Britain: Blair government defeats calls for Iraq inquiry

The ability of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to defeat calls for an inquiry into the Iraq war testifies to the insulation of the parliamentary process from any genuine democratic control.

It is more than two years since there was a full debate in the House of Commons on the Iraq war. In that time, the already massive opposition to the US-led invasion has become more entrenched—fuelled by the catastrophic situation created by the occupation. The vast bulk of the British electorate believe that Blair dragged the country into war based on lies and that the troops should be withdrawn.

Yet on November 1, the Blair government was able to face down a motion calling for an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the invasion by 298 votes to 273.

The circumstances surrounding the vote are politically instructive. The motion was brought by the two small nationalist parties, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, and merely called for a committee of seven leading members of Parliament (MPs) to review “the way in which the responsibilities of government were discharged in relation to Iraq.”

It was then backed by the much larger Liberal Democrat Party, which has 63 MPs and which had opposed the Iraq war. But the possibility of a defeat for the Blair government was made real by the Conservative Party’s decision to support the motion. Until now, the Conservatives have supported Blair on Iraq—guaranteeing the government a majority even if it faced a substantial rebellion by Labour MPs.

The decision of the Conservative (Tory) Party to endorse the motion was not primarily an effort to exploit popular anti-war sentiment. That party’s attitude towards public opinion is much the same as the government’s. Rather, the volte face was motivated by concerns within the bourgeoisie about the extent of the crisis that Iraq has produced for British capital.

Recent weeks have seen statements by top military personnel, such as head of the army General Sir Richard Dannat, as well as numerous think tanks and analysts proclaiming the Iraq occupation to be a foreign policy disaster worse than the Suez crisis of 1956. In the United States, where anti-war sentiment is a majority position in the electorate, Iraq has dominated the congressional election campaign. Significant sections of the US and British ruling elite are anxious that the worsening quagmire in Iraq is jeopardising their broader geopolitical ambitions for the whole of the Middle East and beyond.

Amongst these layers, an inquiry of the character proposed in Parliament would be a vehicle for making the required “corrections” in neo-colonial strategy. In particular, it would seek to redress what sections of the bourgeoisie consider to have been a fatal compromising of the national interests of British imperialism on the part of the Blair government in pursuit of its “special relationship” with the US.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell argued from such a standpoint in favour of the motion, asking during the parliamentary debate, “Isn’t it now the time for a British strategy based on British priorities and not one which depends on the outcome of the American elections?”

Even given these strategic imperatives, the Tories were hamstrung by their own record on Iraq and their overriding concern that any inquiry not endanger either the ongoing Iraq occupation or the interests of British imperialism. To this end, they called for the inquiry to be held sometime over the next 12 months, consisting of private hearings under former military personnel. It was only when the government refused to concede to any inquiry that the Conservatives backed the motion.

Despite this reluctance, the Tories’ manoeuvring did serve to expose any pretence of significant oppositional sentiment within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Only 12 Labour MPs, as well as Clare Short, who last month quit the party, voted against the government. This is not even half of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, which constitutes the official left wing of the party and whose chair, John McDonnell, has announced he will stand for Labour leader when Blair finally resigns.

The scale of this collapse by the nominal “left” within the Labour Party can be judged by comparison with the oppositional vote over the war in 2003. On March 18 of that year, 139 Labour dissidents voted for an amendment opposing the invasion. But immediately war began, the vast majority of Labour dissidents fell into line. By June 4, 2003, only 11 Labour MPs supported a Liberal Democrat motion calling for an inquiry into whether the government had misled parliament over Iraq’s supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction.

In the three years since then, nothing has changed this political balance of forces within the Labour Party. The same handful of MPs register their formal protest, while the rest justify their support for Blair with claims that they “cannot stomach” voting with the Tories or doing anything that could endanger British troops.

Such arguments are grotesque. The Labour lefts have had no such difficulty in stomaching the government’s lies and attacks on democratic rights, or reconciling themselves to a war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, including scores of British troops.

The inability of parliament to even debate Iraq prompted Guardian political columnist Simon Jenkins to observe that “This House of Commons is God’s gift to dictatorship.” Parliament had surrendered its “democratic function,” he continued, with opposition MPs rendered “incapable of performing democracy’s simplest ritual, challenging the executive.”

But how has this situation come about? Jenkins concentrates his fire on the failure of the opposition parties to hold the government to account, at one point declaring that the “Commons has become little more than an electoral college for the prime minister.” He insists that parliament has powers it has not used, explaining, “There is nothing to stop MPs debating what they like. There is nothing to stop a grand committee being appointed to inquire into the war. It can demand ‘persons and papers’ and subpoena anyone it likes. Even if select committees are too scared of the whips to act, Parliament is sovereign. It need not ask Downing Street’s permission to scrutinise.”

This misses the point. Who is supposed to do this?

Jenkins, in effect, berates the Tory opposition—the traditional party of big business—for its failure to bring a nominally Labour government to account. But parliamentary democracy has in reality been stripped of much of its actual substance by the fact that—whatever their tactical disagreements—all the major parties agree in principle on a course of militarism and social reaction, and all of them rest on an increasingly narrow social base of support anchored within the most privileged social layers.

Central to this evisceration of the democratic process is the transformation of the Labour Party into an instrument of a financial oligarchy.

The extension of democratic rights to working people was the product of mass political action conducted through the methods of the class struggle, which culminated at the beginning of the twentieth century in the formation of the Labour Party as the political representative of the trade unions. Labour’s degeneration and that of the unions themselves mean that the political views and social concerns of the working class no longer find even limited expression within the machinery of government. Rather, the business of government is predicated on preventing any popular interference with policies that are decided in the boardrooms of the major corporations and that are fundamentally opposed to the interests of the majority of the population.

Ultimately, the decline of parliamentary democracy is an expression of the acute and irreconcilable class antagonisms wracking society. It is impossible to secure a democratic mandate for war and colonial conquest, paid for through the gutting of social programmes and the impoverishment of working people. Official politics becomes a conspiracy against the social and democratic rights of the masses.

It is precisely because maintaining the political disenfranchisement of the working class is of such overriding importance that the bourgeoisie is unable to frankly examine an issue of such strategic import as Iraq. This accounts for the political paralysis identified by Jenkins—one that is highly destabilising for the ruling elite.

Even if the Iraq debacle should finally prompt a move against the Blair government by a section of the ruling elite—an outcome that can by no means be excluded—nothing progressive would result.

Everything now depends on the independent mobilisation of workers, youth and students against the Labour government and all the representatives of big business. At the centre of this is the building of a new and genuinely socialist party.

Source: World Socialist Web Site

Print Leaflet Feedback Share » NATO forces carry out massacre of Afghan civilians

Official estimates of the civilian death toll from NATO air strikes in southern Afghanistan on October 24 are disputed, but some sources report up to 85 killed.

NATO planes carried out bombing raids in the Panjwayi district near Kandahar. Scores of people were killed in the village of Nangawat, some in their own homes while celebrating the Eid al-Fitr festival that marks the end of Ramadan. Many of the dead were women and children. The bombed district is in the region where NATO forces carried out Operation Medusa in September. This was a “significant success,” according to a senior NATO commander, in which upwards of 500 Taliban fighters were killed. NATO officials claimed to have completely flushed out or killed all Taliban militants in the area.

Reports also suggest at least 40 civilians died during the recent bombing raids when a nomad camp was hit in the district. NATO command has conceded only 12 civilians deaths in the recent air strikes, adding that 48 Taliban fighters were killed in the area. The Taliban has denied losing any men.

Local police and officials have rejected NATO accounts. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zmarai Bashir told the BBC that 40 civilians and 20 Taliban militants were killed, while another government official, who asked not to be named because “it would cause me problems,” said at least 60 had died. Kandahar provincial council member Bismallah Afghanmal told the Associated Press that up to 85 civilians had been killed. Other local officials put the death toll at between 60 and 85.

Residents in Panjwayi say the bombing continued into the night. Local people as well as district officials have described buildings destroyed by aerial bombings. One local man said, “The planes came and were bombing from 3 a.m. And in the morning they started hitting our village with mortars and rockets. They didn’t allow anybody to come to our help.”

Witnesses told Reuters that 25 homes were demolished during four to five hours of bombing. People told the BBC that the bodies of many locals had been pulled from the rubble of their homes and buried.

One of the surviving nomads, who are among the poorest of Afghanistan’s citizens, said 20 members of his family had been killed and 10 injured. He said their camp, with no connection to the Taliban, had been attacked: “There are no Taliban here. We live outside the village in an open area in tents. Anyone can come here to see our homes and area. There are no Taliban here. We all are nomads living in tents.

“Each time they say that it was a mistake. They have destroyed us all in such mistakes. For God’s sake, come and see our situation.”

This was echoed by Kandahar provincial councilor Afghanmal, who said, “These kinds of things have happened several times, and they only say, ‘Sorry.’ How can you compensate people who have lost their sons and daughters? The government and the coalition told families that there was no Taliban in the area anymore. If there are no Taliban, then why are they bombing the area?”

Major Luke Knitig, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said NATO troops had been engaged in heavy fighting against insurgents in three separate incidents in Panjwayi that day and the battle included air strikes.

Hundreds attended a mass funeral for the dead villagers two days after the NATO bombing raids. Many of the mourners condemned both NATO and the Karzai government for the deaths.

One mourner, Abdul Aye, who claimed 22 members of his family were killed in the NATO raids, said, “Everyone is very angry at the government and the coalition. There was no Taliban.”

Taj Mohammad, another villager, said there were no militants and innocent people were killed. Mohammad said 10 of his relatives had been killed in the latest incident.

A NATO officer later said the wild variance in the death toll estimates may stem from insurgents “being misidentified as innocent bystanders.” The unnamed officer stressed that NATO bombs did not go off course.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it was “very concerned.”

The latest atrocity against Afghan civilians follows the killing of at least 26 people less than a week before in NATO operations in Kandahar and neighbouring Helmand province.

President Hamid Karzai announced an inquiry by a body to include NATO officers along with a few tribal and community elders. Karzai’s office said his investigators would make suggestions on how to prevent such “unfortunate” incidents in future and ensure “better coordination with foreign forces.” The inquiry is to report in a week’s time.

At a press conference he did not attempt to give a figure of those killed, speaking only of “numbers” of civilian deaths. But he did admit that foreign pilots did not always manage to distinguish between Taliban fighters and civilians.

To shore up the pretense of a sovereign government in Kabul, the press conference was closely followed by a statement from NATO spokesman Mark Laity, who said, “We’ve got tight rules of engagement but sometimes things go wrong.... President Karzai quite understandably and correctly wants us to show maximum care. That’s what we do.”

The prostration of Karzai before the United States is being exploited by Islamist militias. An alleged statement by the Taliban leadership dismissed Karzai’s offer for talks on October 27 and called his administration a “puppet government.”

“We say even today that there is no possibility of any talks when the country is under occupation,” the statement said. “Any talks with aggressors would amount to selling the country.”

Karzai had reiterated to reporters that he was ready to negotiate with the fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar if he stopped receiving support from neighboring Pakistan. Karzai says Omar is hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta, while Pakistan says Omar is in Afghanistan.

Over the past two years hundreds of Taliban supporters, including some senior officials, are believed to have reconciled with the government, but there have apparently been no high-level talks with the Islamist group’s leadership.

NATO forces have relied extensively on attack aircraft in Afghanistan in the past year. According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, in June the US Central Command confirmed 340 air strikes in Afghanistan, double the 160 strikes in Iraq in the same month.

Source: World Socialist Web Site

P. W. Botha, Defender of Apartheid, Is Dead at 90

P. W. Botha, the South African leader who struggled vainly to preserve apartheid rule in a tide of domestic racial violence and global condemnation, died yesterday at his home in South Africa. He was 90. His death was reported by The South African Press Association in Cape Town, quoting the security staff at Mr. Botha’s home on the southern Cape coast.

Mr. Botha was a combative, irascible son of a well-to-do Afrikaner farm family who dropped out of college to work for the right-wing National Party, then rose through the ranks of South Africa’s political establishment, gaining a reputation as the “Old Crocodile” for his ability to charm, outwit and crush his opponents.

In 1978, Mr. Botha became prime minister and proceeded to engineer the creation of a new Constitution, one that held out the promise of limited reform of apartheid policies. When the Constitution came into effect in 1984, Mr. Botha became president. “We must adapt or die,” Mr. Botha told his constituents after becoming prime minister.

As opposition to apartheid spread, Mr. Botha’s room to maneuver shrank. “He was caught in a bind between wanting to show the international community that he was not inflexible, and not wishing to appear weak within his own country,” the journalist Allister Sparks wrote in his 1995 account of the end of apartheid, “Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa’s Road to Change.”

Yet for a while Mr. Botha’s methods seemed to belie Alexis de Toqueville’s dictum that “the most perilous moment for bad government is when it seeks to mend its ways.” Mr. Botha was re-elected in 1987. Two years later, as opposition to his intransigent style grew within his own party, the president suffered a stroke and resigned. He was succeeded by F. W. de Klerk, who legalized opposition parties, freed Mr. Mandela and other political prisoners, and made the agreements that eventually brought apartheid down.

Source: New York Times

Why is the American press silent on the report of 655,000 Iraqi deaths?

The US media is virtually silent on a new scientific study that estimates the Iraqi death toll from the US war at 655,000. The study, conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and funded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was posted Wednesday on the web site of the British medical journal, the Lancet.

The study is the only systematic estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians and military personnel to have died as a result of the US invasion and occupation to be brought to the attention of the American and international public.

Unlike previous estimates, which were based on reviews of media reports or tallies made by the US-backed Iraqi government, the Johns Hopkins study was carried out by Iraqi physicians who interviewed—often at great personal risk—nearly 2,000 families spread across the country, utilizing standard and widely used statistical methods to arrive at an objective estimate of the death toll from the war and occupation. The vast majority of the reported deaths were substantiated by death certificates.

The study concluded with a 95 percent degree of certainty that the number of “excess deaths” in Iraq since the invasion—the number of people who have died in excess of the number that would be expected on the basis of pre-invasion mortality rates—is between 393,000 and 943,000. The figure of 655,000 is given as the most likely number. This represents an astonishing 2.5 percent of the entire Iraqi population.

The researchers further estimated that about 600,000 of the deaths were due to violence in some form, including gunshots, air strikes and bombings. They concluded that US and allied military forces directly caused at least 31 percent—or 186,000—of the violent deaths.

Some 336,000 people, or 56 percent of those killed in violent actions since the invasion, died from gunshot wounds. The study also found that the number of violent deaths in Iraq has steadily increased every year since the invasion. In the period from June 2005 to June 2006, the researchers found a nearly four-fold increase in the mortality rate relative to pre-invasion levels.

There can be no legitimate doubts about the credibility of the study. Lancet is one of the oldest and most prestigious peer-reviewed medical publications in the world. The Johns Hopkins public health school is the largest in the world, and regularly ranks as the top public health school in the United States. The journal article was reviewed and approved for publication by four independent scientific experts in the area.

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the report, even if one assumes its low-end estimate of 393,000 Iraqi deaths to be correct. It demonstrates that the American intervention in Iraq has produced a social and humanitarian catastrophe of historical dimensions, with vast political implications not only in the Middle East, but throughout the world and, above all, in the United States itself.

By any objective standard, the report merits front-page coverage in every major newspaper in the country and extensive discussion and reporting on television news broadcasts. Yet the response of the US press has been to virtually ignore the report and limit its coverage to news accounts on inside pages which report, uncritically, unsubstantiated statements by government and military officials dismissing the report as “not credible.”

In burying the story, the New York Times and Washington Post have played a particularly significant role. The original articles published by these newspapers on Wednesday were relegated to the inside pages: in the Times on page 8, in the Post on page 12.

The Post decided to bury the story in its back pages despite the fact that the article it published vouched for the scientific validity the Johns Hopkins study, noting that it, and an earlier report on Iraqi deaths published by the same team, “are the only ones to estimate mortality in Iraq using scientific methods.” The “cluster sampling” technique used by the scientists, the newspaper wrote, “is used to estimate mortality in famines and after natural disasters.”

Minimal coverage in the press continued on Thursday, despite the fact that the issue was raised by a reporter at a White House press conference on Wednesday. President Bush contemptuously dismissed the report, stating that it was not credible. He was not challenged and the question was not followed up by any of the other reporters at the news conference.

Bush’s remarks were followed by statements from various supporters and architects of the war similarly dismissing the Johns Hopkins study’s casualty figures. General George Casey, the commander of US forces in Iraq, admitted that he had not bothered to read the report, but nevertheless concluded that it did not have “much credibility at all.”

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the figure of 655,000 killed is “not one we believe to be anywhere near accurate.” Iraqi government officials likewise declared that the figure was “exaggerated.”

On Thursday, neither the Times nor the Post published an editorial on the Johns Hopkins report, or even a follow-up article on the report and the response of the Bush administration.

There was not one challenge in the establishment media to the official attempts to disparage the report. Instead, the minimal coverage on Thursday was largely devoted to reporting the statements by Bush, Casey, Blair and the Iraqi stooge regime. The Los Angeles Times, for example, published a story on its inside pages, “Iraq Disputes Claim of 600,000 War Dead,” reporting the statements by the Iraqi government. The newspaper added its voice to the chorus by remarking that it had conducted its own survey and reached a figure of 50,000 killed.

The attempts to discredit the report are not backed up by any factual or methodological arguments. The administration and its supporters assume, correctly, that they can simply make unsubstantiated claims and the media will not challenge them.

Lee Roberts, a co-author of the study, noted in an interview with the radio program Democracy Now! on Thursday that the cluster survey approach the researchers used “is the standard way of measuring mortality in very poor countries where the government isn’t very functional or in times of war.” He pointed out that both the United Nations and the US government have used the method in determining mortality, including after the Kosovo and Afghan wars. “Most ironically,” he said, “the US government has been spending millions of dollars per year... to train NGOs and UN workers to do cluster surveys to measure mortality in times of wars and disasters.”

With its silence, the media is once again taking its cue from the government. It does not challenge Bush’s ignorant and cold-blooded dismissal of the Johns Hopkins report, just as it did not challenge Bush’s offhand remark at a December, 2005 press conference that 30,000 Iraqis, “more or less,” had been killed since the March, 2003 US invasion—an absurdly low estimate.

The corporate-owned-and-controlled media have buried this story because they do not want the American people to know the truth of what is happening in Iraq.

They want to conceal this truth—as they have done consistently since the war began—because they are complicit in a massive war crime in Iraq, and continue to support the bloodletting by the US military.

The Johns Hopkins report, by revealing the colossal dimensions of the death and destruction wreaked by the United States in Iraq, shatters the edifice of lies that has been erected in an attempt to deceive the people and justify the war—from the phony claims of weapons of mass destruction and Iraq-Al Qaeda ties, to the current claims of a war for “freedom and democracy” and the overarching deception of the “war on terrorism.”

The report inevitably highlights the culpability of the media itself, which has combined an acceptance of unprecedented censorship by the military with self-censorship and deliberate misinformation in order to whitewash an imperialist war for oil and geo-strategic domination of the Middle East.

The scale of mass killing revealed in the Johns Hopkins study published by the Lancet stands as an indictment of the entire American ruling elite, both of its political parties—Democratic no less than Republican—and all of its official institutions, among which the media has played a particularly sordid role.

What the corporate, political and media establishment fear are the explosive social and political implications of growing popular revulsion over the crimes of US imperialism in Iraq and around the world, combined with mounting anger over relentless attacks on working people’s social conditions and democratic rights. The entire political system is being exposed and discredited before the eyes of the people. Such a process inevitably brings with it revolutionary consequences.

Source: World Socialist Web

There'll always be corruption

Pretoria - Corruption will remain a problem in South Africa, Special Investigation Unit (SIU) head Willie Hofmeyr said on Thursday.

Giving an overview of the growth of the SIU over the past few years Hofmeyr said it was difficult to determine just how much corruption there was in government. "There are some areas which are just naturally vulnerable to corruption such as prisons, driver's licences, home affairs. There are always going to be problems and there would be a need for an ongoing capacity to deal with it," Hofmeyr said. Citing an example, he said the unit recently encountered a police officer who was offered R1m to drop a case. "That is more than many officers would make in a lifetime," he said.

By the end of the year the unit hopes to have 600 investigators and legal experts working for it with a budget of R145m this year. "I think we are halfway there it would be another five years before we say we can deal with corruption properly," Hofmeyr said.

Source: News 24.com

Marais in the clear as Malatsi found guilty

Former Western Cape Premier Peter Marais was on Wednesday found not guilty in the Bellville regional court on two counts of corruption. His co-accused, former Provincial Environment MEC David Malatsi was however convicted one count of corruption.

The charges related to payments totalling R400 000 made to the New National Party, of which the two men were members, in 2002 by Italian developer Count Riccardo Agusta. The state claimed the payments were to secure approval by the province's environmental authorities for the Count's proposed Roodefontein golf estate development at Plettenburg Bay. Marais raised his arms in a victory salute to a packed public gallery after the verdict and embraced his tearful wife and family members. "Peter Marais has been an honest, God-fearing person," he said outside the courtroom afterwards."No matter how many accusations they bring against me they couldn't prove a single one,"

Malatsi said he was satisfied with the magistrate's findings. He said he had compromised himself with Agusta because he was "misled". He's the one - the magistrate - that must decide whether am I good material for jail'

Source: IoL

CORRUPTION AND ARMED INTIMIDATION AS MOTALA HEIGHTS EVICTIONS CRISIS DEEPENS

On Saturday 17 June 2006 Ward Councillor Derek Dimba arrived at the Motala Heights settlement in Pinetown with municipal officials and 5 car loads of municipal security guards to mark out shacks that would then be destroyed by the militarised police Land Invasions Unit. They had probably chosen the Youth Day weekend thinking that many people would be away at their rural homes. They were wrong. The community was able to mobilise quickly and see off this first threat.

The Motala Heights Development Commitment spent the next day gathering detailed information from residents and preparing affidavits and were at the Legal Resources Centre first thing on Monday morning. They then moved on the Municipal offices in New Germany where they were able to win an unscheduled emergency meeting with Mr. Geoff Nightingale. Nightingale confirmed that the Municipality planned to move 63 families with ‘numbers’ to a new housing development at Nazareth Island and to evict the other residents. The Council’s ‘one shack = one house’ policy means that many families who are sharing shacks face eviction with no prospect of relocation. Nightingale also confirmed that Cllr Dimba had asked the Municipality to immediately destroy all new structures that had been erected. The eThekwini Municipality does not allow the construction of new shacks or the expansion or development of existing shacks. The Development Committee pointed out that all the new shacks and developments (all well made wooden cabins) had been built by long standing residents who needed more space for growing children, had got married, wanted to move out of over crowded shared shacks after finding work and so on.

On Women’s Day, 9 August 2006, Cllr Dimba returned with pistol holstered to each hip and flanked by his usual cohort of armed men. He summoned the community to a meeting where he began by gesturing to his weapons and promised to ‘chase away’ named individuals on the democratically elected committee. He then said, in a chilling echo of high apartheid language, that people in shacks without numbers would have to ‘hamba khaya’ and ‘go back where they came from’. He said that after those people with numbers were relocated to Nazareth Island on 27 August 2006 the houses of the others would be demolished.

The Motala Heights settlement lies amongst the gum tress on the hill behind Motala Heights suburb which is, in turn, just behind the many factories in Pinetown’s industrial area. It was founded in 1992 by Mr. Richard Nzuza and the residents mostly come from Zululand, the Eastern Cape and Ixopo although some are from as far away as the Free State. Almost everyone came here to work or to reunite families divided by migrant labour. Most of the men work in the nearby factories and most of the women work in the houses in the adjacent suburb. There is a school, clinic, library and shops within walking distance which means that living in Motala Heights has the tremendous benefit of radically cutting down the time and money that poor people usually have to spend on transport.

There are almost 300 shacks in the settlement. The land is owned by local tycoon Ricky Govender who has developed cottages for rent on adjacent land and also owns the local bottle store and supermarket as well as a trucking company amongst other businesses. It is rumoured that he has many government contracts too. People in the Motala Heights settlement have excellent relationships with most of the residents in formal houses. They often work in their homes and share the same taxis. The local taxi boss, just known as Leon, is widely respected in the settlement. But the conflict with the Govender family goes back to 1997 when Ricky’s father, Harry, used industrial earth moving equipment to dig up the road leading into the settlement. The shack dwellers responded by building their own road with their own tools and labour. It is now widely believed that Govender is aiming to extend his private development, including housing and a petrol station, up the hill in a large private development after the shack dwellers have been evicted. Cllr Dimba appears to report directly to Govender usually visiting him before and after his armed visits to the Motala Heights Settlement. The Housing Department have told the Motala Heights Committee that they cannot buy the land from Govender as he is demanding a completely unreasonable price. The Community is demanding the expropriation of the small section of Govender’s large land holding where they have built their community in order that there can be an upgrade where people are already living.

The 63 families scheduled to move to Nazareth Island would rather stay in Motala Heights where they are close to work, schools, the local clinic, shops and the other benefits of being near to Pinetown and where they are part of an established community. Many amongst them refused to register for the tiny badly built houses in Nazareth Island for these reasons and many also refused to register in solidarity with others who don’t have ‘a number’ and face eviction without relocation. Numerous people in the community allege that the ‘numbers’ of the people that didn’t register have been sold off to people from elsewhere, especially KwaMashu The Committee is currently making the arrangements to pursue vigorous legal action against this alleged corruption. The more than 200 families who now face eviction and the destruction of their community, their houses and their access to urban opportunity are determined to resist eviction by all means. They will explore all legal options but will also use mass mobilisation and will draw on the support of shack dwellers elsewhere to defend their homes, their community and their right to live near the city. The resistance is being organised by the democratically elected and mandated Motala Heights Development Committee which is affiliated to the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement.

For comment on the particular situation confronted by Motala Heights please contact the following members of the Motala Heights Development Committee:

Mr Bhekuyise Ngcobo 0769212891, Chair
Ms Lousia Motha 0781760088, Deputy Chair
Mr Alson Mkhize, 0827608427
Mr Sizwe Nkwanyana 0839951351

For comment on the general situation confronted by shack dwellers in the eThekwini Municipality as they face the onslaught of the Municipality’s looming mass evictions and forced removals under its World Bank/UN designed ‘slum clearance’ programme that aims to ‘clear the slums by 2010’ please contact the following members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo secretariat.

Mr S’bu Zikode 0835470474, Chair
Mr Mnikelo Ndabankulu 073565241, Media Liason
Ms Fikile Nkosi 0842501446

Mzuyanda Ngthobane (24), Nkosinathi Gabella (28) and Slethiwe Ngcobo (3) all confront eviction from their home in the Motala Heights Settlement. They are pictured outside Mr Ngthobane’s home. Mr Ngthobane is a long time resident of Motala Heights and has just built his own wooden home after years of sharing a shack with 6 others.

Mr. Richard Nzuza, founder of the Motala Heights Settlement.
“I will not be moved. I will die here.”

Source: abahlali.org

Deby sworn in as Chad's president

Idriss Deby was sworn in Tuesday as Chad's president to serve his new term, according to reports from N'Djamena. Beating the other four contenders, Deby won the presidential election in May by gaining 64.67 percent of the votes.

Among the leaders attending the swearing-in ceremony were Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Source: Peoples Daily

First results posted in DR Congo

Polling stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun posting interim results, after the first multi-party election in 40 years. Full results of Sunday's polls are not expected for weeks. The elections were aimed at ending a long civil war, with 32 candidates, including incumbent Joseph Kabila, contesting the presidency.

Over 9,000 candidates stood for parliament. Some 25m voters were protected by 17,000 UN peacekeepers. It is still far from clear whether a second round will be required, or whether a candidate will gain the 50% of the votes needed to win outright, the BBC News website's Joseph Winter reports from Kinshasa. The RCD party, led by former rebel and Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa, told our correspondent there had been "widespread fraud".

RCD Secretary General Kabasu Babu Katulondi said RCD representatives had been chased out of polling stations when counting started, while ruling PPRD officials had been caught trying to vote more than once. "The delay is one of Kabila's tricks to manipulate the figures," he said. Results from several polling stations seemed to back up pre-election predictions that former rebel leader and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba would win most votes in Kinshasa.

However President Kabila was expected to win more votes in eastern DR Congo, where he is credited with ending the war. Thomas Luaka, a spokesman for Mr Bemba's MLC party said that while he "deplored some incidents, overall, the elections went well". Earlier, Mr Bemba's supporters had demonstrated on the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, saying they were cheated. Independent Electoral Commission official Carole Kabanga Kaoy said she could not comment on the allegations of fraud until she had received official reports, at which point each party would be free to provide evidence of irregularities.

Mr Kabila, who came to power unelected in 2001, has told the BBC he will accept the result of Sunday's presidential elections, even if he loses. "It would have been the verdict of the people and of course we will definitely accept the verdict of the people," he said.

Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and his UDPS party boycotted the vote. There were reports of violence on election day in Mr Tshisekedi's stronghold, the south-eastern Kasai region. But a United Nations official said he was "relieved" and "delighted" with how the voting had gone. "All indications that we have, not just from Kinshasa, but across the country is that the population has responded fairly substantively," UN envoy Ross Mountain said. "The number of incidents have been absolutely minimal. The security hasn't been a problem and it has been an extraordinary day for Congo."

BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says the real test of the elections will be the acceptance of the results by all of the former warring parties. The presidential candidates include the four vice-presidents who took office in 2003 in terms of a transitional power-sharing deal. Three of the four vice-presidents are the leaders of former armed factions. Some opposition candidates accuse Mr Kabila of being backed by the international community, and are already unofficially complaining about what they say are irregularities in the voting, our corresponent says.

Source: BBC

The Hague: Liberian Appears In Court

Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president and warlord, made his first appearance before a special United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal since being flown here from Africa last month. He did not speak during the 50-minute hearing, intended to pave the way for his trial on war crimes charges, but his lawyer complained that the deposed leader was locked in his cell for up to 16 hours a day, had limited access to telephones and was being served "Eurocentric" food.

Mr. Taylor faces 11 counts of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the war in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2000 in which 50,000 people were killed and thousands more had limbs hacked off. Prosecutors had hoped to start the trial early next year, but Mr. Taylor's lawyer, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, said that was unlikely. "For a case of this size and magnitude, particularly given the geographical displacement of this court from Sierra Leone, I do think that the earliest this trial can properly start is around July of next year," Mr. Khan said.

Source: New York Times

Statement by the G-8, the leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa,

We are outraged by the barbaric terrorist acts, carried out on 11 July 2006 in Mumbai and other parts of India. We stand in solidarity with the Government and the people of India and express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families.

We are determined to continue the fight against terrorism by all legitimate means. We express our readiness to undertake all necessary measures to bring to justice perpetrators, organizers, sponsors оf these and other terrorist acts, and those who incited the perpetrators to commit them. We shall do it in accordance with our obligations under international law, in particular international human rights law, refugee law and humanitarian law.

We are united with India in our resolve to intensify efforts to fight terrorism which constitutes a threat to each of our country, as well as to international peace and security.

Source: G8 Summit 2006, St.Petersburg, 17 July, 2006

Russia's G8 presidency event of the year – Foreign Ministry

One of the main foreign political events of 2006 was Russia's first presidency of the Group of Eight, according to a report on the Foreign Ministry's work in 2006 posted on the Russian government's website on Monday.

This will be the first time that Russia will chair this respected international forum. I hope that the experience we have accumulated since joining the G8 will ensure respect for tradition and consolidation of our efforts.

Russia, as the presiding country, regards it as its duty to give a fresh impetus to efforts to find solutions to key international problems in energy, education and healthcare.

This year, we plan to urge our partners to redouble efforts to ensure global energy security. We believe that today, it is crucial to find a solution to a problem which directly influences the social and economic development of all countries, without exception.

I am convinced that our efforts towards attaining this goal should be comprehensive and must stimulate stabilization of the global energy markets, development of innovation technologies, use of renewable energy sources and protection of the environment. We believe that today, we must think very seriously about ways to bridge the gap between energy-sufficient and energy-lacking countries.

The spread of all kinds of epidemics in the world emphasizes the need to step up the fight against infectious diseases. We are convinced that the creation of a global system to monitor dangerous diseases, the development of regular interaction between experts from different states, and broader exchange of research information about dangerous viruses will have a major positive influence on the solution of these serious problems.

In addition to the current agenda, we also plan to raise the issue of education in the G8. In our opinion, the time has come to focus on ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of national education systems and professional training. We must find tools for encouraging the international business community to increase investment into this sector.

Other major international issues we will concentrate on during Russia’s Presidency are counterterrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the settlement of regional conflicts, the development of the global economy, finance and trade, as well as protection of the environment.

I hope that the official site of Russia’s G8 Presidency will help you to get your bearings in the multitude of questions and problems facing us, as well as to learn more about the efforts of G8 member states to solve them in order to promote the sustainable development of humankind.

Source: G8 Summit 2006

Prayer for Sylvia Melodie

"The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Who has ears to hear, let him hear."

"Nothing is covered that will not be uncovered. Miracles happen when we bring what is within out into the world."

G8 Update on Africa

Since the late 1990s, G8 Summits have given Africa a high priority. At Gleneagles last year the G8 agreed to a further set of measures to reduce poverty and support sustainable development in Africa.

We are continuing to work in partnership with Africa, in particular in support of the AU and NEPAD, with a special focus this year on infectious diseases, education and energy security.

This report reviews progress on G8 commitments on Africa since the last G8 Summit, while respecting the critical role of African ownership of the reform process.

Source: G8 Summit 2006

Letter to Zuma over his threat to sue media that don’t pay within 14 days

African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma told a number of South African news media on 3 July that he would bring lawsuits against them if they did not pay him a total of 125 million rand (13.6 million euros) in damages within 14 days. He claims he was defamed by their coverage of a trial in which he was acquitted of rape.

Mr. Jacob Zuma
Deputy President
African National Congress
8 Epping Road, Forest Town
Johannesburg 2000
South Africa

Paris, 7 July 2006

Dear Mr. Zuma,

Reporters Without Borders is amazed by the manner in which you have demanded damages from the newspapers The Star, The Citizen, Sunday Sun, Sunday Times, Sunday Independent, Sunday World and Rapport, from radio Highveld Stereo and from cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, who uses the pen name Zapiro.

If you think you have been defamed, then it is entirely legitimate that you should seek compensation. But in our view you have not chosen the right way to go about it, and you are liable to do further harm to your image rather than restore it.

The exorbitant amounts in damages that your are demanding from the media seem more like an attempt to intimidate them than the response of an injured party. This approach will only encourage the privately-owned press to turn their sights on you, and will in no way help you obtain reparation for any wrong you may have been done.

We are disconcerted by the way this case is developing and the extent of its impact. We are also worried about the effect that such an unprecedented lawsuit against the press could have if it were successful, as this is a country which, probably more than any other in Africa, knows the high price that must sometimes be paid to win independence and freedom.

If the mechanisms that ensure pluralism and free expression were to seize up in South Africa, the peacemaker and development model for all of southern Africa, it would put the entire region’s press in danger. A successful lawsuit by you would give a blank cheque to Africa’s authoritarian regimes, which would use your example to attack their own press.

The independent press uses its right to free expression but also gives you the right of reply. We urge you to support the independent press by engaging it in a dialogue rather than brandishing the threat - one that is out of all proportion for a political leader at the national level - of financial and judicial penalties that would prove fatal for all the media concerned.

We hope you will be convinced by our arguments.

Respectfully,

Robert Ménard
Secretary-General

Source: Reporters without Borders

Zuma lawsuit 'will harm African media'

The Paris-based Reporters without Borders has warned Jacob Zuma that he was setting a bad example for African dictators with his defamation lawsuit against the media. "A successful lawsuit by you would give a blank cheque to Africa's authoritarian regimes, which would use your example to attack their own press," the organisation said on Tuesday, quoted in an open letter it had written to the former deputy president.

Reporters without Borders defends journalists facing prosecution for doing their work and fights to reduce the use of censorship and opposes laws designed to restrict press freedom, according to its web site. It has a network of over 100 correspondents around the world.

Secretary-General Robert Menard said his organisation, based in France, had told Zuma that should the mechanisms that ensure pluralism and free expression seize up in South Africa, it would put the entire region's press in danger. This was because South Africa was seen as "the peacemaker and development model for all of southern Africa", Menard added.

Zuma is suing media owners, publishers, editors, reporters, cartoonists and newspapers over reports during his recent rape trial. He was found not guilty. "The exorbitant amounts in damages that you are demanding from the media seem more like an attempt to intimidate them than the response of an injured party," read an open letter to Zuma from the organisation. "This approach will only encourage the privately-owned press to turn their sights on you, and will in no way help you obtain reparation for any wrong you may have been done."

Menard pointed out to Zuma that the independent press used its right to free expression but also gave him the right of reply. "We urge you to support the independent press by engaging it in a dialogue rather than brandishing the threat - one that is out of all proportion for a political leader at the national level - of financial and judicial penalties that would prove fatal for all the media concerned." The letter added: "Reporters Without Borders is amazed by the manner in which you have demanded damages from the newspapers The Star, The Citizen, Sunday Sun, Sunday Times, Sunday Independent, Sunday World and Rapport, from Radio Highveld Stereo and from cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, who uses the pen name Zapiro."

Source: IoL

'Please don't shoot me'

Police have arrested a man in connection with the death of 72-year-old Sylvia Barkhuizen at the weekend.

André Barkhuizen, who farmed Kruisement with his mother, said: "This is very, very difficult." Barkhuizen said several relatives of the arrested man had worked on the farm for years.

Source: Zapiro

The Long Shadow of Chernobyl

Twenty years after a nuclear reactor exploded, blanketing thousands of square miles with radiation, the catastrophe isn't over.

Twenty years ago this month, life in Pripyat came to a shuddering end. Before dawn on April 26, 1986, less than two miles south of what was then a city of 50,000, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant's number four reactor exploded. Thirty people died in the blast and fire or were exposed to lethal radiation. The destroyed hulk burned for ten days, contaminating tens of thousands of square miles in northern Ukraine, southern Belarus, and Russia's Bryansk region. It was the worst nuclear accident the world has ever seen.

Source: National Geographic

Britain and South Africa accused of ‘rendering’ terror suspects

A growing body of evidence suggests that the British and South African governments are directly implicated in ‘rendition,’ a practice whereby foreign nationals accused of terrorist involvement by a given government have been kidnapped and sent overseas to be interrogated, often tortured and sometimes ‘disappeared.’

Source: World Socialist web

Congo president on military rapes: 'Unforgivable'

Confronted with atrocious accounts of rape committed by members of the Congo military, Congolese President Joseph Kabila at first was silent -- then found his voice, saying "It's shocking. These kinds of acts are simply unforgivable." The father of a young girl, Kabila was commenting after watching an exclusive CNN report from last week in which women, children and a doctor described an array of sex crimes by the Congolese military -- some of whom used knives to rape their victims.

Kabila, a former military man, appeared shaken after the report. He watched it and watched it again, shifting uncomfortably in his seat each time he heard a victim's horrific story, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. Locals say soldiers from one ethnic group are systematically raping and mutilating women from another group, with the intention, they say of destroying their child-bearing capabilities. Kabila was quick to acknowledge that more than 300 former soldiers have been convicted and jailed for sexual crimes, but admitted that is not enough. "We clearly need to do more for our citizens," he said. "But just imagine for a moment a country as large as all of Western Europe with few roads and little infrastructure. It's a difficult terrain to police and Congo doesn't have an effective policing system. But after the election, all this will change. If elected, I will make this one of my first priorities."

Kabila is the transitional president, appointed to the job after the assassination of his father in January 2001. He hopes to be the first democratically elected leader since Congo gained independence in 1960. A U.N. report earlier this month found that physical violence against civilians by members of the security forces is "reported wherever army and police are deployed." The report went on to say that rapes and other sexual violence against women and girls are occurring throughout the country, with the "main perpetrators being army and police officers." How can such crimes be happening with such impunity under his presidency? "It's shameful that soldiers anywhere are allowed to do such things," he said. "That's why I want to be president. I want to change this. I want to make security one of my first priorities so that these and other acts come to an end once and for all."

Five years ago, Kabila was catapulted to power after his father, then-President Laurent Desire Kabila, was assassinated in an attempted coup. Joseph Kabila was then 29 years old and the army chief of staff, having spent half his life in the military. He saw a peace deal signed more than three years ago attempt to halt a bloody war that began in 1998 and drew in no less than six other African countries in what Africa analysts dubbed the continent's First World War. That conflict killed an estimated 3.9 million people, and despite the accord, fighting and lawlessness abounds. Now, at 34, Kabila is running for election at the end of July. The West hopes the first democratic elections in more than 40 years will bring an end to the nation's infighting. Kabila is considered the favorite among a field of 33 candidates. "This election is extremely important for the Congolese people," he said. "It's been a long time coming, and we need this to get back into the fold of the community of nations."

Kabila spoke to CNN in the town of Lubumbashi in the country's south, a province as large as Texas and mineral-rich in everything from copper to cobalt to uranium. He appeared relaxed and at ease at first, dressed in a pin-striped suit, sky-blue shirt and striped tie. But that changed when he was shown the report on victims of sexual violence in Bukavu. "I've spent most of my life in the military," he said. "This isn't the way soldiers are supposed to behave. If elected, I will do everything I can to rectify this problem and help make our people feel safe again."

In its 2006 report on human rights in the Congo, Amnesty International said that "slow progress was (being) made in building security, justice and respect for human rights after nearly a decade of war." However, the group also noted that "Despite systematic violations of human rights, hardly any suspected perpetrators were brought to justice."

Source: CNN

NATIONAL CREDIT ACT 34 OF 2005

The purpose of the National Credit Act is to promote a fair and non-discriminatory marketplace for access to consumer credit and for that purpose to provide for the general regulation of consumer credit and improved standards of consumer information; to promote black economic empowerment and ownership within the consumer credit industry; to prohibit certain unfair credit and credit-marketing practices; to promote responsible credit granting and use and for that purpose to prohibit reckless credit granting; to provide for debt re-organisation in cases of over-indebtedness; to regulate credit information; to provide for registration of credit bureaux, credit providers and debt counselling services; to establish national norms and standards relating to consumer credit; to promote a consistent enforcement framework relating to consumer credit; to establish the National Credit Regulator and the National Consumer Tribunal; to repeal the Usury Act, 1968, and the Credit Agreements Act, 1980; and to provide for related incidental matters.

The Act comes into operation with effect from 1 June 2006 unless otherwise indicated. It is important to note that in Government Gazette No 28824 dated 11 May 2006 The President of the Republic of south Africa issued a Proclamation, No 22 of 2006, the effect of which is that some section of the Act come into effect on 1 June 2006, others on 1 September 2006 and others on 1 June 2007.

The Proclamation can be found here.

Source: SABINET

South Africa: Factional war intensifies between Mbeki and Zuma supporters in ANC

On May 8, Jacob Zuma, former deputy president of South Africa, was acquitted of the charge of rape in the Johannesburg High Court. The accusation against him was made last December, causing him to step down from the office of vice president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) until a verdict was reached.

Source: World Socialist Web

Former Political Enemies Join in Exile to Push for Change in Syrian Leadership

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 22 — One was the right-hand man to Syria's dictators, the other counted himself among the country's most wanted. The elder successfully maneuvered within the secular Syrian Baath Party; the younger worked with the Muslim Brotherhood for decades to change the government and its party.

They were about as far apart as possible on the Syrian political spectrum.

But now, as exiles, Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria's former vice president, and Ali Sadreddin al-Bayanouni, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, are partners in a long-term plan to bring change to Syria. "Oppression has united us," said Mr. Bayanouni, a lanky man with understated charisma. "We are all sons of the same land, and it turns out we have all been suffering from the same condition."

After a slow, careful exchange of contacts, the men tied their fates together in March, forming the National Salvation Front, an unlikely political alliance with the dual goals of unifying Syria's fractious opposition and reassuring insiders fearful of change.

That each claims a following and influence in different parts of Syrian society gives the alliance a unique potential that Syria's opposition has never had, many experts agree.

Mr. Khaddam, 74, and Mr. Bayanouni, 67, both say they hesitated before making such a leap, meeting in Belgium for two days to discuss their regrets and hopes, until they were certain they saw eye to eye on Syria's future and had a basis of mutual trust.

"At the end, I felt like I knew him for many years," Mr. Khaddam said of Mr. Bayanouni, who concurred.

Mr. Khaddam spoke on condition that his present whereabouts not be disclosed because of security concerns and growing sensitivity by some European governments over his political work.

For years the Syrian opposition was made up of a ragtag band of leftists, Arab nationalists and Islamists with competing interests and divergent strategies. With the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in February 2005, opposition figures came into the spotlight as fingers pointed at the Syrian government and international pressure grew. (A preliminary report by United Nations investigators found a state role in the killing, but President Bashar al-Assad has strongly denied the allegations.)

Mr. Bayanouni and Mr. Khaddam are cagey about exactly what their alliance is doing other than lobbying, largely because they are concerned over security. They have planned a general meeting in early June to gather opposition figures and outline their charter.

They spend much of their time on the telephone, seeking to lure others, even as Syria has begun a crackdown on opposition figures, especially those who have been suspected of meeting with either of the two men. Some critics say Mr. Khaddam became allied with Mr. Bayanouni more for his own future than for Syria's.

"It is a marriage of convenience," said Ammar Qurabi, a spokesman for Syria's National Organization for Human Rights. "Khaddam needs a party to have credit inside Syria and get himself back into political life. The Muslim brothers are also in need of a strong person with important files inside the regime."

But in any case, Mr. Khaddam promises to bring the opposition a new degree of clout. With a war in Iraq, and fear of Islamists growing throughout the region, Syria's neighbors and other nations have been loath to support the Muslim Brotherhood.

By joining politically with the Brotherhood, Mr. Khaddam ostensibly sends a reassuring message that other members of the government would not face retribution if it fell, and that a stable government would be built soon after.

"What happened in Iraq will never happen in Syria," he insisted. "We will protect the army and maintain the institutions of government."

Such comments are a measure of how far each man has come.

After the current president's father, Hafez al-Assad, took control in a coup in 1970, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — the Islamist group founded in Egypt — became one of several parties pushed underground.

The group and numerous splinter elements violently resisted the rule of Mr. Assad and the Baath Party in the mid-1970's.

When the Brotherhood rose up in the town of Hama in 1982, Mr. Assad sought to crush it for good, sending in the army and virtually razing the city, killing thousands of the group's members and jailing many others.

For many Syrians, the Brotherhood became synonymous with Muslim extremism; for the group's members, Hama is a permanent reminder of the brutality of the Assad era.

Mr. Bayanouni, who says he had no role in any violence during the turbulent 70's and 80's, fled to exile in Jordan. In 2000, the Jordanian government asked him to leave under Syrian pressure, he said. He was granted asylum by Britain, and has continued to lead the Syrian branch of the Brotherhood from London.

Mr. Khaddam, on the other hand, was a rising star in Syrian politics in the 1960's, ever at the side of Hafez al-Assad, serving in various government positions before becoming foreign minister, and later vice president.

But when the elder Mr. Assad died in 2000, and his son succeeded him, Mr. Khaddam was gradually forced out of his areas of influence.

Mr. Khaddam says he began reaching out to the opposition years ago — even as vice president — initially to include opposition members and help strengthen the government, later to bring it down.

In late 2003, he secretly sent an emissary to London to meet Mr. Bayanouni and tell him of his intention to break with Mr. Assad.

"The messenger told me that Khaddam would be going against the regime, but that it is going to take some time," Mr. Bayanouni said. "I sent word back that it should happen soon."

Last summer Mr. Khaddam resigned in a speech before a conference of the Baath Party, warning his comrades of the threat to the state caused by growing corruption, he said. He quickly left for exile in Paris, where he has lived in an opulent house.

In late December he gave a hint of his ambitions by accusing Mr. Assad and other Syrian officials of having a hand in Mr. Hariri's assassination, setting off an international firestorm in the process. The stern vice president became the most senior member of the Syrian inner circle to publicly break ranks with Mr. Assad.

Months later Mr. Khaddam sent another messenger to Mr. Bayanouni in London, suggesting that they combine forces, setting off a deep debate among the upper ranks of the Brotherhood leadership.

It proved to be an excruciating moment for the Muslim Brotherhood, but also a chance to heal old wounds and enter a world that it never could before.

"It was a difficult decision to make," Mr. Bayanouni said. "We knew he was a partner to everything that has happened in Syria."

But Mr. Bayanouni and other Brotherhood leaders agreed that Mr. Khaddam had little role in the internal politics of the country, and had no actual blood on his hands, Mr. Bayanouni said.

So they arrived at a compromise: Mr. Khaddam had to apologize.

"Today his stance is one of regret, and he is very serious about democracy in Syria," Mr. Bayanouni said. "There is a death sentence against him. He is being chased now like they chased us. He does have some responsibility for what has happened in the past, but it is clear he has changed."

Syria recently asked Interpol, the international police organization, to arrest Mr. Khaddam and turn him over to Syria.

He faces charges of sedition and has been expelled from the Baath Party. Many of his children's assets have been seized.

The government has also begun a wave of arrests of major opposition figures in Syria.

Still, Mr. Bayanouni emphasizes that not all is forgotten. When a new government is in place, he said, a court will be able to decide whether Mr. Khaddam was guilty of anything. But in the meantime, he said, Mr. Khaddam will be a critical piece of the opposition.

Source: New York Times

HRH Princess Stella Margaret Nomzano Sigcau

HRH Princess Stella Margaret Nomzano Sigcau, born 14th January 1937 at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, educated at Lovedale Institute (Teachers Diploma, 1954), and University of Fort Hare (BA degree, 1959), worked as a teacher at a number of schools in Natal 1960/1968, entered politics during the 1968 elections in Transkei, winning Lusikisiki seat.

HRH has held the portfolios of Public Works and Education, Interior (which included Trade and Tourism) and Posts and Telecommunications prior to the granting of independence to Transkei, Transkei’s Minister of Interior Affairs (retaining responsibility for Posts and Telecommunications) with Transkeian independence, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications of Transkei 1981, Leader of the Transkei National Independence Party 1987, third Prime Minister of the Transkei in 1987, Minister of Public Enterprises in the South African Government 1994/1999, Minister of Public Works in the South African Government 17th June 1999 to 7th May 2006, Executive member of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa), currently serving as head of its Projects Division, Member of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), Natal Executive Council Chairperson of the ANCWL, Transkei;

HRH married 1962 Ronald Shabalala and had issue.

HRH died 7th May 2006 at St Augustine hospital, Durban and was buried at Kwa-Nandi, Qaukeni Farm, Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape on 16th May 2006.

Source:

Stella Sigcau dies

Public Works minister Stella Sigcau has died at Durban's St Augustine Hospital, ministerial spokesperson Lucky Mochalibane said on Monday. He said Sigcau, 69, who was appointed public enterprises minister in the first post-apartheid government in 1994, died of a recurring heart problem on Sunday. Sigcau was appointed Minister of Public Works on June 17, 1999. It was unclear when Sigcau was admitted at the hospital, Mochalibane said.

Sigcau the third prime minister of the former Transkei for three months in the late 1980s before Major General Bantu Holomisa ousted her. She was born at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape on January 4, 1937 and was a widow when she died. In 1954, she obtained a teachers diploma from the Lovedale Institute and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare in 1959. She was a teacher at several schools in the erstwhile Natal administration, entered politics during Transkei's 1968 election and won a seat for Lusikisiki.

Sigcau became Transkei's interior affairs minister after that homeland's independence. She led the Transkei National Independence Party for 13 years until 1990, when she disbanded the party.

Source: IoL

Mbeki names 'perfect spy' as new NIA chief

While former spy boss Billy Masetlha fights his dismissal in court, President Thabo Mbeki has moved swiftly to appoint his successor as National Intelligence Agency director-general.

Manala Manzini, who had been acting as the NIA director-general since October last year when Masetlha was suspended, has been appointed to the post with immediate effect for three years. This was confirmed by government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe. He said the decision to appoint Manzini was not cocking a snook at the legal process, given that Masetlha had instituted court action against the president. Netshitenzhe said the Constitution and relevant legislation made it clear that the president appoints the head of the intelligence services.

In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Netshitenzhe said Mbeki and the cabinet wished Manzini well in his new position "and they are confident he will acquit himself with distinction in the professional service of our country and its people".

Masetlha on Tuesday served court papers on the president challenging his dismissal as D-G last week. His lawyer, Imraan Haffegee, said on Wednesday that Manzini's appointment in the face of a court challenge by his client was news to him. He was not in a position to comment further.

Manzini was among the country's security, intelligence and defence chiefs who issued an unprecedented statement at the weekend backing the findings of Intelligence Inspector-General Zolile Ngcakani relating to the hoax email saga. But apparently the 51-year-old Manzini prefers to stay away from the limelight. When he was appointed acting D-G in October last year, Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils described him as the "perfect spy". Manzini himself told reporters: "I like working in the background - that was until the minister and the president gave me the new challenge."

A father of four who lists music, football and swimming as his hobbies, Manzini is also a polyglot. Under languages, his official CV lists English, Zulu, Russian, Swazi, Xhosa, Sotho, Shangaan and Kiswahili. He matriculated in Meadowlands in Soweto in 1975 and left the country in 1976 for exile in Zambia. In addition to supporting Kaizer Chiefs, Manzini also admits to enjoying a glass of whisky now and again and playing golf to relax. He holds a BA in politics and public administration from the University of Zambia and a masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Liverpool.

In 1993, Manzini was assigned to the office of ANC president Nelson Mandela at the party's then Johannesburg headquarters, Shell House. He was part of the team that negotiated the new intelligence dispensation under the then Intelligence Services minister Joe Nhlanhla and in 1995 was appointed general manager: corporate services for the NIA. In 2000, he was posted to the South African embassy in Washington.

Source: IoL

Liberian Seized to Stand Trial on War Crimes

Charles G. Taylor, the warlord who became Liberia's president, was captured Wednesday after a dramatic 24 hours in which he disappeared from the villa in Nigeria where he had lived in exile and then was recognized at a remote outpost as he tried to leave the country.

He was brought here to face war crimes charges for his role in a brutal decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone, one of a series of conflagrations that he set off, killing at least 300,000 people. He is the first African head of state to face such charges in an international court. Mr. Taylor's arrival by helicopter under extraordinary security capped a saga that began nearly three years ago, when he fled his nation in the face of a rebel onslaught. He was captured Wednesday morning after a customs official recognized him as he tried to escape into Cameroon.

He arrived unshaven and dressed in a white tunic covered by a bullet-proof vest, tan pants and slip-on shoes. His appearance was in stark contrast to his dapper look in his last public appearance, in 2003, when he went into exile after a 14-year civil war that killed a quarter million of his countrymen, defiantly declaring, "God willing, I will be back." He did return to Liberia, briefly, on Wednesday, but only to be handed over to United Nations troops who promptly flew him here, where he was read the indictment from a United Nations-backed court dealing with war crimes in Sierra Leone — 11 counts of crimes against humanity — then jailed.

Desmond de Silva, the prosecutor who will try the case, said Mr. Taylor's arrival "sends out the clear message that no matter how rich, powerful or feared people may be, the law is above them." The trial is sure to resonate on a continent where dictators have ruled with ruthless impunity. From Idi Amin, the soldier whose murderous rule in Uganda gave way to comfortable exile in Saudi Arabia, to Haile Mengistu Mariam, whose 14-year Communist rule in Ethiopia brought political purges that killed more than a million people but who is now living quietly in Zimbabwe, African leaders who brutalize their citizens have faced few consequences. "The current perpetrators of serious human rights crimes should be put on notice that international courts take the crimes they commit very, very seriously," said Corinne Dufka of Human Rights Watch.

Mr. Taylor's arrival here was a dramatic turn in the already complicated saga of the effort to bring him to justice after he ignited a series of civil wars in the 1990's that engulfed much of West Africa. In the early 1980's, Mr. Taylor was a senior government procurement officer in Liberia. Charged in 1983 with embezzling nearly $1 million, he fled. He was arrested in Massachusetts in 1984, then escaped from jail in 1985. He resurfaced in Liberia in 1989 as a Libyan-trained warlord, leading a rebel force. He was elected president in 1997, in a vote overshadowed by fears of what might happen if he lost.

A warrant for his arrest was issued in March 2003. But as part of an agreement to remove him from power and halt a bloodbath in Liberia, Nigeria offered him asylum and refused to hand him over to the court in Sierra Leone, where he was accused of fomenting a civil war. Though under intense pressure by the United States to arrest him, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria had insisted he would hand over Mr. Taylor only to an elected Liberian government. Earlier this month, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's new president, herself facing pressure from the United States, made the request, and Mr. Obasanjo agreed. But Nigeria insisted that it was Liberia's responsibility to go and arrest him, with Mr. Obasanjo's spokeswoman declaring that Mr. Taylor was "not a prisoner," which seemed almost to taunt Mr. Taylor into trying to escape from his lightly guarded compound in Calabar.

Late Monday night the Nigerian government said he had vanished. He was found more than 600 miles north, in an ash-colored Land Rover with a large quantity of dollars, in the company of a woman and a driver, Haz Iwendi, a spokesman for the National Police, said by telephone. A customs official spotted Mr. Taylor, whose vehicle had diplomatic license plates, early Wednesday morning in the border town of Ngala, Mr. Iwendi said.

The escape was an acute embarrassment for Mr. Obasanjo, who arrived Tuesday in Washington for a visit to the White House to discuss security in the volatile Niger Delta, where attacks by militants on oil facilities and kidnappings have slashed output. Nigeria is the United States' fifth-largest supplier of oil. Outraged American lawmakers called on President Bush to cancel his meeting with Mr. Obasanjo, with whom Mr. Bush has had a warm relationship, based in part on their shared Christian faith and bolstered by Mr. Obasanjo's role as a regional problem solver. But internal problems have eroded the Nigerian's status. Militants in the Niger Delta, sectarian violence that killed more than 100 people last month and a political crisis stemming from plans to try to extend his rule to a third term have roiled Nigeria.

Mr. Bush met with him on Wednesday, and at a joint news conference, hailed the arrest of Mr. Taylor. "The fact that Charles Taylor will be brought to justice in a court of law will help Liberia," Mr. Bush said, "and is a signal, Mr. President, of your deep desire for there to be peace in your neighborhood."

Mr. Taylor was flown on a Nigerian government jet from Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria, where he was captured, to Monrovia, Liberia's capital. There he was handed over to Liberian officials, who promptly turned him over to United Nations peacekeepers, who arrested him. After a brief medical checkup, he boarded a helicopter for Sierra Leone. The reaction to Mr. Taylor's arrival here was muted and fearful.

J. B. Jenkins-Johnson, a human rights lawyer in Freetown, worried that Mr. Taylor's arrival would cause unrest in a country still reeling from the long civil war. "Let them not bring that man here," Mr. Jenkins-Johnson said. "This man will bring us nothing but problems." Indeed, many Sierra Leoneans wonder if the court's work will do much to help them improve their lives. "The Taylor case doesn't have a lot of resonance," said Olu Gordon, a political analyst and journalist in Freetown. "It is abstract, while the problems they face are concrete: what to feed their children, how to pay for school, and so on."

The loudest calls for Mr. Taylor's arrest came not from his victims but from the United States, which has backed the international court here financially and diplomatically. Ms. Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian leader, had been hesitant to act on Mr. Taylor, saying that the peace in Liberia was still fragile and that any action could stir up his allies, several of whom hold seats in Liberia's new legislature. Several of his commanders remain in Liberia, and news of Mr. Taylor's arrest caused immediate fears of a coup attempt. But removing him from the scene could also help stabilize the region, said Mike McGovern, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, by demoralizing Mr. Taylor's supporters. "The arrest closes an ugly chapter in Liberian history and gives people the confidence to look to the future," Mr. McGovern said in an interview in Monrovia. "A lot of people are still sitting on the fence. Once they have a clear idea of where Taylor is and what's likely to happen to him, they're likely to really turn their backs on that period and move forward."

In Liberia, human rights advocates exulted in the news. "This is a great day," said Jerome J. Verdier Sr., head of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. "It's a fundamental triumph for the rule of law both in Liberia and the sub-region."

Source: New York Times

Nigeria Will End Asylum for Warlord

Nigeria said Saturday that it would end the asylum of the deposed Liberian dictator Charles G. Taylor and turn him over to the Liberian government for trial. Mr. Taylor, a warlord-turned-president, spawned a bloody cycle of civil wars that killed 300,000 people across West Africa in the 1990's. He was indicted by the United Nations-backed Special Court here in Sierra Leone in 2003 for war crimes and crimes against humanity during this country's decade-long insurgency.

But the court has been unable to arrest Mr. Taylor, who left Liberia as rebels narrowed in on him in 2003. Instead, he went into exile in Nigeria, where authorities agreed in an internationally brokered deal to grant him safe haven in order to end 14 years of civil war in Liberia. "God willing, I will be back," the flamboyant Mr. Taylor said as he bid farewell to his country.

Since agreeing to accept Mr. Taylor, the Nigerian government has rebuffed many attempts to put him on trial before the international court, saying it was awaiting a request from an elected Liberian government. Liberia's new president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, raised the issue this month with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, describing it as an important part of bringing stability to Liberia. "Liberia's peace is fragile," she said this month after announcing her extradition request. "There are many loyalists in our country to Mr. Taylor."

In Sierra Leone, where a cell has sat empty awaiting Mr. Taylor's arrival, there was fear and awe of the man who let loose so much misery in a nation smaller than South Carolina and home to five million people. "We are very afraid of Charles Taylor coming here," said Jerry Nyuma Bongay, a 25-year-old student in Freetown. "But we want him to face justice. He hurt us too much."

Desmond De Silva, the chief prosecutor for the Sierra Leone court, hailed the announcement. "This is a remarkable day for justice," he said. "This is very important because it is all part of the fight against impunity." In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Obasanjo said Liberia was free to take Mr. Taylor into custody. Although he is not under indictment in Liberia, United Nations peacekeepers there have been authorized by the Security Council to transfer him to Sierra Leone.

The statement gave no date or details for the transfer, but Mr. Obasanjo said he had never been against surrendering Mr. Taylor to a democratically elected government in Liberia. Ms. Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia's president in January, becoming Africa's first woman to be elected head of state. Mr. Taylor was forbidden from leaving Nigeria during his exile, but he continued to meddle in his former country's affairs from his government guest house in Calabar, on Nigeria's southern coast, using some of the millions of dollars he is accused of stealing from Liberia's coffers.

Security around Mr. Taylor's villa has been lax, said Corinne Dufka, a researcher for Human Rights Watch based in Dakar, Senegal, prompting fears that Mr. Taylor may try to escape. "We are calling on Nigeria to tighten security around Taylor," Ms. Dufka said. "I think there will be a great sense of relief when Charles Taylor is actually in the custody of the special court."

The court, set up in 2000, had issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Taylor on 17 counts in 2003 but Nigeria ignored it. Mr. Obasanjo had said that he would honor a request by Liberia's government to relinquish Mr. Taylor, but until this year Liberia had only transitional leaders. With the backing of Libya and other regional powers, Mr. Taylor unleashed his horrific brand of warfare across the region for the better part of two decades, dragooning young boys into combat, first with violence, then with drugs, money and sex.

In Sierra Leone, he is accused of training and arming Sierra Leone's rebels in a bloody conflict left tens of thousands of people dead.

Source: New York Times

The rise and fall of spy chief Billy Masetlha

When the highly embarrassing espionage operation involving fabricated intelligence reports emerged, it tore apart a close-knit relationship between a head of government and his director-general of intelligence - and the spy chief bit the dust. This was in 1997, when the long-standing amity between the-then Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu and director-general of Mossad, Danny Yatom, broke down irreparably because a katza (spy) manufactured top secret reports for two decades. Netanyahu gave Yatom a lashing in his office in October, the same month President Thabo Mbeki gave the booted director-general of National Intelligence Agency Billy Masetlha a dressing down nine years later.

Similarly, compounding Yatom's quandary was the scandal's leakage to the media in the same way Masetlha's embarrassing operations were broken by Independent Newspapers in October last year. Yatom resigned while Masetlha was fired. But their spying careers both ended in March while they were in their early 50s, after each had spent two years in the job.

The irony of these espionage incidents is that one of the key issues that led to Masetlha's downfall involves the so-called hoax e-mails that, among other things, claim to associate intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils with Mossad. The irony is how close confidants - Mbeki and Masetlha - turned against each other overnight, leading to Mbeki exercising his presidential powers and firing his spy chief. Given how easily upset the president can be, the firing of Masetlha came as no surprise after the suspended NIA director-general accused Mbeki - in papers lodged at the Pretoria High Court - of lying to save his job.

In an interview, Mbeki was visibly angry, accusing some of his intelligence agents of "manufacturing intelligence" and lying to please him. "The president as head of state and head of government is the principal client of civilian intelligence … Now you can imagine what would happen if the president is fed false information. "I am saying it is very dangerous and you cannot allow any compromise about quality of intelligence and its truthfulness, you can't afford a situation where people manufacture intelligence," Mbeki said last month.

Masetlha is blamed by intelligence inspector-general Zolile Ngcakani, and also by intelligence sources, for:

# Authorising the unlawful surveillance of ANC executive and businessman Saki Macozoma under the pretext that the he was involved with foreign intelligence. It was revealed that this has much to do with the succession battle in the ANC following Macozoma's implication in the e-mails since declared by Ngcakani to be hoaxes.

# Being involved in the fabrication of the e-mails that purport to implicate senior government and ANC officials in a plot to sideline and incriminate embattled former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

# Being highly involved in party political squabbles by colluding with politicians in the divisive succession battle that has polarised the ruling party between Mbeki and Zuma camps.

# Abusing intelligence and state resources for personal or political gain.

# Acting ultra vires in bugging and intercepting individuals' communications for the same purpose, which could have contributed to the fabrication of the e-mails.

# Fighting a bitter battle with Kasrils to win the heart of the president. This emerged at the October meeting where Masetlha wanted to brief Mbeki about the minister, but was suspended by Kasrils the following day. Masetlha accused Kasrils of being close to the British foreign intelligence agency - MI6.

# Fomenting divisions in the intelligence and security agencies, as exposed during the Khampepe commission to determine the future of the Scorpions. Masetlha accused Scorpions officials of colluding with foreign intelligence, including the US Central Intelligence Agency. He was censured by cabinet, while he became a hero in the Zuma camp for giving the former deputy president's "foes" a pounding.

But if this is true, it remains puzzling how Masetlha - who holds the president in high esteem - could allow professional rivalry to sacrifice his career and tilt towards the losing Zuma camp. Had he miscalculated the impact of his fight with Kasrils? Masetlha did not return messages left for him and his lawyer is said to be out of the country.

A senior spy who worked closely with him said Masetlha could have been motivated by "something serious" pushing him this far. But those who worked with him at the SA Secret Service, where he was also director-general, accuse him of recklessness. They say this was the same reason that forced him to quit Home Affairs after fighting with former minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. However, all agree that Masetlha is an Alexandra-born street-fighter and, like Yatom, a hands-on spymaster. Even when he called him a liar, he trusted Mbeki and hoped for reconciliation, another intelligence source said. The trust had been mutual. Mbeki asked him in the winter of 2001 to form the controversial presidential intelligence unit, a clear indication that the president did not trust anyone but Masetlha. How this trust broke down (the main reason why he was fired), is a mystery.

Masetlha was the president's eyes and ears and defended him when Mbeki was pummelled at the ANC's national general council last winter, while security figures such as former defence force general Siphiwe Nyanda were openly rejoicing at Zuma's coming in from the cold. Masetlha's career revolved around Mbeki, having worked as the president's security adviser and his counsel on the DRC and Rwandan peace agreements. Mbeki appointed him to the sensitive key post of director-general of Home Affairs after serving, with the president's approval, as head of the secret service. In the winter of 2002, Mbeki recalled Masetlha from Home Affairs after his spat with Buthelezi and announced that the spy chief would reinforce security in the presidency.

Although it might seem his career is over and that the long-standing relationship between him and Mbeki is now something of a broken love affair, Masetlha is likely to intensify his confrontation with the president. He has nothing to lose. As former spymaster and presidential security adviser, he knows more about the president than anyone else. But it remains a poser how he would exploit this to his advantage. However, this could be countered by Ngcakani handing over his report to the SA Police Service with a view to charging Masetlha - either with treason or a lighter charge.

He might bounce back when the ANC's national executive committee triggers another skirmish over the e-mails, for secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and some NEC members have made it clear they do not accept Ngcakani's report. If they prevail (which seems unlikely), Masetlha might come back as adviser to another president, just as Yatom later became adviser to another Israeli prime minister - Ehud Barak.

Source: IoL

Mbeki gives Masetlha the boot

President Thabo Mbeki has terminated the services of suspended National Intelligence Agency (NIA) head Billy Masetlha with immediate effect. Briefing the media at Parliament following Cabinet's fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys on Wednesday, government communications chief Joel Netshitenzhe said this followed Mbeki's determination that the relationship of trust between himself and Masetlha had irreparably broken down.

During its meeting, Cabinet had been briefed on the investigation by the Inspector General of Intelligence Services (IG) Zolile Ngcakani into the authenticity of allegedly intercepted "e-mail communication" among public figures. "The meeting noted the findings of the IG that these 'e-mails' were fabricated mock-ups that were not and could not have been communicated over the world-wide web. Overwhelming evidence, supported by independent expert testimony, points to the fact that the 'e-mails' and chat-room conversations were patently fraudulent," Netshitenzhe said.

Cabinet had agreed all relevant administrative, legal and policy issues deriving from the report should be followed up and, where required, Cabinet would be briefed on progress in this regard. The meeting was also informed that Mbeki had decided to terminate Masetlha's services with effect from Wednesday, March 22. "This decision, Cabinet was informed, derives from the President's determination that the relationship of trust between him and the head of NIA had irreparably broken down."

The IG and Intelligence Services Minister Ronnie Kasrils would brief Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, the management and personnel of the intelligence agencies, and the media on the details of the findings in due course, Netshitenzhe said. Masetlha would be paid out the balance of his contract, the extent of which was not known at this stage. Netshitenzhe would not be drawn on whether criminal charges, if any, would follow. The IG's investigation sought to establish the veracity and source of the e-mails.

Kasrils suspended Masetlha and two other senior officials last year, pending a probe into claims of "serious misconduct" allegedly related to the surveillance of politician-turned-businessman Saki Macozoma. The suspension of Masetlha, his deputy Gibson Njenje and NIA general manager Bob Mhlanga, followed an initial probe by the IG at Kasrils' instruction. This followed a complaint from a member of the public, believed to be Macozoma. The matter has been linked in the media to a succession battle in the African National Congress between Mbeki and former deputy president Jacob Zuma. Macozoma is said to be a Mbeki loyalist. The e-mails were purported to have been authored by top government officials and senior politicians.

Source: IoL

NIA boss Masetlha fired

President Thabo Mbeki has terminated the services of suspended national intelligence agency (NIA) head Billy Masetlha. Briefing the media after the cabinet's fortnightly meeting meeting at Tuynhuys on Wednesday, government communications chief Joel Netshitenzhe said this was with immediate effect. Netshitenzhe said it followed Mbeki's determination that the relationship of trust between himself and Masetlha had irreparably broken down.

During its meeting, the cabinet had been briefed on the investigation by the inspector-general of intelligence services, Zolile Ngcakani, into the authenticity of allegedly intercepted "e-mail communication" among public figures. "The meeting noted the findings of the IG that the 'e-mails' were fabricated mock-ups that were not, and could not, have been communicated via the worldwide web. Overwhelming evidence, supported by independent expert testimony, points to the fact that the 'e-mails' and chat-room conversations were patently fraudulent," Netshitenzhe said.

The cabinet had agreed all relevant administrative, legal and policy issues deriving from the report should be followed up and, where required, cabinet would be briefed on progress in this regard. Netshitenzhe said the IG and Intelligence Services Minister Ronnie Kasrils would brief parliament's joint standing committee on intelligence, the management and personnel of the intelligence agencies, and the media on the details of the findings in due course.

Masetlha would be paid out the balance of his contract, the extent of which was not known at this stage. Netshitenzhe would not be drawn on whether criminal charges, if any, would follow. The IG's investigation sought to establish the veracity and source of the e-mails. Kasrils suspended Masetlha and two other senior officials last year, pending a probe into claims of "serious misconduct" allegedly related to the surveillance of politician-turned-businessman Saki Macozoma. The suspension of Masetlha, his deputy Gibson Njenje and NIA general manager Bob Mhlanga, followed an initial probe by the IG at Kasrils' instruction. This followed a complaint from a member of the public, believed to be Macozoma. The matter has been linked in the media to a succession battle in the ANC between Mbeki and former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Macozoma is said to be a Mbeki loyalist. The e-mails were purported to have been written by top government officials and senior politicians.

Source: Mail & Guardian

Milosevic found dead in his cell

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević has been found dead in the detention centre at The Hague tribunal. The tribunal said an autopsy would be conducted to establish cause of death, but there was no indication of suicide. Zdenko Tomanovic, a lawyer for Mr Milosevic, says the autopsy should take place elsewhere as his client said he was being poisoned in the jail. Mr Milosevic, 64, had been held at the UN war crimes tribunal for genocide and other war crimes since 2001.

"Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations detention unit," the tribunal said in a statement. "The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead."

Source: BBC

'NPA won't be intimidated'

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) won't allow itself to be intimidated by anybody, national prosecutions head Vusi Pikoli said on Wednesday. Recent statements by individuals and groups have undermined public confidence in the institution, he told Parliament's justice portfolio committee.

Many unfair allegations have been levelled against the authority in the past year. "We've been accused of all sorts of things," Pikoli said in a report to the committee. This led to the undermining of the NPA image and integrity and couldn't be allowed, Pikoli said. The NPA was working very hard to ensure it had a clean image. It has to be regarded as impartial so as to protect the rule of law.

The NPA's offices were open and any complaints of impropriety would be investigated fully, said Pikoli. But it would not take heed of any attempted intimidation. "We will not be intimidated by anybody. We will do our job and base decisions on the facts, on the law," Pikoli told the committee.

Source: News 24.com

MILAN BABIC FOUND DEAD IN DETENTION UNIT

At 18:30 hours on Sunday 5 March 2006, Milan Babić, a detained witness, was found dead in his cell at the United Nations Detention Unit in Scheveningen.

The Detention Unit Medical Officer confirmed Milan Babic's death shortly after his body was found. The Dutch authorities were called immediately. After conducting an investigation, they confirmed that the cause of death was suicide. Pursuant to his authority under the Tribunal's Statute and Rules of Detention, the Tribunal President, Judge Fausto Pocar, has ordered an internal inquiry.

Source: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

White SA struggles with African identity

Generations too late to be classified as Europeans, white South Africans are fighting for the right to be seen as African amid doubts about their loyalty, fuelled by a growing white diaspora.

In his "I am an African" speech, delivered at the launch of the country's Constitution in 1996, then-deputy president Mbeki said: "The Constitution whose adoption we celebrate constitutes an unequivocal statement that we refuse to accept that our Africanness shall be defined by our race, colour, gender or historical origins."

Source: Mail & Guardian

Mass grave unearthed in Iraq city

A mass grave has been discovered in the predominantly Shia city of Karbala south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. Dozens of bodies have reportedly been found, apparently those of Shia rebels killed by Saddam Hussein's army after its defeat in the 1991 Gulf War. The Shia revolt was crushed and as many as 30,000 people were killed, many of them buried in mass graves.

The remains were uncovered by workmen digging a new water pipe in the centre of the city known for its Shia shrine. They called the police, who cordoned off the area. Clothing found with the bodies indicated that they included men, women and children. "The remains of dozens of victims were found in the pit - some 500 metres from the mausoleum of Imam Hussein," Abdul Rahman, a Karbala police spokesman, told news agency AFP. Shia pilgrims converge on Karbala twice a year to mark the death of Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, 1,300 years ago. Several mass graves containing thousands of bodies have been uncovered since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, notably in the Shia south and Kurdish north. However, there have been concerns that most useful evidence from the graves has been destroyed as relatives tried to recover the remains of their loved ones.

The former Iraqi leader and seven members of his regime are currently being tried for the killing of 148 people in Dujail in 1982. They all deny responsibility. Other charges are expected, including ones relating to the suppression of the 1991 uprisings, which were encouraged by the United States following the liberation of Kuwait, but not supported by coalition forces. The elite Republican Guard was able to crush the rebellion and tens of thousands of Shia across the south were imprisoned, tortured and killed.

The holy shrines in Karbala and Najaf were smashed by the tanks and artillery of government forces. They were, however, quickly restored by the government.

Source: BBC

Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur

This 85-page report documents the role of more than a dozen named civilian and military officials in the use and coordination of “Janjaweed” militias and the Sudanese armed forces to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur since mid-2003.

Omar al-Bashir, as commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces, played a pivotal leadership role in the military campaign in Darfur. His public statements were precursors to military operations and to peaks in abuses by Sudanese security forces. There are indications that they echoed the private directives given to civilian administration and military and security services. For instance, on December 30, 2003, al-Bashir announced that: "Our top priority will be the annihilation of the rebellion and any outlaw who carries arms." A few days later, in January 2004, the Sudanese security forces began an offensive that used systematic force in violation of international humanitarian law to drive hundreds of thousands of people from rural areas in Darfur. The methodological use of aerial support to target civilians in the military campaign, despite protests from air force officers, also appears to reflect the involvement of high-level officials in Khartoum.

Human Rights Watch concluded that beginning in May 2002, even before the more devastating phases of the conflict, al-Bashir was very likely aware of abuses committed by the security forces in Darfur. By mid-2004, reports of tens of thousands of displaced people and information from dozens of police complaints, press accounts, and reports by numerous organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, made it clear that massive abuses were taking place in Darfur. Apart from this specific information, the government's previous use of ethnic militias in the southern Sudan conflict provided ample warning that such forces invariably targeted civilians and committed other war crimes.

Source: Human Rights Watch