World: Africa

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethnic Somali rebels in Ethiopia's Ogaden region claimed Monday they killed 90 government troops in recent clashes, but the government denied any losses, claiming victory instead.

LONDON (Reuters) - Rwandan President Paul Kagame urged leaders of the Group of Eight on Monday to consult poor nations more, saying some in the developing world were skeptical of economic recipes handed down by rich countries.

LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian militants said Monday they destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction and seized six crew from a ship in the latest attacks on Nigeria's key money earner since the government offered an amnesty.

DUBLIN (AFP) - The South Africa Rugby Union were charged on Monday by the sport's governing body the International Rugby Board for alleged misconduct in breach of the IRB Regulations Relating to the Game including breaches of the IRB Code of Conduct.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe described the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs as "an idiot" after an acrimonious meeting between the two at an African summit in Libya, Zimbabwe's state media reported Monday.

BRAZZAVILLE (AFP) - The African Union will send about 30 observers to monitor presidential elections in the Republic of Congo on Sunday, Foreign Minister Basile Ikouebe said.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - The identity of an armed group which snatched two foreign Darfur aid workers was shrouded in mystery on Monday as officials and diplomats scrambled to find out more about the kidnappers.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India on Monday picked ace batsman Rahul Dravid for their squad for the Champions Trophy tournament in South Africa in September, nearly two years after his last one-day international.

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopian lawmakers voted Monday to maintain a defence budget of 400 million dollars despite threats of invasion from Islamist militias in neighboring Somalia.

LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian militants said on Monday they destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction in the latest attack on Nigeria's key money earner since the government offered an amnesty.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's main militant group said Monday it had sabotaged a Chevron oil facility and seized a chemical tanker and six crew members, the latest in a string of attacks in Africa's biggest energy producer.

LAGOS (AFP) - Militants in Nigeria's restive oil-producing south said Monday they had seized a vessel and its six foreign crew members on board: three Russians, two Filipinos and an Indian national.

LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian militants said they destroyed a strategic facility owned by US oil group Chevron hours after they claimed an attack on Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday — a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

LAGOS (AFP) - Nigerian rebels announced on Sunday they had launched a fresh attack on an oil facility run by the Anglo-Dutch group Shell in the restive Niger Delta.

BISSAU (AFP) - The second round of presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau has been brought forward to July 26 to enable farmers in the west African nation to continue harvesting unhindered, a statement said on Sunday.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Heavy shelling between Somali rebels and government forces near the presidential palace killed at least 12 people on Sunday, witnesses said, and the prime minister looked for help from more African Union peacekeepers.

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - Child abduction for ritual killings is on the rise in the Nigerian city of Kano, say officials and advocacy groups who blame the trend on greed for political power and quick wealth in this northern commercial center.

TURMI, Ethiopia (AFP) - Ethiopia's Hamer people, a long isolated, pastoral warrior tribe, are increasingly opening up to tourists, a move some fear could endanger age-old traditions with too much exposure to foreign cultural influence.

Andrew Heavens is a reporter and photographer who has worked with Reuters since 2005, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and now Khartoum, Sudan. His African career followed 10 years of reporting for newspapers in Britain and the United States. In the following story, he recounts his experience of U.S. economic sanctions on the country whose president Omar Hassan al-Bashir is accused of masterminding human rights abuses in Darfur.

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudanese authorities were trying on Saturday to establish contact with kidnappers who snatched two foreign aid workers from their offices in Darfur, a foreign ministry official said.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South African human rights organisations on Saturday condemned the arrest of about 300 destitute Zimbabwean nationals.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States hopes President Barack Obama's decision to visit Ghana this month will spur other African governments to try and emulate the West African country's democratic record.

DUBLIN, Ireland - The head of an Irish humanitarian aid agency appealed Saturday for the release of two of its employees kidnapped in Darfur.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Captain Ahmed Hassan insists struggling Egypt can reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa ahead of a crucial qualifier against Rwanda in Cairo Sunday.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A sparkling Shane Williams double helped the British and Irish Lions claim a comprehensive 28-9 victory in the third and final Test against South Africa at Ellis Park here on Saturday.

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco has arrested the brother of a prominent figure in the country's main Islamist opposition group on suspicion of belonging to a hashish smuggling ring, police said on Saturday.

LIBREVILLE (AFP) - The head of a rebel group which refused to endorse a 2008 peace deal for the Central African Republic has performed a U-turn, mediators said Saturday.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese security services were searching Saturday for two kidnapped female aid workers, one Ugandan and one Irish, taken from their compound in Darfur, said Irish humanitarian group Goal which employs the women.