SmallShop....Africa News

Claude Gueant, chief of staff at the French presidency, met Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Sunday in Rwandas capital Kigali to restore diplomatic ties. Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister, Rosemary Museminali, told reporters the move was the start of a process of normalizing relations.

Equatorial Guinea will hold presidential elections on Sunday, and its leader of thirty years predicts he will win almost 100 per cent of the vote. Equatorial Guinea had a low international profile until large oil reserves were discovered in 1994. Since then, its per capita income has expanded to more than $30,000 a year,. making it the richest nation in sub-Saharan Africa. But living conditions for most people in the country remain harsh. Many of them survive on less than a dollar a day. And the life expectancy for the average citizen is just 50 years. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege sat down with President Obiang in the capital Malabo in his first interview with foreign media in several years.

Zimbabwe's failing economy, along with the high number of parents dying from HIV-Aids, are being blamed for an alarming rise in child sexual abuse.

Zimbabwe has launched a drive to find out who is getting paid by the state and whether their jobs are legitimate. The bid to reform its civil service comes amid claims thousands of people are being paid for jobs they do not do, in exchange for their political support.

An after-school club in Egypt is teaching its students how to think creatively in order to give them a better future.

Two people have died and 25 others have been isolated following a cholera outbreak at Kamiti prison.

One police officer for every two football fans have been deployed for the World Cup play-off between Egypt and Algeria. The teams will meet in Omdurman in Sudan on Wednesday for a place in the finals in South Africa. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall reports from the capital Khartoum on the build up to a match charged with emotion.

An estimated 50,000 people are likely to be displaced by the Sudanese government's proposed Merowe Dam on the River Nile The government says it is an essential project to counter an acute power shortage. But the Nubian tribe of northern Sudan, who live in the path of the dam project, think differently.

Thousands of Algerians held a spontaneous rally in the capital Algiers in support of their national football team, which degenerated into attacks on Egyptian businesses.

Thousands of people displaced by fighting in Somalia are ending up in the relatively peaceful neighbouring territory, Somaliland.

South Africa's chief of police has told Sky News his officers should kill criminals if they are under attack. The country has one of the worst crime rates in the world and is due to host the World Cup in just over six months time. Lisa Holland reports from Johannesburg.

Somaliland has been hailed as a beacon of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa region since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991.

Egypt has been awash with rumour this week over who will be the country's next president. The current leader, 81 year old Hosni Mubarak, hasn't ruled out running for yet another term. But if he doesn't stand, it's being increasingly suggested that his son will.