Posted on 08/26/2002 6:18:57 PM PDT by Prodigal Son
South African officials have expressed regret after a Swiss delegate to the UN summit was assaulted in her hotel room and another was robbed while she slept.
Intelligence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu called the incidents "regretful".
No arrests have been made, but an investigation is underway.
According to authorities, the robber apparently entered one sleeping delegate's room at a guest house and stole a purse, cash and a mobile phone. He then entered another room and turned on a light, waking the occupant up.
The robber fired one shot before fleeing, but the woman, identified as Rosmarie Bar, was not injured.
Ms Bar, coordinator of development policies for a Swiss aid group, has returned home.
It was not known how much cash was stolen.
The guest house is about eight miles from the main conference site. Swiss officials said security has been increased.
South African officials have called out the army and special forces to help police combat Johannesburg's rampant crime and violence during the summit.
Hmmm. Guess she didn't feel welcome.
And these are the same people that sit around and debate why the third world can't develop economically, why they deforest their countrysides for temporary crops, or why they are the most egregious polluters!!!!
Once again, it will be interesting to watch and see if these self interested UN patsies become more conservative or remain braindead.
It's only right, right?
Tell you a quick anecdote about street crime and "no arrests being made".
I lived in Jo'burg for about half a year- just a short walk from Hillbrow Berea a very dangerous neigborhood. All the neighborhood shops in my area (Yeoville) were down on Rockey Street. From all accounts, it used to be a really happening place.
Anyway, there was a cafe there on Rockey St that had a second story veranda you could go out and sit on. We had a student friend (a German) who was sitting there one day, having a beer when he heard a gunshot. He looked up and saw a person laying on the sidewalk and another person sticking the gun back in his pocket. Now this was the middle of the day on a crowded sidewalk not two hundred meters from the police station- which was located just up from the intersection of Rockey St and Kenmere Rd (the road on which I lived).
The shooter walked about 50- 75 meters down the street and sat down on a low wall. The police came after about a quarter of an hour to look at the body and the whole time the shooter was still sitting there- nobody said a word or pointed him out, including our friend who witnessed this entire scene.
No arrests made.
I would have been willing to wager she never even make it to the hotel from the airport. Especially unbelievable is that she made it out without being assaulted again.
Johannesburg, 26 August--South Africa President Thabo Mbeki opened the World Summit on Sustainable Development today with a call for governments to agree on a set of practical measures that will help humanity improve the lives of people everywhere.
“The peoples of the world,” Mbeki said, “expect that this World Summit will live up to its promise of being a fitting culmination to a decade of hope, by adopting a practical programme for the translation of the dream of sustainable development into reality and bringing into being a new global society that is caring and humane.”
Now, if we can just figure out how to keep summit attendees from being robbed and killed in Johannesburg until this South African summit has concluded.......
It's hard to take sub-Sahara Africa seriously.
The decade of hope is over.
What does SA offer the world?
What do they produce?
What have they invented?
What natural resource have they developed, or found new uses for?
What can they build?
What can their workers offer that is not available elsewhere, cheaper and better?
Maybe Thabo can work on these questions, and get back to us.
There's a saying coming to mind here about a horse, a barn, and a door...
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