Saturday August 18, 2012
Kaieteur News
Mine “bloodbath” shocks post-apartheid South Africa
A protester licks his spear outside a South African mine. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA – Tags MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) - The police killing of 34 striking platinum miners in the bloodiest security operation since the end of white rule cut to the quick of South Africa’s psyche yesterday, with searching questions asked of its post-apartheid soul. Newspaper headlines screamed “Bloodbath”, “Killing Field” and “Mine Slaughter”, with graphic photographs of heavily armed white and black police officers walking casually past the bloodied corpses of black men lying crumpled in the dust. The images, along with Reuters TV footage of officers opening up with automatic weapons on a small group of men in blankets and t-shirts at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum plant, rekindled uncomfortable memories of South Africa’s racist past. Police chief Riah Phiyega confirmed 34 dead and 78 injured in Thursday’s shootings after officers moved against 3,000 striking drill operators armed with machetes and sticks at the mine, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg. A somber-looking President Jacob Zuma, who cut short a trip to Mozambique for a regional summit because of the violence, travelled to Marikana and announced he had ordered an official inquiry into what he called the
“shocking” events. “This is unacceptable in our country which is a country where everyone feels comfortable, a country with a democracy that everyone envies,” he said in a statement read at a news conference. He did not take questions. The South African Institute of Race Relations likened the incident to the 1960 Sharpeville township massacre near Johannesburg, when apartheid police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters, killing more than 50. “Obviously the issues that have led to this are not the same as the past, but the
response and the outcome is very similar,” research manager Lucy Holborn told Reuters. In a front-page editorial, the Sowetan newspaper questioned what had changed since 1994, when Nelson Mandela overturned three centuries of white domination to become South Africa’s first black president.” Zuma, who faces an internal leadership election in his ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December, called on South Africa to mourn together. “It is a moment to start healing and rebuilding,” he said at Marikana.
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UN names Algerian diplomat as Syria envoy BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Friday confirmed that veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi would become the new international mediator on Syria, as the 17-month-old conflict slid deeper into civil war and refugees fled to Turkey in increasing numbers. President Bashar alAssad’s forces have turned increasingly to air power to hold back lightly armed rebels in the capital Damascus and Aleppo, a northern commercial hub. More than 18,000 people have died and some 170,000 have fled the country as a result of the fighting, according to the U.N. Brahimi, who hesitated for days to accept a job that France’s U.N. envoy Gerard Araud called an “impossible mission,” will replace former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is stepping down at the end of the month. “The (U.N.) SecretaryGeneral appreciates Mr. Brahimi’s willingness to bring his considerable talents and experience to this crucial task for which he will need, and rightly expects, the strong, clear and unified support of the international community, including the Security
Council,” U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby back Brahimi’s appointment, said del Buey, who added that achieving a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis remained a top priority for the United Nations. White House spokesman Josh Earnest described Brahimi as “a capable and seasoned diplomat,” though he said the United States wanted to know more about his U.N. mandate. “Our position and our view about the solution to this problem hasn’t changed — that it’s time for President Assad to step down and to allow this political transition to move forward.” Diplomats said all Security Council members
Lakhdar Brahimi supported Brahimi. The announcement confirmed what diplomats told Reuters on Thursday. Brahimi, a Nobel Peace laureate, will have a new title, Joint Special Representative for Syria. Diplomats said the change was to distance him from Annan, who had complained that his Syria peace plan was hampered by a divided Security Council. U.N. officials told Reuters that Brahimi was expected to arrive in New York next week to meet with Ban and discuss plans for a fresh approach to Syria.