SmallShop....Africa News

Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in Kigali at the begining of the first visit to Rwanda by a French president since the 1994 genocide...

WEST AFRICA - Leaders from the Economic Community of West African States met in Nigeria to put an end to the political instability in the region. The need for the meeting was demonstrated just two days later, with a military coup in Niger.

Talks to end the long-running conflict are taking place in Qatar but will a permanent agreement be reached?

Mohamed El Baradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has returned to his native Egypt saying he wants to serve the country. Could he become the next president of Egypt?

Calls for the introduction of new laws to impose harsh penalties against those practicing female genital mutilation are gaining momentum even as it emerges that thousands of girls are still being subjected to the practice in various parts of the country.

Egypt's top archaeologist has revealed Tutankhamun had a cleft palate, club foot and died of complications from a broken leg, exacerbated by malaria.

Three thousand years after his death, scientists believe they have worked out what killed Egypt's best-known Pharaoh. After conducting extensive DNA analysis on King Tutankhamen's remains, researchers believe they've uncovered details of his lineage, and found that he died of one of the world's most prevalent modern-day diseases: malaria. Divya Gopalan reports.

A constitutional leadership crisis threatens to tear Nigeria apart. With the elected president, Umaru Yar'Adua absent since November the parliament has handed power to Goodluck Jonathan, the vice-president.

Many refugees are saying that they cannot go back to the DR Congo because they fear government forces and rebel militia groups, who the refugees claim are attacking people from their ethnic groups. DR Congo's massive mineral wealth has drawn in neighbouring countries into the conflict, exacerbating the refugee crisis.

Over 4000 Ugandan supporters of the anti-gay bill demonstrated in Ugandas eastern town of Jinja against US president Barrack Obama and all those who support homosexuality. The protesters denounced United States President Barack Obamas attack on the anti gay bill advising him to leave Uganda alone

Somalia's spiralling instability has reached the capital, Mogadishu, as at least 17 people were killed and 61 injured in fighting between government forces and opposition fighters. But just who is fuelling the conflict this time around and is the country becoming a battleground in the fight against al-Qaeda? Inside Story investigates.

Victims of the 1984 Wagalla massacre are now breaking the silence demanding for justice for the more than three thousand people alleged to have been killed by Kenyan security. The major impediment in their struggle is the indemnity act and the current chairmanship of the truth, justice and reconciliation commission

In South Africa, preparations are in high gear four months ahead of football's World Cup being held for the first time in Africa. Billions of dollars worth of improvements to the country's infrastructure are complete and other works are under construction. VOA's Scott Bobb has this progress report from the southeastern city of Durban.

When Nelson Mandela walked free from prison 20 years ago this week, South Africa's black majority was eager for social change and improvements in their quality of life. The oppressive apartheid regime was on its way out, and in the townships, hopes for change were high. But as Haru Mutasa reports, many are still waiting for a better tomorrow.

Within a small unassuming corner of Accra, the capital of Ghana, lives a community of athletes and spectators with a common obsession: boxing. Africanews takes you to Bukom and Jamestown, the heart of boxing in Ghana. Internationally renowned boxers like Professor Azuma Nelson and Joshua Clottey learned to fight in one of the over twenty boxing clubs over there.

After an overnight exchange of mortar shells between Somali government forces and rebels that killed at least nine civilians and injured 14 others, a military officer the from government side defected to the Islamist group al Shabaab with more than 60 guns. Residents said government shells targeted houses occupied by al Shabaab members in the north of Mogadishu.

The body of the Kenyan volunteer who perished in the Haiti earthquake last month has finally been brought home. United Nations staff, friends and relatives including regional development minister Fred Gumo were among those who were at the airport to receive the body. Niva Odwori is the only Kenyan confirmed dead in the tragedy that left over 200,000 people dead.

Because South Africa is a developing country, experts believe that it should have a Competition Act that can develop as the country grows. The Act needs to tackle the aims of seeking to encourage competition that is appropriate to the characteristics of the South African economy, says law firm Webber Wentzel partner: competition law practice group Daryl Dingley.

The Obama Administration called Uganda to task as the African nation considers a law that would criminalise homosexuality. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she had expressed U.S. concerns about the bill to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

South Sudan's authorities are confiscating all civilian weapons - including rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers, and rocket propelled grenades - as part of a massive disarmament program. South Sudan is less then a year away from a referendum on independence - but violence and instability in the region are increasing. Last year more then two thousand people were killed in tribal conflicts and around 350 thousand have been displaced. Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from Jonglei - a state flooded with weapons, on how the South Sudan's disarmament is crucial for future stability.

A man was stoned to death by a mob in Kiambu when he tried to rob woman. Police are still searching for his two accomplices who escaped with the womans handbag. In Nairobi a woman was found unconscious after she had been drugged along Moi Avenue.

AFRICA CUP: Egyptian football fans were ecstatic after their country's national team won a record seventh Africa Cup of Nations title. A France24 report.