"BELIEVE THAT LIFE IS WORTH LIVING,
AND YOUR BELIEF
WILL HELP CREATE THE FACT" !
_______
By Martin Plaut - BBC News, Cape Town.
This weekend marks a decisive moment in history of post-apartheid South Africa, with the governing African National Congress (ANC) on the verge of a split.
Dissidents, led by the former premier of the region around Johannesburg, Mbhazima Shilowa, and former Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, have broken with the ANC and called a convention of all like-minded South Africans in Pretoria. They have won the support of a number of leading ANC members, including former Deputy Defence Minister Mululeki George.
In the 18 years since Nelson Mandela was released from jail, the ANC has gone from being one of the most successful liberation movements, with a leader revered around the world, to a deeply divided organisation, led by Jacob Zuma, who is facing charges of corruption and racketeering.
A key development came during last year's ANC conference in Polokwane, when then President Thabo Mbeki lost his fight with Mr Zuma to remain party president. Mr Zuma's supporters went on to force Mbeki loyalists out of key positions of power, and Mr Mbeki was forced to step down as president in September.
Furious at losing influence, Mr Mbeki's allies have turned on their former comrades. Among their accusations was that the pro-Zuma faction had allowed the ANC's allies in the South African Communist party (SACP) and the unions too much power.
Mr Lekota wrote that it was unprecedented for the SACP to hold the most senior offices within the ANC. "The ANC is NOT the SACP," Mr Lekota wrote. "And the SACP is NOT the ANC."
Mbhazima Shilowa resigned from the ANC earlier this month The dissidents maintained that they are true to the ideals of the ANC, which had been taken over by the left.
In reply, Mr Zuma's supporters accuse the dissidents of being bad losers and political opportunists, who have left the ANC because they have been denied access to government resources or patronage. Mr Zuma said he was not surprised by the resignation of his former comrades, saying it had been in the air for quite a while. "It is just disappointing that people who have been in the leadership, who have been leading people within the ANC, are not able to show leadership when they come across difficulties," he said.
Others went further, accusing the defectors of preparing to ditch the ANC because it is questioning the conservative economic policies adopted under Mr Mbeki. "Their agenda is to sideline the working class," said Blade Nzimande, secretary-general of the SACP.
The trade union movement, Cosatu, called Mr Shilowa a "whisky-drinking egotist", and a black sheep who had betrayed the movement. "He changed from being a darling of workers to a member of expensive, elitist, whisky-drinking and cigar-smoking clubs," said Cosatu.
From this perspective the division in the ANC is a left-right split, with Zuma supporters on the left and Lekota supporters on the right. In reality, the situation is more complex, with some alleging that tribal differences are at least in part responsible for the divisions. Xhosas, used to holding influence under Mr Mbeki, are said to be angry at being sidelined under Mr Zuma, who is a Zulu.
These are inflammatory statements, more often spoken behind closed doors than openly aired. But Zwelethu Jolobe, who teaches politics at the University of Cape Town, believes this has been a significant element in the split. "People have organised and used ethnic arguments or tribal arguments to garner support in the different regions of the country for these two factions," he says.
In the run-up to the launch of the new party a series of events are being held. Rallies have taken place around the country, at which supporters of the new party have torn up or burnt their ANC membership cards.
Mr Lekota has spoken at these meetings, where his supporters have worn yellow and white T-shirts carrying his image and the words "South African National Congress" - the possible name for the new party.
But the rallies have been met with demonstrations by ANC supporters, some of whom chanted "Kill Shilowa, kill Lekota". Some meetings have been attacked, and only police intervention has prevented Lekota supporters from being injured.
The organisers of the new party complain that venues they wanted to book have been denied them. The ANC has condemned the violence and called for calm. But the party has also accused the dissidents of intolerance for burning ANC emblems. "The ANC has noted with utter disgust the rising levels of political intolerance in the country by supporters of the group," it said.
The scene is now set for the formation of the new party.
First there will be the conference this weekend to which all South African parties, including the ANC, have been invited. The main opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance, the Independent Democrats and the United Democratic Movement are considering whether to go, but the ANC has declined.
One suggestion is that these disparate parties could unite around defending the South African constitution, which they say is threatened by the Zuma-led ANC. Then, in December, the new party is expected to come into being. What no-one can yet predict is how much support the new party will win, or how fundamentally it might transform the country's politics.
But after 14 years of ANC government there is at now a real wind of change in the air.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Armed gunmen in speedboats have kidnapped and threatened to kill 10 crew members from an oil vessel off the West African state of Cameroon. The vessel's owners said those taken hostage were seven French nationals, two Cameroonians and a Tunisian. The attack reportedly took place near the Bakassi peninsula, which Nigeria recently handed over to Cameroon.
A group called the Bakassi Freedom Fighters has claimed to have carried out the attack. The group said it would kill the hostages within three days if Cameroon's government did not meet its demands. It was not immediately clear what the group's demands were. Reuters news agency reported that the attack had been carried out jointly with a second group called the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council.
There have been a number of attacks over the last year against oil installations in the Gulf of Guinea, where the kidnapping took place. A diplomat in Cameroon said the raid had happened near the Bakassi Peninsula, which is on the country's border with Nigeria.
Attacks on oil installations in Nigeria's nearby Niger Delta have been especially frequent, and the diplomat told AFP news agency that the boarding of the vessel off Cameroon resembled recent raids in the Delta.
Militants there claim to be fighting for greater control over oil wealth in the impoverished region, though opponents say they make money from criminal rackets and trade in stolen oil. The vessel seized off Cameroon, the Bourbon Sagitta, is owned by the French maritime services company Bourbon.
A company spokesperson said armed hijackers had boarded it from three speedboats at around midnight. Five crew members stayed aboard the vessel, and neither the crew members who were seized nor those who stayed on board had been injured, Bourbon said.
Earlier this month, armed robbers carried out a daring raid on banks in a seaside town of Limbe in Cameroon. Some 50 masked men who arrived by speedboat blew up safes in banks and made away with the money.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The Kenyan president's party is meeting to discuss a controversial report on January's post-poll clashes a day after his prime minister's party rejected it. The inquiry said some of the violence was planned and organised with the support of politicians and businessmen. It called for an international tribunal to try those implicated.
A list of suspects is to be given to the International Criminal Court by the mediators of Kenya's power-sharing deal if it is not set up by mid December.
President Mwai Kibaki of the Party of National Unity (PNU) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga, now prime minister, signed the agreement in February to end the crisis and formed a coalition government.
More than 1,500 people were killed in the violence that engulfed the country after December's elections and some 300,000 more fled their homes.
A commission of inquiry into the post-election violence, chaired by Justice Phillip Waki, found that in some areas, the violence was planned and organised with the support of politicians and businessmen. When the report came out earlier this month, both Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga pledged to implement its recommendations.
But on Thursday, Mr Odinga's ODM party rejected the report, saying the evidence collected was not sufficient to meet the threshold of proof required for prosecution. ODM said it would "resist and stop any rendition or surrender of Kenya citizens to a tribunal outside its territory". "ODM finds the Waki report an abuse of the rule of natural justice," said Ababu Namwamba, the party's parliamentary group secretary.
Some PNU MPs have also censured the report, saying that it should not be implemented. The commission of inquiry was appointed following recommendations by the international mediation team led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Mr Waki handed over the sealed list of suspects to Mr Annan, who is to hand it over to the ICC in The Hague if the court is not set up as agreed.
Human rights groups have warned that the government cannot afford to ignore the findings of the inquiry if it wants to avoid another blood-bath.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
South Africa's ex-leader Thabo Mbeki has rejected claims by the ruling African National Congress that he will campaign for them in next year's polls. Mr Mbeki was controversially ousted as president by the ANC party last month. He added that ANC dissidents led by former Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota had not sought his support.
Mr Lekota resigned from the ANC on Friday ahead of a weekend convention organised by the dissidents, who are planning to form a new party. The ANC split over a power struggle between Mr Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, who defeated Mr Mbeki to become party leader last year.
In September, Mr Lekota was among several ministers who left the government in anger at Mr Mbeki's ousting by Mr Zuma's supporters. The weekend conference is likely to set out the plans to form the new party in December.
Mr Mbeki made his comments in a lengthy letter to the ANC, first published in South Africa's Star newspaper, expressing his "surprise" at claims by Mr Zuma and others that he was planning to campaign for the ANC. He said that last December at the party convention, when he lost the party leadership, he had warned of the "grave challenges" the ANC was facing.
But he said he was not going to get involved in the internal politics of the ANC as the movement had "lost confidence" in him. "I refuse absolutely to rule from the grave," he said.
Mr Mbeki stood down in September after a judge suggested he may have interfered in the prosecution of Mr Zuma on corruption charges.
The former South African leader strongly denies the allegation.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Zambia's opposition leader has accused the governing party of rigging polls as the country voted to replace deceased President Levy Mwanawasa.
Michael Sata, who claimed security forces had been intimidating voters, warned that he would not accept defeat.
But correspondents and officials said the vote had passed peacefully, while an election monitor said he had seen no evidence of rigging.
Mr Sata is standing against Zambia's acting president, Rupiah Banda.
Voters queued from early on Thursday, though polling stations in the capital, Lusaka, were reported to be quiet before polls closed at 1600 GMT. Police had been put on high alert for what is expected to be a close vote. The country's army commander, Gen Isaac Chisuzi, has warned that anyone trying to incite violence would be dealt with by the army.
Mr Sata had called on his supporters to sleep outside polling booths to prevent rigging. As he cast his vote on Thursday he said there was no way Mr Banda's Movement For Multi-Party Democracy could win without cheating, accusing the police of helping rig the vote. "I have never seen this type of panicking and this is because they have rigged the election," he said. "It is the first time that the army commander who is supposed to protect people is predicting violence." Asked whether he would accept a loss, he said: "No."
But Ephraim Mateyo, the inspector general of Zambia's police force, said his forces were there to ensure law and order, not to intimidate. "Contrary to what a lot of people expected the elections are going on very peacefully," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
The head of an African Union observer team said his group had seen no "visible sign" of rigging. Mr Banda, a 71-year-old former diplomat who served as vice-president to Mr Mwanawasa, has promised to follow in the footsteps of the former leader, who died in August after suffering a stroke.
Mr Sata, who leads the Patriotic Front, has vowed to transform Zambia within 90 days of taking office by forcing foreign firms to hand over 25% stakes to local investors.
In their final rallies on Wednesday, both candidates named economic progress as their top goal.
Mr Banda also pledged not to allow violence. "No-one will be allowed to upset the peace in the country. Until the election results are announced, I am still president and will not allow it," he said.
There are two other candidates: Hakainde Hichilema, of the United Party for National Development and retired army general Godfrey Miyande, of the Heritage Party.
The winner of the election will serve until 2011 - when Mr Mwanawasa's term would have ended.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Fierce fighting between government and rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, the Red Cross says. Diplomatic efforts are under way to end the crisis, which has threatened to spill over into neighbouring Rwanda. A tense ceasefire is holding in the eastern city of Goma, where tens of thousands fled as rebels advanced.
But rebel leader Gen Laurent Nkunda has threatened to take the city unless UN peacekeepers guarantee the ceasefire. Killings and rapes have been reported in Goma and aid has not been reaching the displaced. Oxfam and other leading international aid agencies have suspended operations in the city, where a main hospital as well as numerous businesses and homes have been looted.
The Red Cross's Michael Khambatta told the BBC the priority now was providing the vast numbers of civilians forced from their homes with food, medical aid, shelter and some sort of security.
After several days of fighting, Gen Nkunda declared the ceasefire on late on Wednesday, and his Tutsi forces are positioned some nine miles (15km) from Goma - the provincial capital of North Kivu. He said he was opening a "humanitarian corridor" so aid could reach the thousands of people trapped between his forces and UN soldiers backing up government troops in the city.
Much of the looting has been blamed on retreating Congolese troops. The UN is considering redeploying some of its 17,000-strong force in DR Congo - the world's largest - to bolster around 5,000 peacekeepers in the city.
As the tense ceasefire held early on Friday, a multi-pronged diplomatic effort was under way to resolve the crisis. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent envoys to both DR Congo and Rwanda as each accused the other of launching cross-border incursions.
The African Union is to hold crisis talks on Friday and EU efforts have been ongoing to bring Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila together. The EU is also to discuss sending troops to the area to aid the humanitarian effort. Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer has held talks with Mr Kabila in DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa.
Many in DR Congo say Rwanda supports Gen Nkunda's forces - something Rwanda denies. In the past two months, more than 200,000 people have been driven from their homes across eastern DR Congo. While thousands have sought refuge in Goma, many thousands more have fled into the forests, where the militias cannot find them, and the aid agencies cannot help them.
Gen Nkunda has told the BBC his goal was to protect the Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the country's 1994 genocide. Correspondents say a race for the area's mineral wealth is fuelling the conflict as much as ethnic enmities.
There are growing concerns for the welfare of 39 wildlife rangers who were forced to flee into dense forest after their headquarters in eastern DR Congo were stormed by rebels.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
At least 29 people have died in a wave of coordinated car-bombings across northern Somalia. Most of the casualties were in the Somaliland capital, Hargeisa, where the presidential palace, Ethiopian consulate and UN offices were targeted.
Two suicide attackers also killed six intelligence agents in their offices in neighbouring Puntland, the region's president says. These are the first suicide attacks in the two relatively stable regions. Somaliland has declared independence from war-torn southern Somalia but this has not been internationally recognised. The region is a US ally in the fight against Islamist militants in Somalia.
Puntland's President Mohamoud Musa Hirsi Adde said that the attacks in both regions were coordinated, reports the AFP news agency. "The whole plan was organised from the same place and by the same people," he said. Somaliland President Dahir Riyale Kahin says the government is ready to defend the country.
The BBC's Jamal Abdi in Hargeisa says he saw body parts flying through the air after the attack on the Ethiopian consulate. One of the buildings in the consulate was levelled to the ground and eight people were killed. Our correspondent says the explosions shook surrounding buildings violently and there was gunfire after the last explosion. He says the attacks came as a real shock to many people after years of peace.
Guards outside Somaliland's presidential palace opened fire on the attackers blocking them from entering the compound. One car managed to get into the heavily fortified UNDP office complex before the explosives were detonated. Eyewitnesses at the UNDP office said the attackers parked the car next to one of the buildings, which suffered the worst damage and heaviest casualties.
There is a lot of anxiety around the city and cars have been blocked from approaching the three locations. There is no information about who was responsible for the three attacks, which took place within seven minutes of each other. But some suspect Islamist insurgents, given the coordinated nature of the bombings and the targeting of Ethiopia.
The al-Shabaab group, which the US describes as a terrorist organisation, refuses to join peace talks until Ethiopian troops agree to leave Somalia. Ethiopia helped forces of the interim government oust Islamists from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2006 - since when Islamists have staged regular attacks in the city.
The bombings come as regional leaders meet in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, to discuss the ongoing crisis in Somalia and the performance of the transitional federal government.
On Tuesday, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin made a rare criticism of the Somali government. "Somalia's problems are not security but political," Mr Seyoum said, blaming disputes between the country's leaders for the prolonged crisis.
The transitional federal charter, which was adopted in 2004, expires next year when a constitution is supposed to be drafted and elections held.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Security is tight in Zambia as the main candidates in the presidential election prepare to hold their final campaign rallies on the eve of voting.
The acting president, Rupiah Banda, and his main opposition rival, Michael Sata, drew thousands of supporters ahead of events in the capital Lusaka.
The two men are hoping to succeed the late President Levy Mwanawasa who died in August after suffering a stroke. The winner will serve until 2011 - when Mr Mwanawasa's term would have ended. Tensions have risen during the race between Mr Banda and Mr Sata, a populist known as "King Cobra" for his stinging criticism of the government's failure to lift millions from poverty.
Mr Sata, who lost the presidential election to Mr Mwanawasa in 2006, has already warned he will not accept the result if he loses and suspects vote-rigging.
Mr Banda, a 71-year-old former diplomat who served as vice-president to Mr Mwanawasa, heads the governing Movement For Multi-Party Democracy.
Michael Sata promises to help Zambia's poor.In his campaign he has promised to stick to the late president's policy of modernising the economy, which he says will ensure continued growth in a country where more than 60% of Zambians live on less than $2 a day.
Mr Sata, of the opposition Patriotic Front, is vowing to transform Zambia within 90 days of taking office by forcing foreign firms to hand over 25% stakes to local investors. He also plans to embark on a social spending programme to provide better jobs and housing.
There are two other candidates.
Hakainde Hichilema heads the United Party for National Development.
Godfrey Miyande of the Heritage Party is a retired army general.
Turnout in 2006 was more than 70%.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A South African businessman tried to cheat a poor farm worker out of a winning lottery ticket worth five million rand ($490,000; £300,000).
Lazarus Letswalo, 51, was found guilty of theft and fraud at a magistrates court in Johannesburg and could face up to 15 years in jail. Letswalo was arrested in 2002 when he went to cash the ticket he took from Andrew Phoshoko from Tzaneen, Limpopo.
After the arrest, the lottery operator gave Mr Phoshoko the money.
Magistrate Zacharia Machobane told Letswalo that he had "tried to defraud a poor... illiterate man", reports the Sowetan newspaper. During the six-year trial, Mr Phoshoko gave evidence that Letswalo had bribed him with ice cream and food before taking the ticket.
The lottery operator Uthingo became suspicious after noticing that the names on the back of the ticket had been changed. Humphrey Khoza, the head of Uthingo, said: "There is no way people can cheat the National Lottery."
Mr Phoshoko, who was previously employed in temporary jobs, has used two million rand from his winnings to open a shop and a chicken farm and has invested the rest of the money.
The rightful winner warned other people to "look out. What happened to me should not happen to anyone else".
Letswalo will be sentenced in December.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
People are pouring into Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as Tutsi rebels battling the army near the city. A BBC reporter says thousands already displaced to the north of Goma are on the move after seeing troops retreat.
In the city, the UN has relocated civilian personnel from its HQ near the airport to a base near Lake Kivu.
Meanwhile, the 15-member UN Security Council will be briefed on the latest situation in an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening.
Our correspondent says there was a "stampede" in Goma, as thousands of displaced people poured into the city on the third day of fierce fighting in the area.
Congolese soldiers withdrawing from the village of Kibumba, 30 km north of Goma, also retreated to the city, creating a panic in its population, our correspondent adds. Earlier in Kibumba, our reporter saw an exchange of fire across the Rwandan border. Rwanda denies claims it is backing the rebels.
Rwanda's foreign minister said Congolese troops had fired into Rwanda, but its soldiers had not pursued them.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has spoken to Congolese President Joseph Kabila and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and he sent envoys to both capitals.
Both President Kabila and the UN have called for more troops to be sent to DR Congo, where the UN has a 17,000 troops - the world's largest peacekeeping force. UN spokesman Madnodge Mounoubai, in the capital, Kinshasa, said the UN was not evacuating Goma. He said civilian personnel were being moved to the lakeside site, a camp for demobilised soldiers, because there were better facilities for the UN staff there including water and food.
On Tuesday night, General Laurent Nkunda's fighters took the town of Rutshuru, further north near the Ugandan border, giving the rebels control of a long stretch of the road to Goma. Neighbouring Rwanda has been accused of backing Gen Nkunda, who left the army and launched his own low-level rebellion after DR Congo's five-year conflict officially ended in 2003.
On Tuesday evening, Congolese President Joseph Kabila sent two envoys to Kigali to discuss the crisis. But Rwanda continues to deny it has anything to do with the conflict. "They have been accusing us but wrongly. Rwanda has never intervened in the Congo ever since we left on 5 October 2002," Joseph Mutaboba, the Rwandan president's special envoy to the Great Lakes, told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
Rwanda has twice invaded its much larger neighbour, saying it wants to stop Hutu rebels from operating there. It claims that two rebel brigades are fighting with the Congolese army. Mr Kabila has appealed for a multi-national force to help restore order. Gen Nkunda says he is fighting to protect the minority Tutsi community from the Hutu militia which carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
But Alistair Dutton, Christian Aid humanitarian manager for Africa, told the BBC that the fighting was also for control of resources. Eastern DR Congo is rich in gold and other minerals, such as coltan, used in mobile phones. A peace deal was signed in Goma between the government and various rebel groups at the end of January.
Although he signed the deal, Gen Nkunda - whose main strongholds are in Kichanga in the Masisi Mountains and Bunagana town bordering Uganda - has always refused to disarm while Rwandan Hutu rebels still operate in the area.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Ugandan police hope to curb spiralling road-accident deaths. Undercover police officers in Uganda are to be deployed on buses to try to curb reckless driving blamed for thousands of road accident deaths. A police spokeswoman said bus drivers were at fault for many accidents, accusing many of breaking speed limits. She said bus drivers caught violating traffic laws would face tougher punishment than ordinary drivers.
More than 2,300 Ugandans died in road accidents in 2007, according to official police records. The new strategy was agreed at a recent meeting of the police and bus owners, according to Uganda's government-owned daily newspaper, New Vision. Traffic officials will also carry out checks at bus stations to ensure that vehicles are roadworthy and follow prescribed routes.
A police chief, Major General Kale Kayihura, who will oversee the strategy, warned that buses which do not meet the minimum standard would be impounded. "Accidents involving buses have increased because we have been focusing on arresting riders," Gen Kayihura told New Vision. "But now bus owners must wake up and make the roads safe," he added.
But Patrick Otim, a representative of one of Uganda's main bus companies, said other factors needed to be considered. "Most accidents are being blamed on bus companies, but at the end of the day the real cause is the state of the roads," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
By Emmanuel Muga - BBC Sport, Dar es Salaam.
Officials from the Tanzanian Football Federation (TFF) have praised the growing popularity of domestic football in the wake of Sunday's Dar es Salaam derby, which attracted a record crowd of up to 70,000 spectators.
The match between Simba and Young Africans kicked off at the same time as the English Premier League glamour game between Chelsea and Liverpool - who both have a massive following in Tanzania - but the fans opted to watch the live game.
Young Africans won the game 1-0 and the players were awarded the club's entire share of the gate collections.
"This shows that Tanzanians love their clubs more than foreign teams," TFF Secretary General Frederick Mwakalebela told BBC Sport. "Nowhere else in Africa, except in Egypt, will you find fans ignoring a big match on TV to watch a local derby.
"We have a good stadium, TFF has restored discipline in the league and improved its organisation, and that's why people now trust local football," he said. Mwakalebela said that unlike in the past when they feared organising a big game to coincide with a key English Premier League clash, they can now stage a match without the risk of losing revenues. "I know some avid fans of Liverpool who came to the stadium instead of following their team on TV," he said.
Tickets sold out and riot police had to fire teargas canisters to disperse rioting fans, who were trying to force their way into the overcrowded 60,000-capacity new stadium.
Matches involving Simba and Young Africans, also known as Yanga, as well as the national team are major crowd-pullers. So Sunday's match was not a one-off event. The popularity of the game is rising, mainly due to the influx of foreign players and the upgrading of stadiums.
The title-deciding second round of the league will kick off in late December and attendances are expected to stay high, particularly for games involving Yanga, Simba, Kagera Sugar, Azam, Mtibwa and Police.
Mwakalebela, who estimated Sunday's attendance to be between 60,000 to 70,000 fans, said sponsors were also cashing in on the rising popularity and the league was generating money, which attracts foreign players.
Kenyan striker Bernard Mwalala, who scored the only goal for Yanga on Sunday, is one of many foreign players in the Tanzanian league.
Others include his compatriots George Owino and leading scorer in the league Boniface Ambani, as well as Wisdom Ndlovu from Malawi and goalkeeper Obrein Curkovic from Serbia, who all play for Young Africans.
Nigerian duo Eme Ezechukwu and Orji Obina play for Simba and last year's top scorer Mike Katende from Uganda plays for Kagera Sugar.
"In Kenya local football is dead, teams play in front of empty stands, but here it is different, it is exciting, that's why we choose to come here if you can't go to Europe," Mwalala told BBC Sport.
The league has two major sponsors, while the national team is sponsored by four companies, who invest millions of dollars every year.
Young Africans currently top the table on 27 points, followed by Kagera Sugar who have 19 points.
BBC SPORTS REPORT.
"YOU MUST BEGIN TO THINK OF YOURSELF
AS BECOMING THE PERSON YOU WANT TO BE"!
________
An Egyptian teacher at a primary school in Alexandria is alleged to have beaten an 11-year-old pupil to death.
The maths teacher, Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, who worked at Saad Othman school, was furious because Islam Amro had not finished his homework. After using a ruler to punish him, the teacher is alleged to have taken the young boy outside the classroom and hit him violently in his stomach.
The young pupil fainted and later died in hospital of heart failure. He was taken from the school to hospital but suffered a sharp drop in blood pressure and heart failure.
The teacher is reported by Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Alyoum to have told the prosecutor that he was only trying to "discipline the boy, not to kill him".
Mr Abdelhamid was remanded in custody on manslaughter charges.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Posted by: Mara at October 28, 2008 14:49 |
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africa
Five Chinese oil workers kidnapped in Sudan nine days ago have been killed, Sudan's foreign ministry has said. The five were part of a group of nine Chinese workers seized from an oil field in the Kordofan region of Sudan. The foreign ministry said two of the group were wounded but in government hands after escaping, and two were still held by their kidnappers.
The Sudanese government has blamed rebels from Darfur region, which borders Kordofan, for the kidnapping.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadig said the kidnappers were from the Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). "This was done with direct instructions from the Justice and Equality Movement," he said. JEM has said it has forces in the area but was not involved in seizing the Chinese.
The kidnappers later released a local driver kidnapped with the Chinese with a note saying they wanted a share in the region's oil wealth.
The Chinese were employees of the China National Petroleum Corporation, part of a consortium making up the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC). The men were seized from an oil field in Abyei district, in Southern Kordofan state, which the GNPOC has been exploiting.
It is the third time in the last year that oil workers have been abducted in the energy-rich region. China is a key purchaser of Sudanese oil and has been investing heavily in the country's oil infrastructure.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A woman in Somalia has been stoned to death after an Islamic Sharia law court found her guilty of adultery.
The woman was buried up to her neck and then pelted to death with stones in front of a large crowd in Kismayo.
It was the first such execution in the southern port city since Islamist insurgents captured it from government-allied forces in August.
A local Islamist leader said the woman, Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow, had pleaded guilty to committing adultery.
"She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply," said Sheikh Hayakallah.
A group of men performed the execution in one of the city's main squares in front of thousands of people, AFP news agency said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A Moroccan schoolboy has been jailed for insulting the king, after replacing the monarch's name with that of his favourite football club. The 18-year-old altered the well-known phrase "God, The Nation, The King" on the school blackboard to read "God, The Nation, Barcelona".
Spanish side FC Barcelona says it has appointed a lawyer to help the boy. There have been several high-profile cases of young men jailed for insulting the royal family in Morocco.
The BBC's James Copnall in Rabat says it is not completely clear whether the court felt the remarks about the football club or other apparent insults to the king were the problem.
The Moroccan justice ministry has not commented on the case.
The family of the boy, Yassine Belassal, is appealing against the ruling, and his father told the BBC he was preparing to write a letter to King Mohamed VI asking for a royal pardon. An internet campaign is also under way to have Mr Belassel freed.
Earlier this year one man received a three-year sentence for creating a mock Facebook profile of the King's brother, before receiving a royal pardon. Last month, another man was jailed after suggesting that some royal practices did not help the development of the country.
He was cleared on appeal following a media outcry.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
UN peacekeeping forces are engaged in heavy fighting against rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The head of the UN mission, Alan Doss, told the BBC that helicopter gunships and armoured units were supporting the Congolese army north of Goma. The clashes followed reports that hundreds of protesters had attacked the mission's headquarters, saying the UN was not doing enough to protect them.
At least 20,000 people are reported to be fleeing towards Goma. The UN is trying to help government forces prevent rebel troops loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda from advancing on Goma, capital of North Kivu province. "We can't allow population centres to be threatened," Mr Doss said. "We had to engage."
The muscular response from the UN shows how serious the rebel advance is, reports BBC World Affairs correspondent Mark Doyle. Earlier, the UN had said it was considering using helicopter gunships against the rebels, but that government troops were also in the area and could be hit.
News of the UN's engagement came as it was confirmed the military commander of the UN mission in DRC - Spain's Lt Gen Vicente Diaz de Villegas y Herreria - had resigned for "personal reasons" after just seven weeks in the job.
The UN said it was working to "ensure continuity of command and to replace General Diaz as quickly as possible". In Goma, a UN spokeswoman said that cars were being damaged and windows shattered in the regional capital as protesters attacked the UN base.
Demonstrators are angry that the 17,000-strong UN force has not better protected them against an offensive by rebel forces. Over the weekend the rebels, who say they are protecting the area's Tutsi minority, captured a major army camp at Rumangabo and the headquarters of Virunga national park.
A BBC reporter in eastern DR Congo says the main Kibumba camp for displaced people near Rumangabo has emptied, as people flee towards the city. Gen Nkunda has threatened to take control of Goma.
The UN accused his soldiers of firing rockets at two UN vehicles on Sunday, injuring several troops. A spokesman for Gen Nkunda denied the rebels were involved. His rebels attacked Goma last December. Hundreds of them died as the UN used helicopters under its mandate to protect civilians.
A peace deal was signed in Goma between the government and various rebel groups at the end of January. Although he signed the deal, Gen Nkunda has always refused to disarm while Rwandan Hutu rebels still operate in the area.
About 200,000 people fled their homes after fighting resumed in the area in late August.
The United Nations says many refugees are malnourished and some are dying of hunger.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A West African court has found Niger's government guilty of failing to protect a woman from slavery in a landmark case for the region. The court found in favour of Hadijatou Mani, who says she was sold aged 12 and made to work for 10 years.
A judge ordered the government - which says it has done all it can to eradicate slavery - to pay Ms Mani 10m CFA francs (£12,430; $19,750). Despite being outlawed, slavery also persists in other West African states.
Ms Mani was quoted as telling reporters in court that she was "very happy" with the decision. "We are law-abiding and will respect this decision," Mossi Boubacar, a lawyer for Niger's government, told Reuters news agency.
BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says the ruling is embarrassing for the government of Niger and sends a strong message that it needs to do more to implement the law and end slavery. It could also have huge consequences for thousands of other people who have been kept in conditions of slavery across the region, he says.
Ms Mani, now 24, says she was sold to a man called Souleymane Naroua when she was 12. The price was the equivalent of about $500 (£315). She says she was forced to carry out domestic and agricultural work for the next 10 years. Ms Mani says she was raped at the age of 13 and forced to bear the man's children. "I was beaten so many times I would run to my family," she told the BBC's World Today programme. "Then after a day or two I would be brought back. "At the time I didn't know what to do but since I learned that slavery has been abolished I told myself that I will no longer be a slave."
In 2005, her master freed her and gave her a "liberation certificate", reports Anti-Slavery International, which helped her bring the case. But when she left him and tried to marry another man, her "master" said they were married. A local court found in favour of Ms Mani and she went ahead with her new wedding.
But this was then overturned on appeal and she was sentenced to six months in prison for bigamy. She took her case to the Court of Justice of the West African regional body Ecowas earlier this year. Ms Mani accused the government of Niger of failing to protect her from slavery, which was criminalised five years ago.
A local organisation fighting to end the practice says there are more than 40,000 slaves in Niger. But the government has said such figures are exaggerated. Anti-Slavery's Romana Cacchioli told the BBC that her group had managed to free about 80 women from slavery in Niger over the past five years.
The Ecowas court ruling will be binding on all member states and so will have consequences for people being kept as slaves beyond Niger, the BBC's Idy Baraou reports from Niger.
For generations, the children of a slave have automatically become the property of the slave master. Ms Mani says one of the reasons she has taken this court action is to secure her two children's freedom and ensure they do not have to endure the same fate. Slavery is also still practised in Mali and Mauritania.
Aidan McQuade, the director of Anti-Slavery International, told the BBC the case would be crucial in highlighting the plight of slaves in Africa.
"This is very important in terms of the community of nations, and particularly the African community of nations looking at other countries within that region and saying: 'What standard are we expecting each other to be held to in relation to international and national law?'"
BBC NEWS REPORT.
