Algeria’s former President Bouteflika dies at 84

The leader of Guinea’s recent coup told a delegation of West African leaders he was not concerned about new sanctions imposed by the regional bloc to pressure a swift transition to constitutional rule, the junta’s spokesman said on Saturday.

Mali has the right to seek military support from whoever it wants, the prime minister said, after France and other foreign powers expressed alarm at a report that Bamako was approaching Russian mercenaries for assistance.

Guinea's military junta said on Friday it would not bow to regional pressure and allow President Alpha Conde, detained since his overthrow on September 5, to leave the country.

 Tunisian security forces detained a member of parliament on Friday, his lawyer said, amid growing concern for rights after the president seized governing powers in July in a move his foes call a coup.

The Pan African Parliament (PAP) will resume its election of bureau officials in November, five months after chaos inside the house forced the suspension of the process, PAP's clerk of the assembly Vipya Harawa has announced.

West Africa's main regional bloc on Thursday imposed sanctions against the junta in Guinea and those slowing Mali's post-coup transition - its toughest response yet to a run of military takeovers.

West Africa’s main regional bloc imposed sanctions against the junta in Guinea on Thursday and demanded they return the country to constitutional rule within six months, the president of the bloc’s commission said.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called for vaccine production transparency - saying poor and developing countries are not receiving enough COVID-19 vaccinations.

West African leaders will meet on Thursday to decide how to respond to the coup in Guinea and how to pressure the junta leaders to return the country to constitutional rule, Ghana's Foreign Minister said.

The United Nations Secretariat has ordered the repatriation of Gabonese peacekeepers serving in its mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) after becoming aware of allegations of sexual abuse against five girls in that country.

Africa has lost close to 90 billion dollars a year to illicit financial flows according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates.

The Spanish Coast Guard dispatched rescue vessels to help six boats of migrants drifting off the Canary Islands on Wednesday amid a surge in seaborne migration that has seen thousands make the dangerous crossing from Africa to the Atlantic archipelago.

Efforts to develop an African base for COVID-19 vaccine production will focus on trying to replicate Moderna's (MRNA.O) shot, but a lack of progress in talks with the US company mean the project will take time, a senior WHO official told Reuters.

Less than 3.5% of Africans are vaccinated against COVID-19, far short of its official target of 60%, John Nkengasong, director of Africa's Centers for Disease Control, said on Tuesday.

Tunisia's President Kais Saied said on Tuesday he would not do deals with those he described as"traitors", an apparent reference to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the biggest in the suspended parliament.

The African Union (AU) says it's increased its target to vaccinate Africa's population to 70% coverage by the end of next year. This comes after a two-day meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine alliance: GAVI, and other stakeholders in Geneva.

China gave its backing on Tuesday to a Congolese provincial government's order last month banning six small Chinese-owned mining companies operating illegally.

 Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday for talks on Israeli-Palestinian relations and bilateral ties in the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to Egypt for a decade.

Seventy-five children who were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria's northwestern state of Zamfara were freed after their abductors came under pressure from a military crackdown, a state official said on Sunday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Sub-Saharan Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti says Africa loses $88 billion each year through illicit financial flows which could have been injected into the continent's economies for sustainable development.

A Somali asylum-seeker was arrested by Italian police after he allegedly stabbed four women and a six-year-old child in the tourist town of Rimini on Saturday night, ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.

World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, says the COVID-19 pandemic has helped some African leaders realise opportunities for agency and self-sufficiency.

African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) has delivered 108 000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Ethiopia as part of the first monthly shipment of Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The United States is gravely concerned about fighting in parts of Ethiopia, the US State Department said on Friday, urging the Ethiopian government and rebellious forces from the Tigray region to start immediate negotiations to address the conflict.

Tunisia's powerful labour union and the biggest party in its parliament on Saturday both signalled their opposition to any attempt by the president to suspend the constitution and offer his own version unilaterally.

Political analyst, Lebohang Pheko says security forces across the African continent should be aware of the impact of international terror incidents, as local militant groups are likely to draw inspiration from attacks overseas.

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Friday said the country would not tolerate any foreign interference as he faces rising pressure from Western governments to restore constitutional order after seizing power in July.

Former Zimbabwean first lady, Grace Mugabe has lost an appeal to keep her late husband former president Robert Mugabe buried at his homestead in Kutama.

A delegation from West Africa’s main political and economic bloc arrived in the Guinean capital on Friday in hopes of steering the junta that ousted President Alpha Conde towards a civilian-led, constitutional regime.

Somalia's two most powerful leaders were locked in a standoff on Wednesday after they named different men to head the intelligence service of the politically unstable nation in the Horn of Africa.