-- KAMPALA Uganda AP Weeds have choked a major hydroelectric dam reducing electricity supplies to Uganda and Kenya a newspaper said Tuesday. The severe shortfall in power generation since Nov. 23 ``is as a result of the decaying water hyacinth that has invaded the dam'' Uganda Electricity Board Director Alex Muyayo was quoted as saying in the government-owned New Vision newspaper. The Owens Fall Dam about 70 kilometers about 44 miles east of Kampala produces 180 megawatts of electricity of which about 30 megawatts is exported to Kenya. Mugoya said while in the past the green weed floated minimally reducing generation this time rotting weed sank to the bottom of the river and became entangled in turbines significantly reducing power supplies. The utility has had to switch off the clogged machines to clear away debris. ``Even the performance of the remaining machines is also lowered. At times this leaves UEB with only 100 megawatts of the 180 megawatt installed'' Mugoya said. Huge mats of the gauzy purple blossoms and thickly tangled roots of water hyacinths are mushrooming along the shores of Lake Victoria and in linked waterways disrupting life for millions of people. Water hyacinths were introduced into Africa as ornamental plants a century ago and have grown out of control. -- NAIROBI Kenya AP Kenya got its fourth English-language daily Tuesday with the launch of The People owned by veteran opposition politician and businessman Kenneth Matiba. Sporting its motto ``Fair Frank and Fearless'' the former weekly People joins The Daily Nation The East African Standard and Kenya Times. The Nation Group also publishes a Swahili-language daily Taifa Leo. Matiba's 30-year-old daughter Ivy is the paper's managing editor and her 33-year-old brother Raymond who also handles his father's Alliance Hotel group is the director. -- ACCRA Ghana AP Representatives of Ghana's mining ministry and the oil giant Shell have held preliminary talks to explore a joint venture in alternative electricity production a news report said Tuesday. Participants at the meeting held Monday in Ghana's capital of Accra discussed the development of renewable energy sources from timber waste the Ghana news agency reported. A program expected to start early next year with technical help from the Dutch Biomass Technology group will involve the generation of electricity from sawdust and other timber waste. The project aims to supply electricity to rural communities. Ghana was chosen for the project because it is politically stable has enough forest area and needs more energy sources for development said Frans Feil a senior consultant with Shell's biomass group. Biomass systems make use of plant and other organic material to produce energy. -- CAPE TOWN South Africa AP Trade Minister Alec Erwin said Tuesday he was optimistic a free trade agreement among 14 southern African countries could be completed next year. The agreement envisions an eight-year tariff reduction program. Members of the Southern African Development Community are negotiating the terms of the reductions. Speaking at a trade and investment meeting Erwin stressed that the community's integration was inevitable if the region wanted to develop. var/djw APW19981201.0395.txt.body.html APW19981201.0746.txt.body.html