Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 23 December 2004 — Page 32

Page 32 • The Muncie Times • December 23, 2004

Complied By Gabriel Packard Mandela’s Prison Letters Found 33 years Later (IPS/GIN)- Letters that Nelson Mandela wrote while imprisoned on Robben Island have come to light, after being thought to be lost for 33 years. The letters were recorded in notebooks that Mandela had used for rough drafts and had been in the possession of a policeman whose job it then was to censor Mandela’s correspondence and that of other inmates. Former policeman Donald Card took the notebooks- which contain 70 letters to friends and family - had been hiding them for the past 33 years. "I obviously could have sold them, but they are not mine," said Card. "I was a cop and honesty was the prime thing." Card testified against Mandela and other political prisoners at the Rivonia trial in 1964, at which Mandela famously said, "I am prepared to die." After the letters were disclosed, Mandela, who later became South Africa’s first democratically elected president, confirmed that it was his handwriting and said that he’d forgotten they existed. They are now being transcribed and will be published in a book. Nigeria Demands $1.5b Shell Oil Pollution Fine (IPS/GIN) - The Nigerian Senate is discussing bringing sanctions against

AFRICAN BRIEFS

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part of the Shell Oil Co., which has not paid a $ 1.5 billion fine for reported environmental damage caused by an oil spill in the Niger Delta

area.

The Senate requested the compensation in August and the deadline for payment was Nov. 23, but Sen. John Brambaifa, who is chairman of the Niger Delta committee, says that Anglo-Dutch firm Shell sent a letter to the Senate saying the demand was "flawed. 'gjjmMHT t

The BBC quotes a

Shell spokesperson as saying, "We believe that the order to pay $1.5 billion in compensation has no legal basis and, in our view, such disputes can only be decided by a court of competent juris-

diction."

Brambaifa has now accused the 5 firm of challenfing Nigeria’s sovereignty. He adds that the Senate is deciding what further action to take and says that the Niger Delta committee would make some recommendations within a few weeks. The accused unit is called Shell Petroleum Development Corporation and is a joint venture with French oil firm Elf, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Agip. Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, and the Niger Delta is its most oil-rich region. However, most Nigerians live in poverty and say that far from benefiting from the oil wealth, their livelihoods are sometimes damaged by oil leaks that can damage crops and pollute water sup-

plies.

Mbeki, I\itu Spar over Black Progress in South

Africa

(IPS/GIN)- South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu have been trying to clear the air after a heated war of words over who benefits from the country’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program. Tutu sided with the nation’s largest trade union coalition, Cosatu, by criticizing Mbeki and saying that BEE only profits a tiny number of already-wealthy blacks. He made these comments while delivering the second annual Nelson Mandela lecture and also added that there is a lack of open debate in the ruling ANC party. Mbeki responded by saying that Tutu was wrong. The disagreement quickly escalated into a series of public verbal swipes. In one recent statement, tutu used irony to ridicule a statement by Mbeki released on the ANC Web site. "Thank you, Mr. President," said Tutu, "for telling me... that I am a liar with scant regard for the truth and a charlatan posing with his concern for the poor, the hungry, the oPPRffid and the voiceless." "I will continue to pray for you and your government by name daily as I have done and as I did even for the apartheid govern-

ment."

To this, the ANC responded by apparently trying to trying

to restate their opposition to Tutu in a diplomatic way. "Neither the ANC nor its president regards you as ‘a liar with scant regard for the truth,’ but we do recognize that even someone like yourself has the capacity to err." The statement went on to praise Nobel Peace Prize winner Tutu, who remains an international icon. "We will continue to regard you as a respected leader within our society whose contribution to the life of this country is highly valued," said the statement. Current Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane has been attempting to defuse the situation and has asked the two parties to reconcile. "I want to encourage the two to meet," he said. "They are two distinguished persons who mean well for South Africa and we must find a way for them to come togeth-

i*

opened its

Mauritania Opens 1st AIDS Treatment Center jjlRIN)-- Mauritania 51 first HIV/AIDS and treatment center

tfiis week in the hope of improving early detection of : -Me disease in this staunchly : Islamic desert state where public discussion of AIDS has long been restrained by

social taboos.

Run by the French Red Cross, the new day care center in the capital, Nouakchott, will offer HIV tests as well as treatment for those living with AIDS. The outpatient clinic will offer HIV-positive people free medical, psychological and

welfare help as well as nutrition, all in the same place. "Now that we have the center and the drugs required, doctors are going to do their best to produce early diagnoses," said Abderrahmane ould Mohamedoune, who is the head doctor of the day care center. "A few months back some doctors were reluctant to test patients because there was no medicine available." The new center will be manned by three Mauritanian doctors trained by the French Red Cross, as well as a chemist, a biologist and a nurse. It will have a total staff of 15 and will offer seven day care beds. The treatment center is one of 10 outpatient clinics for people living with AIDS being established by the French Red Cross throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The official HIV prevalence rate is extremely low in Mauritania, just 0.57 percent, compared to a West African average of around 5 percent. But given people's reluctance to talk openly about the disease, AIDS workers in the country suspect the real rate of infection is much higher. Furthermore, this poor arid nation of 2.8 million people is looking forward to an economic boom when oil, copper and gold exports start flowing next year. There are fears that the social changes this will bring to a country that until recently consisted mainly of desert nomads, may provoke a sharp rise in the spread of HIV.

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