speak for millions here who are
voiceless. We thank the people of New Zealand for their protests on our
behalf and we thank Zimbabweans in exile in countries all over the world
for not having forgotten us. Until next week, with love cathy
Copyright cathy buckle 23 July 2005.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ;
www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au
; Africa: www.exclusivebooks.com
WONDER
THE LARGER THE ISLAND OF KNOWLEDGE
THE LONGER THE SHORELINE OF WONDER!
