* South Africa. Johannesburg’s mine dump debate — Johannesburg is a city which goes by many names —Joburg, Jozi, Egoli, or «the City of Gold». It was built on the profits of the precious metal found thousands of feet up on the South African highveldt in the 1880s. Today’s residents are constantly reminded of the city’s past by the hundreds of mine dumps scattered around the city. Some see them as an eyesore, polluting Johannesburg with their dust, and demand their removal. While others look on them fondly as a reminder of the city’s history and heritage. One hundred and twenty years ago there was nothing built where the sprawling city, built on the richest gold reef in the world, now stands. And the mark of a century’s mining is etched on the landscape —the bright yellow mine dumps run for kilometres through the Wit-watersrand, a monument to the city of gold’s mining past. It seems there are 101 uses for the hillsides of sand and spoil, among them the Top Star drive-in cinema — as much of a landmark as Joburg’s famous skyscrapers. And sports fanatics cannot resist the fine, dust-like sand. Without the mine dumps sand boarders who vie for space on the slopes with mountain bikes, motocross and quad biking would have to travel 600 kilometres to the nearest coastline. But for all those people who use and enjoy the mine dumps there are many others who think they should go. One way of shifting the dumps is soaking the sand into slurry and piping it back to be turned into bullion — there is still enough gold in the man-made hills to make  this a worthwhile enterprise. (BBC News, UK, 29 October 2003)

* South Africa. Extremists plotted to expel blacks from South Africa — White extremists accused of planning to assassinate Nelson Mandela, plotted to expel South Africa’s 35 million blacks and kill any who resisted, the High Court in Pretoria was told on 29 October. The 22 right-wingers also intended to force a million South Africans of Indian origin to leave the country. The defendants, the first people to face treason charges in post-apartheid South Africa, wanted to reinstate the policies of institutionalised racial segregation that ended with all-race elections in 1994, the court was told. The accused are members of a fanatical organisation called Boeremag. They also face charges of terrorism and of planning to overthrow Mr Mandela’s government. They were arrested after a spate of bombings in the black township of Soweto in October last year, which killed one woman. The trial was to have started in May but was delayed by pre-trial wrangling. The extremists refused to recognise the judiciary in South Africa, which is ruled by blacks. The trial began on 29 October with the state’s first witness, Johannes Coenraad Smit, a police informant and former right-winger. He said: «Black people would have been chased to Zimbabwe.» The coup included plans for the country’s Indians to be expelled to the east coast, from where they would have been shipped to India. Blacks and Indians who resisted would have been shot, he said. Details of the coup plot were in a document Mr Smit said he received from the organisation’s leader, Mike du Toit, in June 2001. Codenamed «Document 12», it outlines phases beginning with the recruitment of members followed by the elimination of a host of enemies, including Mr Mandela. It would have ended with the formation of a white government that would in effect have returned South Africa to apartheid. The South African Broadcasting Corporation, regarded by the extremists as a propaganda tool for Mr Mandela’s ruling African National Congress, would also have been bombed, Mr Smit said. The trial continues. (The Independent, UK, 30 October 2003)

* South Africa. Opposition coalition emerges — 3 November: South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) have formed a coalition to fight next year’s general election. Tony Leon of the DA and Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the IFP held a joint rally in Soweto on Sunday, during which they said that they planned to clip the wings of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Mr Leon said that South Africans feared that their country was becoming a «shadow of democracy» that was dominated by one party. They worry that the hope of a rainbow nation will be destroyed by greed, insecurity and by a new racism (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 3 November 2003)

* South Africa. Apartheid victims dismiss US lawyer — A group of victims of South Africa’s apartheid regime has dismissed Ed Fagan, the controversial US lawyer, as counsel on the eve of a long-awaited reparations-related court hearing in New York. «We have terminated his mandate on the apartheid reparations case,» John Ngcebetsha, a South African lawyer representing the group, told the FT on 5 November. «We took the decision in the best interests of our clients.» The Southern District Federal Court of New York will on 6 November begin hearing two separate cases alleging that many multinational and South African companies «aided and abetted» apartheid while doing business under white minority rule. The class action lawsuits would mark the first time that a court of law has been asked to rule on apartheid as a crime against humanity, and are seen as a test case for the Alien Tort Claims Act — an 18th century statute recently pressed into service by litigants to hold companies accountable for doing business under repressive regimes. Mr Fagan, who acquired his notoriety when he spearheaded efforts to secure multibillion dollar out-of-court settlements from Swiss banks and German industry in Holocaust-related suits, had represented one of two apartheid victims’ groups seeking financial reparations. A separate group, led by Khulumani, a victims’ support organisation, is represented by Michael Hausfeld of the US law firm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll. In both lawsuits, the plaintiffs are tens of thousands of victims of human rights abuses under the apartheid regime that ruled South Africa for decades. The defendants are some of the world’s biggest and best-known companies and banks, accused of having supported and financed the white minority government. (Financial Times, UK, 5 November 2003)

* Sudan. Locusts cause asthma deaths — 1 November: Eleven people have died in the past two weeks in central Sudan after a swarm of grasshoppers caused an asthma epidemic. More than 1,600 people have been taken to hospital, health officials in the affected state of Gezira said. Residents said the grasshoppers gave off a strong smell, which caused breathing difficulties. The health officials said the outbreak had reached unprecedented proportions in the state capital, Wad Medani, Sudan’s second largest city. It was believed to be the first such outbreak in the area. Last month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation warned that crops in north Africa were under threat from swarms of locusts. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 1 November 2003)

* Sudan. Boy faces double amputation — A Sudanese boy of 16 is to have his right hand and left foot amputated by a court order that human rights campaigners have denounced as barbaric. Launching an urgent appeal on behalf of Mohamed Hassan Hamdan, Amnesty International said on 4 November that the penalty, known as «cross amputation» is tantamount to torture. Judicial amputations, floggings and even sentences of death by stoning are not unheard of in Sudan, whose penal code is partly based on Sharia (Islamic law). But even by the standards of Sudan’s special courts, which have been criticised for drastic penalties, this case stands out because of the age of the defendant. The youth was arrested in August along with five adults on suspicion of involvement in an armed attack in Darfur, in the west of the country. They were charged with armed robbery. All six pleaded not guilty, but only Hamdan was convicted. Amnesty said the trial was conducted in an emergency court, which does not respect international standards for fair trials. The defence lawyer was absent during the last session of the trial when Hamdan was convicted. Amnesty said the sentence should be commuted because it contravenes international human rights standards ratified by Sudan. The boy is an ethnic Arab from Darfur, a region known as the «Wild West» for its lawlessness. Fighting between rebels and the government led to the declaration of a state of emergency in the area in 2001. Darfur’s special courts were set up as part of Khartoum’s emergency measures, to try summarily cases involving possession of arms and killings. Human Rights Watch says Sudan’s special tribunals, composed of one civil judge and two military judges, do not meet basic fair trial standards as they restrict legal representation and appeals. Hamdan is in Nyala prison awaiting the outcome of an appeal. If his appeal in a local court fails, his lawyers can apply to the Supreme Court in Khartoum. If upheld, the sentence could be carried out at any time. (Independent, UK, 5 November 2003)

* Tanzania. Boosting the coffee trade — Coffee grows on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro — Tanzania hopes that fresh investment will boost its flagging coffee industry. Nestling in the rolling foothills of Africa’s tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, are miles and miles of coffee bushes planted in neat rows. This is the centre of Tanzania’s coffee industry and it is not difficult to see why. The rich soil, good humidity, sufficient rainfall and correct temperatures make for perfect cultivation conditions, but despite all that, over the last thirty years the coffee industry in Tanzania has been in terminal decline. Now the industry is hoping to reverse that trend by world by embarking on an ambitious project to replace around 200 million bushes across the country. It’s hoped that in the next ten years Tanzania may become one of the leading coffee producers in the world. There is a lot of catching up to do. Tanzania produces between 40-50,000 metric tonnes of coffee a year, making it only the sixth largest coffee producer in Africa after Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. The government wants to double Tanzania’s output, but that will happen only after the entire coffee bush stock is replaced. The organisation behind this huge task is the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (Tacri), an institute which was  set up in September 2001 to kick-start the industry. Twahir Nzallawahe, Tacri’s head of research, said it is a drastic but necessary move. «The coffee bushes which are growing in Tanzania are very susceptible to disease, especially leaf rust and coffee berry disease. In some cases, farmers have lost up to 90% of their crop as a result of theses diseases, so we are trying to find new varieties of disease resistant coffee bushes. When we have found the best varieties we will attempt to replant every bush in the country,» he said. (BBC News, UK, 29 October 2003)

* Tunisie. Nasraoui en grève de la faim — L’état de santé de l’avocate Radhia Nasraoui, en grève de la faim depuis près de trois semaines pour protester contre le harcèlement de sa famille et de ses clients par la police, s’est détérioré, selon son médecin. Elle souffre de “troubles de sommeil et de la mémoire”. L’avocate, qui aurait conservé des séquelles d’une précédente grève de la faim de 38 jours en 2002, a réaffirmé sa détermination à poursuivre son action jusqu’à la mort s’il le faut. “C’est le seul recours qui me reste pour exiger le respect de ma dignité d’avocate et de citoyenne”, a indiqué Radhia Nasraoui, qui accuse les autorités de vouloir la “réduire au silence” et de provoquer son “isolement” en raison de son engagement en faveur des droits de l’homme. La presse tunisienne n’a pas fait état de la grève de la faim de l’avocate. (Le Monde, France, 5 novembre 2003)

* Uganda. Drawing inspiration from Kampala’s colour — Fashion designer Santa Anzo is on a mission to brighten up Kampala — and is using the colours of the city’s famous Balikudembe market to inspire her creations. The market — the biggest in Uganda — is awash with bright bursts of colour from cloth, food and crafts. Anzo says her creations are inspired by «all the shades, colours, mostly Ugandan items — especially the foodstuffs.» These include coffee, cinnamon, tea, and beans. «The coffee’s really nice, it’s good to work with, the colours are good.» Anzo’s clothes are bright and flowing — a reflection, she says, of life in one of Africa’s most vibrant cities. «Kampala’s favourite colours are bright — bright shining colours, because Kampala is quite tropical, and because of that we tend to wear friendly colours, colours that hug us during all seasons. That’s mostly the orange, lime green. Then a few people tend to go into earthy colours —especially foreigners. Most of my foreign clients go into earthy colours, like coffee brown, cinnamon — just like on sale.» Bizarrely, some of Anzo’s designs are not only inspired by foodstuffs — they are made from them too. For example, some of the clothes designed in her studio are made from porridge. «The fabric will be plain, and when they make the porridge they will pour it on it, and then sweep it. As they sweep, they pour the dye on it as well,» she explains. (BBC News, UK, 28 October 2003)

* Uganda. Rebel leader killed — 2 November: A top commander of the rebel Ugandan Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been killed, the Ugandan army has announced. Charles Tabuley, the LRA‘s second in command, was killed in fighting on 29 October in northern Uganda, army spokesman Chris Magezi said. The rebels have not confirmed their commander’s killing. Lieutenant Chris Magezi said Tabuley had been killed «during running battles» in the district of Kaberamaido. «Our intelligence has intercepted rebels’ radio communication messages confirming Tabuley’s death and orders from LRA leader Joseph] Kony to have the body taken to him in Sudan,» the spokesman said.Three of Tabuley’s associates are also reported to have been killed. The Ugandan army also said that, in the past week, it had rescued 120 children abducted by the LRA rebels in three northern districts. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 2 November 2003)

* Ouganda. Commandant de la LRA tué — Le 2 novembre, le porte-parole de l’armée ougandaise a qualifié la mort du commandant en second de l’Armée de résistance du Seigneur (LRA) de “pas de géant en direction de la fin de la guerre” qui sévit depuis sept ans dans le nord du pays. Les forces gouvernementales ont affirmé que le général de brigade autoproclamé Charles Lardin Tabulay a été tué au cours d’un affrontement de 30 minutes à la suite d’une embuscade tendue aux rebelles dans le village de Kalaki, district de Kaberamaido, à plus de 400 km au nord-est de Kampala. Plusieurs autres jeunes commandants et combattants de la LRA ont été tués en même temps que Tabulay. Auparavant, l’armée a affirmé avoir tué 33 rebelles de la LRA lors de batailles séparées dans trois districts de la région du nord-est. — Pendant ce temps, de nouvelles attaques de la LRA ont fait de nombreuses victimes, indique l’agence Misna. Ainsi, le 1er novembre, les rebelles ont tué 15 étudiants dans une école secondaire du district de Kaberamaido. Le 2 novembre, 9 personnes ont été tuées au village de Pata, à quelque 50 km de Lira. Des milliers de civils ont abandonné la zone après une série d’attaques des rebelles, qui semblent s’être déplacés vers l’est, dans les districts de Lira, Teso et Soroti. (ANB-BIA, de sources diverses, 4 novembre 2003)

* Zambia. Child poisoning tragedy — Every time children play in the dusty streets of the small Zambian town of Kabwe, they are putting their health at risk, according to environmentalists. What sets Kabwe apart from other places is the extent of its lead pollution, a grim, but for years hidden, legacy of the town’s now disused lead mine. In its heyday, Kabwe boasted one of the largest and richest lead mines in Africa. But from the time the mine opened in 1902 and closed in 1994, there were few pollution controls and as a consequence Kabwe’s vegetation, soil and water are heavily contaminated with the highly poisonous metal, lead. When breathed in,  lead quickly poisons the bloodstream and attacks the central nervous system. Poisoning results in anaemia, vomiting, kidney damage and slows down mental development, especially in children. In severe cases, there is brain damage and death. For years the people of Kabwe were kept in the dark about the environmental mess in which they live and the health problems they suffered. According to environmentalists one of Kabwe’s lead hotspots is Katondo, one of the townships that sprouted up in the shadow of Kabwe’s old mine - which lies in the heart of the town. Katondo lies right beside a canal used to carry toxic waste from the pit. About US$15 million dollars has been set aside for Kabwe, which has been included in the broader Copperbelt Environment Project (CEP). The World Bank is providing much of the money for the CEP, the clean up of Zambia’s heavily polluted mining towns, an operation which is expected to finally take up sometime next year. (BBC News, UK, 6 November 2003)

* Zimbabwe. Army chief to step down — 4 November: The head of Zimbabwe’s Defence Forces has announced that he is to resign at the end of the year. General Vitalis Zvinavashe is a close ally of President Robert Mugabe and like many army commanders, fought in the war which brought him to power. Before last year’s presidential poll, he warned that the army would not accept an opposition victory. But earlier this year, he denied reports that he was trying to negotiate a deal with the opposition. General Zvinavashe was also named by the United Nations as one of those who had personally benefited from the war in Congo RDC, in which Zimbabwe intervened. The change in the army leadership is unlikely to change the character of the army leaders, who are mostly loyal to Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party. (ANB-BIA, Belgium, 4 November 2003)