African Briefs

Egypt army kills 20 militants AL-ARISH – Egyptian military troops and jets killed 20 militants in the Sinai region bordering Israel on Wednesday, striking back after armed men attacked several security checkpoints, an army commander in Sinai told Reuters.

“We have succeeded in entering al-Toumah village, killed 20 terrorists and destroyed three armoured cars belonging to terrorists. Operations are still ongoing,” he told Reuters.
The military offensive follows attacks on Sunday that killed 16 border guards and which the government blamed partly on Islamist militants. The commander said the army had received information that many militants were in al-Toumah village.

US hands more control to SA
PRETORIA – The United States and South Africa are to sign an agreement on funding for an anti-AIDS campaign that is symbolic of Pretoria’s shift from being a pariah to a global player in fighting the disease.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to South Africa that Pretoria will begin taking more of the responsibilities for its HIV-AIDS programme, part of a broader effort to overhaul the US global plan for AIDS relief launched under former President George W. Bush.
“South Africa is taking the lead, and I want publicly to commend your minister of health and his associates who are widely being given great admiration around the world for the success of their efforts,” Clinton told a news conference.
The United States limited access to HIV-AIDS funding to the government of former President Thabo Mbeki, whose administration was ridiculed for denying there was a link between HIV and AIDS while prescribing meaningless treatments such as beet root instead of internationally proven medicines.
President Jacob Zuma, who took office in 2009, put policies in line with global research, strengthened campaigns to provide nationwide the anti-retroviral drugs that control HIV and has slowed an infection rate that ranks among the world’s highest.
– Nampa-Reuters-AFP

---