Africa News

  • Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is seen here on July 21. Talks have begun in earnest on resolving Zimbabwe's political crisis after Mugabe gave his senior lieutenants the final go-ahead to negotiate power-sharing with the opposition.(AFP/File/Desmond Kwande)
    Zimbabwe talks begin in SAfrica: Mbeki spokesman AFP - Thu Jul 24, 6:23 AM ET

    PRETORIA (AFP) - Top-level talks between Zimbabwe's ruling party and opposition aimed at resolving the country's political crisis were underway in South Africa Thursday, a spokesman for President Thabo Mbeki said.

  • General view of Lagos. A petrol tanker has burst into flames in Nigeria's main city Lagos, killing at least 12 people and leaving several others with severe burns, witnesses and local television said.(AFP/File/Pius Otomi Ekpei)
    Petrol tanker fire kills at least 12 in Nigeria: witness AFP - Thu Jul 24, 5:11 AM ET

    LAGOS (AFP) - A petrol tanker burst into flames in Nigeria's main city Lagos, killing at least 12 people and leaving several others with severe burns, witnesses and local television said Thursday.

  • Handout photograph made available by Albany Associates July 17 shows newly arrived engineers from China serving with the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The UN Security Council has "good reasons" to be unsure about sending large numbers of peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region, its outgoing head of peacekeeping said in an interview published Thursday.(AFP/Albany Associates/File/Stuart Price)
    UN should be hesitant on Darfur mission: Peacekeeping chief AFP - Wed Jul 23, 10:31 PM ET

    LONDON (AFP) - The UN Security Council has "good reasons" to be unsure about sending large numbers of peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region, its outgoing head of peacekeeping said in an interview published Thursday.

  • Supporters of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir raise anti-Ocampo banners during Bashir's visit to Darfur's capital of al-Fasher, Sudan, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. Sudan's president said Wednesday he would not be cowed by his indictment on genocide charges nor allow it to distract him from the search for peace in troubled Darfur. Addressing supporters in Darfur's capital of al-Fasher, a defiant Omar al-Bashir also sought to cast himself as a peacemaker and discount the significance of his July 14 indictment by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
    Sudan's president pays defiant visit to Darfur AP - Wed Jul 23, 5:16 PM ET

    NYALA, Sudan - Sudan's president made a defiant visit to Darfur just a week after being charged with genocide in the war-ravaged region, vowing not to be intimidated by the indictment and then breaking into a tribal dance on a parched field to the delight of cheering supporters.

  • This is a Wednesday Oct. 12, 2005. file phot oof Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys. Aweys Somalia's new opposition leader said Friday July 25, 2008 his supporters could take up arms against U.N. peacekeepers slated for the lawless country if they side with the country's weak government. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys took over leadership of Somalia's exiled opposition movement this week. He denies any links to terror, but is suspected by the U.S. of collaborating with al-Qaida. (AP Photo/Osman Hassan, File)
    AU says troops in Somalia need help, wants U.N. force Reuters - Wed Jul 23, 4:35 PM ET

    UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The African Union said on Wednesday it was incapable of stabilizing the situation in Somalia and urged the United Nations take over peacekeeping operations in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

  • Libyan protestors hold up a portrait of Hannibal Kadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, at a demonstration outside the Swiss embassy in Tripoli against the arrest of Hannibal and his wife in Geneva last week. Libya threatened key oil client Switzerland with reprisals over last week's detention of a son of Moamer Kadhafi, as Bern said Tripoli has already taken retaliatory steps.(AFP/Mahmud Turkia)
    Libya protesters target Swiss banks over arrest Reuters - Wed Jul 23, 2:24 PM ET

    TRIPOLI (Reuters) - OPEC member Libya should withdraw deposits in Swiss banks if the Swiss government fails to apologize for the arrest of a son of Muammar Gaddafi, an influential Libyan political group said on Wednesday.

  • Swiss: Libya retaliating for Gadhafi son's arrest AP - Wed Jul 23, 1:27 PM ET

    GENEVA - Switzerland warned its citizens Wednesday not to travel to Libya, saying the North African nation has been retaliating ever since Swiss police arrested the youngest son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for allegedly beating two of his servants.

  • Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa speaks at a press conference in Harare in April 2008.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)
    Zimbabwe crisis talks delayed again AFP - Wed Jul 23, 12:33 PM ET

    HARARE (AFP) - The start of full-scale talks to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis were delayed for a second day on Wednesday as the main parties' top negotiators had yet to arrive in South Africa, sources said.

  • Striking hospital workers stand outside the locked gates of a Lagos hospital during a strike in 2000. Nigerian health workers have put off a potentially crippling strike due to begin July 23 because they failed to inform the government of the protest in time, their spokesman said.(AFP/File/Pius Otomi Ekpei)
    Nigerian health workers defer strike AFP - Wed Jul 23, 10:47 AM ET

    LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian health workers have put off a potentially crippling strike due to begin Wednesday because they failed to inform the government of the protest in time, their spokesman said.

  • Armed members of an ethnic group in the creeks of the Niger Delta. The most prominent armed gang in Nigeria's restive oil region, MEND, has said it has not collected protection money from the country's national oil group, and vowed new attacks within 30 days to "prove it."(AFP/MEND-HO/File)
    Nigeria rebels deny being paid by oil firm, vow more attacks AFP - Wed Jul 23, 10:14 AM ET

    LAGOS (AFP) - The most prominent armed gang in Nigeria's restive oil region, MEND, said Wednesday it had not collected protection money from the country's national oil group, and vowed new attacks within 30 days to "prove it."

  • Residents of Bakassi ride in a boat at Atabong in 2006. Nigeria is fully committed to an agreement to hand over to Cameroon next month the disputed and potentially oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, Nigeria's presidency said in a statement Friday.(AFP/Pius Utomi Ekpei)
    Militants threaten Nigeria's main oil pipelines AP - Wed Jul 23, 10:14 AM ET

    LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigeria's main militant group on Wednesday threatened to destroy the nation's major oil pipelines within 30 days to counter allegations it had struck a $12 million deal with the government to protect them.

  • A man holds up Zimbabwe's new 100 billion dollar note in Harare. Captains of industry are pinning their hopes on talks between Zimbabwe's political rivals as a chance to stop the rot after a survey showed investor confidence at a new low of two percent.(AFP/Desmond Kwande)
    Industry chiefs hope Zimbabwe talks stop the rot AFP - Wed Jul 23, 8:34 AM ET

    HARARE (AFP) - Captains of industry are pinning their hopes on talks between Zimbabwe's political rivals as a chance to stop the rot after a survey on Wednesday showed investor confidence at a new low of two percent.

  • England captain Michael Vaughan, seen here in May. England selector Geoff Miller demanded an explanation from Vaughan, who described selection for the disastrous second Test against South Africa as "confused" as a trio of former captains spoke out.(AFP/File/Paul Ellis)
    Explanations demanded after England cricketers derailed AFP - Wed Jul 23, 7:49 AM ET

    LONDON (AFP) - England selector Geoff Miller demanded an explanation from skipper Michael Vaughan, who described selection for the disastrous second Test against South Africa as "confused" as a trio of former captains Wednesday spoke out.

  • Armed members of an ethnic group in the creeks of the Niger Delta. Nigerian oil group NNPC has acknowledged paying 12 million dollars (7.56 million euros) in protection fees to Niger Delta militants to enable the repair of a damaged key crude supply pipeline.(AFP/MEND-HO/File)
    Nigerian oil group admits paying millions to militants AFP - Wed Jul 23, 6:41 AM ET

    LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian oil group NNPC has acknowledged paying 12 million dollars (7.56 million euros) in protection fees to Niger Delta militants to enable the repair of a damaged key crude supply pipeline.

  • WTO global trade negotiators battle on Reuters - Wed Jul 23, 4:47 AM ET

    GENEVA (Reuters) - Global trade talks began a third day on Wednesday after emerging economies such as Brazil and South Africa said a U.S. offer to cut its farm subsidies was not enough to justify reciprocal moves by them.

  • Activists rally in support of the International Criminal Court prosecutor's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for war crimes in Darfur across from the United Nations headquarters in New York. Beshir, who faces a possible international arrest warrant for allegedly masterminding genocide in Darfur, arrived in the war-torn region Wednesday for a rare visit(AFP/Stan Honda)
    Sudanese president arrives in Darfur AFP - Wed Jul 23, 3:26 AM ET

    EL FASHER, Sudan (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who faces a possible international arrest warrant for allegedly masterminding genocide in Darfur, arrived in the war-torn region Wednesday for a rare visit.

  • Children fetch firewood amidst the rubble of a demolished building in Gosa, Abuja, July 21, 2008. Scavenging through mounds of rubble in Nigeria's capital Abuja, Usman Landam plucks out the biggest mud blocks he can find, determined to rebuild his two-bedroom hut after government bulldozers knocked it down. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
    Nigeria bulldozes slums to polish capital Reuters - Tue Jul 22, 8:36 PM ET

    ABUJA (Reuters) - Scavenging through mounds of rubble in Nigeria's capital Abuja, Usman Landam plucks out the biggest mud blocks he can find, determined to rebuild his two-bedroom hut after government bulldozers knocked it down.

  • A malnourished Somali boy eats at a feeding centre in Wajid in 2006. Nearly 15 million people in the Horn of Africa region are facing a humanitarian disaster unless donors urgently release funds to deliver supplies, aid agencies warned Tuesday.(AFP/POOL/File/Stephen Morrison)
    15 million in Africa's Horn face humanitarian 'disaster': agencies AFP - Tue Jul 22, 3:07 PM ET

    NAIROBI (AFP) - Nearly 15 million people in the Horn of Africa region are facing a humanitarian disaster unless donors urgently release funds to deliver supplies, aid agencies warned Tuesday.

  • A Sudanese man holds a portrait of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir during a demonstration organized by the Sudan Council of Voluntary Agencies in Khartoum against the International Criminal Court's decision to arrest Beshir for alleged genocide in Darfur. Sudan warned that peacekeeping in Darfur would suffer if the International Criminal Court indicted Beshir for war crimes and genocide.(AFP/Ashraf Shazly)
    Eritrea dismissive of Beshir arrest warrant AFP - Tue Jul 22, 2:36 PM ET

    ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Eritrea dismissed Tuesday as an "insult" a bid to put Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir on trial for war crimes in Darfur and said the move must be rejected.

  • This handout video grab released on July 4, 2008 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) shows former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba during a pre-trial hearing. Portuguese authorities have seized a yacht and a private plane belonging to Bemba, a report said Tuesday.(AFP/ICC/File)
    Portugal seizes booty of suspected Congolese war criminal: report AFP - Tue Jul 22, 2:04 PM ET

    LISBON (AFP) - Portuguese authorities have seized a yacht and a private plane belonging to a former Congolese rebel leader accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, a report said Tuesday.

  • Congolese women wait to be attended at a health center in Goma in 2006. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched Tuesday a multi-million dollar appeal for an AIDS treatment programme in five African countries.(AFP/File/Jose Cendon)
    Red Cross launches massive Africa AIDS appeal AFP - Tue Jul 22, 1:26 PM ET

    GENEVA (AFP) - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched Tuesday a multi-million dollar appeal for an AIDS treatment programme in five African countries.

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