ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
South Africa asks if poison killed activist
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Investigators are looking into the possibility that black leader Steve Biko was poisoned rather than beaten to death in police custody two decades ago.
Dumisa Ntsebeza, head of the investigative unit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said Wednesday he was told that a poison that causes bleeding could explain the brain damage suffered by Biko.
``The story may come to naught, but we will investigate all possibilities,'' Ntsebeza said.
Biko, 30, died of untreated head injuries in a Pretoria prison cell in 1977. His death - apparently the result of a police beating, although police denied it at the time - energized the anti-apartheid movement.
Five former policemen, in applications for amnesty from the commission, have now admitted assaulting Biko in prison and acknowledged responsibility for his death.
- Associated Press
Son to succeed N. Korean president
TOKYO - Kim Jong Il will officially take his late father's place as North Korean head of state after a three-year mourning period ends this summer, a senior North Korean official told a Japanese newspaper Wednesday.
North Korea is ``refraining from allowing an official succession'' before the traditional mourning for Kim Il Sung's death ends July 8, the Asahi paper quoted Hwang Jang Yop as saying. Hwang is secretary of the North Korean Workers party and a close confidant to Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Il is already North Korea's de facto leader, but he has yet to officially succeed his father as president.
- Associated Press
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