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02 June 2006
SA cops solve murder mystery
... A report by Hennie van Vuuren of the Institute for Security Studies into apartheid-era corruption, released on Monday, linked Smit's murder to his knowledge of a secret bank account, and quoted a friend as saying he was planning to 'drop a bombshell'.
SA troops in Darfur still waiting to be paid
... Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies, said the AU could have extended the mission faster than Western donors approved more funding, causing the delay in salary payments.
ISS Today: South Africa - Home Affairs to Appeal Khalid Orders
The South African Department of Home Affairs is to appeal against a court order compelling it to supply detailed information about the deportation of Pakistani national Rashid Khalid. The department had until Monday afternoon to supply the information, but instead it noted its intention to ask for leave to appeal against it. Khalid has been missing since November last year, when he was apprehended in KwaZulu-Natal and detained.
01 June 2006
ISS Today: US Moves Diplomat Critical of Somali Warlord Aid
A top US official [Michael Zorick] handling Somalia has been transferred from his job [as Somali Political Affairs Office, Kenya] after criticising payments to warlords that are said to be fuelling some of Mogadishu's worst-ever fighting. The move exposes a rift inside the US government on how to handle Somalia -- whether efforts to build peace should come before counter-terrorism -- and the effect Washington's perceived role has had in inflaming fighting there.
SA report exposes apartheid graft
... The report, published by the Institute for Security Studies, examines the circumstances of the unsolved 1977 murder of MP Robert Smit and his wife Jeanne-Cora.
31 May 2006
ISS Today: Burundi in Talks With Last Rebels
Peace talks between the government of Burundi and the National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de liberation) - FNL, the country's remaining rebel group, began on Monday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, under the mediation of South Africa's Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula, with a call to end the more than 12 years of bloody civil war.
30 May 2006
ISS Today: DRC coup accused safely home
The 19 South Africans, held by authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo for nine days on allegations that they were hatching a coup, are home. Government spokesman, Henri Mova Sakanyi said, 'We expelled them. We don't have time to try them ourselves as we are in the middle of organising elections. We have discussed the issue with their respective governments and we have sent them to be dealt with by their own countries.'
ISS Programme Highlights: 30 May
The Nairobi Office participated in public forum for the international week of action on small arms and will during the week have meetings with EAPCCO. Staff members had meetings with the Kenya National Focal Point on the UN Review Conference and the Office Director met with Deputy Commissioner of Police and also with the Director of the East African Institute for Security Studies, a local NGO that was previously involved in community policing. The office is currently busy with the preparation of a Cattle Rustling Protocol meeting.
The Crime and Justice Programme will be hosting a roundtable on the policing of crimes against women and children with the SAPS on 31 May.
During the past week, the Arms Management Programme hosted African members of IANSA in order to prepare for the forthcoming UN Review Conference on the PoA. An important outcome was a document called, “An African Civil Society Perspective on the African Common Position to the Review Conference on the Progress Made in the Implementation of the UNPoA”, which has been widely distributed as an advocacy tool and has resulted in the African Union committing themselves to arranging a meeting of government delegates and members of African civil society at the Review Conference. The programme also launched the results of “Islands of Safety in a Sea of Guns: Gun Free Zones in South Africa’s Fothane, Diepkloof and Khayelitsha” in Johannesburg. The report looks at both the process of how Gun Free Zones were set up and at the impact they have had.
The African Security Analysis Programme briefed a Canadian Foreign Affairs delegation on situations in the DRC, Sudan and Zimbabwe and hosted and briefed the Swedish Parliamentary Committee on International Relations on the Horn of Africa, North Africa, Nigeria and general updates. Staff members joined a panel of speakers that addressed parliamentarians at the Swedish Embassy on the topic of Swedish-Africa Relations.
The Addis Ababa Office held a meeting with the new Ambassador of Uganda to brief her on the programme’s activities in Ethiopia. A meeting was held with Ethiopian counter-terrorism officials and the office was visited by the Africa Head of the German Radio (Deutsche Welle), who sought a briefing regarding the general political situation in the IGAD region and the objectives of the programme.
The Cape Town Office gave presentations at an African Parliamentarians Against Corruption (APNAC) meeting in Maputo for MP’s from Angola and Mozambique on 22 May and participated in a one-day roundtable organised by Business Against Crime on prohibiting (blacklisting) corrupt individuals and businesses in Johannesburg on 24 May. Staff members met with SAHRIT to discuss collaboration with SADC and participated in an ‘After 8 debate’ on SAFM on the new SA Public Service Report. The Apartheid Grand Corruption Report was released to the media on 29 May.
The Defence Sector Programme is busy with preparations for the joint ISS/ Brookings Institute two day seminar on 'Force and Legitimacy in the Evolving International System – US / Africa Dialogue' on 19-20 July in Cape Town and is also busy with preparations for the ISS/CPRD workshop on Security Sector Reform in the Horn set for 12 and 13 July in Addis Ababa.
The Training for Peace Programme prepared a draft compendium of EASBRIG policy manuals to IGAD towards preparation for an EASBRIG Experts’ workshop. The programme is also busy with preparations towards the SARPCCO UNPOC Trainers’ Course (Namibia, 12-24 June), including the development of a précis on methods of instruction.
The Southern African Human Security Programme is organising a methodology workshop on foreign policy from 19 to 20 June and will also have a public seminar on South Africa's foreign policy on 20 June.
Staff from the Organised Crime and Money Laundering Programme visited Harare to meet with the government representative on the Palermo Group to discuss case studies for a project proposal on extradition and mutual legal assistance, as well as to meet the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Reserve Bank to discuss possible ISS input into the ESAAMLG Strategic Plan (2005-8). The programme is planning an expert roundtable meeting in Maputo on the implementation of anti-money laundering regulations since 2004.
'Prosecute apartheid grafters'
The author of the report, Hennie van Vuuren of the Institute for Security Studies, said in the last chapter that the truth about much of South Africa's history was still elusive.
Money-link in Smit murders?
Could there have been a link between the still unsolved Smit murders and a Swiss bank account that reportedly belonged to late State President Nico Diederichs, a report into corruption under apartheid asks ...
... The report into apartheid corruption was written by Hennie van Vuuren of the Institute for Security Studies.
Report: Apartheid info scandal not properly probed
... 'The information scandal was probed by the Auditor General, a one-man commission headed by Judge Mostert, and finally by the Erasmus Commission, which is accused of having not probed the matter sufficiently,' said the report, authored by Hennie van Vuuren of the Institute for Security Studies.
29 May 2006
SA running out of options over Zimbabwe crisis
... 'This reflects the growing frustration of President Mbeki in trying to address the crisis in Zimbabwe,' said analyst Chris Maroleng of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies.
Fear and violence stalk strikers
... Boyane Tshehla, head of Crime and Justice Matters within the Institute for Security Studies, said another concern was that the perpetrators of violence were not being held accountable.
Apartheid corruption report to cause a stir
... 'At the meeting we will be getting the final views of business and government, but the report has already been discussed at senior levels in government,' the institute's Hennie van Vuuren, prime author of the report, said yesterday.
Racism under the colour of law enforcement
The Institute for Security Studies recently conducted a survey among senior police officers. Researcher Themba Masuku interviewed nearly 600 officers and more than 90% of them admitted they thought undocumented immigrants were criminals.
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