Africa News

Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 4:32 a.m. CONAKRY, Guinea - A United Nations human rights official says a three-member U.N. commission has arrived in this West African nation to investigate the September massacre in which troops fatally shot pro-democracy demonstrators and raped women in broad daylight.

Namibia's longtime ruling party is expected to return to power in Friday elections but its hold on this desert nation may weaken with the emergence of a new opposition party.

A journalist known for his critical stance toward Tunisia's government was sentenced to six months in prison Thursday for what his lawyer called a trumped-up assault charge.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has asked judges to allow him to launch a formal investigation into post-election in Kenya.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday appointed a new team to monitor Zimbabwe's troubled unity government accord, ending former president Thabo Mbeki's mediation role, his office said.

The United Nations is to open the most important UN meeting on South-South cooperation in decades as countries from the South assume leading roles in decisions on hot global issues ranging from economic recovery to food security and climate change, the world body announced Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's infant mortality rate has risen by 20 percent over the past two decades as children under five succumb to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and pneumonia, a joint government and United Nations survey showed on Tuesday.

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, freed after 15 months of captivity in war-torn Somalia, says she was kept isolated in a dark room, beaten and tortured, so she dreamed of walking through Vancouver's Stanley Park to stay sane and not lose hope.

Security force costing $1bn a year has not defeated Rwandan Hutu rebels or halted plunder of lucrative minerals, experts find Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda soldiers in Lushebere, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Gaddafi 'to mediate' football row Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has agreed to mediate between Algeria and Egypt in an increasingly heated row over football, state media says.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has approved the South African Broadcasting Corporation's application for a government guaranteed bailout of R1.4 billion.

Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota has described calls for former president Thabo Mbeki and those who served under him to be charged with genocide as an irresponsible and dangerous distortion of the history of the country, the SABC reported.

It's the talk show talked about around the world. Oprah Winfrey's announcement last week that she will end her daytime TV program after its 25th season in 2011 made headlines from London to Johannesburg.

The country's three main political parties have finally begun discussing crucial outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement to try to end the long running dispute between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.

Former leader of the National Integrationist Front, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, puts on his headset at the start of his trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Nov.

University of Alberta graduate student Jennifer Heys wants to make her message clear: there needs to be more education in Ugandan communities about contraception.

The bullet hit mother and son as they walked through Somalia's capital. She felt a sharp pain in her palm.

Israel and Hamas are close to a deal to swap 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held for more than three years by the Islamic militant group, a Palestinian familiar with the talks said Monday.

JOHANNESBURG, 21 November 2009 - South Africans are dying younger and in greater numbers, and HIV/AIDS is to blame, according to a report released this week by the South African Institute of Race Relations.

In this photo taken on Nov. 17, 2009, Jenni Williams, left, and Magodonga Mahlangu, right, pose for a photo at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Right in Washington.