African news : breaking news, features, analysis

Malawi's newly elected President Peter Mutharika has said he is offering an "olive branch" to ex-leader Joyce Banda after winning disputed elections.

At least 14 people have been killed in a bomb attack on a bar that was screening a televised football match in north-eastern Nigeria, police say.

ECOWAS says it has no intention of sending troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. ECOWAS Chairman, President John Dramani Mahama, who made this known at a press conference at the end of the one-day extraordinary session in Accra yesterday, said already, the Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan had assured his colleagues in the sub-regional group that he was " doing everything possible" to resolve the burning issue.

The march music stops and the camera screens come to life as 70 small black cannons fire a shower of golden confetti high above the crowds. Tumbling through the air, the shiny plume swirls in a fleeting dance, covering the ground in a sprawling blanket of gold stars.

It's a sunny April afternoon at the University of Rwanda College of Education in Kigali. Some students huddle in groups conversing in hushed voices; others hurry between buildings carrying books. Exams begin in a week.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to wage a "total war" against militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

International medical aid teams are to arrive in eastern Sierra Leone to try to deal with an outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus.

Boko Haram terrorists, Tuesday, killed 35 persons comprising 14 soldiers, 11 policemen and 10 civilians in separate attacks in Buni Yadi, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State and Chinene village in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

ABUJA—Forty-three days after more than 200 school girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State by insurgent sect, Boko Haram, the Military High Command, yesterday, had cheering news for the traumatised parents as it said it has located where the girls were being held hostage but would not use force to rescue them.

A police officer attached to the Anti-Stock theft unit in Malti, Garbatula was Tuesday found dead, hanging from a tree at Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

Nairobi Central Police Commander Mr Paul Wanjama said they could not divulge his identity as they had not notified his next of kin.

The police retrieved a police certificate of appointment, an Identity card and a Automated Teller Machine card belonging to a Mr Maina from the body of the man.

CAUSE OF DEATH

Mr Wanjama stated that they were yet to establish the cause of death but preliminary investigations strongly indicated that it was a suicide.

He added that the circumstances surrounding his death were still unclear as he was found unaccompanied.

“We are yet to investigate the matter fully but we have confirmed that an officer with the names in the documents found in his possession, is a police officer attached to the Anti-Stock Theft Unit,” he said.

He added that

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Monday, held that in line with 81(2) and section 84(1), (2), (3), (4) and (7) of the country's 1999 Constitution, as amended, the President, has no power to approve funds for the remuneration, salaries, allowances and recurrent expenditures of the judiciary.

A top Nigerian military official believes he knows the whereabouts of girls kidnapped last month, but he says the nation's military will not use force to try to rescue them, a state news report said Monday.

African diplomatic missions in Beijing, China have jointly celebrated this year's African Union (AU) Day with a call on China and Africa to continue to work together to balance the development of the world.

Millions of voters are casting ballots across Egypt to choose a new president, for the second time in two years.

The trial of the son of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and dozens of other former regime officials resumed in Tripoli on Sunday, in continued defiance of the International Criminal Court that last week rejected Libya's plea to try Saif al-Islam Gadhafi domestically.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has been sworn into office for a second term, following his party's victory at the polls.

Malawi's President Joyce Banda says she is annulling this week's general election - in which she was a candidate - because of voting "irregularities".

Smoke and flames rose from Somalia's parliament building in Mogadishu after militants launched an attack Saturday. People could be seen lying on the ground, as ambulances pulled up.