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 In 2010, Prince Harry visited Mozambique to highlight the issue of landmines - the last has now been cleared

Mozambique declared free of landmines

Mozambique has removed its last known landmine after two decades of work to get rid of the explosives.

Close to 171,000 landmines were removed, according to the Halo Trust, a British charity that led the clearance.

The landmines were left after a long fight for independence followed by a civil war. Many were planted up until the 1990s.

 An officer said on state television that a new government would be formed

Burkina Faso 'coup': Shooting after officers dissolve government

Presidential guard officers in Burkina Faso have announced the dissolution of the transitional government.

A new "national democratic council" had taken control to end the "deviant regime", Lt-Col Mamadou Bamba said on state television.

Interim parliament speaker Cheriff Sy said the move was "clearly a coup".

Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe's Mugabe reads wrong speech, opponents question his fitness

Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe read out the wrong speech at the opening of parliament on Tuesday, an error which the main opposition quickly used to question whether Africa's oldest leader was still of a sound mind.

Mugabe, the only ruler the southern African nation has known since it was recognized in 1980, delivered the same speech he gave on August 25, pinning his hopes on China to help revive Zimbabwe's struggling economy. Mugabe finished the speech without interruption and his spokesman blamed officials, adding the president would read the correct speech at a later date.

Image copyright: Gerald & Buff Corsi/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.

Snakebite antidote is running out

The world is running out of one of the most effective snakebite treatments, putting tens of thousands of lives at risk, warn experts.

Medicins Sans Frontieres says new stocks of Fav-Afrique, which neutralises 10 different snakebites that can occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, are desperately needed.

The last batch will expire in June 2016 and there is no comparable replacement.

Chad's ex-leader carried into court

Chad's ex-leader Hissene Habre has been held down by masked security officers in the courtroom at the resumption of his trial for war crimes in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

Mr Habre had to be forcibly brought to court having refused to attend.

He disrupted proceedings, shouting at the clerk who was reading out a list of names of some of his alleged victims.

Mr Habre is accused of ordering the killing of 40,000 people during his rule in the 1980s, charges he denies.

• Mr Emmanuel Leslie Addae, Curator for TEDxAccra

Accra to host Africa innovations awards

The African Innovations Awards (AIA) will host its first ever African Innovations award gala night during the 2nd Annual TEDxAccra event in Accra, Ghana.

The competition will explore cutting-edge ideas, tools, information and technologies that can help improve the lives of the people of the African continent.

The African Innovations Award submission process will run from September 1 to November 30, 2015.

Egyptian student Mariam Malak says she's a victim of corruption and fraud.

The star pupil who scored zero in all her exams

Thousands rallied behind a top-ranked student who not only failed her exams but was given the lowest marks possible in a potential case of injustice and corruption.

Her expectations were high - and rightfully so. Mariam Malak had achieved nearly perfect marks in previous years, results which made her one of Egypt's top performing high school students. When final exam marks were announced, she eagerly scanned the list top scores, but to her surprise, her name was not on it. Still, she was still confident she'd done enough to get into a medical school - until she saw her results, and fainted.

"I was completely shocked," Malak told BBC Trending. "I couldn't hear anyone, I couldn't speak. I thought how can that happen? How can I get zero?"

Nigeria's President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo declare assets

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari owns five homes, two mud huts and has $150,000 in his bank account, the presidency said late on Thursday, as the head of state and his deputy honoured a promise to declare their assets to demonstrate transparency.

Buhari, a 72-year-old former military ruler, owed his March election victory in large part to his campaign promise to fight corruption which he estimates has seen $150 billion being stolen from state coffers in the past decade.

Taking public office in Nigeria has traditionally been seen as an opportunity for officials to enrich themselves.

Some of Nigeria's soldiers tried for mutiny in recent times

Nigeria Army pardons, reinstates 3,032

Following recommendations of a committee instituted by Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, to review recent disciplinary cases in the army, especially of soldiers in the defunct Operation Zaman Lafiya, the Nigerian Army has pardoned and reinstated a total of 3,032 soldiers out of the 5,000 that appeared before the committee.

The recall of the soldiers came just as the army authorities vowed that the battle against insurgency will be concluded in three months as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Addressing the media in Abuja, Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said: “The reinstated soldiers are those whose offences bordered on cases of discipline, regimentation and justice.

Zimbabwe minister Martin Dinha faces corruption charges

A Zimbabwean minister is facing corruption charges over allegations he extorted a white farmer in order to protect him from eviction.
Martin Dinha, the minister of state for Mashonaland Central province, allegedly received US$60,000 (£39,000) from tobacco farmer Guy Frank Dollar.

DR Congo's Ntaganda tells ICC he is not 'The Terminator'

Former Democratic Republic of Congo rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda has told the International Criminal Court that he is not an "infamous killer", but a soldier who protected civilians.
This is the first time Gen Ntaganda, nicknamed "The Terminator", has spoken since he surrendered in 2013.
The prosecution alleged at the opening of his trial on Wednesday that his troops murdered and raped civilians.
He denied all 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 

The 41-year-old fought for different rebel groups as well as the armies of both DR Congo and Rwanda.
"I have been described as 'The Terminator', as an infamous killer, but that is not me,'' Gen Ntaganda said on the second day of his trial, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Rwandan-born Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda is seen during his first appearance before judges of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, 26 March 2013.

 


"I have

Nescafé’s Get Started Challenge finalists announced

Accra, Ghana– Nescafé announced the four finalists of the 2015 Get Started Challenge, an initiative that aims to inspire young African entrepreneurs to generate innovative ideas that will create value for society.

Between April and June, almost 2,000 of ideas in the areas of technology, health, art and culture, community development and the environment, were collected from 18 to 30 year olds across Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon.

  • After a rigorous selection process, the public voted for the top four entries on the brand’s Facebook page:
    Dare Adu, a young man from Nigeria, aims to help widows and orphans to become financially independent through a healthy snack business.
    Moïse Compaoré, from Burkina Faso, wants to help reduce the number of avoidable deaths by providing key medicines to patients in emergency wards.
    Ivorian Pierre Nahoa intends to create a platform providing local language courses in Côte d'I
Sierra Leone was reporting more than 500 new cases a week at the height of the outbreak

New Ebola death confirmed in Sierra Leone

A woman who recently died in northern Sierra Leone has tested positive for Ebola.It comes as a setback to the country's effort to eradicate the deadly disease.

Stellenbosch students say Afrikaans language is favoured at their school and that its use promotes racism.

South African students protest over use of Afrikaans

Hundreds of students at Stellenbosch University in South Africa have protested against the Afrikaans language being favoured at their school, alleging that it promotes racism.

ICRC said it had suspended its operations in August in Yemen's second city Aden after gunmen robbed its main office [Getty Images]

Red Cross workers shot dead in northern Yemen

Two Red Cross aid workers have been shot dead in northern Yemen by unknown assailants, the humanitarian organisation said.A spokesperson for the International Committee for the Red Cross told Al Jazeera the workers, Yemeni nationals, were on their way from a mission in the city of Saada to the main office in the capital Sanaa on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle.

Congolese warlord Bosco 'Terminator' Ntaganda on trial

Former Congolese warlord Bosco "Terminator" Ntaganda has pleaded not guilty before the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he is being tried for war crimes, including the rape of child soldiers within his own rebel force.The former leader of rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who turned himself in two years ago, faces 18 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at his trial, which opened at The Hague on Wednesday.

Al-Shabab claimed to have killed dozens in an attack on AMISOM troops in July [File: EPA]

Al-Shabab claims 'scores' killed in attack on AU troops

Al-Shabab fighters in Somalia have killed "scores" of African Union troops in an attack south of capital, Mogadishu, a spokesman for the armed group told Al Jazeera.The attack in Janaale, in the country's Lower Shabelle province, early on Tuesday was confirmed by residents, but an exact casualty figure was not immediately available.

Boko Haram has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced 1.5 million since 2009 [AP]

'Boko Haram fighters on horseback' kill villagers

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen on horseback have shot dead nearly 80 people in attacks on three villages in Nigeria's restive northeast at the weekend, a vigilante and residents have said.

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