MINERS arrested at a platinum mine near Marikana, in South Africa's North West province, have been charged with the murder of 34 of their colleagues, shot by police on August 16th. An official said that the 270 workers would be tried under the "common purpose" doctrine because they were part of the crowd which confronted police.

As yet, no charges have been brought against the police. The government has launched an inquiry into what is the worst case of police brutality in South Africa's 18 years of democracy. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate is conducting its own investigation into police action at the mine that day. It has also opened almost 200 case files to look into claims that the police have systematically tortured the miners in custody.

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MINERS arrested at a platinum mine near Marikana, in South Africa's North West province, have been charged with the murder of 34 of their colleagues, shot by police on August 16th. An official said that the 270 workers would be tried under the "common purpose" doctrine because they were part of the crowd which confronted police.

As yet, no charges have been brought against the police. The government has launched an inquiry into what is the worst case of police brutality in South Africa's 18 years of democracy. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate is conducting its own investigation into police action at the mine that day. It has also opened almost 200 case files to look into claims that the police have systematically tortured the miners in custody.

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  Horrifying picture of Israeli settlers terrorising a Palestinian woman in East Jerusalem. Look particularly at the second settler from the right. Try to imagine what kind of hatred brought him to this woman's home, just to frighten her, insult her, taunt her that she is now homeless because him or someone like him is [...]

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Commodities trade Trafigura has been awarded a $500 million contract to supply Africa's top copper producer with petrol and diesel for one year. Trafigura will supply Zambia with 216 million litres of petrol and 21 million litres of diesel during the contract period starting from October. Energy Permanent Secretary George Zulu declared, "The country is now assured of a stable and continuous supply of fuel".

Good work, but can we now liberalise the market? The problems facing oil supply in Zambia are the same problems facing maize marketing. Inefficient government involvement in systems where its role should be purely to maintain strategic reserves and leave the rest to market forces, underpinned by appropriate favourable taxation framework. We need to be bold and courageous to transform ...

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Our "Photo of the Week" comes to us from David Hartnoll at the U.S. Embassy in London, a city that is hosting the 2012 Paralympic Games August 29-September 9. The photograph shows U.S. Paralympic athletes training with their British counterparts. According to the embassy, this year's Paralympics are expected to be the largest in a history that dates back to 1948 with a small group of disabled British World War II veterans. The London Games are bringing together more than 4,000 athletes with a disability from some 160 countries. The United States has sent a 227-member team.

President Obama applauded our Olympic and Paralympic athletes, whom he described as presenting the best of America to the rest of the world. In his message,... more »

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Mitt Romney's big speech gets upstaged by Clint Eastwood's improv at the Republican convention. So if the nominee is so uninspiring, why is the US election race so close? Also, the first visit to Tehran of an Egyptian president since the Iranian Revolution doesn't go to plan, and the impact of the Apple vs Samsung patent wars.

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As vast swathes of eastern DRC descend further into chaos with little government or security presence, people continue to flee to escape killing, rape, looting and extortion committed by rebel militia. As well as hundreds of thousands of people displaced inside DRC, over 54,000 refugees have fled to Uganda and Rwanda. In Uganda, more than [...]

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In 1934, Carl Hubbel of the New York Giants took the mound as the starting pitcher for the National League. He walked the first two batters of the game and faced arguably the best hitter in the history of baseball, Babe Ruth. Things only looked worse with fellow future Hall-of-Famers Lou Gehrig on-deck and Jimmie Foxx in the hole. Hubbel proceeded to do the unthinkable. He struck out all three and started off the next inning by striking out to more players headed for the Hall, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.

If there was an equivalent of all star game for aid and development academics, surefire starters would include Paul Collier, Bill Easterly, Jeff Sachs, Dani Rodrik and Esther Duflo. Naturally,there would be some variance based on what people prefer in the vote. Some might take Moyo, others ...

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My friend Hani Yousuf: A few weeks ago I met a pleasant Austrian woman at a party in a bar in Prenzlauerberg, the formerly East Berlin area now home to the young, professional and cool. It was a weeknight, lights in the bar were violet and dim and conversation was [...]

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A group of 66 genocide experts wrote an open letter to President Obama calling to attention the humanitarian crisis faced by people living in Sudan's South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. The authors implore Obama to launch a humanitarian intervention into the region. "The continuing multiple atrocities amount to at least crimes against humanity. This, in and of itself, is alarming. According to the tenets of the Responsibility to Protect now is the time to protect the targeted population," they write.

"It has become impossible for us to remain silent. We exist to remind the world that genocide is not a crime merely found in history books, but something we must stand strongly against in both word and deed right now. If we do not stand with the victims, then we are automatically standing with ...

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Commodities trade Trafigura has been awarded a $500 million contract to supply Africa's top copper producer with petrol and diesel for one year. Trafigura will supply Zambia with 216 million litres of petrol and 21 million litres of diesel during the contract period starting from October. Energy Permanent Secretary George Zulu declared, "The country is now assured of a stable and continuous supply of fuel".

Good work, but can we now liberalise the market? The problems facing oil supply in Zambia are the same problems facing maize marketing. Inefficient government involvement in systems where its role should be purely to maintain strategic reserves and leave the rest to market forces, underpinned by appropriate favourable taxation framework. We need to be bold and courageous to transform ...

[view whole blog post ]

Mitt Romney's big speech gets upstaged by Clint Eastwood's improv at the Republican convention. So if the nominee is so uninspiring, why is the US election race so close? Also, the first visit to Tehran of an Egyptian president since the Iranian Revolution doesn't go to plan, and the impact of the Apple vs Samsung patent wars.

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In Zen Magazine:

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For those who haven't seen these interesting interviews:

Rwandan Minister of Defense James Kabaerebe gives an extremely interesting and frank interview to Colette Braeckman.

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Government recently signalled its intention to reform the Police Public Complaints Authority (PPCA) picking up some of the crucial issues many stakeholders have flagged up in the past. Ngosa Simbyakula (Home Affairs D. Minister) agrees that the PPCA as currently administered complaints concerning the Zambia Police Service using a weak legal and institutional framework. Its mandate needs to be strengthened.

This is welcome development because the PPCA is in much need of reform. For those not in the know, the PPCA was established in 2003 with the power to investigate complaints from the public against the police as well as injuries or deaths in police custody. [Its website can be found here ] The PPCA submits its findings and recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), IGP ...

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Earlier this week, I gave a lecture titled "The Emergence of Digital Civics" at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. I was in South Austalia to give another lecture, a joint lecture with Dr. Genevieve Bell of Intel in memory of her friend James Tizard. I hope to write up the talks Genevieve and I gave, [...]

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A 'Top Secret' document allegedly found in the pocket of convicted bomber Amos Mbedzi was at the centre of evidence leading to his conviction on sedition, murder, and other charges at the Swaziland High Court this week.

Media in the kingdom told us that it helped to show that Mbedzi and fellow conspirators were intent on advocating a violent revolution. They had, the court heard, wanted to blow up a bridge near the Lozitha royal residence, but the bomb they had in their car detonated prematurely.

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Angola is having an election, for those who missed it. Here and here for details. It seems unlikely that the current family-in-charge (they all seem to be in government) will be ousted. Opposition parties and activists say government used state media to bulldoze everyone else. There are widespread rumours of mistakes in the voters role. This may be my favourite African election comment yet: "

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Swaziland: A Kingdom in Crisis: public meeting

Wednesday, 5 September, 2012, 6.00-7.30pm

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News media are reporting on the Swaziland High Court case in which Amos Mbulaheni Mbedzi was convicted of a number of offences relating to an attempt to blow up a bridge near the Lozitha royal residence in September 2008. Some people are concerned that the news reports might not be giving adequate details of what was said in court.

To read the full 82-page judgement yourself click here

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