African Briefs

12 arrests in mine boss killing LUSAKA – Zambia’s police arrested 12 people over the death of a Chinese manager in a wage riot at a Sino-owned coal mine known for sometimes violent tensions with workers, a spokesman said on Monday.

“We have arrested 12 people in connection with the killing of a Chinese manager at Collum Coal mine, although we have not yet charged them,” southern province police commissioner Fred Mutondo told AFP.
“Not all the 12 are employees of the mine. Some are villagers that joined in the riot.”
Wu Shengzai, 50, died after being hit by a trolley which was pushed toward him as he fled underground. A Chinese colleague was also injured in the attack in Sinazongwe, 325 kilometres south of Lusaka.

22 killed in Senegal crash
DAKAR – At least 22 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a truck in the centre of Senegal on Tuesday morning, the fire department said.
“It was a collision between a 35-seat bus and a truck transporting charcoal above the village of Sikilo. The preliminary toll is 22 dead and one injured,” an official from the fire department told AFP.
He said the accident took place at about 03h00 near the town of Kaffrine, without giving details on what caused the crash.
“An accident with so many deaths is rare in Senegal, the last which had a high toll was six months ago, where at least 15 people died” in northern Senegal.
Road accidents in Senegal are often as a result of poor driving skills, and the bad state of vehicles and roads.
 
Ghana swears in new VP
ACCRA – Former central bank governor Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur was on Monday sworn in as Ghana’s new vice president after his nomination was approved by parliament.
The 61-year-old banker was chosen by the new President John Mahama who succeeded John Atta Mills following his sudden death on July 24.
Ghana’s chief justice Georgina Theodora Wood administered the oath of office to Amissah-Arthur at a colourful ceremony in parliament attended by senior government officials and party supporters.
The new vice president expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for having confidence in him and promised not to disappoint them.
He promised to work with the president in the interests of the nation.
Mahama, who had been vice president, was sworn in to serve out the remainder of Mills’s term, as dictated by the west African nation’s constitution.

Goma ready for rebels
GOMA – A local military commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Monday he was ready for an expected assault on the eastern city of Goma by insurgents.
“We have three regiments, or around 3 000 men on site, we put in place artillery posts, mortars, tanks, two multiple rocket launchers,” General Lucien Bahuma Ambamba told AFP after a visit with United Nations officials in Goma.
His comments come as UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos prepared to visit the region yesterday to discuss ways to beef up relief efforts.
The UN mission in DRC, known as Monusco, has some 17 000 troops, deployed mainly in the east, to protect local residents.

Zanu-PF wants changes to draft
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF says it won’t accept a new draft constitution without amendments to reforms seen as undermining its traditional powers.
The Herald newspaper reported yesterday that spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said the draft was unacceptable in its present form and “we cannot commit ourselves” to untenable clauses. The Herald is controlled by loyalists of President Robert Mugabe.
The Zanu-PF politburo, the party’s top policy making body, is scheduled to meet today to finalise objections to the draft that includes the proposed election of provincial governors from all parties.
The draft also calls for an independent prosecuting authority to replace Mugabe appointees and parliamentary controls over military and security deployment.
Mugabe has vowed to call elections next year without a rewritten constitution if no agreement is reached on the 150-page draft.

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