EVENING REPORT 20.11.2002.

TANZANIAN POLICE ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH DEATHS OF INMATES.

DAR ES SALAAM: Reports from Tanzania say six police officers have been arrested in connection with the suffocation deaths of at least 17 inmates in an overcrowded cell in the south-west of the country. The prisoners who died were among around 120 men crammed into a remand cell meant for 30 in the Mbarali district police station. The six policemen arrested included the district police superintendent, the station commander and four officers. Fourteen more prisoners are in a local hospital, two of them in critical condition.

SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE MAKE LARGE WEAPONS DISCOVERY.

PORT ELIZABETH: The South African Police have revealed that home-made land mines and spiked metal chains used to ambush cash in transit vehicles were part of this morning's arms cache discovery in the Northern Cape Province. Earlier, police confirmed that 26 explosive devices resembling giant pipe bombs had also been recovered in a remote open field in the Keimoes area in the Northern Cape. Police expect to make more arrests. Possible links to the Boeremag organisation are being investigated. Two arms caches were discovered earlier this year that have been linked to the Boeremag. Eighteen alleged Boeremag members are charged with treason. An Eastern Cape farmer was arrested last night and a quantity of arms and ammunition seized from his property near Umtata today.

IVORIAN PEACE TALKS STUMBLE ON.

LOME: Reports from the Togolese capital say the Ivorian peace talks continue to make little progress. The latest impasse centres around a rebel dismissal of the Ivorian government's offer of a referendum on a new constitution. The rebel delegation insisted that President Laurent Gbagbo resign first so that new elections could be held. The Lome talks are being held under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States. Hundreds were killed in four weeks of fighting that followed a failed coup this September. A truce was declared a month ago.

IVORIAN BUSINESSMAN MURDERED.

ABIDJAN: An Ivorian businessman, TIEGBE ZOUMANA OUATTARA, has been murdered in Abidjan, where there have been a number of assassinations since the start of the rebellion. Ouattara, the owner of a transport business, was shot dead by men in camouflage uniforms near his home. The murder follows a report in an Abidjan-based newspaper that published a list of 30 people, including several in the transport business, whom it claimed supported former Prime Minister Alassana Ouattara, the country's leading opposition politician, or slain former military ruler Robert Guei.

NINE KILLED IN HORROR ROAD ACCIDENT IN ALGERIA.

ALGIERS: A cement-filled trailer has crushed a minibus near the Algerian capital of Algiers, killing nine people and injuring twelve others. The trailer went out of control after coming loose from a truck that was pulling it.

MUSLIMS IN NIGERIA BURN NEWSPAPER OFFICE.

LAGOS: Muslim protesters have reportedly burned down a Nigerian newspaper office after the paper ran an article suggesting the Prophet Mohammed would have chosen a Miss World contestant to be his wife. The daily newspaper " This Day" says its regional office in the northern city of Kaduna was completely destroyed in the attack. The upcoming Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria has angered many Muslims. Kaduna was the site of religious riots two years ago that left about 2,000 people dead.

SOUTH AFRICA COULD PLAY ROLE IN WORLD PEACE.

CAPE TOWN: Former South African journalist Benjamin Pogrund, says South Africa can and should be playing an important role in trying to effect peace in the Middle East. Pogrund is currently the director of the centre for Social Concern in Jerusalem. He was one of the most vocal journalists during the struggle against apartheid. Pogrund was addressing the media in Cape Town.

SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT TAKES PART IN LEGAL CASE.

JOHANNESBURG: The South African government has been granted an opportunity to join asbestos victims in a landmark court case. The victims are seeking an court order to prevent South African mining house, Gencor, from unbundling its estimated one-billion-800-million dollar stake in Amplats Mines. The government has received a formal order from the Johannesburg High Court allowing it to join the plaintiffs in the case. Gencor is accused of running of companies that allegedly exposed hundreds of thousand of workers to asbestos during their mining operations. Gencor denies liability, claiming that it was not the holding company of two subsidiaries, Msauli and Gefco mining. Asbestos victims say that if Gencor is allowed to unbundle from Amplats, it will not be able to pay an estimated 200-million dollars in compensation to victims of asbestos-related diseases.

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