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Tag: south africa

golden rhino

Culture War Brews Over South African Golden Rhino Figurine

For years, South Africa’s apartheid government ignored the significance of a “golden rhino” figurine that provides undeniable proof of a sophisticated society existing before white men arrived. But since the end of racist rule in 1994, the stunning object —

AP Photo

Mali Terror Attack Ropes China into Struggle Against Jihad

Last week’s Islamist terror attack on a hotel in Mali counted three Chinese railway executives among its 19 dead. On Thursday, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, promised increased security cooperation with African nations in the wake of the attack.

Helen Zille (Rodger Bosch / AFP / Getty)

The Republican Party and the South African Opposition

In the midst of tweeting commentary (and complaints) about President Barack Obama’s press conference on Wednesday, I received an unexpected reply from Helen Zille, one of the foremost opposition leaders in my native South Africa, and a family friend.

Iran

Obama Politicizes Charleston Shooting: Calls for Gun Control, Slams America

President Barack Obama reacted to Wednesday’s horrific massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina by calling for gun control and criticizing the United States for the frequency of mass shooting events. “We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun,” Obama said, adding: “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”

Mandela and De Klerk (Associated Press)

De Klerk: Apartheid Was Not a ‘Crime Against Humanity’

Former South African President F. W. de Klerk, who shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela for his role in steering South Africa from apartheid to democracy, has protested the way the current South African government is treating minority Afrikaners. In a speech at the Voortrekker Monument–an important Afrikaner symbol–De Klerk said that Afrikaners had been made to feel overly guilty for the past, and argued that apartheid had not been a “crime against humanity.”

AP

South Africa Arrests 200 Immigrants in Raid Following Xenophobic Attacks

South African law enforcement has arrested 198 illegal immigrants in a raid in Johannesburg, following weeks of violent attacks on known foreigners and foreigner-owned small businesses by South African natives for unspecified “criminal activity.” The number of those arrested in one night is about 100 less than the total of those arrested for participating in riots and attacks that have taken the lives of seven and caused an international firestorm against the South African government.