"Venezuela Journalists Denounce US Campaign"

Chavez: Our oil reserve does not belong to Mr. Bush
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday accused the United States of planning to portray his country as a security threat in order to capture its vast oil reserves.
"We are just waiting for the United States to announce next that Venezuela has weapons of mass destruction," Chavez said in a speech in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.
Chavez - who has repeatedly accused U.S. President George W. Bush of plotting to assassinate him, a charge Washington denies - said U.S. officials have called him "a threat" and a "destabilizing force" because they want an excuse to gain control over Venezuelan oil reserves.
"The United States government would very much like to keep all our oil for itself," Chavez said. "But our oil reserve does not belong to Mr. Bush. The oil belongs to the Venezuelan people."

Venezuela Journalists Denounce US Campaign
A group of almost 400 hundred Venezuelan journalists issued a statement today denouncing what they consider is a "campaign" from the United States against Venezuela. The journalists argue that negative and frequent media coverage of Venezuela in the U.S., as well as the frequent comments by high ranking officials at the State Department, CIA, and White House, amount to a "campaign" similar to those applied against countries which were later invaded by the U.S.

South Africa begins exhuming apartheid-era graves
Investigators in South Africa hope to start unravelling exactly what happened to hundreds of people who disappeared during the apartheid era when the first of a series of bodies are exhumed from unmarked graves.

S.Africa quake injures dozens, mines evacuated
An earthquake measuring around 5.0 on the Richter scale hit a gold mining area of South Africa on Wednesday, injuring dozens of people including miners and jolting buildings 160 km (100 miles) away in Johannesburg.

Injuries and Damage after Quake Rocks South Africa
An earthquake measuring five on the Richter scale shook parts of South Africa today and caused injuries and damage south west of Johannesburg.

South Africa to strengthen trade ties with Libya
South Africa will strengthen its trade and economic links with oil-rich Libya in the wake of lifting of sanctions against the North African country.

Japan backs Africa's bid for UN seats
Japan, a leading contender for a permanent seat in an enlarged Security Council, yesterday welcomed an African call to give the continent two spots, saying the developing world needed better representation.

'All of Africa not collapsing under weight of Aids'
There is no single Aids epidemic in Africa, says Hein Marais, until recently the chief writer for the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids). There are many. And reasons for these different patterns may range far from medical territory into the realms of economics and history.

South Africa to Send Observers to Zimbabwean Elections
The South African Parliament will send a 20-member multiparty delegation to observe the Zimbabwean elections on March 31, BUA News service reports Tuesday.

Why South Africa does not criticise Mugabe
South Africa is seen as the key international player in efforts to find a way out of Zimbabwe's political impasse, but in the run-up to parliamentary elections it is coming under increased pressure from all sides.

UNHCR Cites Progress in African Refugee Returns
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says it has made considerable progress toward its goal of returning home up to two million refugees to nine African countries. The agency says it has repatriated more than 350,000 refugees in the first year of a five-year operation.

Africa's forgotten war
An often forgotten war in Africa rages on against innocent civilians in northern Uganda. Bordering Sudan, who just recently signed a Final Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end Africa's longest-running civil war, Uganda sees its children abducted, exploited and traumatized while its own 18-year war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Politics behind settlement of Maasai Mau forest
Following last week's forced eviction by the government of settlers who had invaded the Maasai Mau Forest,The EastAfrican has established that the massive re-settlement of people in the forests was political.