As thousands of soldiers and civilians cheered, 13 ministers and other top officials of the Liberian Government deposed on April 12 were put to death on a beach here today by a firing squad of riflemen and machine gunners. Those shot included former Foreign Minister Cecil C Dennis Jr. and Frank E Tolbert, the presideng officer of the Senate and elder brother of the President, William R Tolbert Jr., who was killed during the coup. Also executed were the speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice and the chairman of the party that for a century had governed this country, long the closest African friend of the United states.
They had been sentenced to death by a five-man military tribunal that declared them guily of "high treason, rampant corruption and gross violations of human rights." They had been allowed no defense counsel nor had they received any details of the charges against them.
After the executions, a staff sergeant emptied the magazine of his weapon into the bodies, turned to a reporter standing next to hi, and said that those put to death had had "no right to live" because they had made Liberians suffer for years, "Killing people and stealing our money." Reporters were summoned to the beach shortly after attending the first news conference given by Liberia's new leader, Samuel K Doe, the 28-year-old former master sergeant who led the coup of April 12. Anwersing only two of the dozens of prepared questions during the conference, which lasted seven minutes, Mr Doe said he would return Liberia to cicilian rule and call elections "when things have calmed down."
The governing military body, headed by Mr Doe and called the People's Redemption Council, rejected plead from the United States and other Western embassies to spare the prisoners' lives. The 13 Government ministers, legislators, party officials and others condemned to die today were transported by bus to a sandy dune at Monrovia's beachfront Barclay military training base, wehre thousands of civilians and hundreds of soldiers had gathered. Nine thick wooden posts had been lined up along the dune 10 feet apart. The death sentences were carried out in two groups. Nine of the 13 prisoner were first stripped to the waist and tied, one to each post and facing away from the sea. A single long green rope was used.
Soldiers in battle fatigues, mostly armed with submachine guns, milled around the posts jeering at the prisoners who were tied by their waists. It took half an hour for their officer to get them to move far enough back to make room for the firing squad. Mr Tolbert, the Senate president, and Richard A Heneries, the 72-year-old Speaker of the House, apparently fainted, and the firing squad killed them as they sagged to the ground on the rope.
Only the former Foreign Minister Dennis and F Reginald Townsend, former chairman of the long-governing True Whig Party, appeared calm as they faced their executioners. One soldier with a rifle was positioned in from of each post at a distance of 15 yards. As the order was given, each fired several shots. The first shots missed Mr Dennis and some others. The former Foreign Minister appeared astonished. Then other soldiers opened up with bursts of machine-gun fire for several minutes amid wild cheering from the soldiers and from civilians lined up some distance from the beach.
The nine bodies were cut down and left at the foot of the stakes, and the second group of four was brought forward. Moments later, another volley rang out. Besides Mr Dennis, Mr Tolbert, Mr Heneries and Mr Townsend, those put to death today were identified as Joseph Chesson, Justice Minister; James A Pierre, Chief Justice' James T Phillips, Finance Minister; David Franklin Neal, Minister for Economic Planning; Frank Stewart, Budget Director; Cyril Bright, Agricultural Minister; John Sherman, Trade Minister; Charles TO King, a congressional representative, and Clarence Parker, Tru Whig Party treasurer.
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, April 22, 1980
Sunday, April 20, 1980
Free at Last, Zimbabwe Now Must Face Difficult Choices
The Union Jack was lowered at Government House Thursday as the bugler played last post. At midnight, before a cheering crowd, Prince Charles handed over the formal documents of sovereignty. The nation of Zimbabwe was born.
They are familiar ceremonies. Forty-two times, starting with India in 1947, what was once a British territory has become independent but for Commonwealth ties. For both Zimbabwe and Britain, however, last week's events carried more than the usual weight of symbolism. Years of bitterness and death preceded the outcome peacefully celebrated. And much now depends - not only for Zimbabwe but for Britain and the West generally - on whether the new country can overcome that past.
Two basic facts underly Zimbabwe's bloody past and uncertain furture. In population it is an obverwhelmingly black country: about 7 million blacks and 230 000 whites. But white farmers and businessmen and investors created th economy of what used to be Rhodesia - with black labor - and whited held all the economic and political power. After seven years of war and a much longer political struggle, the majority has gained political power. A great question for the future is whether the power can and will be used to sustain the economy.
Robert Mugabe and his government, for example, face an immediate decision on the fundamental matter of food prices. The price of staples was kept low in Rhodesia, for political resons, by the white Government of Ian D Smith and the interim regime of Bishop Abel T Muzorewa. Corn for meal, the most basic item in Southern Africa, still sells here for less than half the price in neighboring Zambia. The subsidy on corn alone is said to cist the Government nearly $40 miilion a year. The hidden economi costs are even greter. With prices held artificially low, tribal villages have realised that it costs them more to grow their food by traditional methods than to buy it. So more and more have gone to townsm to try to fins work and send money home. Five years ago, the large peasant sector of the economy produced more food than it needed. Today it buys a third of what it consumes.
Zimbabwe urgently needs to make its peasant agriculture more productive. But the political cost of letting prices rise to increase productivity would put a burden on the masses who voted the Mugabe Government into office. That is the kind of anguishing choice that will have to be made by the Government again and again. Zimbabwe's advantage is that it is not another desperate third world nation. It has the potential for economic take-off. The country's large white-owned farms boast some of the most productive agriculture in the world, for example. While neighboring Mozambique and Zambia have had to depend on food imports, sometimes coming close to bare cupboards, Rhodesia fed itself. Under the right conditions, Zimbabwe's grain surpluses could help the whole region. As for industry, the world learned during 15 years of trying to supress the white rebellion with sanctions how ingenious Rhodesians could be in supplying their own needs. Andrew Young, in Salisbury las week as a member of the American delegation for the independence celebrations, remarked ironically on the high quality of the workmanship in the modern hotel here the delegates stayed. "if they could build this during sanctions," he said, "maybe they could give us soe advice ..."
Unlike many newly independent countries, Zimbabwe has a reservoir of human skills o which to draw. The white population, small as it is, includes crucial technical and managerial experts. But there is also a black professional and middle class. The country has had an integrated university for years, and there are large numbers of black graduates.
Prime Minister Mugabe has made a particular effort so far to reassure white Zimbaweans and potential investors from abroad. even before independence he emphasized that, though he calls himself a Marxist, he did not want to 'disrupt the economy' by early nationalisation. On the night of independence, he made a moving appeal to blacks to treat white fairly. "It could never be a correct justification," be said, "that because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today because they have power. An evil remains an evil ... Our majority rule cold easily turn into inhuman rule if we opressed, persecuted or harassed those who do not look or think like the majority of us."
Anothe reasurance to whites, at the moment of independence, was the atmosphere of friendliness between Mr Mugabe and the British Government. In light of history, this was one of the most amazing aspects of an amazing week. The British were humiliatingly powerless when Ian Smith led Rhodesia into unilateral independence in 1965. That was in part because Rhodesia had been a self-governing territory since 1923. The Bristish Prime Minister in 1965 and for years afterward, Harold Wilson, was also singularly unable to marshal effective diplomacy against the Smith regime. The black nationalist movements, including Mr Mugabe's, always suspected that British governments were not so much unable as unwilling to take firm action against their white kith and kin in Rhodesia. The suspicions deepened when a Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher took office. When Lord Carrigton, the Foreign Secretary, convened the Rhodesian conference in London last fall, Mr Mugabe was highly skeptical. At one point a Mugabe spokesman said the British cease-fire proposals were "a pot fathered by Mrs Thatcher in concubinage with Satan Botha" (Prime Minister PW Botha of South Africa).
The hostility and suspicion carried over into the election run by the British Governor, Lord Soames. Mr Mugabe held out some of his troops, beleiving that the British would deny him the fruits of political victory. There were botter recriminations on both sides about alleged violations of the cease-fire accords. Then, just before the election, the two men met alone together for the first time - and something happened. Aides say each came out of that meeting believing in the other's bona fides. In the days after his sweeping victory, Mr Mugabe sought the Governor's advice, and urged him to stay longer. "I must admit," Mr Mugabe said of Lord Soames in his independence speech, "that I was one of those who originally never trusted him, and yet I have now ended up not only implicitly trusting but fondly loving him as well. He is indeed a great man, through whom it has been possible, within the short period I have been Prime Minister, to organize substantial aid from Britain and other countries."
Robert Mugabe is not looking for Christopher Soames, then, but to the west. That is another reason why Zimbabwe means so much to so many.
Source: New York Times
They are familiar ceremonies. Forty-two times, starting with India in 1947, what was once a British territory has become independent but for Commonwealth ties. For both Zimbabwe and Britain, however, last week's events carried more than the usual weight of symbolism. Years of bitterness and death preceded the outcome peacefully celebrated. And much now depends - not only for Zimbabwe but for Britain and the West generally - on whether the new country can overcome that past.
Two basic facts underly Zimbabwe's bloody past and uncertain furture. In population it is an obverwhelmingly black country: about 7 million blacks and 230 000 whites. But white farmers and businessmen and investors created th economy of what used to be Rhodesia - with black labor - and whited held all the economic and political power. After seven years of war and a much longer political struggle, the majority has gained political power. A great question for the future is whether the power can and will be used to sustain the economy.
Robert Mugabe and his government, for example, face an immediate decision on the fundamental matter of food prices. The price of staples was kept low in Rhodesia, for political resons, by the white Government of Ian D Smith and the interim regime of Bishop Abel T Muzorewa. Corn for meal, the most basic item in Southern Africa, still sells here for less than half the price in neighboring Zambia. The subsidy on corn alone is said to cist the Government nearly $40 miilion a year. The hidden economi costs are even greter. With prices held artificially low, tribal villages have realised that it costs them more to grow their food by traditional methods than to buy it. So more and more have gone to townsm to try to fins work and send money home. Five years ago, the large peasant sector of the economy produced more food than it needed. Today it buys a third of what it consumes.
Zimbabwe urgently needs to make its peasant agriculture more productive. But the political cost of letting prices rise to increase productivity would put a burden on the masses who voted the Mugabe Government into office. That is the kind of anguishing choice that will have to be made by the Government again and again. Zimbabwe's advantage is that it is not another desperate third world nation. It has the potential for economic take-off. The country's large white-owned farms boast some of the most productive agriculture in the world, for example. While neighboring Mozambique and Zambia have had to depend on food imports, sometimes coming close to bare cupboards, Rhodesia fed itself. Under the right conditions, Zimbabwe's grain surpluses could help the whole region. As for industry, the world learned during 15 years of trying to supress the white rebellion with sanctions how ingenious Rhodesians could be in supplying their own needs. Andrew Young, in Salisbury las week as a member of the American delegation for the independence celebrations, remarked ironically on the high quality of the workmanship in the modern hotel here the delegates stayed. "if they could build this during sanctions," he said, "maybe they could give us soe advice ..."
Unlike many newly independent countries, Zimbabwe has a reservoir of human skills o which to draw. The white population, small as it is, includes crucial technical and managerial experts. But there is also a black professional and middle class. The country has had an integrated university for years, and there are large numbers of black graduates.
Prime Minister Mugabe has made a particular effort so far to reassure white Zimbaweans and potential investors from abroad. even before independence he emphasized that, though he calls himself a Marxist, he did not want to 'disrupt the economy' by early nationalisation. On the night of independence, he made a moving appeal to blacks to treat white fairly. "It could never be a correct justification," be said, "that because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today because they have power. An evil remains an evil ... Our majority rule cold easily turn into inhuman rule if we opressed, persecuted or harassed those who do not look or think like the majority of us."
Anothe reasurance to whites, at the moment of independence, was the atmosphere of friendliness between Mr Mugabe and the British Government. In light of history, this was one of the most amazing aspects of an amazing week. The British were humiliatingly powerless when Ian Smith led Rhodesia into unilateral independence in 1965. That was in part because Rhodesia had been a self-governing territory since 1923. The Bristish Prime Minister in 1965 and for years afterward, Harold Wilson, was also singularly unable to marshal effective diplomacy against the Smith regime. The black nationalist movements, including Mr Mugabe's, always suspected that British governments were not so much unable as unwilling to take firm action against their white kith and kin in Rhodesia. The suspicions deepened when a Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher took office. When Lord Carrigton, the Foreign Secretary, convened the Rhodesian conference in London last fall, Mr Mugabe was highly skeptical. At one point a Mugabe spokesman said the British cease-fire proposals were "a pot fathered by Mrs Thatcher in concubinage with Satan Botha" (Prime Minister PW Botha of South Africa).
The hostility and suspicion carried over into the election run by the British Governor, Lord Soames. Mr Mugabe held out some of his troops, beleiving that the British would deny him the fruits of political victory. There were botter recriminations on both sides about alleged violations of the cease-fire accords. Then, just before the election, the two men met alone together for the first time - and something happened. Aides say each came out of that meeting believing in the other's bona fides. In the days after his sweeping victory, Mr Mugabe sought the Governor's advice, and urged him to stay longer. "I must admit," Mr Mugabe said of Lord Soames in his independence speech, "that I was one of those who originally never trusted him, and yet I have now ended up not only implicitly trusting but fondly loving him as well. He is indeed a great man, through whom it has been possible, within the short period I have been Prime Minister, to organize substantial aid from Britain and other countries."
Robert Mugabe is not looking for Christopher Soames, then, but to the west. That is another reason why Zimbabwe means so much to so many.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, April 12, 1980
TOLBERT OF LIBERIA IS KILLED IN A COUP LED BY A SERGEANT
In the Monrovia radio announcement, Sergeant Doe said an Army Redemption Council had seized control because "rampant corruption and continious failure by the Government to effectively handle the ffair of the Liberian people left the enlisted men no alternative." Shooting erupted around the five-story executive mansion, which houses the presidential offices and residence, soon after midnight. There was also sparodic shooting at several military installations.
Sergeant Doe disclosed President Tolbert's death to the Liberian News Agency, but no details were available on exactly how it occurred. Mr Tolbert's wife, Victoria, was arrested, the sergeant said. Sergeant Doe also broadcast announcements appointing junior officers, mostly captains and lieutenants, and some non-commissioned officers to take charge of rural areas. The enlisted men freed leaders of the opposition People's Progress Party, who were jailed after the called March 7 for President Tolbert's resignation. The freed leaders were present at the mansion, but informed sources said they appeared to be acting only in an advisory role.
There was some looting in the capital, much of it by soldiers, with stores owned by Lebanese and Indian merchants and homes of Government officials among the major targets. But the looting was not as widespread as an outbreak last year during rioting over an increase in rice prices. shooting was hears in the capital for hours after the coup, but it apparently came mostly from soldiers firing into the air in celebration. Soldiers commandeered vehicles and rode them through the city. Sergeant Doe proclaimed the situation "under control", but he ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew and suspended flights to and from the country. He also bradcast order to officials of the deposed Government to report to the executive mansion. The announcements were interspersed with American rock music and African songs.
The 66-year-old slain President was a descendant of freed American slaves who founded the republic in 1847. Though only 5 percent of the population, these "freed-men" have long dominated politics ans commerce, and American cultural influence is evident. Little in known of Sergeant Doe's background, but he is apparently of indigenous origin. "We know nothing about the political views of Sergeant Doe", said the British vice consul, Jeremy Lardner. "we never heard of him before." According to informed sources, however, his political outlook is "moderate".
During the afternoon, the American charge d'Affairs, Julian Walker, met at the executive mansion with Sergeant Doe and invited the Soviet Ambassador to a meeting. The American Ambassador, Robert P Smith, is in the United Stated for medical treatment. Details of the talks were not disclosed but Sergeant Doe appealed to foreign governments over radio not to "interfere". Diplomats here said the coup took them by surprise. Liberia had been regarded as one of Africa's most stable countries. "There was no intimation a coup would take place", Mr Laudner said. "Although one knows such a thing always is possible there was no forewarning".
Mt Tolbert, who was chairman of the Organisation of African Unity, had been President since July 1971 when he succeeded William VS Tubman, who died after almost 28 yers in office. Mr Tolbert was elected to an eight-year term in 1975 and woul have left office in 1983 under a Constitution that limits a president to ine full term. His family has widespread business interests and there have been periodic allegations of conflict of interest and corruption involving Government officials.
The People's Progress Party, which was formed in January, was banned last month after it organised a demonstation at the executive mansion calling for Mr. Tolbert's resignation and a share in political power.
The coup came three days after Amnesty International, a human rights group based in London, charged that the Government had issued "an open invitation to political murder" by offering rewards of $1 500 to $2 000 for the return "dead of alive" of 20 members of the party. The group said in a report: "The 20 proscribed individuals are being sought in connection with a current crackdown on the People's Progressive Party, the first opposition party permitted to function in Liberia since the late 1950's."
Source: New York Times
Thursday, December 27, 1979
Afghan Communist leadership
The first Soviet troops parachuted into Kabul on Dec. 27, 1979, to assist Babrak Karmal, who had become president in a coup within the Afghan Communist leadership. Moscow insisted that the troops came in response to a plea for help from a legitimately constituted Karmal Government. But most Western analysts say the Soviets engineered the coup as a pretext to replace Hafizullah Amin, the Afghan leader, who had lost their trust.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Sunday, November 4, 1979
TEHERAN STUDENTS SEIZE U.S. EMBASSY AND HOLD HOSTAGES
Moslem students stormed the United States Embassy in Teheran today, seized about 90 Americans and vowed to stay there until the deposed Shah was sent back from New York to face trial in Iran.Source: New York Times
PS. The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 53 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American embassy in support of the Iranian Revolution.
More information can be found here and here.
Sunday, May 13, 1979
South Africa Measure To Curb Press Reports Of Alleged Corruption; Heavy Fines for Violation
The South African Government is preparing legislation that would make it an offense for newspapers to publish allegations of corruption or other irregularities in government activities before the allegations have been officially investigated and reported to Parliament.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, January 18, 1979
Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
The Seveth Article of the 1979 constitution of the Somali Democratic Republic clarified the role of Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party:
Source: Wikipedia
Authority and Leadership of the Party
1. The Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party shall be the only legal party in the Somali Democratic Republic; no other party or political organisation may be established.
2. The Somali Revolutionary Socialist party shall have supreme authority of political and socio-economic leadership in the Somali Democratic Republic.
Source: Wikipedia
Wednesday, January 17, 1979
Shah's Departure Hailed In Message by Ayatollah; Ayatollah Calls for Unity Return to Iran Not Specified
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leading religious opponent of the Shah of Iran, sent congratulations to the Iranian people today on having forcing the Shah to leave the country and called his departure "the first step" toward ending the 57-year reign of the Pahlevi dynasty.
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, January 10, 1979
Bankers Say Shah's Fortune Is Well Above a Billion; State and Royal Funds Blurred Current Holdings Are Detailed 'What Is Money'
Mohammad Riza Pahlevi may be losing a kingdom in Iran, but the pain of his exile, if and when it comes, will be considerably eased by one of the largest private fortunes in the world.
Source: New York Times
Text of a statment by Mohammad Riza Pahlevi
I am going on vacation because I am feeling tired. First I will go to Aswan, Eqypt. With the vote of confidence, given in Parliament today, I hope the Government will be able to make amends for the past and also succeed in laying the foundation for the future. This work needs a long period of cooperation and patriotism in its utmost meaning.
Our economy must start rolling again. We must have better planning for the future. I have no other words to say but: preservation of the system and performamce of duties based on patriotism.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, December 9, 1978
Golda Meir, 80, Dies in Jerusalem
Golda Meir, a one-time teacher in Milwaukee who became Prime Minister of Israel, died this afternoon at the age of 80.
Israelis Acclaim 'Stalwart Lioness'; Physicians Report Former Premier Had Leukemia for the Last 12 Years In a Coma in the Last Days Golda Meir Dies in Jerusalem Hospital at Age of 80 Begin to Stay in Oslo for Award Prayers and Eulogies Sunday.
Source: New York Times
Israelis Acclaim 'Stalwart Lioness'; Physicians Report Former Premier Had Leukemia for the Last 12 Years In a Coma in the Last Days Golda Meir Dies in Jerusalem Hospital at Age of 80 Begin to Stay in Oslo for Award Prayers and Eulogies Sunday.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, June 24, 1978
President of Yemen Reported Murdered
President Ahmed bin Hussein al-Ghashmi of Yemen was assassinated today in the explosion of a bomb hidden in a visiting diplomatic envoy's bag, the Iraqi press agency said.
The bomb exploded when the envoy, from adjoining Southern Yemen, opened the bag to produce a letter from the Southern Yemen leader, President Salim Rubayyi Ali.
The Yemen broadcast was quoted as having said the President Ghashmi "was killed from a quarter known for its perfidy against the nation and Allah".
Source: New York Times
The bomb exploded when the envoy, from adjoining Southern Yemen, opened the bag to produce a letter from the Southern Yemen leader, President Salim Rubayyi Ali.
The Yemen broadcast was quoted as having said the President Ghashmi "was killed from a quarter known for its perfidy against the nation and Allah".
Source: New York Times
Monday, February 27, 1978
Thursday, January 12, 1978
Police on Guard as Iran's Empress Dines At Waldorf While 200 Denounce the Shah
Several hundred police officers ringed the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last night as Empress Farah Pavlevi of Iran attended a dinner party inside and 200 demonstrators outside, across Park Avenue, shouted: "Shah is a fascist butcher, down with the Shah!"
Source: New York Times
Monday, January 2, 1978
ISRAELI PEACE PLAN REJECTED BY HUSSEIN
King Hussein of Jordan said today that he had seen nothing in the Israeli peace proposal offered to Egypt last week that could form the basis for a negotiated solution of the Arab-Israeli dispute.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Monday, November 14, 1977
SOMALIA EXPELLING ALL SOVIET ADVISERS, HALTS USE OF BASES
Wednesday, October 12, 1977
Martial Law Is Imposed by Yemen
Yemen's new military rulers imposed martial law today following the assassination yesterday of the President, Lieut. Col. Ibrahim al-Hamdi, and his brother, Lieut, Col. Abdullah al-Hamdi.
A broadcast from Sana, the Yemeni capital, said that the Command Council, which is exercising the powers of the head of state, is now led by the Cheif of Staff, Liet. Col Ahmed bin Hussein al-Ghashmi. The two other members are Maj Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani and Maj. Abdullah Abdul Alim.
Source: New York Times
A broadcast from Sana, the Yemeni capital, said that the Command Council, which is exercising the powers of the head of state, is now led by the Cheif of Staff, Liet. Col Ahmed bin Hussein al-Ghashmi. The two other members are Maj Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani and Maj. Abdullah Abdul Alim.
Source: New York Times
Monday, October 10, 1977
President of Yemen And Brother Slain, Official Radio Says
Unidentified assassins killed President Ibrahim al-Hamdi of Yemen and his brother, Col. Abdullah Mohammed Hamdi today, according to a radio report from Sana, the capital of Yemen. It said President Hamdi's associates in the ruling command council were continuing to govern the country.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Saturday, October 8, 1977
South Africa Moves to Curb Newspaper Reporting on Death of Biko
The South African Government, angered by the wide publicity given to the death of Stephen Biko in police custody last month, today moved to constrain reporting on the affair by making a forma complaint against one of the country's foremost newspapers, The Rand Daily Mail.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, July 28, 1977
Africa's Horn: New Alliances
The Carter Administration's decision in principle to supply military assistance to Somalia - a nation that surpasses the rest of Africa in its dependence upon Soviet arms - is stunning evidence of how quickly the crazy-quilt pattern of major power alliances is changing in the volatile Horn of Africa. It is also further proof, if any were needed, that the conflicts on the Horn are nor simply regional disputes threatening the stability of a corner of the continent.
The Societ Union is attempting to extend its influence with military shipments to states hat are both socialist and intensely nationalist in orientation. The United States is trying to counter the Soviet trust and substitute its own power. The Arab states are trying to strengthen their positions on the Red Sea, one of the routes used by oil tankers bound for Europe. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the struggle for the Horn has intensified along with the fighting in Southern Africa.
Source: New York Times
The Societ Union is attempting to extend its influence with military shipments to states hat are both socialist and intensely nationalist in orientation. The United States is trying to counter the Soviet trust and substitute its own power. The Arab states are trying to strengthen their positions on the Red Sea, one of the routes used by oil tankers bound for Europe. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the struggle for the Horn has intensified along with the fighting in Southern Africa.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, July 2, 1977
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 51 OF 1977
The purpose of the Criminal Procedure Act is to make provision for procedures and related matters in criminal proceedings.
Source: SABINET
Source: SABINET
Thursday, June 30, 1977
Kenya Reports Attack by Somalia
Thursday, June 23, 1977
Ethiopia and Pro-Somali Rebels Claim Success in Border Conflict
Wednesday, June 8, 1977
British South Africa Police
A mercenary[1] is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a national or a party to the conflict, and is
As a result of the assumption that a mercenary is essentially motivated by money, the term mercenary usually carries negative connotations.
Many of the adventurers in Africa who have been described as mercenaries were in fact ideologically motivated to support particular governments, and would not fight "for the highest bidder". An example of this was the British South Africa Police (BSAP), a paramilitary, mounted infantry force formed by the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes in 1889/1890 that evolved and continued until 1980.
[1] Article 47 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1)
Source: Wikipedia
"motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party".
As a result of the assumption that a mercenary is essentially motivated by money, the term mercenary usually carries negative connotations.
Many of the adventurers in Africa who have been described as mercenaries were in fact ideologically motivated to support particular governments, and would not fight "for the highest bidder". An example of this was the British South Africa Police (BSAP), a paramilitary, mounted infantry force formed by the British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes in 1889/1890 that evolved and continued until 1980.
[1] Article 47 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1)
Source: Wikipedia
Saturday, May 7, 1977
Ethiopia and Soviet Sign Agreements on Closer Tie
The revolutionary military Government in Ethiopia today moved toward closer ties with the Soviet Union by signing a series of documents promoting cooperation between the two countries.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, March 24, 1977
South African Legislation For Tougher Press Curbs Is Set Aside for One Year
The South African Government announced tonight that it would set aside legislation stiffening control of the press and give the newspaper industry a year to demonstrate that it can "dicipline itself effectively" under a voluntary press code.
In a statement to parliament, Prime Minister John Voster said that three days of talks with newspaper representatives had resulted in an agreement to drop the controvertial bill.
The bill, which was due for further debate in Parliament tomorrow, laid down a broadly phrased code that would have made it an offense to damage South Africa's name abroad.
Source: New York Times
In a statement to parliament, Prime Minister John Voster said that three days of talks with newspaper representatives had resulted in an agreement to drop the controvertial bill.
The bill, which was due for further debate in Parliament tomorrow, laid down a broadly phrased code that would have made it an offense to damage South Africa's name abroad.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, March 12, 1977
Bill to Restrain the Press Raises Storm in South Africa Parliament
Amid opposition cries of "Nazi!" and "Sieg heil!" the South African Government today presented Parliament with a bill placing sharp new restraints on the country's newspapers, including the power to stop publication.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, March 1, 1977
Ethiopia, Under Dictatorial Ruler, Taking Violent Path Against Foes
With Lieut. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam now its undisputed leader, Ethiopia's secretive council of military rulers has turned from a collective revolutionary, body into a one-man dictatorship.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, February 15, 1977
Death in Detention
According to the South African Police, Matthews Mojo Mabelanefell to his death from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square. Police said it was an escape attempt and that before they realised what was happening, he was "already halfway through an open window".
Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project
Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project
Friday, February 4, 1977
Ethiopian Head And 6 in Capital Reported Slain
Ethiopia's chief of state and six other members of the nation's feuding leadership were killed today as a gun battle erupted around headquarters of the governing council, official broadcasts reported.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, January 20, 1977
Death in Detention
According to the South African Police, Elmon Malele (Aged 61), had suddenly fallen down, unconscious, hitting his head on a table after being interrogated, in a standing position, from 9am to 3pm. He died a few days later in a nursing home, from a brain haemorrhage and hypertension.
Source: Synday Times Heritage Project
Source: Synday Times Heritage Project
Saturday, December 11, 1976
Death in Detention
According to the South African Police, Wellington Tshazibane was found hanging in his cell from a noose made of strips of blanket, two days after he was arrested.
Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project
Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project
Sunday, August 15, 1976
South Africa Threatens Restraints on the Press
The South African Government, embittered by local newspaper coverage of the unrest in black townships, has threatened to impose new restraints on the press.
Connie P Mulder, the information Minister, told a congress of the ruling National Party in Durban that the Government attached great importance to press freedom. But he said that society had the right to expect loyalty and partiotism from newspapers. The Minister was critical in particularly of two of Johannesburg's principal newspapers, The Rand Daily Mail and The Sunday Times. He said The Sunday Times was one of the papers that had described apartheid, not black unrest, as the real danger to the country. "In a country where relations between peoples are as loaded as ours, it is irresponsible to say this" he declared.
Mr Mulder said one of the restraints he had in mind was a requirement that all opinion formers be South African citizens competent in both English and Afrikaans, the language of the dominant white group in South Africa. He said this would eliminate foreigners who could take the first plane home if trouble erupted as a result of their writing.
Newspapers already operate under a web of legal restraints affecting security and defense matters, among others. Two weeks ago, four journalists were arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act, which provides for detention without trial.
The minister's warnong came in the aftermath of the arrest of at least 20 black opposition leaders, including Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, the black nationalist leader who was jailed 14 years ago. Some reports put the number arrested by the security police in swoops across the country yesterday as high as 50.
The Government has given no reason for the arrests.
Source: New York Times
Connie P Mulder, the information Minister, told a congress of the ruling National Party in Durban that the Government attached great importance to press freedom. But he said that society had the right to expect loyalty and partiotism from newspapers. The Minister was critical in particularly of two of Johannesburg's principal newspapers, The Rand Daily Mail and The Sunday Times. He said The Sunday Times was one of the papers that had described apartheid, not black unrest, as the real danger to the country. "In a country where relations between peoples are as loaded as ours, it is irresponsible to say this" he declared.
Mr Mulder said one of the restraints he had in mind was a requirement that all opinion formers be South African citizens competent in both English and Afrikaans, the language of the dominant white group in South Africa. He said this would eliminate foreigners who could take the first plane home if trouble erupted as a result of their writing.
Newspapers already operate under a web of legal restraints affecting security and defense matters, among others. Two weeks ago, four journalists were arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act, which provides for detention without trial.
The minister's warnong came in the aftermath of the arrest of at least 20 black opposition leaders, including Winnie Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, the black nationalist leader who was jailed 14 years ago. Some reports put the number arrested by the security police in swoops across the country yesterday as high as 50.
The Government has given no reason for the arrests.
Source: New York Times
Friday, July 2, 1976
North and South Vietnam Are Officially Reunified After 22 Years
North and South Vietnam were officially reunited today after more than 20 years of war, and Hanoi was declared the capital. The Hanoi radio said that leaders of the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam had been elected in the National Assembly by secret ballot.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Sunday, June 20, 1976
Somber Warning
Rioting in black communities around Johannesburg, and harsh governmental countermeasures which the United Nations Security Council by unanimous consensus vigorously condemned yesterday, should dispel whatever doubts may have remained about the practical as well as the moral impossibility of maintaining African enclaves founded on apartheid.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Saturday, June 19, 1976
U.N. Council Asked to Condemn South Africa and Act on Riots
The Security Council was called into emergency session last night at the request of 47 African nations to consider a resolution on the situation in South Africa.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Kissinger Says He'll Stress Apartheid in Vorster Talks
Kissinger said today that the United States regretted the outbreak of violence in South Africa and that he would express continued opposition to apartheid when he met next week with Prime Minister John B. Vorster.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
SOUTH AFRICA TOLL RISES TO 58 DEAD; NEARLY 800 HURT
Rioting continued for a third day today in Soweto, with the rioters, mostly young people, directing their fury at government buildings and vehicles.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, June 17, 1976
6 Killed in South Africa as Blacks Protest on Language
At least six people died in Soweto today when a demonstration by 10,000 black students turned into a riot.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, June 16, 1976
Angolan Witnesses Testify Against Mercenaries
Angolan prosecution witnesses accused 13 British and American mercenaries today of murder, massacre, laying minefields, abuse of civilians, pillage and the destruction of property.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, May 29, 1975
15 African Nations Sign Pact Creating An Economic Group
Fifteen leaders of African nations signed a treaty today creating the largest single economic grouping in Africa the Economic Community of West African States. The Lagos treaty was signed by presidents and top ministers of Dahomey [Benin], Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Upper Volta [Burkina Faso], Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Ghana.
The communique said that the community would seek cooperation in industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial matters and social and cultural endevours.
The conference was chaired by Gen. Yakudu Gowan, head of state of Nigeria, the dominant economic member, whose population of 60 million is more that half of the combined total of all member states and whose oil earnings, which topped $8.8-billion last year, make it the strongest economic power in all of black Africa.
Source: New York Times
The communique said that the community would seek cooperation in industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial matters and social and cultural endevours.
The conference was chaired by Gen. Yakudu Gowan, head of state of Nigeria, the dominant economic member, whose population of 60 million is more that half of the combined total of all member states and whose oil earnings, which topped $8.8-billion last year, make it the strongest economic power in all of black Africa.
Source: New York Times
Thursday, May 8, 1975
Bram Fischer 1908 - 1975
Abraham “Bram” Fischer was born on 23 April 1908 in the Orange Free State. He was born into a prominent Afrikaans family, son of Percy Ulrich Fischer, at the time a member of the Bloemfontein Bar. Percy later became a much-respected Free State judge.
The Fischers were a sixth-generation South African family. Percy's father was Abraham Fischer, a highly regarded politician of conservative outlook. He was the prime minister of the Orange River Colony from 1907 to 1910. Abraham had married a Scotswoman and Percy had married Ella Fichardt, of a family of cosmopolitan descent, who was entirely English speaking. Bram, who was brought up in an Afrikaans- and English-speaking home, regarded himself as an Afrikaner - a proud one.
Bram initially was a vocal Nationalist. His schooling was at Grey College, Bloemfontein; from there he went to Grey University College in his hometown. Bram excelled at tennis and rugby. In 1928 he represented the Free State as scrum half against the All Blacks under Maurice Brownlee.
Bram Fischer proceeded to study law (BA LLB degree) at Grey, then part of the University of South Africa. After completing his studies in South Africa he spent 3 years (1931-1934) at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Some years earlier Bram had met and begun to court Molly Krige. Distantly related to the wife of Jan Smuts, she had the same sharp intellect as Bram and had strong leadership qualities. Both became attracted to communism. While he was at Oxford, in the long vacation of 1932, Bram visited the Soviet Union, and, like many others, did not dig below the surface, and became a convert to the Stalinist doctrine. His earlier nationalism converted to anathema; he now considered fascism and Nazism "cancerous nationalism".
Bram's results in the Bachelor of Arts honours degree at Oxford were most disappointing, for he attained a pass only in the third class. Bram was shattered, but the third was quite unrepresentative of his ability and knowledge.
On his return to South Africa, Bram was called to the Johannesburg Bar on 10 January 1935. Initially briefs were slow to arrive. When work came, he devoted himself to it. His briefs he knew intimately. Gradually his practice expanded, and, ironically, particularly in the specialised area of mining law for the great mining houses. It was widely believed that Bram was at the beginning of a career that would culminate in great things, very likely the position of chief justice.
In 1937 Bram and Molly were married, and by 1942 Bram and Molly had become members of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). They never deviated from their outward devotion to Stalinist communism. This didn’t seem to harm his career as a corporate lawyer and he was widely admired as a brilliant man with the potential to possibly lead the country as Prime Minister, provided his political opinions became less unorthodox.
In 1943 he helped A. B. Xuma revise the African National Congress’ (ANC) constitution and was charged with incitement during the mineworkers’ strike in 1946.
The return of the National Party to power at the general election of May 1948 meant the ultimate banning of communistic views and the CPSA in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act. Communism was condemned as a godless belief aiming at racial suicide and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Later, the CPSA resurrected itself surreptitiously as the South African Communist Party (SACP). As was to be expected, Bram was "named" under the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950. Nevertheless, on 2 November the next year he was appointed a king's counsel (KC).
He was also a member of the Congress of Democrats and in 1952 Bram defended Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and eighteen other ANC leaders for participating in the Defiance Campaign. The year 1953 saw Bram banned under the Suppression of Communism Act from most gatherings and from the Congress of Democrats. For years thereafter there were police raids on his advocate's chambers and his house. None of these happenings affected the flow of briefs coming to Bram, outstanding lawyer and counsel. In court he was the epitome of the ideal English barrister: quiet, unassuming, exquisitely polite and thus often disarming to a hostile witness: and, when necessary, devastating in cross-examination. Except for three years, Bram was elected a member of the Johannesburg Bar Council from 1943 to 1963, being chairman in 1961.
In 1960 the ANC and Pan-Africanist Congress were banned. The Sabotage Act of 1962 allowed for detention without trial. Bram and Molly were subjected to further restrictions by the government under that statute. The creation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961 did not end the withholding of participation in the government of the country from blacks. So Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) was formed, a product of the ANC and the SACP, committed to a violent struggle.
On 11 July 1963 at Lilies leaf farm in Rivonia the police arrested many of the leaders of the liberation movement. At the subsequent trial for sabotage and other charges, one of the accused was Nelson Mandela. Bram, who by a fortunate chance was not on the farm when the police raid took place, led the defence team. In agreeing to appear for the Rivonia accused, Bram courageously took an enormous risk, for he could easily have been correctly pointed out by some of the witnesses for the prosecution as having attended many meetings at Lilies leaf. In the end, eight accused, including Mandela, were found guilty. That they were sentenced not to death but to life imprisonment was partly a result of the dedicated efforts of the defence team.
On 13 June 1964 Molly was killed in a tragic accident in a motorcar driven by Bram, who was overwhelmed by grief.
It was inevitable that his defence of and involvement with anti-Apartheid activists would implicate him in illegal activities and in 23 September 1964 Fischer was arrested for contravening the Suppression of Communism Act. At the start of the trial he was granted bail to argue a case in England, undertaking to return, which he did. The trial commenced on 16 November 1964. On 23 January 1965, however, Bram went underground. In a letter he stated that no one should submit to the barbaric laws and monstrous policy of apartheid.
He was only recaptured in December, disguised as "Douglas Black". Now his trial was on far more serious charges, including sabotage. In a sworn statement from the dock, he said that there was a higher duty to break immoral laws passed by a small minority to deprive the majority, on account of their colour, of their most elementary rights. "At least one Afrikaner should make this protest."
In 1966 he was found guilty of violating the Suppression of Communism Act and conspiring to commit sabotage leading to a conviction of life imprisonment. In 1967 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
In 1974 it became known that Fischer was seriously ill with cancer and liberal newspapers and political leaders mounted an intensive campaign for his release. They were successful and he was moved to his brother’s home in Bloemfontein a few weeks before his death.
Source: South African History Online
The Fischers were a sixth-generation South African family. Percy's father was Abraham Fischer, a highly regarded politician of conservative outlook. He was the prime minister of the Orange River Colony from 1907 to 1910. Abraham had married a Scotswoman and Percy had married Ella Fichardt, of a family of cosmopolitan descent, who was entirely English speaking. Bram, who was brought up in an Afrikaans- and English-speaking home, regarded himself as an Afrikaner - a proud one.
Bram initially was a vocal Nationalist. His schooling was at Grey College, Bloemfontein; from there he went to Grey University College in his hometown. Bram excelled at tennis and rugby. In 1928 he represented the Free State as scrum half against the All Blacks under Maurice Brownlee.
Bram Fischer proceeded to study law (BA LLB degree) at Grey, then part of the University of South Africa. After completing his studies in South Africa he spent 3 years (1931-1934) at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Some years earlier Bram had met and begun to court Molly Krige. Distantly related to the wife of Jan Smuts, she had the same sharp intellect as Bram and had strong leadership qualities. Both became attracted to communism. While he was at Oxford, in the long vacation of 1932, Bram visited the Soviet Union, and, like many others, did not dig below the surface, and became a convert to the Stalinist doctrine. His earlier nationalism converted to anathema; he now considered fascism and Nazism "cancerous nationalism".
Bram's results in the Bachelor of Arts honours degree at Oxford were most disappointing, for he attained a pass only in the third class. Bram was shattered, but the third was quite unrepresentative of his ability and knowledge.
On his return to South Africa, Bram was called to the Johannesburg Bar on 10 January 1935. Initially briefs were slow to arrive. When work came, he devoted himself to it. His briefs he knew intimately. Gradually his practice expanded, and, ironically, particularly in the specialised area of mining law for the great mining houses. It was widely believed that Bram was at the beginning of a career that would culminate in great things, very likely the position of chief justice.
In 1937 Bram and Molly were married, and by 1942 Bram and Molly had become members of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). They never deviated from their outward devotion to Stalinist communism. This didn’t seem to harm his career as a corporate lawyer and he was widely admired as a brilliant man with the potential to possibly lead the country as Prime Minister, provided his political opinions became less unorthodox.
In 1943 he helped A. B. Xuma revise the African National Congress’ (ANC) constitution and was charged with incitement during the mineworkers’ strike in 1946.
The return of the National Party to power at the general election of May 1948 meant the ultimate banning of communistic views and the CPSA in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act. Communism was condemned as a godless belief aiming at racial suicide and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Later, the CPSA resurrected itself surreptitiously as the South African Communist Party (SACP). As was to be expected, Bram was "named" under the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950. Nevertheless, on 2 November the next year he was appointed a king's counsel (KC).
He was also a member of the Congress of Democrats and in 1952 Bram defended Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and eighteen other ANC leaders for participating in the Defiance Campaign. The year 1953 saw Bram banned under the Suppression of Communism Act from most gatherings and from the Congress of Democrats. For years thereafter there were police raids on his advocate's chambers and his house. None of these happenings affected the flow of briefs coming to Bram, outstanding lawyer and counsel. In court he was the epitome of the ideal English barrister: quiet, unassuming, exquisitely polite and thus often disarming to a hostile witness: and, when necessary, devastating in cross-examination. Except for three years, Bram was elected a member of the Johannesburg Bar Council from 1943 to 1963, being chairman in 1961.
In 1960 the ANC and Pan-Africanist Congress were banned. The Sabotage Act of 1962 allowed for detention without trial. Bram and Molly were subjected to further restrictions by the government under that statute. The creation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961 did not end the withholding of participation in the government of the country from blacks. So Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) was formed, a product of the ANC and the SACP, committed to a violent struggle.
On 11 July 1963 at Lilies leaf farm in Rivonia the police arrested many of the leaders of the liberation movement. At the subsequent trial for sabotage and other charges, one of the accused was Nelson Mandela. Bram, who by a fortunate chance was not on the farm when the police raid took place, led the defence team. In agreeing to appear for the Rivonia accused, Bram courageously took an enormous risk, for he could easily have been correctly pointed out by some of the witnesses for the prosecution as having attended many meetings at Lilies leaf. In the end, eight accused, including Mandela, were found guilty. That they were sentenced not to death but to life imprisonment was partly a result of the dedicated efforts of the defence team.
On 13 June 1964 Molly was killed in a tragic accident in a motorcar driven by Bram, who was overwhelmed by grief.
It was inevitable that his defence of and involvement with anti-Apartheid activists would implicate him in illegal activities and in 23 September 1964 Fischer was arrested for contravening the Suppression of Communism Act. At the start of the trial he was granted bail to argue a case in England, undertaking to return, which he did. The trial commenced on 16 November 1964. On 23 January 1965, however, Bram went underground. In a letter he stated that no one should submit to the barbaric laws and monstrous policy of apartheid.
He was only recaptured in December, disguised as "Douglas Black". Now his trial was on far more serious charges, including sabotage. In a sworn statement from the dock, he said that there was a higher duty to break immoral laws passed by a small minority to deprive the majority, on account of their colour, of their most elementary rights. "At least one Afrikaner should make this protest."
In 1966 he was found guilty of violating the Suppression of Communism Act and conspiring to commit sabotage leading to a conviction of life imprisonment. In 1967 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.
In 1974 it became known that Fischer was seriously ill with cancer and liberal newspapers and political leaders mounted an intensive campaign for his release. They were successful and he was moved to his brother’s home in Bloemfontein a few weeks before his death.
Source: South African History Online
Wednesday, April 30, 1975
COMMUNISTS TAKE OVER SAIGON
SAIGON, South Vietnam, April 30 Communist troops of North Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam poured into Saigon today as a century of Western influence came to an end.
North Vietnamese forces under the command of the Senior General Văn Tiến Dũng began their final attack on Saigon, which was commanded by General Nguyen Van Toan on April 29, with a heavy artillery bombardment. By the afternoon of the next day, North Vietnamese troops had occupied the important points within the city and raised their flag over the South Vietnamese presidential palace. South Vietnam capitulated shortly after. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation of almost all the American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians.
The evacuation culminated in Operation Frequent Wind, which was the largest helicopter evacuation in history. In addition to the flight of refugees, the end of the war and institution of new rules by the communists contributed to a decline in the population of the city.
Source: New York Times, Wikipedia
North Vietnamese forces under the command of the Senior General Văn Tiến Dũng began their final attack on Saigon, which was commanded by General Nguyen Van Toan on April 29, with a heavy artillery bombardment. By the afternoon of the next day, North Vietnamese troops had occupied the important points within the city and raised their flag over the South Vietnamese presidential palace. South Vietnam capitulated shortly after. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation of almost all the American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians.
The evacuation culminated in Operation Frequent Wind, which was the largest helicopter evacuation in history. In addition to the flight of refugees, the end of the war and institution of new rules by the communists contributed to a decline in the population of the city.
Source: New York Times, Wikipedia
Tuesday, December 17, 1974
APPEALS BY THE CHAIRMAN FOR RELEASE OF ABRAM FISCHER
Edwin Ogebe Ogbu (Nigeria), Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, sent urgent appeals today to Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim and to the Secretary-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, asking them to use their good offices to secure the release of Bram Fischer, an Afrikaner jurist, who is seriously ill in prison in South Africa. Mr. Ogbu also appealed to all Governments and organisations to take action to secure Mr. Fischer's release.
In a statement today, the Chairman of the Special Committee said: "I am shocked at the news that Abram (Bram) Fischer is seriously ill in prison in South Africa. Bram Fischer, a prominent Afrikaner jurist, has devoted many years of his life to the struggle for freedom and equality in South Africa. He has earned the respect of the oppressed people of South Africa and all opponents of racism because of his steadfastness and courage. On the other hand, he has provoked the bitter enmity of the South African regime which has not only sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1966 under its notorious repressive laws, but has been vengeful in its treatment of this courageous man in prison. Despite the serious illness and the appeals of many South Africans, it has not released him and has even restricted visits by his family to the hospital. I have today sent urgent appeals to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and to the Secretary-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, requesting them to use their good offices to secure the release of Bram Fischer. I also urgently appeal to all Governments and organisations to take all appropriate action towards that end."
In his letter to Secretary-General Waldheim, Mr. Ogbu stated that, according to South African press reports, Mr. Fischer was suffering from cancer and was "very weak, frail and in great pain". The letter went on to say that Mr. Fischer had been on crutches for two months. "Members of his family were allowed to visit him at the hospital where he is now confined, but new orders were issued on 6 December that there could only be two visits a week", the letter stated.
Mr. Fischer, who is now 66 years old, is a prominent jurist from a well-known Afrikaner family of South Africa. His grandfather was Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony and his father was Judge President of the Free State.
"He dedicated himself to the struggle for a non-racial and democratic society in South Africa and fully associated himself with the liberation movement. He defended numerous persons accused under discriminatory and repressive laws. He was the defence counsel in the 'Treason Trial' of 1956-1961 in which 156 leaders of the Black people and other opponents of racism were charged. He was the chief defence counsel in the 'Rivonia Trial' of 1963-1964 in which leaders of the African National Congress and their allies were charged. Shortly after the conclusion of the 'Rivonia Trial', which was condemned by the United Nations and world opinion, he himself was charged with various political offences under the notorious repressive laws of South Africa, and convicted to life imprisonment. The Special Committee against Apartheid has condemned the persecution of Mr. Fischer and has repeatedly called for his release. The incarceration of this courageous and respected advocate of freedom and equality, and the callous and vengeful treatment to which he has been subjected in prison, constitute a terrible indictment of the apartheid regime. As Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, I have the honour to request you urgently to use all your influence to secure the immediate release of Mr. Fischer so that he can spend the last days of his life in freedom."
Advocate Abram Fischer, Q.C. was detained in 1964 and was the main accused in a trial of 13 men and women in Johannesburg on charges of being members or supporters of the Communist Party. On January 22, 1965, he announced that he had chosen to forfeit his bail and leave his home in order to continue the liberation struggle from underground. This message was sent by him from "somewhere in South Africa".
Source: ANC; SACP
In a statement today, the Chairman of the Special Committee said: "I am shocked at the news that Abram (Bram) Fischer is seriously ill in prison in South Africa. Bram Fischer, a prominent Afrikaner jurist, has devoted many years of his life to the struggle for freedom and equality in South Africa. He has earned the respect of the oppressed people of South Africa and all opponents of racism because of his steadfastness and courage. On the other hand, he has provoked the bitter enmity of the South African regime which has not only sentenced him to life imprisonment in 1966 under its notorious repressive laws, but has been vengeful in its treatment of this courageous man in prison. Despite the serious illness and the appeals of many South Africans, it has not released him and has even restricted visits by his family to the hospital. I have today sent urgent appeals to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and to the Secretary-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, requesting them to use their good offices to secure the release of Bram Fischer. I also urgently appeal to all Governments and organisations to take all appropriate action towards that end."In his letter to Secretary-General Waldheim, Mr. Ogbu stated that, according to South African press reports, Mr. Fischer was suffering from cancer and was "very weak, frail and in great pain". The letter went on to say that Mr. Fischer had been on crutches for two months. "Members of his family were allowed to visit him at the hospital where he is now confined, but new orders were issued on 6 December that there could only be two visits a week", the letter stated.
Mr. Fischer, who is now 66 years old, is a prominent jurist from a well-known Afrikaner family of South Africa. His grandfather was Prime Minister of the Orange River Colony and his father was Judge President of the Free State.
"He dedicated himself to the struggle for a non-racial and democratic society in South Africa and fully associated himself with the liberation movement. He defended numerous persons accused under discriminatory and repressive laws. He was the defence counsel in the 'Treason Trial' of 1956-1961 in which 156 leaders of the Black people and other opponents of racism were charged. He was the chief defence counsel in the 'Rivonia Trial' of 1963-1964 in which leaders of the African National Congress and their allies were charged. Shortly after the conclusion of the 'Rivonia Trial', which was condemned by the United Nations and world opinion, he himself was charged with various political offences under the notorious repressive laws of South Africa, and convicted to life imprisonment. The Special Committee against Apartheid has condemned the persecution of Mr. Fischer and has repeatedly called for his release. The incarceration of this courageous and respected advocate of freedom and equality, and the callous and vengeful treatment to which he has been subjected in prison, constitute a terrible indictment of the apartheid regime. As Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, I have the honour to request you urgently to use all your influence to secure the immediate release of Mr. Fischer so that he can spend the last days of his life in freedom."
Advocate Abram Fischer, Q.C. was detained in 1964 and was the main accused in a trial of 13 men and women in Johannesburg on charges of being members or supporters of the Communist Party. On January 22, 1965, he announced that he had chosen to forfeit his bail and leave his home in order to continue the liberation struggle from underground. This message was sent by him from "somewhere in South Africa".
Source: ANC; SACP
Saturday, August 3, 1974
Iran Faces Major Economic Difficulties
On Aug. 3, 1974, at a meeting in Ramsar, a town on the Caspian Sea, Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi, in a typically extravagant gesture, doubled the targets for Iran's new five-year economic development plan with a stroke of his pen.Source: New York Times
Special Report
Monday, June 17, 1974
Bomb in London Damages Oldest Hall of Parliament
A bomb exploded today in the most historic part of the Houses of Parliament, damaging Westminster Hall, the 900-year-old chamber that has seen much of British history. Eleven people were injured, none seriously.
The police said that the boming was the work of the Irish Republican Army. A man with an Irish accent telephoned the Press Association, the local news agency, giving six minutes warning of the expolsion and using a code word of the Irish Republican Army to identify a genuine alert.
Source: New York Times
The police said that the boming was the work of the Irish Republican Army. A man with an Irish accent telephoned the Press Association, the local news agency, giving six minutes warning of the expolsion and using a code word of the Irish Republican Army to identify a genuine alert.
Source: New York Times
Friday, June 14, 1974
Military in Yemen Ousts Government And Sets Up Junta
The army in the Republic of Yemen has seized power in an apparently bloodless coup. The state-controlled Yemeni radio, quoted by Egypt's official Middle East News Agency, announced tonight that the armed forces had set up a seven-man council to run the country. According to the broadcast, Col. Ibrahim Hamdi heads the council.The fate of President Abdul Rahman al-Iryani and members of his Government is unknown. Mr Iryani himself came into power in a bloodless coup in 1967, after the country had been torn by civil war. The war began when the army overthrew the Iman Muhammad al-Badr, on 26 September 1962.
Source: New York Times
Friday, April 12, 1974
GOLDA MEIR QUITS AND BRINGS DOWN CABINET IN ISRAEL
Premier Golda Meir announced her resignation tonight, bringing down her month-old coalition Government and making new national elections likely in the next several months. Premier Golda Meir, in Jerusalem, asked cameramen to stop taking pictures as she left after yesterday's meeting. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan leaving the meeting in Jerusalem at which Premier Golda Meir said that she would resign. Cabinet was a month old.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Saturday, January 27, 1973
VIETNAM PEACE PACTS SIGNED; AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR HALTS
The Vietnam cease-fire agreement was signed here today in eerie silence, without a word or a gesture to express the world's relief that the years of war were officially ending.
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973, intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam Conflict, ended direct U.S. military involvement and temporarily stopped the fighting between north and south. The governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the United States, as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) that represented indigenous South Vietnamese revolutionaries signed the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam on January 27, 1973. The negotiations that led to the accord had begun in 1968 and had been subject to various lengthy delays. As a result of the accord, International Control Commission (ICC) was replaced by International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS) to carry out the agreement.
The main negotiators of the agreement were United States National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger and Vietnamese politburo member Le Duc Tho
Source: New York Times
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973, intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam Conflict, ended direct U.S. military involvement and temporarily stopped the fighting between north and south. The governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the United States, as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) that represented indigenous South Vietnamese revolutionaries signed the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam on January 27, 1973. The negotiations that led to the accord had begun in 1968 and had been subject to various lengthy delays. As a result of the accord, International Control Commission (ICC) was replaced by International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS) to carry out the agreement.
The main negotiators of the agreement were United States National Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger and Vietnamese politburo member Le Duc Tho
Source: New York Times
BREZHNEV HAILS VIETNAM ACCORD AS TURNING POINT
Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist leader, today hailed the Vietnam cease-fire agreement as an important turning point in international affairs that not only would have a positive effect on Soviet-American relations but also could influence settlements in world trouble spots such as the Middle East.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Sunday, January 30, 1972
BRITISH SOLDIERS KILL 13 AS RIOTING ERUPTS IN ULSTER
Deaths Come as Catholics Defy Ban on Londonderry March Soldiers Kill 13 in Londonderry as Rioting Erupts After March At least 13 persons were shot dead by British troops in Londonderry today when rioting broke out after a civil rights march held in defiance of a Government ban. It brought to 231 the number of deaths in Ulter since violence first broke out three years ago.
The bloody Sunday that claimed the lives of thirteen, young men in Londonderry was precisely what the Catholic Primate of All Ireland called it - an "awful slaughter!' It was the worst toll for one day in any city of Northern Ireland since the violence began.
The British Government has properly pledged an independent inquiry into the tragedy. In light of the fact that all the dead and nearly all the wounded were civilians, the investigation inevitably will have to look closely at the conduct of the paratroops involved in the affair. Yet, even the brief clips of the Catholic demonstration shown on American television prove beyond doubt that the provocation for the troops was deliberate and great. The demonstration itself was a self-advertised exercise in civil disobedience; a calculated violation of the ban on all parades ordered two weeks ago by the Stormont Government. The ban was aimed primarily not at the Catholic minority but at the July marches of the Orange lodges - and was bitterly resisted by the Protestant extremists.
More information can her found here.
Source: New York Times
The bloody Sunday that claimed the lives of thirteen, young men in Londonderry was precisely what the Catholic Primate of All Ireland called it - an "awful slaughter!' It was the worst toll for one day in any city of Northern Ireland since the violence began.
The British Government has properly pledged an independent inquiry into the tragedy. In light of the fact that all the dead and nearly all the wounded were civilians, the investigation inevitably will have to look closely at the conduct of the paratroops involved in the affair. Yet, even the brief clips of the Catholic demonstration shown on American television prove beyond doubt that the provocation for the troops was deliberate and great. The demonstration itself was a self-advertised exercise in civil disobedience; a calculated violation of the ban on all parades ordered two weeks ago by the Stormont Government. The ban was aimed primarily not at the Catholic minority but at the July marches of the Orange lodges - and was bitterly resisted by the Protestant extremists.
More information can her found here.
Source: New York Times
Friday, December 17, 1971
SOUTH AFRICA HALTS CURRENCY TRADING
The South African Reserve Bank suspended foreign-exchange dealings until further notice today.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, October 27, 1971
Death in Detention
According to the South African Police, Ahmed Timol fell from the 10th-floor window of Room 1026 of John Vorster Square by rushing across the room, opening the window and "diving through it".
Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project
Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project
Tuesday, October 26, 1971
South Africa Raids Homes of Clerics and Teachers
South Africa's security police raided the homes of churchmen, university teachers, student leaders and newsmen over the weekend in what was described as a nationwide drive against subversion.
Several persons were detained, amongst them a 24-year old arts student, David Davis, who heads a student group that is investigating pay scales for workers. Sources indicate that the raids took place in Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, East London and other cities.
The raids took place by parties made up of uniformed and plain clothes men, exhibiting search warrants citing the Terrorism Act and the Suppression of Communism Act, two security laws that give the police broad powers.
Included in the raised was the Anglican Bishop of Port Elizabeth, the Right Rev. Philip Russell and a Franciscan priest, the Rev. Cosmas Desmond.
Source: New York Times
Several persons were detained, amongst them a 24-year old arts student, David Davis, who heads a student group that is investigating pay scales for workers. Sources indicate that the raids took place in Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, East London and other cities.
The raids took place by parties made up of uniformed and plain clothes men, exhibiting search warrants citing the Terrorism Act and the Suppression of Communism Act, two security laws that give the police broad powers.
Included in the raised was the Anglican Bishop of Port Elizabeth, the Right Rev. Philip Russell and a Franciscan priest, the Rev. Cosmas Desmond.
Source: New York Times
Friday, August 27, 1971
Zulu Chief's Call For Talks Rejected By South Africans
The leader of South Africa's Zulus, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has called for a national multiracial conference, but the Government rejected his proposal today as "totally unnecessary."
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Saturday, July 24, 1971
President Tubman of Liberia Is Dead
President William VS Tubman of Liberia, leader of Africa's oldest independent republic, died today at the London Clinic. He was 75 years old. A Liberian Embassy spokesman here said Mr Tubman underwent a prostate operation today and died later from complications. The emabssy said Vice President William R Tolbert had been sworn in following news of Mr Tibman's death.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, July 15, 1971
South Africa's Violent Society
In South Africa whites either accept the immorality of the racist system whilst enjoying the world's highest standard of living, or oppose the system and suffer harassment and police surveillance. There is no neutral position.
According to Joel Carlson, a former defence lawyer in South Africa, for years South Africa has hanged more people than any other country. It presently accounts for 47% of the total world hangings.
Violence in South African Society is rampant and inevitably it breeds more violence. The mood of the people when I left was more angry, more frustrated and with more potential for violence than ever before. The aparthied system had boomeranged. The seperated blacks in universities, churches and Bantustan homelands have produced an increasingly uncompromising black nationalism.
The security police regime has enacted laws violating the rule of law, such as:
1. the indefinite detention in solitary confinement incommunicado of persons suspected by the security police of committing terrorism and held at police pleasure specifically for the purpose of interrogation to obtain answers that satisfy the police;
2. the wide definition of offences such as "terrorism" as "acts embarrassing the administration of the affairs of State" or "striving to bring about change" and the provision that all are assumed guilty and must prove their innocence.
3. the power to make mass arrests and detentions and even to detain witnessed incommunicado.
The struggle cannot be contained. Inevitably the demands of the oppressed will be won.
Source: New York Times
According to Joel Carlson, a former defence lawyer in South Africa, for years South Africa has hanged more people than any other country. It presently accounts for 47% of the total world hangings.
Violence in South African Society is rampant and inevitably it breeds more violence. The mood of the people when I left was more angry, more frustrated and with more potential for violence than ever before. The aparthied system had boomeranged. The seperated blacks in universities, churches and Bantustan homelands have produced an increasingly uncompromising black nationalism.
The security police regime has enacted laws violating the rule of law, such as:
1. the indefinite detention in solitary confinement incommunicado of persons suspected by the security police of committing terrorism and held at police pleasure specifically for the purpose of interrogation to obtain answers that satisfy the police;
2. the wide definition of offences such as "terrorism" as "acts embarrassing the administration of the affairs of State" or "striving to bring about change" and the provision that all are assumed guilty and must prove their innocence.
3. the power to make mass arrests and detentions and even to detain witnessed incommunicado.
The struggle cannot be contained. Inevitably the demands of the oppressed will be won.
Source: New York Times
Monday, June 28, 1971
Zulu Chief, in Talk With Vorster, Voices Misgivings on Apartheid
Prime Minister John Voster met today for the first time with the leader of the largest ethnic group amongst South Africa's 15 million blacks and discussed with him how apartheid could work.
Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, the foremost spokesman for four million Zulus, said in a news conference afterwards, he had told Mr Voster that he had reservations about the Government's policy of separate development, the official label for apartheid, or racial segregation.
Source: New York Times
Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, the foremost spokesman for four million Zulus, said in a news conference afterwards, he had told Mr Voster that he had reservations about the Government's policy of separate development, the official label for apartheid, or racial segregation.
Source: New York Times
Monday, June 21, 1971
Vorster Rejects Opinion of International Court of Justice
Prime Minister Vorster in a broadcast tonight rejected the World Court's opinion on south-West Africa as an "international political vendetta" against South Africa.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Clear Verdict on Namibia
The decision of the International Court of Justice was crisp and clear: "The continued presence of South Africa in South-West Africa being illegal, South Africa is under the obligation to withdraw its administration from Namibia [South-West Africa] immediately and thus put an end to its occupation of the territory."
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, April 27, 1971
TV Finally Approved by South Africa
The South African Government today approved the introduction of a television service.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Sunday, January 3, 1971
Final Act of the International Conference on the Conservation of Wetlands and Waterfowl
The Imperial Government of Iran, in accordance with recommendations of earlier international meetings on wetlands and waterfowl conservation, convened an International Conference on the Conservation of Wetlands and Waterfowl, with a view to promoting international collaboration in this field.
The Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of wetlands, to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognising the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value. It is named after the town of Ramsar in Iran.
The convention was developed and adopted by participating nations at a meeting in Ramsar on February 2, 1971, and came into force on December 21, 1975.
Suncheon Bay (Ramsar site), not far from Changwon, Republic of Korea. 34°52'20.09"N 127°30'52.46"E
You can find a panorama image here.
Source: Wikepedia; Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Monday, September 28, 1970
Nasser dies; Sadat Takes Over Eqypt
President Gamal Abdel Nasser, leader of Egypt for 18 years and hero of much of the Arab world, died today. The Government radio said the 52-year-old President was the victim of a heart attack.
The Eqyptian leader's death came only on day after a triumph of patient negotiation in which he overcame deep hostility and acheived an agreement to end fighting between the Jordanian Army and Palestinian Guerrillas.
Vice President Sadat took over as interim ruler.
Source: Nw York Times
The Eqyptian leader's death came only on day after a triumph of patient negotiation in which he overcame deep hostility and acheived an agreement to end fighting between the Jordanian Army and Palestinian Guerrillas.
Vice President Sadat took over as interim ruler.
Source: Nw York Times
Tuesday, September 15, 1970
Ex-Policeman Tells Court He Killed Somali President
A 22-year-old former policeman, Said Yusu Ismail, testfied today in a crowded and heavily guarded security court here that he had killed President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Friday, May 8, 1970
Banks and Oil Companies Nationalized by Somalia
The Government of Somalia today nationalized all foreign banks and oil companies but said that compensation would be paid.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, May 5, 1970
South African Teams Expelled From All Olympic Competition
South Africa was expelled today from the International Olympic Committee. That means the country cannot compete in the Olympic Games.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Monday, January 26, 1970
Zambia Leader Accuses West of Arming South Africa
President Kenneth D. Kaunda of Zambia tonight accused West Germany, France, Britain and the United States of arming South Africa "to its teeth" to enable it to attack black liberation movements.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Thursday, January 1, 1970
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE AND COMMISSIONERS OF OATHS ACT 16 OF 1963
The purpose of the Justice of the Peace and Commissioners of Oaths Act is to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the appointment, powers and duties of justices of the peace and commissioners of oaths, and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
[Commencement Date: 1 December 1964]
Source: SABINET
[Commencement Date: 1 December 1964]
Source: SABINET
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