PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013
PAGE 32
International
South Africans asked to pray for Mandela
S
outh Africa’s president has asked his country to pray for the critically ill national hero Nelson Mandela, who he said was “asleep” when he visited him at a hospital in the capital Pretoria. Jacob Zuma said on Monday that doctors at the Pretoria Mediclinic Heart Hospital were doing everything possible to help Mandela feel comfortable on his 17th day in hospital. However, he refused to give details of Mandela’s condition, saying: “I’m not a doctor’’. The media briefing came a day after the South African government said the former president’s condition had deteriorated and was now “critical”. Zuma said South Africans should accept that Mandela is old, and he urged people to pray for their former leader. “Madiba is critical in the hospital, and this is the father of democracy. This is the man who fought and sacrificed his life to stay in prison, the longest-serving prisoner in South Africa,’’ Zuma said, using Mandela’s clan name. Mac Maharaj, presidential spokesman, said an arrangement had been reached for information about Mandela to be provided through a “single source in an authoritative way ... to respect the privacy of the family”.
Gulf of Guinea countries lose $2 billion annually to piracy
P
South African President Jacob Zuma
He said also that the “doctorpatient confidentiality’’ had to be adhered to. Peter Greste, reporting from Pretoria, said the limited news about the man known as the “father of the nation”, was causing some anxiety and frustration among South Africans who are keen to know how he is doing.
He said the shift in the language to statements that medical staff were keeping Mandela comfortable, suggested that Zuma’s office was preparing the country for the possibility that Mandela might not be around for much longer. “We’ve also seen lots of people coming to the hospital, and pasting messages of suppot on the
walls outside the hospital,” our correspondent said. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Mandela’s ex-wife, and daughters Zindzi Mandela-Motlhajwa and Zenani Mandela-Dlamini were seen leaving the hospital on Monday, while Mandela’s eldest daughter Makaziwe rebuked the media, after saying that her father was at “peace”.
the presidency, told Xinhua on phone. He said all the victims were of Central African Republic’s nationality, adding that many others were injured in the accident. Ndouba said the mining site is located at Ndassima in Bambari region, 440 km east of the capital Bangui. It is a zone that is rich in minerals, especially gold and iron, he disclosed. The mine collapsed on Sunday due to heavy torrential rains. In total, 37 bodies were recovered from the scene of the
accident. But the toll could be higher, the national radio said, citing eyewitnesses who had been interviewed. Central African Republic’s President Michel Djotodia sent his condolences to the families of the victims and declared three days of national mourning with flags flying at half mast on Tuesday. The country boasts huge mineral potential, with at least 470 different minerals identified. However, the exploitation of minerals, always done on small scale, is concentrated on
diamond and gold. Despite its rich resources, the country has witnessed numerous coups since attaining independence in 1960, the latest being in March when Djotodia led his forces to overthrow Francois Bozize. Speaking 10 days ago in the Gabonese capital Libreville at a summit of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), Djotodia announced, “After several months of conflict and looting, security was progressively returning to the country.”
ali’s ex-transitional Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra has submitted his candidacy for the July 28 presidential elections. A source close to Diarra on Monday filed his nomination papers with the West African country’s Constitutional Court. Diarra is the president of the
Rally for Development in Mali (RDM), a party on whose ticket he had been endorsed to contest for the presidential elections set for April 29, 2012. After the coup on March 22, 2012, he was appointed to the position of Mali’s transitional prime minister before resigning due to pressure from the ex-junta.
More feared dead in CAR mine collapse
T
he Presidency of Central African Republic has confirmed that 37 people died in the recent gold mine collapse and expressed fear that the toll could be even higher. “More bodies could not be found. There is a possibility of the death toll rising,” the Presidency said in a statement on Monday. “It was a small-scale mine exploited by a company that was seeking to set up its industrial equipment. This could have contributed to the unfortunate incident that took place,” Prosper Ndouba, the spokesman for
Mali’s ex-transitional Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra
Mali’s ex-PM to contest in presidential polls M
iracy in the Gulf of Guinea costs regional countries an annual $2 billion, posing an increasing threat in the oil-rich region in West Africa, according to an expert of the Yaounde-II University in Cameroon. “Maritime piracy has already caused reduced visits to the ports in the zone,” said Prof. Joseph Vincent NtudaEbode. He was speaking on Monday at an international symposium held in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde in the run-up to a Central and West African summit to discuss maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. In the case of Benin, whose economy is strongly dependent on the Cotonou port and whose port activities contribute almost 70 percent to the GDP, or 7.5 billion dollars, the earnings have seen a drastic drop due to piracy. Nigeria, the top producer of crude oil in sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated output of 2 million barrels per day, has lost close to 7 percent of its oil revenues to pirates armed with sophisticated means. Ebode said maritime piracy had resulted in higher insurance costs for cargo transporters, forcing them to employ heavy security detail or use longer routes to avoid the pirates. However, it is the regional countries that are paying a heavy price to maritime piracy. Because of their inability to control their territorial waters or monitor the activities of the rebel groups, some states are threatened with political instability. The Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Nigeria, for example, has increased attacks and abductions to press oil companies and the government to meet their demands. The Gulf of Guinea region produces close to 40 percent of the oil consumed in Europe and 29 percent in the United States. This, according to Ebode, has led to strong militarization of the region by foreign forces, especially the U.S., which has signed agreements with Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for any eventual use of their airports by U.S. forces.