Links for August 21

East Africa: Region to Have Single Currency by 2012

THE East African heads of state yesterday resolved to have a common market and a single currency by 2012, then move on to a political federation.

While noting the overwhelming support of East Africans for a political federation, the leaders decided to "move expeditiously towards establishing a common market and a monetary union by 2012."

Zimbabwe parliament sits to debate empowerment law

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's parliament began a five-month session on Tuesday that will debate a bill giving President Robert Mugabe room to pick a successor if he were to retire and a proposal to localise foreign-owned companies.

Parliament sat for more than an hour and adjourned to Wednesday after two parliamentarians from the ruling ZANU-PF delivered speeches but there was no indication of when the bills would be debated.

Across Africa, a plague of discarded plastic bags

Discarded plastic bags -- in the billions -- flutter from thorn-bushes across the continent, and clog up cities from Cape Town to Casablanca.

South Africa was once producing 7 billion bags a year; Somaliland residents became so used to them they re-named them "flowers of Hargeisa" after their capital; and Kenya not so long ago churned out about 4,000 tons of polythene bags a month.