Fighters loyal to the Transitional National Council tightened their siege of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi's hometown on Monday, two days after a failed attempt to take hold of the coastal city.
Wangari Maathai, the gutsy, traditionally-robed Kenyan activist whose environment conservation work earned her the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, died of cancer on Sunday at the age of 71.
Italy's ENI and France's Total have resumed oil production in Libya, more than six months after oil and gas output in the country ground to a halt due to the popular uprising. More wells will be reactivated over the coming days, the companies said.
The Libyan caretaker government rejected on Monday the Scottish Crown Office request for assistance in the inquiry into the Lockerbie airliner bombing, in which 270 people were killed over Scotland in 1998.
Hundreds of black Mauritanians protested on Monday for the third day against a census they claim is aimed at depriving them of their nationality. They also demanded the release of demonstrators who have been arrested.
The World Bank announced on Saturday that it will nearly quadruple its aid for the 13 million people at risk in the drought-struck Horn of Africa to $1.9 billion, but highlighted that another $1 billion is needed from the international community.
Populist opposition leader Michael Sata (pictured) was sworn in as Zambia's new president Friday, after a tense election marred by outbursts of violence. Sata has promised to help the poor enjoy the country's recent economic growth.
A group of gunmen burst into a bar in Burundi Sunday night and opened fire on the patrons, killing at least 36 people, witnesses and officials have said. The attack has sparked fears of reprisals that may drag the country back into civil war.
Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina (pictured) and the opposition on Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way for elections within a year and ultimately for the lifting of sanctions that hit the island following the 2009 coup.
Seven people were kidnapped in Niger on September 16, 2010 by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. As the four remaining French hostages mark their first anniversary in captivity, unrest in neighbouring Libya complicates negotiations for their release.
Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo has reportedly filed a lawsuit in a Paris military court accusing the French army of attempting to assassinate him after he was ousted from power in April, following months of civil conflict.
Guinea's long-delayed parliamentary elections will take place on December 29, more than a year after President Alpha Conde was elected in the country's first democratic polls.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he was no longer seeking an apology from France for its alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday.
