South africa

Top Zambian officials are denying reports that President Levy Mwanawasa has died, news agencies reported Thursday.

More desperate Zimbabweans have been trying to find sanctuary at a foreign embassy. A spokesperson for the United States embassy confirmed that at least 250 victims of politically motivated violence had arrived at their gates seeking help.

Zambia's chief government spokesman Mike Mulongoti has denied South African media reports that President Levy Mwanawasa had died in a French hospital Thursday.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested on Thursday that the international community could send a peacekeeping force to stabilise Zimbabwe.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has received a letter detailing allegations of misappropriation of public funds at the Oshana Regional Council, ACC Deputy Director, Erna van der Merwe, confirmed in an interview yesterday.

African leaders have deferred their discussion of a union government until January next year after failing to reach a consensus at their Summit in Egypt this week.

CONSUMER confidence plunged at its fastest pace in 24 years in the second quarter of this year, knocked by soaring food and fuel prices, rising interest rates and deteriorating job prospects, a key survey showed yesterday.

THE outlines of a negotiation - if not a deal - in Zimbabwe began to form for President Thabo Mbeki yesterday as that country's two main political protagonists laid down markers in the wake of an African Union (AU) call this week for Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai to form a "unity" government in Harare.

Recalling her own background of persistent political struggles with fiendish dictatorships, the Liberian leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has voiced her disdain over the apparent indifference of many of her male African leaders to outrightly denounce Zimbabwean tyrant Robert Mugabe.

The Zambian government insisted today that President Levy Mwanawasa was alive - denying media reports he had died in a Paris hospital - and described South African President Thabo Mbeki's minute of silence in respect of his counterpart at a rally in Pretoria as "erroneous".