EVENING REPORT 11/11/02

UGANDAN SOLDIERS KILL 15 REBELS: ARMY.

KAMPALA: The Ugandan army says government soldiers have killed 15 rebels in the north of the country, while the rebels have killed two soldiers. The rebels and the soldiers were killed in a two hour battle on Saturday, when the army attacked the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, in Lira Palwo village, about 400 kilometres north of the capital, Kampala. The information could not be independently confirmed and it was not possible to contact the rebels. The LRA fighters are leftovers of a northern rebellion that began after President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, seized power in 1986.

Still in Uganda, police have destroyed illegal drugs destined for the European and American markets worth about 230-thousand dollars. Police spokesperson Asuman Mugenyi says the drugs were destroyed at the Nsambya Police barracks incinerator. The drugs were confiscated from traffickers and couriers in nine separate operations. This is the second time this year that the Ugandan police's anti-narcotics unit has destroyed confiscated narcotics.

ETHIOPIA'S PRIME MINISTER WARNS OF FAMINE.

LONDON: Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has warned that the famine hitting his country is likely to be far worse than the massive food shortages of the early 1980's, which prompted a big international relief effort. Zenawi has referred to the drought of 20 years ago as a nightmare and says the problem facing Ethiopia now is too ghastly to contemplate.

AFRIKANER GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR S.A. BOMBINGS.

JOHANNESBURG: The hunt for six men linked to the bombings over a week ago in South Africa continues, following the release of identikits of the men to the media. Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Boer Nation Warriors or Boerevolk-Krygers has come forward claiming responsibility for the recent bomb blasts in Soweto and Bronkhorstspruit in Gauteng province. Reports say the group sent letters to several media organisations. In the letters the group said the bomb blasts were the beginning of the end of South Africa's African National Congress government. Military Analyst at the Institute for Security Studies Henry Boshof says the group has also demanded that 35 of their compatriots be released from prison.

ARAB LEAGUE CALLS FOR INCLUSION OF ARABS IN IRAQI INSPECTION TEAM.

CAIRO: Arab League chief Amr Moussa says he will ask United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to include Arab nationals in the international inspection teams due to oversee Iraq's disarmament. Moussa says he will convey this demand when he speaks with Annan later today. The Arab League Secretary-General says having Arab inspectors or observers will enhance the credibility of the inspections.

ZIMBABWE TALKS STALLED UNTIL COURT RULING: FOREIGN MINISTER.

PRETORIA: Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge says negotiations between Zimbabwe's ruling party and its main opposition will not be resumed until the outcome of a court challenge to the presidential election is known. Speaking after a Zimbabwe-South Africa joint commission meeting in the South African capital, Pretoria, Mudenge said ZANU-PF was ready for talks with the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, pending the outcome of the court action. The negotiations between ZANU-PF and the MDC started in April at the behest of presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. The aim of the talks was to end a political impasse over the outcome of presidential elections in March.

SWAZILAND ATTORNEY GENERAL FAILS TO APPEAR IN COURT.

MBABANE: The Swaziland Attorney-General, Phesheya Dlamini, has failed to appear in the Mbabane Magistrate's Court this morning. Dlamini is charged with sedition, contempt of court and attempting to obstruct the course of justice. He refused to accept two summons from police over the weekend. The Swazi government brought the charges against Dlamini after he ordered three judges to drop their probe into the circumstances surrounding Zena Mahlangu's alleged betrothal to King Mswati. Journalist Bhekie Matsebula says the King has distanced himself from the case, while Swaziland's major opposition party, the People's United Democratic Movement, has called for Dlamini's resignation.

BURKINABES FLOOD HOME FROM STRIFE-TORN IVORY COAST.

OUAGADOUGOU: Reports from Burkina Faso say scores of Burkinabes are returning home from neighbouring Ivory Coast every day to escape attacks, after Ivorian rebels suspended peace talks with the government. National television has quoted a Red Cross official as saying at least 100 Burkinabes are returning from Ivory Coast daily, even though the border has been closed since the start of the rebellion there on the 19th of September. So far about 30-thousand Burkinabes have fled, complaining that they were victimised in Ivory Coast where Burkina Faso is suspected of supporting the rebels and sheltering their leaders. The Burkina Faso government has denied backing the insurgents.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast rebels who pulled out of peace talks in Lome at the weekend, say they will meet again with the mediator and leave about half of their negotiators in the Togolese capital. A rebel spokesman says their political chief Guillaume Soro is among six negotiators who will return to their headquarters in Bouake, Ivory Coast's second biggest city. They were expecting to first meet with Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who has been trying to mediate an end to Ivory Coast's worst post-independence crisis since last month.

CITES TO VOTE ON THE INTERNATIONAL IVORY TRADE.

SANTIAGO: South Africa and four other Southern African countries may know by tonight if they will be able to sell off their stockpiles of ivory. A vote by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species taking place in Santiago is imminent on a proposal by these Southern African Development Community countries for the trade in ivory to be re-opened. The sale of ivory was prohibited worldwide in 1989 after the continent's elephant population plummeted.

ISRAEL RESPONDS TO KIBBUTZ SHOOTING OF FIVE.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel should expel what he terms the terror regime of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. This comes after a Palestinian gunman killed five Israelis at the northern kibbutz of Metzer late yesterday. Netanyahu was appointed foreign minister last week after the collapse of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition. Israeli government spokesperson Jonathan Pellid says the attack is not an isolated incident.

U.S. OIL AND GAS GIANT AND U.N. AGENCY TO DEVELOP NIGERIA'S NIGER DELTA.

LAGOS: United States oil and gas giant Chevron Texaco has signed a collaborative agreement with a United Nations agency to develop Nigeria's oil-rich but troubled Niger Delta region. The company says Chevron has signed the agreement with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP. It says it will tap UNDP's experience as a development agency to execute projects in the region. The Niger Delta, which is the centre of Nigeria's multi-billion dollar oil industry, is one of the country's most underdeveloped and violent regions.

SENEGAL RECALL STRIKERS TO SQUAD FOR FRIENDLY WITH S.A.

DAKAR: Senegal have recalled strikers Mamadou-Lamine Diabang and Ousmane Ndoye for the first time in more than a year for next week's friendly international against South Africa in Johannesburg. Diabang, who has scored five times in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld this season, won his only previous cap against Togo in June last year. Ndoye, who is now at French second division club Toulouse, was capped in a friendly against Mali in February, 2001. Coach Abdoulaye Sarr will have 18 of Senegal's 2002 World Cup squad at his disposal for the match in Johannesburg.

Prepared in Johannesburg, South Africa, by Mbulelo Dlamini Maqhubu and Micel Schnehage.

MIDDAY REPORT 11.11.2002.

ARAB LEAGUE MINISTERS HOLD SUMMIT MEETING.

CAIRO: Foreign Ministers from the council of the Arab League have called on Eritrea to respect the sovereignty of Sudanese territory and regional security. They issued the statement at the end of a session in Egypt. The Ministers also called on Asmara not to interfere in the internal affairs of Sudan. Tensions have been heightened between Sudan and Eritrea since Khartoum accused Asmara of being behind a rebel offensive in the east of Sudan, charges Asmara denied. The Arab Foreign Ministers further expressed the hope that the United Nations Security Council resolution on Iraq would finally resolve Baghdad's dispute with Washington. The U.N. resolution gives Iraq one last chance to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction or face serious consequences.

OPPOSITION PARTY IN SWAZILAND CALLS ON ATTORNEY GENERAL TO RESIGN.

MBABANE: Swaziland's main opposition party, The People's United Democratic Movement, or PUDEMO, has called on the country's Attorney General, Phesheya Dlamini, to resign. The call comes after Dlamini was charged with sedition and with defeating the ends of justice for allegedly intimidating the judiciary. A PUDEMO spokesperson says that Dlamini has often abused judges of the High Court in the name of King Mswati the Third. He said that until now, action had not been taken against Dlamini for these infringements. He says Dlamini has brought the institution of justice into disrepute and that the case he is facing should send out a clear message that the independence of the courts must be respected.

NEARLY ONE-THIRD OF NIGERIAN VOTERS NOT REGISTERED.

LAGOS: Nigeria's Catholic Secretariat says nearly a third of the country's estimated 60-million eligible voters have not been registered. It said although turn-out of prospective voters was large, materials were in short supply and officials poorly trained. Furthermore, politicians connived with officials to perpetrate fraud and intimidation during the eleven-day exercise in September this year. The Catholic Secretariat urged Nigerian electoral officials to set aside additional time to register those left off the list, and to expunge multiple registrations. The Catholic Secretariat was one of four groups accredited to monitor the registration process in Nigeria.

UN STRUGGLES TO RAISE FUNDS FOR ETHIOPIA.

ROME: The United Nations World Food Programme says it is struggling to raise funds for drougth-ravaged Ethiopia, as donor attention is focussed on southern Africa, where up to 14-million people are at risk of starvation. The U.N. food agency said several million Ethiopians were going hungry amid a bleak outlook for the main grain harvest as rains in the growing season had ended early.

SOUTH AFRICA TO TAKE PART IN SAINT HELENA GOVERNOR'S CUP.

CAPE TOWN: The South African Navy will take part in the Saint Helena Governor's Cup yacht race for the first time this year. The Navy entered three yachts in the two-thousand kilometre race from Table Bay to Saint Helena, an island in the Atlantic. It starts at Table Bay, South Africa on the 30th of this month, and ends at Saint Helena. A fleet of 20 yachts is expected at the start. The race is one of the final events of the quincentenary celebrations for Saint Helena, which was discovered by Portuguese seafarers 500 years ago.

BLIND CRICKETERS OF SOUTH AFRICA TO DEFEND WORLD TITLE NEXT MONTH.

JOHANNESBURG: Blind Cricket South Africa has announced the final squad of 17 blind cricketers who are to defend their title at the 2002 World Cup to be held in India, next month. The team was announced in Pretoria. The South African National Blind Cricket team won the finals at the World Cup in New Delhi, India in 1998. All eight Blind Cricket playing countries were represented at this event. Blind cricket is similar to sighted cricket with the main adjustment being that of the ball. The ball is hollow containing bearings that make a noise enabling the players to follow the game. It is bowled under arm to ensure that the batsman is able to hear it from the time it leaves the bowler's hand.

MORNING REPORT 11.11.2002.

IVORIAN REBELS BRACE FOR RENEWED FIGHTING.

ABIDJAN: Rebels in Ivory Coast say they are bracing themselves for more fighting after withdrawing from the Lome peace talks with the Ivorian government. They said they had sent 600 men and supplies from the north of the country to reinforce their central stronghold of Bouake. However, they added that they would not be the first to break the tenuous ceasefire with government forces. The rebels broke off peace talks at the weekend saying the Ivorian government was responsible for the murder of Benoit Dakoury-Tabley, a brother of a leading rebel figure. The rebels took up arms against the government in September this year, and are in control of virtually all of the Muslim north of Ivory Coast, while government forces retain the largely Christian south.

THE U.N. REPATRIATES CONGOLESE FROM CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC.

BANGUI: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has repatriated more than a thousand Congolese refugees from the Central African Republic. The exercise comes amid attacks on Congolese refugees in Bangui and in the rest of the Central African Republic. The assaults are in reprisal for crimes committed against Central Africans by Congolese rebels. The government in Bangui used the rebels to help crush an army rebellion in Bangui last month. Since then, the rebels have run amuck, plundering homes and raping women throughout the Central African Republic.

NIGERIANS MARK ANNIVERSARY OF EXECUTION OF KEN SARO-WIWA.

LAGOS: Reports from the town of BORI in the Nigerian region of Ogoniland say thousands of mourners have marked the anniversary of the execution of human rights activists Ken Saro-Wiwa with a service at the local Methodist Church. The liturgy was organised by Saro-Wiwa's activist group, The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Saro-Wiwa's family declined to attend, saying they planned to mark the anniversary in privacy. Saro-Wiwa and eight others were executed by a military tribunal on the tenth day of November 1995. The nine men were convicted of orchestrating the mob killings of four tribal chiefs.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF SWAZILAND TO FACE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE CHARGES.

MBABANE: The Attorney General of Swaziland, PHESHEYA DLAMINI, is due to face charges of sedition and of obstructing the course of justice. He will answer to these accusations in the Mbabane High Court. The charges stem from from allegations that Dlamini threatened the Swazi Judiciary. The judges were due to hear a case of the alleged abduction of a young woman by members of King Mswati's royal household.

KENYAN VETERANS WANT COMPENSATION FROM BRITAIN.

NAIROBI: Kenyan veterans of the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion against British colonial rule say they plan to seek compensation for alleged atrocities committed by British soldiers. The veterans' leader, Kuria Nguru, was speaking at a Remembrance Day ceremony for soldiers who fell in both world wars and subsequent conflicts. Nguru said some Mau Mau fighters had been permanently disabled as a result of torture in British detention camps. He says the torture was inflicted by British soldiers or Kenyan home guards employed by the colonial government during the 1954-1958 Mau Mau uprising.

MALAWIAN DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT.

BLANTYRE: The lobby group, The Malawian Human Rights Commission, says widespread hunger, poverty, political intolerance, crime, and human rights abuses are a major threat to democracy in Malawi. It said state institutions that investigated corruption and human rights abuses were vastly underfunded in Malawi. The report also accused Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, his Cabinet and Parliament of interfering with the judiciary. It cited incidents in which judges were intimidated and their rulings disregarded by the president and Parliament. Journalists and newspapers also were harassed for criticising the government. The report was based on input from state officials, civil society organisations and government departments in Malawi.

RIGHTWING GROUP IN SOUTH AFRICA CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOMB BLASTS.

PRETORIA: A group in South Africa, calling itself the Boer Nation Warriors, have claimed responsibility for the recent bomb blasts in the cities of Soweto and Bronkhorstspruit in South Africa's Gauteng Province. The group sent letters to several media organisations in South Africa. The origins and credibility of the letters would be investigated by the police. In the letters, the Boer Nation Warriors said the bomb blasts were the beginning of the end of the African National Congress government. The rightwing group also demanded that 35 of their compatriots be released from South African prisons.

ZAMBIA SWAMPED BY REFUGEES.

LUSAKA: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says Zambia is sheltering so many refugees from wars in neighbouring countries that there is not enough food for all the displaced persons. The U.N. agency said this had lead to increased malnutrition in refugee camps in Zambia. The agency noted that Zambia took in more than 40-thousand refugees, notably from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It warned that more would arrive before the end of this year. Zambia is sheltering more than 250-thousand refugees. This is a record in southern Africa.

COST OF FIGHTING AIDS SURGES.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has sounded a warning that the global cost of treating H.I.V. and AIDS cases and containing the pandemic could reach ten-and-a-half-billion dollars a year by 2005. Officials say total global spending by various U.N. programs on AIDS will be about three-billion dollars this year. The U.N. called for a doubling of contributions to such programs to meet this year's expenditure.

MISS WORLD PAGEANT DUE TO BEGIN IN NIGERIA.

LAGOS: About a hundred of the world's most beautiful women are due to arrive in Nigeria today to take part in the Miss World pageant, despite controversy over the death sentences hanging over two young mothers. The organisers of the event say they are confident that a threat by some contestants to boycott the occasion over Nigeria's use of Islamic law has evaporated. Senior Nigerian officials have insisted the two young women will not be stoned to death. The women were sentenced to death for adultery. The judgements were imposed by Islamic courts in northern Nigeria. A number of countries including South Africa have said they will boycott the pagent.

Prepared in Johannesburg, South Africa.

While these stories may be freely used, the source Channel Africa must be credited