Red flash in the sky

On Thursday 15 may 2008 at approximately 6:30pm my family and I were sitting outside in our garden in the northern suburbs of Harare. There was little light as we had experienced another power cut (they are averaging 16 to 19 hours a day now). We had three candles positioned on a table but no other light source - either in our garden or the ones around us. The gardens in our area are just over an acre each in size.

We saw three successive red flashes in the sky - not like a meteorite but a lighting up of the sky over a small area - the area became very red and then reverted to the night sky. This happened in the same part of the sky at intervals of about three seconds. Each event lasted for about the same time.

What caused this? We have never experienced this phenomena before.