Westerwelle

DPA- Berlin – German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Development Aid Minister Dirk Niebel are to begin a five-day visit to Africa on Wednesday, with stops in Tanzania, South Africa and Djibouti.

In a joint statement Monday, they said the trip demonstrated their alliance to shape foreign and aid policy “in the same mould.”

Westerwelle is leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Niebel is a senior official of the same party, which has unsuccessfully pressed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition to merge the two ministries into one.

In Tanzania they are to hold talks with with President Jakaya Kikwete, meet with president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Charles Byron and open a German cultural centre, or Goethe Institute, in the port city of Dar-es-Salaam.

In South Africa, a regular binational commission meeting is to take place with Vice-President Kgalema Motlanthe representing the South African side.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti is to receive them both on Sunday on the last leg of the trip.

Westerwelle is also to pay a call on German military units in Djibouti comprising a liaison unit with Operation Enduring Freedom, a NATO anti-terrorism deployment, and Operation Atalanta, the European Union naval mission to protect shipping on the Somali coast against pirates.

German business people, cultural figures and aid executives are to be in the tour delegation.

Earlier, in a newspaper interview, Westerwelle said Germany should pay more attention to the opportunities offered by Africa.

“Africa faces enormous challenges: warlike conflicts, natural disasters and pandemics such as AIDS. But we want to put more of the focus on opportunities: its creativity, its economic potential and its wealth in raw materials,” he said.

The leader of Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging Eugene Terre’Blanche has been murdered at his farm 10km outside Ventersdorp on Saturday.

President Jacob Zuma on Saturday appealed for calm and warned against “agent provocateurs” inciting violence following the alleged murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche.

“The President appeals for calm following this terrible deed and asks South Africans not to allow agent provocateurs to take advantage of this situation by inciting or fueling racial hatred,” said the presidency in a statement.

According to the police, Terre’Blanche was allegedly murdered by two of his farm labourers following a pay dispute.

“In any dispute, especially in a country like South Africa where we uphold the rule of law, no one is allowed to take the law into his own hands,” said Zuma in a statement.

“It against this background that the murder of Terre’Blanche must be condemned, irrespective of how his killers think they may have been justified. They had no right to take his life.” Zuma said he ’condemns in the strongest possible terms” the killing of Terre’Blanche.

He also offered his condolences to Terre’Blanche’s family.

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM–(Marketwire – Feb. 15, 2010) – The 2009 gold production statistics indicate that South Africa has dropped to third place in the table of the world’s leading gold producers.

Once the world’s biggest producer, by quite some way, South Africa saw its gold production fall a further 5% during the course of 2009. The nation produced a total of 222 tonnes during the year. South Africa remains the biggest producing nation on the African continent, however, by a massive margin. Ghana, the second biggest gold producer from the continent, produced just 80 tonnes.

However, South Africa now lags behind both China and Australia on the global gold production scale. While Australia produced just marginally more of the precious metal, China produced a huge 330 tonnes during 2009, positioning them comfortably at the top of the table.

While demand for gold remains high, with both new and experienced investors alike rushing to buy gold in the face of an inconsistent dollar, the mining industry faces tough competition from scrap recycling.

Gold does remain an attractive investment, however, with a more diverse demographic taking advantage of online gold trading websites such as Gold Made Simple, to purchase the precious metal. The increasing popularity of online gold trading means the process is now less elitist and with the commodity receiving more press attention than ever before, its popularity with investors looks set to continue to rise.

South Africa World Cup

The qualification campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup has reached its prime this weekend with Cote d’ Ivoire likely emerging third African side to book their place at the global showpiece after host South Africa and Ghana. For many countries, there is nothing left to play for but pride. They may have already qualified, as is the case with Ghana, or have been eliminated, like Morocco and Malawi.

Those seeking the true action this weekend, then, may wish to stick to those games where there is something massive at stake. Certain teams can secure qualification; while others need a win to keep their faint hopes alive. African champions Egypt and traditional powerhouse Nigeria are in danger of missing out on next year’s finals. Ahead of their matches at the weekend, Nigeria trails behind Tunisia in Group B by two points, while Egypt are three points behind their North African rivals Algeria in Group C.

Cameroon can all but secure qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with a win over their neighbour, Togo. A victory in today’s match will place them on ten points from five games, and if Gabon loses at home to Morocco, they qualify automatically with a win. While North Africa’s duo of Algeria and Tunisia will be hoping to further boost their quest for a place in the mundial next year with a win in respective matches, the Indomitable Lions above all, are looking for revenge: they lost 1-0 in Togo back in March, thanks to an Emmanuel Adebayor strike.

Tunisia can take another giant stride towards the 2010 World Cup finals if they beat Kenya at home this weekend in their Group B qualifier in Rades.

The Carthage Eagles are two points clear of second-placed Nigeria at the top of the pool and could conceivably seal their berth at the show-piece finals with a win on November 7, if the Super Eagles fail to collect maximum points against Mozambique in Abuja. But more likely is that the battle for supremacy in the group will go down to the final round of fixtures, when Tunisia will be away to Mozambique, a daunting prospect.

It’s a matter of do or die for Nigeria’s Super Eagles. The fate of the Coach Shaibu Amodu Boys does not lie in their own hands, given the fact that they are two points behind Tunisia with two games left, neither of them against the North Africans. With hopes already faint, it is now a fact that if Nigeria does not beat Mozambique, they are all but out. A draw, coupled with a win for Tunisia over Kenya, will see them eliminated. A loss would, naturally, be even more disastrous.

No doubt, the 60,000-capacity Abuja National Stadium will certainly not be a full house tomorrow as was the case for the games against Kenya and Tunisia after the fans were left down by their team on September 6 against Tunisia.

With or without a massive support, Coach Shaibu Amodu’s boys have to win against a Mozambican side, who must have felt they were robbed of victory by the Eritrean referee when both teams first clashed in Maputo in March. With this group most likely to go right down the wire, goals difference and away goals may well determine the eventual winner here. And Super Eagles must be aware of that too. The Tunisians have same goals difference of +3 with Nigeria, but they have scored more goals – six goals as against the five by Nigeria.

Back in Nigeria’s squad for tomorrow, make or break tie since the goalless draw in Mozambique is Wolfsburg striker Obafemi Martins. He missed a sitter in that game, which would most probably have earned the Eagles maximum points.

Martins’ commitment to the national team has come under heavy criticism by coach Shuaibu Amodu, and there can be no better response to this charge than for the former Newcastle striker to grab a couple of goals.

Skipper Nwankwo Kanu and Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi are injury doubts, while the Eagles will be without leading scorer Ikechukwu Uche, who is out with a long-term knee injury. ‘Ik’ has netted four goals in this campaign and Amodu has admitted he will be missed.

Also back in the team is Yakubu Aiyegbeni after he was sidelined by an Achilles Tendon injury, while Yobo has shrugged off a thigh strain which had threatened to rule him out of Sunday’s clash.

Algeria will be looking for a big win in their 2010 World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations Group C qualifier against Rwanda in Blida on Sunday.

The Desert Foxes are three points ahead of their North African rivals Egypt at the top of the pool with a superior goal-difference. Any slip-ups for The Pharaohs in Zambia today and Algerians better their result; they will win through to a first World Cup final since back-to-back appearances in 1982 and 1986. But should Egypt collect full points against the Zambians, Algeria will seek to boost their goal-difference too, meaning that if they do go down in Cairo in their final pool match, they will have a goal-difference buffer to help protect them.

A Canadian immigration board panel issued its ruling late last week in the case involving Brandon Carl Huntley, according to his lawyer, Russell Kaplan. Kaplan said Tuesday it’s likely the first time a white South African has been granted refugee status in Canada claiming persecution from black South Africans.

The Immigration and Refugee Board refused to comment on the case or to release the decision. Board spokesman Stephane Malepart said he is barred from commenting on any individual case by privacy provisions.

Malepart said the board is an independent tribunal that operates at arms’ length from the Canadian government.

Huntley argued that whites are targeted by black criminals in South Africa and that the government does nothing to protect them. He claimed he was attacked seven times during attempted robberies and muggings.

Kaplan, a South African native who moved to Canada 20 years, said tribunal panel chair William Davis ruled that Huntley would stand out like a “sore thumb” due to his color in any part of South Africa and that Kaplan’s fears of persecution are justified based on the evidence he submitted.

In his its written decision, Davis said “I find that the claimant was a victim because of his race (white South African) rather than a victim of criminality.” Source: (Huffingtonpost)