July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - Web posted at 9:58:25 AM GMT

Africa news highlights

* LUSAKA - African leaders finally agreed -- after hours of haggling -- on the man to take charge of their continental body. Ivory Coast's veteran former foreign minister, Amara Essy, was elected interim secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) after several rounds of voting.

* PRETORIA - South African police braced for violence ahead of a court ruling on the government's bid to evict hundreds of squatters illegally occupying a piece of land near Johannesburg. Many of the squatters, who have the backing of the black radical Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), have refused to budge even if the court ruling goes against them.

* HARARE - Zimbabwean Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said the government was distributing food to parts of the country hit by shortages, and no decision had been taken on seeking foreign food aid.

* LAGOS - Nigeria's two houses of parliament will meet in joint session to resolve a budget row sparked by a request from President Olusegun Obasanjo for 5.5 billion naira ($48.63 million) for a new official jet.

* LUSAKA - More than 10,000 mourners attended a funeral service for Zambian opposition leader Paul Tembo, who was murdered on Friday before he was about to testify in a government graft case.

* BUJUMBURA - Ethnic Hutu rebels killed four people and burned cattle alive in their stables in an attack on a Burundian military post outside the capital Bujumbura, rebels and witnesses said.

* GENEVA - Zambia is appealing for international aid for some two million people affected by flooding in central and eastern parts of the country and drought in the south and west, a United Nations agency said. Nampa-Reuters

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