A sentence observing that the SDF has grown into a new Japanese military force was rewritten

A sentence observing that the SDF has "grown into a new Japanese military force" was rewritten. Rather, the ministry insisted that the SDF "has grown identical to military forces in terms of capabilities".. Three years after Nelson Mandela became president, many South African children are still being taught history from outdated, often racist, textbooks which most educationalists agree should be in the bin rather than in school satchels. "Lots and lots of them need to be got rid of," said Orenna Krut, a manager with of one of the country's largest educational publishers, Maskew Miller Longman. Until recently the fiefdom of Afrikaner publishing houses, the bulk of South Africa's history textbooks are full of the eurocentric emphases and historical distortions once considered necessary to sustain and legitimise Apartheid.But rather than throw the books out, teachers and parents have little option other than to continue using them, for some age groups, until beyond the turn of the century.While preparations are well underway for the introduction of a new school programme, called "Curriculum 2005", the anticipated change to new teaching methods and materials will take many years.At a function in Cape Town on Monday, South Africa's education minister, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, formally received the official report on Curriculum 2005 from his technical advisory committee. According to Sheila Sisulu, an adviser to Bengu, the programme hopes to wean students from a textbook- dependent approach to education and encourage the use of multi-media resources.

The textbooks that are used will be new or rewritten to give a more balanced view of South Africa's past.Once approved, the new syllabus will be overhauled from next year, two school years at a time, and is scheduled to take until the end of 2004. Delays in defining the curriculum have, however, made it difficult for educational publishers to prepare appropriate texts in time."The learning programmes for next year are still not available and it's March already It is physically not possible for us to wait ... Publishers are just trying to guess and do the best we can," Ms Krut said.In the process of rewriting history, though, dangers lurk in the temptation to produce a "victor's history" as distorted one way as the previous ones were the other, according to one historian engaged in writing the new textbooks. "The temptation to glorify the struggle is bound to have an effect on history writing, replacing an Afrikaner nationalist text with a liberation movement narrative," the historian said.The new curriculum is scheduled to be introduced in February next year.. Adrian Hadland and Agencies Armed soldiers and demonstrators prevented 100 MPs from leaving Papua New Guinea's parliament yesterday after the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, survived a motion to oust him. The no-confidence motion, defeated by 58 votes to 39, called on Sir Julius, together with other high-ranking ministers, to resign ahead of a judicial inquiry, due to begin on April 1, into a controversial $36m (pounds 22m) contract with foreign mercenaries.

Last night about 250 soldiers, armed with M- 16s and pistols, had set up roadblocks and were searching for MPs outside the parliamentary compound.Sir Julius's whereabouts were unknown last night, though there were reports that he had left parliament shortly after the vote.The deal between Sir Julius's government and the British mercenary firm, Sandline International, sparked civil riots last week as well as a mutiny by military leaders, who alleged corruption and argued that the money would be better spent on local soldiers.The mercenaries had been taken on to assist in crushing a secessionist rebellion on Bougainville, a copper-rich island 800 miles north-east of the country's capital, Port Moresby.Soldiers of the Papuan army have been defying the government for the past week and all but one of the 60 mercenaries have been deported.Major Walter Enuma, a high- ranking soldier allied to the recently fired army leader Brigadier General Jerry Singirok, arrived at the compound late last night and tried to defuse the situation."The parliament has made its decision .. and the military will respect it," Major Enuma said. "There will be no confrontation." He then entered parliament to assure the politicians inside of their safety.The former head of the army, Brig-Gen Singirok, was sacked by Sir Julius as a result of the mutiny but remains in effective control of the army. He was not present at parliament yesterday.During the debate, Sir Julius told parliament that the country's ill- trained and ill-equipped soldiers had been captured on Bougainville and slain "like sitting ducks" by the rebels."There comes a time when you have to act in the interest of the nation's security," he told parliament. "I had to put the lives of our soldiers on Bougainville first."Mathias Ijape, the Defence Minister, said the decision to hire the mercenaries had been taken after Australia and New Zealand had refused to provide the military equipment and training needed to crush the rebellion."What do you expect a legitimate government of Papua New Guinea to do? Sit here and see this suffering?" Mr Ijape asked.Although Sir Julius won a tactical victory, it immediately prompted outrage among protesters outside parliament. The crowd threw stones at cars and police responded with volleys of tear gas.Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the Commonwealth secretary-general, interrupted an official visit to Australia this week and travelled to Papua New Guinea in an attempt to mediate the crisis. He arrived late on Monday, visited rebel army leaders at their barracks and spoke to a broad range of political leaders before returning to Canberra.

Both Chief Anyaoku and the Foreign Office urged a peaceful, constitutional settlement to the current crisis.Economic analysts, meanwhile, say Papua New Guinea may yet pay dearly for the loss of stability in the region through capital flight and falling foreign reserves."The uncertainty itself will have an impact. The international banking system is very sensitive to political uncertainties in the country. I'm pretty sure Papua New Guinea would have lost a fair bit of foreign reserves by now," said Satish Chand, a specialist at the Australian National University's National Centre for Development Studies.There were also fears that the World Bank and IMF would withdraw support if stability did not return, he said.. Warrant for Galtieri over 'dirty war' killings A Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant for the former Argentine military president Leopoldo Galtieri for his alleged role in the killing of three Spaniards during Argentina's "dirty war". Baltasar Garzon, who is investigating the disappearance of 300 Spaniards in Argentina 1976-1983, said he was asking Interpol to take Mr Galtieri into custody if he leaves his homeland. He led the ruling junta 1980-1982 and ordered the invasion of the Falklands Reuters - Madrid.