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travel
news review
![](/file/14186/www_07_1999.iso/inne/lonelyplanet/scoop/graphics/line.jpg)
12
April '99
Ghanaian
nurses have crippled the country's health services through industrial
action. The strike by junior nurses and other paramedical staff, who began
their quest for improved working conditions almost a week ago, has meant
that senior nurses and surgeons are carrying the extra load, while emergency
wards are struggling to treat outpatients.
19
March '99
As in life, so too in death. Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, King of the Asanti,
died on 25 February at the age of 80. The confusion surrounding the announcement
of his death mirrors the tensions between tradition and modernity he embodied
as the Asantehene, leader of a proud tribal kingdom caught in the confines
of the modern nation-state.
The announcement came one week after his passing away, according to tradition,
with the presentation of 24 bottles of schnapps to a group of tribal elders.
Known privately as Barima Kwaku Adusei, or Jacob Mathew Poku, the occupier
of the Golden Stool, he was enstooled in 1970 as the 15th Asantehene.
The US Department of State advises of potential unrest in northern Ghana
until his successor is chosen.
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