Africa rallies to boost World Cup power

Twelve of South Africa's neighbors have vowed to supply electricity to help avoid power cuts during the 2010 football World Cup. ┬á South Africa was hit by severe power shortages last year, which led it to cut some power supplies to its neighbors, and which led some to doubt its ability to stage the showpiece. ┬á The Southern African Power Pool (Sapp), whose members include Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzia and Zambia, already share electricity supplies, and promised to transmit extra power to South Africa. ┬á Sapp has a long-standing plan to build a huge dam in DR Congo, which would provide electricity to the whole region.┬á South Africa's state-owned power company Eskom welcomed the pledges made at a meeting in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. ┬á "This initiative confirms that the 2010 FIFA World Cup is truly and indeed an African event," said Eskom Project 2010 unit managing director Johnny Dladla.  This is the first time the World Cup has been hosted in Africa.