"Mbeki lambasts Brown"

Mbeki lambasts Brown for 'imperial nostalgia'
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa rebuked Gordon Brown yesterday, accusing the "presumed successor to Tony Blair" of promoting nostalgia for British imperialism and joining in a "discourse" that "demonises" blacks.

Black Brazilians learn from Biko
Steve Biko sought to set black South Africans free from oppression and he died for it. He probably never imagined that 30 years on, his message would be setting free the minds of young men and women thousands of kilometres away, in Brazil.

Rwanda may join East African Community in November
Rwanda can now expect to join the East African Community (EAC) in November this year after the heads of state of the current EAC member states have called for expedition of its admission.

Township anger rocks South Africa
A recent wave of township riots over a lack of housing and basic services is sparking concern that the growing unrest could destabilise the continent's youngest democracy.

White House wooing black clergy
Escalating its courtship of a politically powerful constituency, the Bush administration is teaming up with some of the nation's best-known and most-influential black clergy to craft a new role for U.S. churches in Africa.

Freedom a deadly word in Africa
Meet Yorro Jallow, editor of the Independent. This one's in The Gambia. Last year, his offices were bombed three times by thugs supporting the regime of President (ex-Sergeant) Yaya Jammeh. When he moved his paper to print on the presses used by a friendly rival, The Point, the President stopped any transfer by special decree - and the editor of The Point was murdered, shot three times in the head by unidentified gunmen.

How seeds sown in Arran could bear fruit for Africa
IT has been a long journey for Jack McConnell. Fifteen hours' flying time, and 30 years from the Arran sheep farm where the 14-year-old schoolboy watched the brutality of the Soweto riots on television. The injustice of apartheid sparked his interest in politics, and, as the first minister told a live television audience on Wednesday, Africa has remained important to him ever since.

Uncovering South Africa's nuclear past
In the basement of the William Cullen library at Wits University, a team of researchers is slowly piecing together the story of South Africa's nuclear programme.

UN envoy to meet Mugabe
United Nations (UN) envoy for humanitarian needs James Morris winds up his trip to drought-stricken Southern African this week, meeting with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to discuss food needs.

Commercial jet missile defense system ready for testing Cost,
benefit of laser devices to thwart shoulder-fired weapons under review

Huge Sellafield leak went undetected for 9 months
Full scale disclosed of worst nuclear accident for decade. Catalogue of human error led to massive radioactive discharge. Accident may force ministers to shut troubled plant for good.

Free People Do Bad Things
Why does it feel like the brutality of a Vince McMahon, football, the NRA, Wall Street, Republicans and America's far-flung network of secret prisons and expanding desert wars all have something to do with one another? Connected in some way? Why this unnamable suspicion in the back of the mind, and darting sense of fear? Ah yes! Something is happening here, and we all know what it is, don't we Mr. Joooooones! Things are bound to get more ugly.

Photostory: The Erez Crossing Point in Gaza

We'll miss our target to stop
'flaring' in Nigeria, admits Shell
Shell, which recently announced record profits for 2004, admitted yesterday that it would miss its own targets to bring to a halt the harmful practice of burning unwanted gas in Nigeria.

Bush: "You Have To Keep Repeating
Things To Catapult The Propaganda"

South Korean students hold anti-U.S. rally

South Africa and Palestine
We at Seven Oaks are fully aware that many British Columbians still refer to Haida Gwai'i as "the Queen Charlottes"; nevertheless, would you care to comment on the demonstrations by South African whites this week to protest a plan by the South African government to rename the capital city Pretoria 'Tshwane' – the name of a historic chief, which also means 'We are the same'?

It's like the Christian Fundamentalist supporters of George Bush and the Republican party who feel that they are discriminated against because of their Christian beliefs. I'm sure these white Afrikaners feel a genuine sense of loss now that they can no longer lord it over the majority. There was a certain nobility in their fight against British Imperialism which was particularly ruthless towards the Afrikaner by comparison with how the British treated the Quebecois.

However, their demonstration indicates to me that they have not yet come to terms with the social crime they committed against the entire unenfranchised population of Apartheid South Africa. From being the victims of the British Empire they joined with the British in exploiting the indigenous Black population as well as the people who were imported into the country to do the grunt work. And as an aside, I was born in the British-named Robert's Heights just outside Pretoria. The Afrikaners changed my birthplace to Voortrekkerhoogte to celebrate their cultural icons. Continue...