South Africa police deploy for Terreblanche funeral

A major security operation has been mounted for the funeral of white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche, who was killed on his farm on Sunday.

Several police and army units have been deployed to prevent possible clashes between supporters of Terreblanche and the local black population.

Around 3,000 people are commemorating his controversial life in the north-western rural town of Ventersdorp.

Terreblanche led the Afrikaner Resistance movement, the AWB.

Thousands of AWB supporters have gathered in the town, with the mourners including both armed men in camouflage and young children, says the BBC's Karen Allen in Ventersdorp.

South Africa's trade union federation Cosatu is holding a mass meeting on the other side of the town.

Our correspondent says the effect of this meeting - called to discuss recent farm violence - is not clear.

On the one hand, it is a way of occupying some black farm workers who otherwise might turn up at the funeral, she says.

But on the other hand, it could be seen as a somewhat provocative gesture given the timing, she adds.

The Afrikaner Protestant Church where the service is being held, is normally attended mostly by white South Africans.

As a gesture of reconciliation, dignitaries from the local black community have been invited to attend the service, our correspondent says.

But just a handful of them are likely to take up that offer, she adds.

Two of Terreblanche's workers have been charged with his murder.

Although the authorities stress that the killing had more to do with money than politics, it has led to a period of heightened racial tension.

White groups and opposition parties blamed an ANC official, Julius Malema, for singing an apartheid-era song at rallies, that includes the lyrics "shoot the Boer [farmer]".

The ANC has rejected that link, but accepts that the song and the debate around it was polarising society.

It has now instructed its members to stop using it.

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Spanish hostage in Africa freed

A Spanish woman kidnapped in West Africa last year has been freed, the Spanish government says.

There are unconfirmed reports that an Italian woman held by the same group has also been released.

Spaniard Alicia Gamez, and Italian Philomene Kaboure, both 39, were seized last year and held by a militant group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

They were seized separately in Mauritania, and then held in neighbouring Mali.

Two other male Spaniards and another Italian - Ms Kaboure's husband - are still being held.

The two hostages were released in Burkina Faso, according to diplomatic sources cited by Spanish, French and Italian media.

The Spanish government later confirmed Ms Gamez' release, but there has been no confirmation about Ms Kaboure.

Ransom demands

The three Spanish aid workers were snatched from a convoy by armed men on a road between the Mauritanian cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou on 29 November.

Ms Kaboure and her husband, Sergio Cicala, 65, were seized the following month.

They were all taken to northern Mali.

A Frenchman seized in Mali in November and held by the same group was released last month after its demand that Mali release four prisoners was met.

The Mauritanian government reacted with outrage, saying giving in to the demands would encourage further kidnapping.

Spanish media reported recently that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb had demanded a ransom to release the hostages, and El Mundo newspaper alleged that the Spanish government was in the process of paying.

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