SA
farmers sign Congo land deal - 21 October
South Africa has signed a deal with the Republic of Congo that
will give South African farmers access to up to 10 million
hectares of farmland, the country's biggest farmers' union said on
Tuesday. The deal, potentially one of the largest land agreements
on the continent and part of Congo's plan to improve food
security, will allow South African farmers to lease land for
maize, soy beans, poultry and dairy cattle among other produce. - IOL
website
See
also :
SA
offered land in 3 countries : minister - 9 October
South Africa said on Friday it had been offered 48 square miles of
land in Angola and Uganda and also a land lease agreement in
Zambia. - IOL website
Egypt
cleric 'to ban full veils' - 5 October
Egypt's highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a
religious edict against the growing trend for full women's
veils, known as the niqab. Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of
al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has
nothing to do with the Islamic faith. Although most Muslim women
in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are
adopting the niqab as well. The practice is widely associated
with more radical trends of Islam. - BBC
News website
No
covering up Egypt's niqab row - 10 October
There have been demonstrations by women students in Cairo after
a leading cleric backed moves to ban the wearing of full women's
veils, known as the niqab, in classrooms or dormitories.
Christian Fraser has been hearing both sides of the argument. - BBC
News website
Louvre
to return Egyptian frescos - 9 October
The Louvre museum in Paris will return five ancient fresco
fragments to Egypt within weeks, France's government says.
The announcement comes two days after the head of antiquities in
Cairo said he would cease all co-operation with the museum until
they were sent back. The Egyptians say the Louvre bought the
Pharaonic steles in 2000 even though it knew they had been
stolen in the 1980s. They are believed to be from a 3
200-year-old tomb of the cleric, Tetaki, in the Valley of the
Kings, near Luxor. - BBC News
website
See
also :
China
on hunt for looted treasure
Iranians
demand loan of treasure
Zimbabwe's
Prime Minister still awaits official housing - 5 October
An aide to Zimbabwe's prime minister says President Robert
Mugabe is refusing to provide state housing seven months after
the appointment. Longtime opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
entered into a unity government with Mugabe in February. Nelson
Chamisa, spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change, says Mugabe's ZANU-PF ministers are also unwilling to
vacate their government-issued homes. - The
Richmark Sentinel website
Zim
Parliament to weigh mine-sector law reform - 6 October
Zimbabwe's Parliament will debate legal reforms badly needed by
the battered economy, including the crucial mining sector, in
coming weeks, but analysts say foreign investors will wait to
see how the laws are applied. President Robert Mugabe opens a
new session of Parliament on Tuesday which officials say will
consider amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act and a Bill
governing the operations of the central bank. - Mail
& Guardian website
Zimbabweans
row over donor money - 6 October
Two key figures in Zimbabwe's shaky power-sharing
government are divided over how to spend some $800m (£500m) in
recently approved donor funding. Central Bank governor Gideon
Gono - an ally of President Robert Mugabe - has said Finance
Minister Tendai Biti is being slow to spend the money.
Donors have been wary of restoring too much aid to Zimbabwe,
fearing it could be misused by Mr Mugabe and his allies. But the
IMF and African Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank have made some
$800m available. - BBC News
website
Roy
Bennett trial to begin today - 13 October
Zimbabwean
Roy Bennett goes on trial on Tuesday in the eastern city
of
Mutare
, facing charges of possessing weapons to commit banditry. His
party is worried he may be put back in custody, this time in
Harare
. Lawyer Trust Maanda told Eyewitness News the state
still has not provided vital documents such as the
charge sheet. There are fears state lawyers could apply to have
the case referred to the high court in
Harare
. - Eye Witness News
website
SA
will not dispute allegations against Roy Bennett - 13
October
South Africa will at this stage make no judgement on the
validity of allegations against Zimbabwe's Agriculture Deputy
Minister-designate Roy Bennett. "The court of law is
in a better position to make that judgment . . . lets just hope
that the legal process will be seen by everybody as being
transparent and that the outcome will be fair", said
Director General in the Department of International Relations
and Cooperation Ayanda Ntsaluba on Tuesday. - BuaNews
Online website
Bennett
to know his fate today - 14 October
Zimbabwe's Deputy Agriculture Minister-designate, Roy Bennett,
will know today if he will be thrown back in prison pending a
High Court trial or if charges against him will be temporarily
withdrawn. According to Zimbabwean media, Bennett and his
lawyers yesterday packed the Mutare Court as they waited for
more than six hour for prosecutors. State representatives blamed
their tardiness on failure to secure fuel for the cars and
roadblocks on the road between the capital Harare and Mutare,
where the trial is taking place. - BuaNews
Online website
Zimbabwe
ministerial nominee Roy Bennett ordered back to jail - 14
October
A Zimbabwe court Wednesday ordered ministerial nominee Roy
Bennett, a close aide to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, back
to jail until his trial begins next week. - The
Richmark Sentinel website
Tsvangirai
calls off Zimbabwe cabinet meeting after Bennett jailed - 15
October
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called off a cabinet
meeting Thursday after a magistrate's court detained top aide
Roy Bennett ahead of his trial on terrorism charges, officials
said. "The Prime Minister has suspended the council of
ministers meeting and any government appointments until the
Bennett issue is resolved," an official in the prime
minister's office told AFP on condition of anonymity. - The
Richmark Sentinel website
Mugabe
must stop harassment : US - 15 October
The US has called for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to stop
"harassing" his rivals, a day after a senior
politician was imprisoned. The state department said the jailing
of Roy Bennett was a "blatant example" of a lack of
the rule of law. - BBC News
website