Denmark will not increase aid before the government makes significant improvement on governance and the fight against graft, it announced last week.

THE Land Bank's commitment to weed out corruption in its ranks was illustrated last Friday when the Scorpions anticorruption unit arrested the bank's former Tzaneen branch director, Sydney Khando, for alleged fraud involving R24m.

The Transparency International Integrity Awards 2001 are open for nominations. The awards were created to recognise outstanding courage in the face of corruption, and the deadline for nominations is 30 May 2001.

Combating the spread of infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and the spread of poverty, are of primary concern, financial officials said at the close of the spring meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Briefing reporters after the final session of the Development Committee, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said there was "warm recognition both of the Bank's role and of the partnership which exists between the Bank and the Fund with poverty at its center."

When democracy came to South Africa, those who fought in the guerrilla war against apartheid may have expected to return home as conquering heroes. But almost a decade after returning from exile, many are still struggling to find a constructive role for themselves, or even jobs. Neighbouring Zimbabwe, where war veterans have turned their anger on white farmers and opposition parties, has shown how frustrated ex-combatants can become a major source of instability.