Ivory Coast's rebel soldiers apologise to president
Abidjan - At least 8 400 Ivory Coast soldiers who mutinied in January apologised to President Alassane Ouattara in an orchestrated ceremony that was aired on national television late on Thursday.
Organised without the knowledge of the press, the event - broadcast after it took place at the presidential palace - signalled a dramatic end to the protest movement.
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Somalia strikes
new international pact to stabilise ravaged state
London - Somalia struck a new stability pact with the international community on Thursday, aimed at steadying the fragile state by bolstering its security, staving off famine and rebooting its economy.
New President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed hailed a "historic day for Somalia" after concluding the pact between Mogadishu and the international network propping up the crisis-wracked country at a conference in London.
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Zimbabwe's 'odd
couple' seeking to oust Mugabe
Harare - One is a female former teenage guerrilla fighter who became President Robert Mugabe's closest ally, the other is a battle-hardened opposition leader often dismissed as a busted flush.
But, despite their differences, Joice Mujuru and Morgan Tsvangirai are in talks to lead a united opposition alliance to try to unseat Mugabe in Zimbabwe's much-anticipated election next year.
The president, 93 and increasingly frail, has vowed to stand again to extend his rule, which began in 1980 and has been dominated by economic collapse and political repression.
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Mugabe 'not
asleep in meetings, he's protecting eyes', says aide
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 93, is not asleep when he closes his eyes for long periods in public events but is resting his eyes from bright lights, his spokesperson said on Thursday.
Mugabe has regularly had his eyes closed at recent appearances, including when he appeared on a discussion panel at last week's World Economic Forum meeting in South Africa.
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Wounded author Kuki
Gallmann vows return to Kenyan ranch
Nairobi - Blood was already pooling in the seat of her car when a second bullet tore through the driver's door and thumped into Kuki Gallmann's abdomen.
"It felt like a punch," the 73-year-old author and conservationist said this week, speaking for the first time since being wounded a fortnight ago by suspected illegal herders on her 88 000-acre ranch in Kenya's central highlands.
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Egypt cleric
suspended, faces trial for non-Muslim remarks
Cairo - An Egyptian Muslim cleric has been barred from preaching and is set to appear before a court for saying Christians and Jews followed corrupt religions and would not go to heaven.
Salem Abdel Galil, a former religious endowments ministry official, had made the remarks on a television show he hosts, sparking a backlash in a country reeling from deadly church bombings by Islamist extremists.
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Gambia's 'broken' justice system struggles with victims' ire
Banjul - Gambians want swift justice for the crimes of fallen dictator Yahya Jammeh's regime but the new government faces an uphill battle to jail the most prolific abusers.
Silenced for 22 years, victims shot or tortured by Jammeh's security services are now speaking out, along with families whose loved ones have been pulled from recently found unmarked graves.
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