Health

A Greek employee of the Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders - MSF) the medical charity, kidnapped in eastern Chad early last month, has been released.

However, army general, Oki Daggache could not reveal all the details regarding the release.

In March, British charity Oxfam estimated that 25 attacks occur every month on NGOs operating in eastern Chad.

The violence is often blamed on bandits, and NGOs have frequently denounced the lack of adequate security.

The National House of Traditional Leaders has vowed to continue with the customary circumcision of young Xhosa and Sotho men, and has warned "intrusive NGOs" opposed to the practice to stay away.

"The intrusive NGOs and groups are in for a real fight because they do not know anything about the importance of (male) circumcision," says chief Gcinikhaya Gwadiso, head of the house's national campaign for safe initiation schools.

The International Federation of the Red Cross says there are hopes that Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak, which has spilled over into South Africa, may be under control. This is according to the federation’s communications manager, Matthew Cochran.

The comments come at the time when the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) pointed out that other isolated cases in the country, one death in Durban and a few cases in Gauteng, are all linked to the Zimbabwe outbreak.