Africa Review: Africa Review-Reporting Africas future and the big political, economic, cultural and technology stories shaping it

Tough life for Eritreans two decades after independence

Posted 18 hours ago

The euphoria of self-determination has faded under a repressive regime

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South Africa rising? Hope in the townships

Posted 1 day ago

Daily struggles in Sub-Saharan's leading economy

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The AU at 50: More miss than hit?

Posted 3 days ago

Continental bloc banking on chequered past for new growth

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PHOTO GALLERY

This picture released on May 22, 2013 by the Africa Union shows man stands inside the remains of Mogadishu's cathedral on May 22, 2013. |AFP / AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A Cultural troupe from Ogidi community, Professor Chinua Achebe's native town dance in honour of the late literary giant at Abuja airport May 21, 2013. His body arrived in Abuja two months after his death in a US hospital. |AFP
A protestor at the Daily Monitor newspaper poses in Kampala on May 20, 2013. Ugandan police raided The Red Pepper newspaper, the Daily Monitor newspaper and radio station KFM after reports on a falling out among army generals over whether President Museveni's son is to succeed him. |AFP
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) President and Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai gives the official opening address during the three day MDC Policy Conference on May 17, 2013 in Harare. |AFP
An area on the eastern part of the Madagascar rainforest named a World Heritage site by Unesco in 2007, which has been invaded by thousands of miners since sapphire was discovered there in 2012. RIVONALA RAZAFISON |
Libyan Interior minister Ashur Shwayel (C) gets ready to leave after a meeting with the Benghazi Civil Society on the security concerns on May 15, 2013 in Benghazi. |AFP
Libyan relatives and friends mourn as they bury the body of a victim of a bomb attack the previous day in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on May 14, 2013. |AFP
Striking Lonmin mine workers sit outside Rowland shaft in Marikana next to Wonderkop stadium on May 14, 2013, where 34 people were shot and killed by S. African police on August 16, 2012. A union leader was shot dead in the restive platinum belt at the weekend. |AFP
Activists protest against pay rise demands from Members of Parliament on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya on May 14, 2013. The protest was dubbed 'occupy parliament'. ANTHONY OMUYA |NATION MEDIA GROUP
One-time French presidential hopeful and former Managing Director of the IMF Dominic Strauss-Kahn arrives at Juba International Airport, South Sudan on May, 13 2013. Strauss-Khan is to announce his involvement with the National Credit Bank (NCB). |AFP
Deputy President William Ruto is welcomed to Schipol Airport by Kenya's Ambassador to Netherlands Mrs. Makena R. Muchiri. Mr. Ruto, who is attending the Status Conference at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, was accompanied by his wife Rachel. |DPPS
Bystanders and residents gather next to the wreckage of a car at the site of a car bomb that exploded in the parking lot of a Benghazi hospital killing at least 15 people in Libya, on May 13, 2013. |AFP
An anti Mubarak protester holds an effigy of Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his co accused outside the Egyptian police academy in Cairo, where Mubarak's trial is taking place on May 11, 2013. |AFP
Philip Mubiana (c) and James Mwape (2nd L) are taken into a police holding cell at a magistrates court on May 8, 2013 in Lusaka before their trial on charge of sodomy. They were charged with having sexual relations between April 11 and 25. |AFP
British Foreign Secretary, William Hague (L) looks on as he sits amongst delegates during a press conference given by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and British Prime Minister David Cameron (Unseen) in central London on May 7, 2013. |AFP
A Somali woman holds images of Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Mogadishu, on May 7, 2013. MOHAMED ABDIWAHAB |AFP
Libyan gunmen surround the Libyan Justice Ministry on May 6, 2013 in the capital Tripoli. Gunmen demanded the Libyan government's resignation as they besieged ministry. MAHMUD TURKIA |AFP
The Gupta family and wedding guests check in at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on May 3, 2013. The Gupta wedding made headlines after a plane carrying 180 wedding guests including Bollywood stars and Indian government ministers landed in Pretoria. |AFP
The Vatican envoy to Tanzania Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla leaves the Olasiti church building a few minutes after an explosion that disrupted a ceremony for the opening of the new church in Arusha, Tanzania. PHOTO |Filbert Rweyemamu
A poster along the road shows a photo of Imam Abubakar Shekau, leader of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, declared wanted by the Nigerian military with $320,471 reward for information that could lead to his capture in the Nigerian town of Maiduguri May 1, 2013. |AFP
Pope Francis (R) speaks with Madagascar's transitional leader Andry Rajoelina (L) and his wife Mialy (L) during a private audience at the Vatican on April 26, 2103. VINCENZO PINTO |AFP
A picture released by South African broadcaster SABC shows South African peace icon Nelson Mandela (R) sitting at his home in Johannesburg flanked by South African president Jacob Zuma (L), on April 29, 2013. |AFP PHOTO / SABC
Okonkwo Patrick Adebayor, winner of the Strongest Man of Cote d’Ivoire strength competition, flips a 410 kg tyre during the final events of the competition's first edition in Abidjan on April 27, 2013. SIA KAMBOU |AFP
Mauritanians demonstrate outside the Mauritanian embassy in Paris on April 24, 2013 against a population census dating back to November 28, 2010 which they say is "humiliating" and "discriminatory" towards the Mauritanian negro Africans. |AFP
Mourners carry the coffin of Somali journalist Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh in Jazira on the outskirts of Mogadishu on April 22, 2013. Rageh worked for Somali National Television and Radio Mogadishu and was shot dead by unknown gunmen as he reuturned home. |AFP
Libyan security forces gather outside the French embassy building in Tripoli following a car bomb attack that injured two French guards on April 23, 2013. MAHMUD TURKIA |AFP
French President Francois Hollande speaks to Albane Moulin-Fournier carrying one of her children as the seven members of the Moulin-Fournier family arrive from Yaounde, at the Orly airport, near Paris, on April 20, 2013. |AFP
Members of the public stand outside parliament building on April 16, 2013 during the first sitting of 11th parliament. Kenya's fourth president Uhuru Kenyatta was in attendance to give his first speech as the head of state. |NATION MEDIA GROUP
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir shake hands at the State house in Juba on April 12, 2013. Bashir was in South Sudan for the first time since 2011. |AFP
A rebel of the Seleka coalition holds a portrait of ousted Central African President François Bozize at one of his pillaged residences in Sassara, near Bossangoa, on April 6, 2013. |AFP
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves next to Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi upon his arrival in Cotonou on April 14, 2013. He will also visit Niger and Ghana. |AFP
Church faithful listened to a sermon during a special commemoration service of the 19th Anniversary of the genocide victims in Rwanda, on the 12th of April 2013. at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi. |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Members of public arrive at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani during the inauguration ceremony of the 4th President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta on April 9, 2013. |NATION MEDIA GROUP
South African Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula gestures as she answers questions at the Parliament on April 4, 2013 in Cape Town. South African President Zuma announced on April 3 that South Africa will pull troops out of the Central African Republic. |AFP
The Sudanese honour guard are seen under a banner commemorating the visit of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy, in Khartoum on April 4, 2013. |AFP
A new recruit of the Seleka rebels has his hair cut in a military barracks in Bangui, on April 2, 2013. The Central African Republic's new post-coup government vowed on April 1, 2013 that it would get straight to work. |AFP
South African soldiers attend a memorial service for the South African soldiers who died during a battle with rebels in the Central African Republic at the Swartzkop Air Force Base in Pretoria on April 2, 2013. |AFP
A political prisoner from Kober prison in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, greets a relative following his release in the early hours of April 2, 2013, after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said that he will release all political detainees. |AFP
US President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with African presidents including Sierra Leone's Ernest Bai Koroma, Senegal's Macky Sall, Malawi's Joyce Banda, and Cape Verde's José Maria Pereira Neves on March 28, 2013 at the White House in Washington, DC. |AFP
Somali ladies dance during a performance by Somali hip-hop group Waayaha Cusub at the the Mogadishu Music Festival in Mogadishu on March 27, 2013. The festival is the first international music event to be held in the city since the outbreak of civil war in 1991. |AFP
Rwandan-born warlord Bosco Ntaganda is seen during his first appearance before judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 26, 2013. He faces charges including murder, rape pillaging and using child soldiers in eastern Congo. |AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan are welcomed by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and his wife Salma Kikwete upon their arrival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, March 24, 2013. |XINHUA
Gabonese gendarme collect items along the shore after at least 30 people died when their boat capsized off the Gabonese capital Libreville, on March 21, 2013. The boat ferrying 65 people capsized in stormy weather overnight as it was travelling from Nigeria to Libreville. |AFP
A Somali man pushes a wheelbarrow loaded with freshly caught fish from the Indian Ocean toward the fish market in the Xamar Weyne district of Mogadishu on March 16, 2013. |AFP / AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE
Two suicide bombers rammed their car into a bus laden with passengers at a motor park in Kano, Nigeria, killing at least 22 people with the following explosion burning five buses on March 19, 2013. |AFP PHOTO
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace take their places on St Peter's square for Pope Francis' inauguration mass on March 19, 2013 at the Vatican. |AFP
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his family cast their vote in Harare, Highfield surburb on March 16 during the constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe. |AFP
A man reads an extra edition of a newspaper with the announcement of the the election of Argentina's cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope Francis I on March 13, 2013 in Colombia. |AFP
President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos officially opening on March 12, 2013 in Luanda a meeting with S. Africa President Jacob Zuma and DR Congo President Joseph Kabila to discuss a plan to bring peace to troubled North Kivu. |AFP PHOTO / South African Government / ELMOND JIYANE
Former First Lady of Madagascar Lalao Ravalomanana (in yellow) couldn't hold back her tears on seeing her family welcoming her at the Antananarivo airport on the morning of March 12 2013. RIVONALA RAZAFISON |NATION MEDIA GROUP
A Red Cross worker takes a photograph of an unaccompanied boy during the registration process at Rwamwanja refugee camp in western Uganda, home to over 35000 refugees, most of them from Democratic Republic of Congo. |AFP
A Kenyan man listens to news on a radio as the country awaits the results of the just-concluded elections, on March 5, 2013 in the Kibera slum, Nairobi. SIMON MAINA |AFP
An Egyptian bride and groom wearing masks hold a tear gas canister which was fired by riot police during clashes with protesters in the city of Mansura, 120 kilometres north of Cairo, on March 4, 2013. STR |AFP
Staff from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) sort ballots for counting at a polling station at the Kibera Social Grounds in Nairobi on March 4, 2013 during the elections. GEORGINA GOODWIN |AFP
Voters in the Dandora neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, queuing at Dandora Primary School in the pre-dawn hours on March 4, 2013. |AFP
Egyptian youth perform the Internet craze, the 'Harlem Shake' in front of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo on February 28, 2013. GIANLUIGI GUERCIA |AFP
A young Somali boy greets a Ugandan soldier serving with AMISOM in the central Somali town of Buur-Hakba following it's capture the day before from the Al Shabaab on February 28, 2013. AU-UN IST / STUART PRICE |AFP
The Commissioner for Political Affairs in the AU Dr. Aisha Abdullahi and ex-President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano at a press briefing on 26 February 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. He will lead the African Union Election Observation Mission in Kenya. |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Ezat Saad, Governor of the ancient temple city of Luxor (L) and Japanese Okumura Hatsuko (R-bottom) director of Japanese division in an Egyptian travel agency lay flowers in the site of a hot air balloon accident on February 27, 2013. |AFP
Pictured are people stranded by the floods from tropical cyclone Haruna in Madagascar RIVONALA RAZAFISON |NATION MEDIA GROUP
An Egyptian protester holds a sign reading "The Muslim Brotherhood's constitution is void" as other demonstrators, said to be members of Egypt's Black Bloc Anarchic group, burn tyres in Cairo near Tahrir Square on January 25, 2013. |AFP
A photographer takes pictures of protestors as security forces stand behind to prevent a crowd of journalists and members of the public from protesting in front of the Palais des Congres in Lome on February 19, 2013. |AFP
Protesting Makerere University students feast on soft drinks grabbed from a shop in Kikoni, a Kampala suburb, on September 18 2013. FAISWAL KASIRYE |NATION MEDIA GROUP
A Malian soldier arrests a man at a checkpoint one day after Islamist gunmen battled French and Malian troops, on February 11, 2013 in Gao. |AFP
Kenya Wildlife Service anti-poaching squad on patrol in search of poachers and displaced elephants through the Kora National Park on January 30, 2013. Increasing prosperity in China, and a large influx of Chinese workers and investors throughout Africa, increased ivory demand in Africa. | AFP PHOTO
Artists are pictured painting in Mogadishu. The absence of Islamists has led to a resurgence of the arts in the capital as artists are taking advantage of reduced threats from Al-Shabaab militants. |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Chadian soldiers man a position near Damara on January 2, 2013. Chadian troops deployed in Niger on January 26, 2013 moved closer to the border with Mali, where they are expected to support a French and Malian offensive against Islamists. |AFP
A Malian man, Sadou, poses at his home with a machete to protect himself in case of attacks by Malian Islamist rebel groups, in Mopti, on January 24, 2013. |AFP PHOTO
Some of the 221 caskets which were torched outside parliament building on 16th January 2013 by Kenya 'Ni Kwetu' Lobby to signify end of one era and the birth of another. The lobby did this to honour the MPs request for state burial. |NATION MEDIA GROUP
President Mohammed Morsy visiting a victim of the train crash, at a military hospital in Cairo, on January 15, 2013. A train carrying military conscripts derailed southwest of Cairo on Tuesday, killing 19 people and wounding 107. |AFP PHOTO / EGYPTIAN PRESIDENCY
A French soldier stands at attention as the cortege following the hearse carrying the coffin of French air force lieutenant Damien Boiteux, killed on January 11, 2013 during French military operation "Serval" in Mali, crosses the Alexandre III bridge in Paris, on January 15, 2013. |AFP PHOTO / JACQUES DEMARTHON
French soldiers from the 2nd RIMA (French Navy Infantry Regiment), arriving from France, stand at the 101 military airbase near Bamako on January 14, 2013, before their deployment in north of Mali. |AFP PHOTO
A man is consoled after seeing the bodies of relatives on January 10, 2013 following an overnight attack on the village of Kibusu in the Tana river Delta region in Kenya. |AFP PHOTO / IVAN LIEMAN
Ivoirian artist DJ Arafat receives the award for "Best African Artist of the year" from football star Didier Drogba (L), Cote d'Ivoire Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko and Kora's producer Erneste Adjavi during the Kora Awards ceremony on Dec 30, 2012 in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire |AFP
People stand next to clothing and various items spread over the scene of a stampede in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on January 1, 2013. At least 60 people died and 200 were injured as crowds stampeded during New Year's celebrations |AFP PHOTO / HERVE SEVI
An Egyptian Shop owner arranges a display of flowers ready to mark the coming of the New Year 2013 in his shop in Cairo, on December 30, 2012 |AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS
Gabon President Ali Bongo (L) speaks with Tchadian President Idriss Deby Itno, at the 7th summit of heads of state of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) summit in Sipopo, near Malabo, on December 13 2012. |AFP PHOTO / XAVIER BOURGOIS
Newly elected deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) Cyril Ramaphosa talks to S. African President and newly re-elected ANC president Jacob Zuma during the 53rd National Conference of the ANC on December 18, 2012 in Bloemfontein |AFP PHOTO
A wooden cross is lifted as thousands of Egyptian Copts attend a Mass celebration in the Cave Cathedral in Manshiet Nasser district of Cairo on December 13, 2012. They prayed for Egypt ahead of the disputed referendum on the draft Constitution |AFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI
A man reads a local newspaper bearing a photo of former South African president Nelson Mandela, in Soweto on December 10, 2012. South Africans united to offer prayers for the ailing national icon who is spending a third day in hospital for tests |AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER JOE
A wheel chair-bound woman shouts political slogans outside the presidential palace area on December 10, 2012 in Cairo. President Morsy has ordered Egypt's army to "cooperate" with police and given it powers of arrest |AFP PHOTO
Supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party celebrate on December 9, 2012 in Accra after the re-election of incumbent John Dramani Mahama after he was declared winner of of the December 7-8 presidential election |AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI
A girl, who wrote three on her cheek, the number of the opposition New Patriotic party to be thumb printed on the ballot, smiles during the final rally of the party in Accra on December 5, 2012. Ghana votes Dec 7 2012 |AFP PHOTO/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI
Vinod Hindocha (C) father of murdered tourist, Anni Dewani, flanked by his son Anish and police officer Louise Smit, sits in the High Court of Cape Town on December 5, 2012. Xolile Mngeni (back) was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime |AFP PHOTO / RODGER BOSCH
An Egyptian woman prays in front of Egyptian security as they lay out barbed wire along the streets leading to the Itihadiya presidential palace in the neighbourhood of Heliopolis in Cairo, on December 4, 2012 |AFP PHOTO/STR
Supporters celebrate on December 4, 2012 in Nairobi after Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Trade Minister Moses Wetangula announced an alliance as running mates in presidential elections due in March 2013 |AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA
A traffic policeman explains the new traffic rules to a group of minibus (matatu) crew at Railways bus terminus in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 29, 2012. The matatu crew were protesting against the new traffic rules |XINHUA / ALLAN MUTURI
M23 rebels patrol the hills surrounding the town of Mushaki, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on November 29, 2012. They will hand over the frontline town of Sake on Friday to UN and regional officials, and the key city of Goma will follow, the rebels said |AFP PHOTO
Members of Egypt's constituent assembly discuss during the last voting session on a new draft constitution at the Shoura Assembly on November 29, 2012 in Cairo |AFP PHOTO / GIANLUIGI GUERCIA
An M23 rebel stands holding a spear in the hills of Kanyarucinya on the outskirts of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on November 19, 2012 |AFP PHOTO/PHIL MOORE
Xolile Mngeni (L), the man accused of killing Swedish honeymooner Anni Dewani, talks to his lawyer Qalisile Dayimani, at Cape Town's High Court on November 19, 2012, before hearing his judgment. Mngeni claimed innocence in the November 2010 killing |AFP PHOTO / RODGER BOSCH
Members of the Coalition for a Free Palestine (CFP) protest the Israeli bombardment of Gaza outside the Durban City hall on November 16, 2012. They called on President Jacob Zuma to recall the S. African ambassador in Tel Aviv and to expel the Israeli ambassador |AFP PHOTO
People stand next to police investigators scrutinising the scene of a suspected bomb attack in Nairobi's Eastleigh suburb, on November 18, 2012. Seven people were killed and many more wounded when an apparent explosive device was hurled at a packed minibus |AFP PHOTO
A man with a voter's card plastered to his forehead queues outside a polling station to cast his vote on November 17, 2012 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This is the third election since the end of a brutal civil war in the West African country ISSOUF SANOGO |AFP
Princess Ruth Komuntale (C) of the Ugandan Toro kingdom and American fiancee Christopher Thomas (R) attend an introduction ceremony, at the Gweri village in Uganda, on November 15, 2012 |AFP PHOTO / MICHELE SIBILONI
Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, Zhang Gaoli, the Chinese new leadership team, arrive at the great hall of the people to meet with Chinese and foreign journalists PHOTO |XINHUA
An employee wets fruit bins, after a fire was started at a fruit packing store on November 14, 2012 in Wolesley, about 120Km North of Cape Town, South Africa. The fire is thought to be connected to the farmworkers strike |AFP PHOTO / RODGER BOSCH
A crime scene is cordoned off after an explosive device was detonated in the predominantly Somali populated area of Nairobi, Eastleigh on November 15, 2012 |AFP
Former Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi (C) arrives for his trial at a court in Tripoli, capital of Libya, on Nov. 12, 2012 HAMZA TURKIA |XINHUA
A Somaliland farmer counts money after selling his sheep on October 29 2012 in Hargeisa, Somaliland, to traders who then export them to Saudi Arabia. The animals are exported from the ports of Berbera and Puntland |AFP PHOTO/SIMON MAINA
A woman tries to stop a bulldozer from destroying her house on November 9, 2012 in Lenesia, south west of Johannesburg. South Africa faces a massive housing backlog with nearly two million people living in informal shacks PHOTO / STRINGER |AFP
An Egyptian Salafist holds a copy of the Koran during a demonstration at Tahrir Square in Cairo to demand that sharia, or Islamic law, be the basis for legislation in a new constitution being drafted for Egypt on November 9, 2012 PHOTO/MAHMUD KHALED |AFP
Sudanese Attahi Mohammed Sigit, showing to UNAMID peacekeepers damages in the village on November 6, 2012, days after an attack by a local militia during which his 18-year-old son was killed |AFP PHOTO/UNAMID/ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN
People look around the scene where a six-storey shopping centre collapsed on November 7, 2012 in Accra, killing at least three people and trapping dozens of others DAVID ADADEVOH |AFP
A Libyan man repairs his fishing net in the port of Tripoli, on November 3, 2012. Fishermen in the Libyan capital are bringing back fresh fish to the streets, despite deep sea fishing boats being anchored still for months due to the lack of labour PHOTO |AFP
African National Congress (ANC) supporters block the road to President Jacob Zuma's private rural residence, to prevent opposition leader Hellen Zille from visiting, in Nkandla some 178 kilometres north of Durban on November 4, 2012 PHOTO / RAJESH JANTILAL |AFP
Ms Fawzia Yusuf Haji Aden, the first female Foreign Minister for Somalia addressing the occasion to announce the new Somali cabinet at Villa Somalia in Mogadishu, on 4 November 2012 ABDULKADIR KHALIF |NATION MEDIA GROUP
A soldier of the Somali National Army (SNA) and a member of the pro-government Ras Kimboni Brigade look over the quay-side in front of ships docked at the seaport of the southern Somali port city of Kismayu on November 2, 2012 ADE CLEWLOW |AFP PHOTO / AU-UN IST PHOTO
Libyans stand at the site of a car bomb explosion as shattered glass lies on the ground, outside a police station, in Libya's second city of Benghazi on early November 4, 2012, causing damage to the building and lightly wounding three policemen Muammar Gaddafi PHOTO | AFP
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola presents the emblem of the state government to US tennis stars Venus (C) and Serena Williams during a visit at the government house in Lagos on October 31, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
The sun rising over ships anchored off of Mogadishu, awaiting to unload their supplies in Mogadishu seaport on October 30, 2012. Sea piracy has fallen to its lowest level since 2008 |AFP PHOTO / AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A Libyan man walks past graffiti of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is his hometown of Sirte, 450 kms east of the capital Tripoli, on October 13, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
Egyptian Coptic Christian bishops and priests queue to vote for a new spiritual leader at Saint Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo's al-Abbassiya district on October 29, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
A man carries a ram to a buyer at Kara cattle market in the Ogun State of Nigeria during Eid-el-Kabir on October 26, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
Inside a church in Kaduna which was targeted by a suicide attacker in Kaduna, Nigeria, on October 28, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
Inmates at the Naivasha Maximum Prisons in Kenya study for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education on October 25, 2012. A total of 19 inmates will sit for this year's exams |NATION MEDIA GROUP
A photo taken and released on October 24, 2012 shows a man walking on Lido beach in Mogadishu as soldiers look on |AFP PHOTO / AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
Sudanese demonstrators hold banners and chant anti-Israeli slogans during a protest in Khartoum on October 24, 2012. Sudan has accused Israel of the attack and has threatened to take action EBRAHIM HAMID |AFP
Libyan women wave the new national flag as they sit near murals decorating the walls of Camp 77 at Bab al-Azizia, Tripoli on October 23, 2012 as part of an exhibition to celebrate the first anniversary of the country's 'liberation' |AFP PHOTO/STR
Malian refugees walk on October 21, 2012 in the Mentao refugee camp, 185 km north of Ouagadougou The conflict in Mali has forced 260,000 Malians to flee to neighbouring countries since March |AHMED OUOBA
Diane Mistler, a Madagascan woman who allegedly lured one of her many lovers into killing her husband with a fishing harpoon arrives at Perpignan's courthouse, on October 18, 2012, prior to the opening hearing of her appeal trial RAYMOND ROIG |AFP
French policemen stand in front of Senegal's embassy as people demonstrate in support to Senegal's Sheikh Bethio Thioune, leader of the "Thiantacounes" people affiliated to the Mouride Muslim brotherhood, on October 22, 2012 in Paris PHOTO |AFP
Pro-government forces fire their gun off the back of a truck on October 21, 2012, some three kilometres from the northern entrance to the Bani Walid, one of the final bastions of Muammar Gaddafi's regime MAHMUD TURKIA |AFP
Pro-government forces gather to rest against a wall on October 21, 2012, some three kilometres from the northern entrance to the Bani Walid PHOTO |AFP
Guinea Bissau soldiers walk on October 21, 2012 in a street of Bissau after gunmen raided a Guinea-Bissau army barracks in the capital, sparking a fire fight that left at least seven people dead |AFP PHOTO/STR
Defendants and their lawyers sit in a courtroom of the District Court in Hamburg, northern Germany, during a session of a piracy trial on October 19, 2012. 10 Somalis are accused of hijacking a German-flagged ship off the Horn of Africa PHOTO |AFP
Troops react to Al-Shabab militants who fired at the convoy as it advanced along the road to Baidoa on October 18, 2012 TOBIN JONES |AFP PHOTO AU-UN IST
Libyan army forces gather at their headquarters in Tripoli on Oct. 18, 2012 before their deploy to the city of Bani Walid, some 185 km south of the capital HAMZA TURKIA |XINHUA
Riot police fire tear gas to disperse an angry crowd which lit fires at Darajani Street in Zanzibar Wednesday in protest against the arrest of the leader of Uamsho, a group behind active calls for Zanzibar’s breakaway from the Union. |PHOTO | MOHAMED DEWJI
Fans set fire to stands on October 13, 2012 in Dakar during Côte d'Ivoire's African Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal. The match was abandoned after home fans went on a violent rampage as their team slipped towards a humiliating defeat PHOTO | AFP
People look at the tomb of Nigerian afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti on October 15, 2012 during the opening of the Fela Museum now renamed Kalakuta Republic Museum in Lagos, Nigeria PHOTO |AFP
Police detain a man away who had occupied the Nigerian embassy with other people to bring attention to the Nigerian government's collaboration in the deportation of refugees in Berlin on October 15, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
Chief of Defence Force Gen Julius Karangi, in blue, joins other senior force officers in paying tribute to the fallen soldiers moments after he unveiled a memorial plaque at Nanyuki garrison during the KDF day on October 14, 2012 |JOSEPH KANYI
DR Congo's foreign affairs Minister Raymond Tshibanda (R) with the Secretary-General of the French National Leaders Summit Clement Duhaime(2nd, L) cut a ribbon, Oct 9, 2012 to officially open the French national cultural village in Kinshasa WEMBI STEVE |XINHUA
A picture taken on October 9, 2012 shows the Argentine frigate Libertad, seized in a port in Ghana in connection with a debt dispute, docked at Tema Port near Accra PHOTO |AFP
A model presents a creation by Adama Ndiaye during the first ever Black Fashion Week in Paris FRED DUFOUR |AFP
A Kenyan exhibits a tame lizard in the resort town of Malindi, Kenya |MARION LANGHAM
President Yoweri Museveni and his wife (centre) accompanied by the speaker of Parliament of Uganda Alitwala Kadaga at Hotel Africana for the National Prayer Breakfast FILE |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy (R) inspects the 6th Armoured Division of the Second Army at Wadi Malak in Ismailia on the occasion of Egypt's celebrations of the October War Victory anniversary, Oct 10, 2012 |XINHUA
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Kampala, Uganda, on October 9, 2012. He was attending celebrations marking Uganda's 50 years of independence from British colonial rule ISAAC KASAMANI |AFP
Madagascar Prime Minister Jean-Omer Beriziky signs the condolence book of late Algerian leader Chadli Bendjedid at the Algerian Embassy in Madagascar on Oct 10 2012 RIVONALA RAZAFISON |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenyans demonstrate along Harambee Avenue in Nairobi, Kenya. They were protesting the recent pay perks passed awarded to the Kenya Members of Parliament MWENDA MICHENI |NATION MEDIA GROUP
President Yoweri Museveni and his wife (centre) accompanied by the speaker of Parliament of Uganda Alitwala Kadaga at Hotel Africana for the National Prayer Breakfast FILE |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Female dancers at the Kampala Capital City Carnival to mark Uganda at 50 in Kampala, Uganda FILE |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Professor Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) shaking hands with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud at Villa Somalia in Mogadishu on 8 Oct 2012 ABDUKADIR KHALIF |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Members of the Al Qaeda-affiliated militant group Al Shabaab stand after giving themselves up to forces of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Garsale, Somalia on 22 Sept 2012 PHOTO |AU/UN IST
Alleged suspects of the Al-Qaeda linked group Al Shabaab guarded at a former police station by soldiers of the Somali National Army (SNA) in Kismayu, Somalia AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE |AFP
Egyptians play at a museum which gathers a collection of Egyptian and Israeli weapons used during the 1973 October War in Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 6, 2012 AMRU SALAHUDDIEN |XINHUA
Mr. Abdi Farah Shirdon alias Saaid nominated as Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud on 6 October 2012 ABDULKADIR KHALIF |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is greeted by crowds outside Khartoum airport upon his return from Addis Ababa after the signing of a security and oil deals between Sudan and South Sudan PHOTO |AFP
Ex-refugees line up to weigh their luggage before leaving for Liberia on September 2012. Liberian ex-refugees who have been living in Buduburam camp outside of Accra for years, lost their refugee status in 2012 and will return home LAURA BURKE |IRIN
A deminer in action at Bangboka airport. Bangboka serves the eastern DRC city of Kisangani GWEN DUBOURTHOUMIEU |IRIN
A fisherman in the Lomé harbour on October 12. The threat of piracy has increased drastically in Togo and neighbouring Benin DANIEL HAYDUK |IRIN
A Libyan child receives a flower after handing over a weapon during a ceremony at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli in the wake of rallies calling for the disarmament and disbanding of militias PHOTO |AFP
Benghazi residents and activists make a human chain in the shape of a "pink ribbon", lit by a central firework, during a rally to mark International Breast cancer awareness month, in the Libyan city of Benghazi ABDULLAH DOMA |AFP
Tunisian journalists hold a protest at the headquarters of the Dar Assabah press group in Tunis on October 2, 2012. They called for more freedom and demanded the expulsion of a government-appointed director general PHOTO |AFP
Tunisians take part in a demonstration to protest violence against women in front of a court in Tunis where a young Tunisian woman, allegedly raped by two policemen, was to appear 2, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
Deserted streets of Kismayu, Somalia on Oct 1 2012 after the outlawed Al Shabaab insurgents who previously occupied the port fled after being overpowered by Amisom forces PHOTO |XINHUA
Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan and other government officials cutting the independence cake at the Forecourts of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria on Monday October 1, 2012 FEMI IPAYE |XINHUA
Hatcliffe residents fetch water from a borehole in Harare, Zimbabwe. Harare has been experiencing perennial water problems leading an outbreak of waterborne diseases PHOTO |XINHUA
Dr Kizza Besigye (in checked shirt), being arrested by Police on Oct 1 2012. He was in downtown Kampala for renewed countrywide protests processions dubbed 'For God and country' organized by various activists PHOTO |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Tunisian protesters hold slogans during a demonstration to protest over the violence against women in Tunis on September 29, 2012, in support of a woman who was raped by two policemen PHOTO |AFP
Police inspect the site of a grenade blast where suspected terrorists threw a grenade inside the St. Polycarp Church in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday, leaving one child killed and others injured DING HAITAO |XINHUA
A Kenyan soldier leads others in prayer after capturing Kismayu on Sept 30 2012 PHOTO |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Zambia's First President Kenneth Kaunda being consoled by family members and mourners in Lusaka,September 28 MICHAEL CHAWE |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Somali youths play football at a local ground in Mogadishu, Somalia FAISAL ISSE |XINHUA
Bicycles taxi (boda boda) operators ferry luggage in Luanda market, western Kenya. Motorbikes are wiping out the bicycle taxi from Kenya's transport system BEDAH MENGO |XINHUA
Law enforcement officers carry away one of the tenants who was protesting the demolition of the Centenary park on Sept 27 2012 in Kampala, Uganda PHOTO |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Police officers drive past smoke from teargas in Kampala where opposition MP Semujju Nganda tried to hold a rally to address the residents about the high insecurity in the area on Sept 25 2012 ISAAC KASAMANI |AFP
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (R) has his guest book signed by Boni Yayi, President of Benin, during the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting September 25, 2012 at the United Nations in New York STAN HONDA |AFP
Police keep watch in the streets of Conakry, capital of Guinea, Sept. 24, 2012. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated following the death of a young demonstrator during a clash with police CELLOU BINANI |XINHUA
Local fishermen sit next to their boats as they watch Burundi AU forces arrive in Marka September 14, 2012 Marka city, 73 Km East of Mogadishu PHOTO |AFP
A teacher in class at Githurai Primary School in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Sept. 25, 2012. The teachers' strike was called off after the government agreed to increase their salaries SAM NDIRA |XINHUA
AU soldiers from Uganda looking at some of the weapons recovered from members of Somalia's Al Shabaab on Sept 22 2012. MOHAMED ABDIWAHAB |AFP
Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore (C) stands in front of the Monument of Independence after he laid a wreath during a ceremony marking the 52nd anniversary of independence from France, on September 22, 2012 in Bamako. PHOTO |AFP
Tires burn on September 20, 2012 in the Sondela informal settlement near the Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) mine in Rustenburg, South Africa, after residents blocked roads to keep the police out CYNTHIA MATONHODZE |AFP
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (L) stands alongside members of the Sudanese delegation after meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the presidential palace in Addis Ababa on September 23, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
American musician Darryl "D.M.C" McDaniels (C) performs with Emmanuel Jal (L) during the Peace Concert on World Peace Day at Independence Hall in Juba on September 21, 2012 PHOTO |AFP
Protestors hold a placard reading "Transparent elections, pledge for peace" in Conakry, Guinea CELLOU BINANI |AFP
Riot policemen watch protesters during a demonstration in Conakry on September 20, 2012 CELLOU BINANI |AFP
Britain's double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah makes his trademark "Mobot". |AFP
Somali soldiers stand guard at the site of suicide attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia, Sept. 20, 2012. At least 14 people were killed including three journalists and a number of Somali government officials FAISAL ISSE |XINHUA
Zambia President Michael Sata (centre) welcomes Dr Kenneth Kaunda at KK International Airport during the arrival of his late wife's body, Betty MICHAEL CHAWE |NATION MEDIA GROUP
An unlicensed forex dealer stands in the middle of parked cars at Jason Moyo Avenue after fleeing municipal police in Harare, Zimbabwe. DA WAN |XINHUA
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir looks on during the inauguration of a gold refinery in Khartoum on September 19, 2012 ASHRAF SHAZLY |AFP
Former head of French oil giant Elf Loik Le Floch-Prigent arrives at a court in Lome, Togo on September 17, 2012 to be questioned by a judge after being extradited from the Côte d'Ivoire in a fraud probe EMILE KOUTON |AFP
President Mwai Kibaki receives credentials from High Commissioner-designate of the Republic of Rwanda H.E Mrs. Yamina Karitanyi at State House, Nairobi. |PPS
The wreckage of the bus that caught fire in Uganda on Sept 18th 2012. ISA ALIGA |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Brigadier Muhoozi Kainerugaba, commander of the Ugandan Special Forces Command and son of Uganda Preisdent Yoweri Museveni PHOTO |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Pupils are seen studying on the floor due to overcapacity at the Kenya National Library Service in Nakuru, Kenya PHOTO |NATION MEDIA GROUP
Lecturers protests at the Mombasa Polytechnic University College Sqaure Garden, Kenya. GIDEON MAUNDU |NATION MEDIA GROUP
An Egyptian protester mocks the riot police during clashes near the US embassy in Cairo. PHOTO |AFP
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy meets with his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir at the presidential palace in Cairo on September 16, 2012. |AFP
An illegal African immigrant rests at a makeshift camp in the Sidi Maafa woods in Oujda, near Morocco's Mediterranean coast |AFP
South African police bars firebrand Julius Malema (2nd L) from addressing around 2,000 striking workers at the strife-torn Lonmin Marikana on September 17, 2012. |AFP
Demonstrators hold a placard during march by protesting miners in Rustenburg on September 16, 2012 after a security crackdown in the restive platinum belt in South Africa. |AFP
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai holds hands with his wife Elizabeth Macheka after exchanging vows at a customary law ceremony during their wedding held in Harare on September 15, 2012 |AFP
An Orma tribesman is pictured at a Red Cross IDP camp in the Tana River Delta |AFP
French delegate minister in charge of Francophone affaires Yamina Benguigui (L), sits with Senegalese culture and tourism minister Youssou Ndour on September 14, 2012 at the ministry in Dakar. |AFP |
An Egyptian protester grabs a tear gas canister to throw back towards the riot police during clashes near the US embassy in Cairo on September 13, 2012. |AFP
Police used tear gas as they clashed with a crowd protesting outside the US embassy in Cairo against a film mocking Islam. |AFP
A Somalia inteligence police shoots at a man believed to be an Islamist rebel who attacked the Mogadishu hotel on September 12, 2012 |AFP
Finance Deputy Minister Miles Sampa (fourth from left) and other officials celebrate the launch of Zambia’s US$750million-worth bond on Wall Street in New York on Thursday 13 September, 2012. |Chibaula Silwamba| |GRZ
Newly elected Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur gives an interview to AFP at his office in Tripoli |AFP
An armed man waves his rifle as buildings and cars are engulfed in flames after being set on fire inside the US consulate compound in Benghazi. |AFP
A vehicle and the surrounding area are engulfed in flames after it was set on fire inside the US consulate compound in Benghazi late on September 11, 2012. |AFP
Newly elected Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mahmud (C) leaves the Jazeera hotel on September 12, 2012 after a bomb blast outside the venue, in Mogadishu. |AFP
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika (C) meets with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani (R) in Algiers, Algeria, on Sept. 11, 2012. |XINHUA
Julius Malema (C), arrives on September 11, 2012 at the Gold Fields Driefontein mine in Carletonville, west of Johannesburg. |AFP
Somalia's newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud looks on in Mogadishu on September 10, 2012. The 56-year-old lecturer got the majority of votes in a second round run-off, beating outgoing president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. |AFP
A Tunisian football supporter and a Sierra Leonean football supporter interact during the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying football match between Sierra Leone and Tunisia on September 8, 2012 at the National Stadium in Freetown. |AFP
Atong Demach was crowned Miss World Africa 2012 in the just concluded Miss World competition in Ordos, China. She is from Bor, South Sudan. |AFP
Thousands of South African mine workers walk on September 10, 2012 to the Lonmin mine in Marikana to try and stop other miners from going to work. |AFP
South Africa's Robin Peterson (L) is congratulated during the second 20-20 international cricket match between England and South Africa at Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester, north-west England, on September 10, 2012. |AFP
Ghana's newly elected President, John Dramani Mahama (L) and his Togo counterpart, Faure Gnassingbe Essozimna (R) wave to a crowd at the Niamtougou airport in Lome, Togo on Sept 6 2012. |XINHUA
A Libyan security officer prepares to burn seized hashish in Tripoli, Libya, Sept. 4, 2012. Libyan police incinerated about 1.45 tonnes of drugs on Tuesday. |XINHUA
A Libyan security officer walks past the scene of incineration of seized hashish in Tripoli, Libya, Sept. 4, 2012. Police incinerated about 1.45 tonnes of drugs on Tuesday. |XINHUA

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Kenya's President off to Addis for AU summit
Uhuru Kenyatta to make a brief stop over in South Sudan
Another politician for the Kenya Cabinet
Former MP Kazungu Kambi named Secretary nominee, Labour, Social Security and Services
Ethiopia's anti-female cut crusader honoured
Activist Bogaletch Gebre wins $580,000 prize for her campaign against FGM

Equatorial Guinea to finance key Liberian projects
The oil-rich State signs MoU to fund expansion of Monrovia airport plus housing units
Crowds mourn literary giant Achebe at hometown funeral
President Goodluck Jonathan along with foreign dignitaries attend the burial amid tight security.
19 killed in Niger suicide bomb strike
Attackers target a military camp and a French-run uranium mine in two towns

South African police site hacked
Anonymous people download the details of whistle-blowers
Zambia,South Africa resolve Yellow fever standoff
The two countries had strained relations over migration procedures
Mugabe signs new Zimbabwe constitution into law
New charter paves the way for fresh elections

President Morsy appeals for unity
Leader's tenure marked by deep political polarisation and violent unrest
Sudanese leaders to hold talks in Addis Ababa
Presidents Kiir and Bashir set for summit on insecurity and Abyei impasse
Tunisian man dies of new coronavirus
Health ministry says the 66-year-old had visited Saudi Arabia, which is badly affected by the disease

UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrives in Goma
The eastern DRC city is a flashpoint of fighting between rebels and government forces
Equatorial Guinea to join Lusophone
President Obiang Nguema announces linguistic shift on a visit to Angola
Congo rebels call truce for Ban Ki-moon visit
The UN chief is accompanied by the World Bank boss in the landmark trip

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LEAD STORIES

Mozambique residents 'hurt by' Rio Tinto and Vale mines

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Special Report

Tough life for Eritreans two decades after independencePosted 18 hours ago

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PHOTO GALLERY

Video Gallery

Most Popular

Blog Post

Africans can show wasteful world how to preserve every morsel of food

Blog Post

Kisumu, where some folks are eating well, while others are going hungry

Blog Post

AU at 50: A hollow show of might

PROGRESS

AFRICA REGIONAL DIGEST

HOT CARTOONS

Book Your Flight Tickets

Tough life for Eritreans two decades after independence
Posted 18 hours ago

South Africa rising? Hope in the townships
Posted 1 day ago

The AU at 50: More miss than hit?
Posted 3 days ago