ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA , May 25, 2013(AFP) African leaders on Saturday opened celebrations for the 50th jubilee of the continental bloc, with Africa's myriad problems set aside for a day to mark the progress that has been made. African Union Chairman and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in a speech to open the ceremony, said the celebrations would look forward to "create a continent free from p ...

NIAMEY, May 23, 2013 (AFP) Islamist militants staged twin suicide car bombings on an army base and a French-run uranium mine in Niger on Thursday, killing at least 20 people and taking several trainee officers hostage in the impoverished west African state. An Islamist group claimed the attacks as revenge against the country's involvement in France's offensive against militants in neighbouring Mali. They co ...

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2013 (AFP) US President Barack Obama will head out on his first major African tour since taking office, traveling to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3, the White House said Monday. The National Security Council announced the trip on its Twitter account, without immediately offering further details. Obama, born in the United States to an American mother and a Kenya ...

By Pavithra Rao May 17, 2013 In an era of lightning speed, ever-present wireless connectivity, high tech is now also being used to benefit livestock farmers in rural areas of Africa. Widely known for being used to track wild animals, GPS, or “Global Positioning System” tracking devices are being adapted by some small- and large-scale farmers to manage their livestock, notably in Kenya, Botswana, and South A ...

Lagos, May 10, 2013 (AFP) Nigerian police have found 17 pregnant teenage girls in a raid on a house, and were searching Friday for a woman suspected of planning to sell their babies, a spokeswoman said. Joy Elomoko of the southeastern Imo state police said all the girls were between 14 and 17 years old and that 11 small children were also found in the house. Some locals believed the building called the Aham ...

  PARIS, April 29, 2013 (AFP) France is "playing with fire" in Mali, the brother of Al-Qaeda's chief said in an interview published Monday, warning that Islamic fighters would retaliate in the African nation and "on French territory". France launched a military offensive in Mali in January to help the army push back Islamic extremists who had taken hold of the north, and has now begun a phased withdraw ...

United Nations -April 25, 2013 (AFP) The U.N. Security Council is set to adopt a resolution Thursday creating a peacekeeping mission in Mali, to take over from French and African forces in the conflict-torn north. The force would be deployed July 1, for an initial period of 12 months, pending a Security Council ruling that the conflict has eased enough to allow the deployment. Over the next 60 days, the cou ...

By Omar Bihmidine Morocco World News Sidi Ifni, April 16, 2013 Discovered nearly 20 years ago, AIDS has claimed many lives all over the world and has made others live with this tragic disease, either fighting to live or suffering terribly. Whereas some scientists anticipate that there will sooner or later be a cure for the lethal disease, religious organizations believe that having faith is the sole solutio ...

ALGIERS, April 15, 2013 (AFP) South Africa and Algeria called on fellow African nations to pay "greater attention" to the continent's security issues, during a visit to Algiers by South African President Jacob Zuma. "We should devote more time to security issues in Africa," Zuma told reporters after meeting his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika. "We are convinced that we, as Africans, should devote ...

Paris, April 14, 2013 (AFP) Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a one-eyed Islamist militant leader who Chad claimed was killed in Mali last month, died by setting off explosives in despair over the death of another militant, Chad's President Idriss Deby said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. "We have proof of his death. We couldn't film it because he blew himself up after the death of (Abdelhamid) Abou Zeid. He wasn't ...

NEW DELHI, April 9, 2013 (AFP) Five Indian peacekeepers escorting a United Nations convoy in South Sudan have been killed in an ambush by rebels, the Indian foreign ministry announced on Tuesday. "Five peacekeepers from India with UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan) killed in ambush in Jonglei," foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin wrote on Twitter. He confirmed the deaths to AFP and said t ...

KHARTOUM, April 5, 2013 (AFP) The "revolutionary" regime of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi should foster tighter ties between its people and those of neighbouring Sudan, veteran Islamist Hassan al-Turabi said on Friday. Speaking after he and other political party figures met the visiting Islamist leader, Turabi said grassroots links must be developed because Morsi's regime "is a popular government elected ...