Angola charmed by poignant Zuma

President Jacob Zuma has wrapped up his state visit to Angola with freshly cemented political relations and a new framework for doing business with the resource-rich SADC nation.

Zuma and his 11-member ministerial team, who were accompanied by a 150-member delegation from Business Unity South Africa , walked away from the two- day trip with agreements and memorandums of understanding on areas including trade, industry, housing, air services, diplomatic relations and sport.

The agreements pave the way for massive South African involvement in Angola’s reconstruction, at a time when President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is under increasing pressure from his business community to seek new partners in competition with existing Chinese, Brazilian and Portuguese investors. The Times

Swiss apologise to Libya

Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz apologised to the Libyan people on Thursday over the arrest in Geneva a year ago of a son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi."I express to the Libyan people my apologies for the unjust arrest of a Libyan diplomat by Geneva police," Merz said at a joint news conference in Tripoli with Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi.

Hannibal Kadhafi and his pregnant wife were arrested in a luxury Geneva hotel on July 15, 2008 after two servants claimed they had been mistreated.

The couple were freed after two days in custody on bail of 500,000 Swiss francs (444,000 dollars).

The complaint was dropped after a lawyer for their servants - a Moroccan and a Tunisian - said they had received compensation.

In October, Libya responded by suspending oil deliveries to Switzerland, withdrawing assets worth an estimated five billion euros from Swiss banks, ending bilateral cooperation programmes and placing restrictions on Swiss companies.

Two Swiss businessmen in Libya were also banned from leaving the country.- AFP

12 girls killed in Tanzanian school fire

Dar Es Salaam - A fire that started when a student at a central Tanzanian girls' school tried to study in candle light has killed 12 students, police said on Sunday.

The Saturday night incident at Idodi Secondary School in Iringa region, about 460km southwest of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, razed a dormitory to the ground.

"It burnt one dormitory completely and 12 students were killed. Another 20 have been injured," Iringa Regional Police Commander Evarist Mangala told Reuters by phone.

"We're still investigating (the cause), but it looks like it's from a candle lit by a student who was trying to study at night." - IOL

Insurgents reject Ramadan ceasefire call

Mogadishu - Somalia's insurgents on Sunday rejected a government call for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and accused the president of trying to use religion as a cover for re-arming his troops.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, had called for an end to fighting during Ramadan to allow people to pray.

"We will not accept that ceasefire call. This holy month will be a triumphant time for mujahideen and we will fight the enemy," Hizbul Islam leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys told a news conference.

Somalia has been torn by conflict for the last 18 years, troubling the international community which says al Qaeda-linked militants exploit the chaos and pose a threat to the whole region. -Reuters

By Staff reporter and agencies