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Angola + 2 more

Southern Africa: IRIN News Briefs, 14 February

NAMIBIA: Nujoma in Angola for talks
Namibian President Sam Nujoma arrived in Angola on Monday for talks with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. According to news reports the talks are expected to focus on the worsening security situation along the border between Angola and Namibia.

Tensions along Namibia's northern border with Angola have increased since late last year, when Nujoma allowed Angolan troops to launch attacks on the UNITA rebel movement from inside Namibia. UNITA has retaliated by launching reprisals and hit-and-run raids in the area.

MALAWI: Military observers for DRC

Malawi will send a fresh contingent of military observers to war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), PANA reported on Monday.

According to Malawi's deputy army commander Marko Chiziko, the move was in response to a UN request for more observers to implement a ceasefire agreement reached last July between the warring parties.

He was speaking at the end of a three-week training programme for 41 soldiers under the US-sponsored Africa Crisis Response Initiative. Malawi has already sent 10 military observers to the DRC.

ANGOLA: Oil slick reaches Cabinda beaches

An oil slick has washed up on the coast of Cabinda, about 500 km north of Luanda, over the past two days, official media reports said on Monday. The fisheries and environment ministry was quoted as saying that so far the origin of the slick was unknown.

According to the reports, a commission of experts from the US oil company, Chevron, were in the area to help limit the pollution. Local fishermen had stopped fishing after hundreds of dead fish had washed ashore, the reports said.

[ENDS]

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