JOHANNESBURG -— Africa is rising not only on the growth charts of economists.

The United Nations condemned human rights crimes committed in northern Mali by “rebels, terrorist groups and other organised transnational crime networks”.

A Central African Republic attack helicopter opened fire on rebels advancing on the capital on Friday, breaking up their column.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has granted amnesty to hundreds of young Somali pirates to reduce the threat to shipping in the seas off the Horn of Africa state, a senior regional official said.

President Jacob Zuma launched an anti-rape campaign targeting South Africa’s 10 million schoolchildren on Thursday.

Guinean President Alpha Conde appealed for calm on Friday after rival ethnic gangs fought with knives and truncheons in the capital.

The ANC in South Africa’s richest province backed Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe last week as its choice for leader of the ruling party, keeping him in the hunt for a position that would tee him up to be president of Africa’s biggest economy.

Africa’s democratic transition is back in the spotlight. The concern is no longer the stranglehold of autocrats, but the hijacking of the democratic process by tribal politics.

Uganda’s practice of pardoning and then integrating into its military captured or surrendered members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has come in for criticism by civilians.

AU lifted Mali’s suspension from the bloc on Wednesday, saying an African plan to help the country claw back territory from Islamist militants would be ready within weeks.

A top human rights lawyer in Equatorial Guinea has gone missing, fuelling concern that he has been illegally detained, a rights group has said.

At The Village Restaurant, a popular open-air hangout for Mogadishu’s returning diaspora community, a charcoal-powered Italian espresso machine brews Somalia’s best cappuccino.

UN deputy humanitarian chief Catherine Bragg wrapped up her five-day visit to southern Africa last week.

The Lilongwe Magistrate Court on Wednesday granted bail to online journalist, Justice Mponda, who was arrested on Monday for allegedly insulting President Joyce Banda

South African President Jacob Zuma has called on workers to return to their jobs after a series of violent strikes.

Rwanda’s defence minister is effectively commanding a rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN experts say.

CONAKRY — Two Guinean opposition ministers have resigned from President Alpha Conde’s government after their party decided to break ties with the ruling party following a violent crackdown of opposition protest.

JOHANNESBURG — South African bullion miner Gold Fields said about a quarter of its 46 000 workers had been on a wildcat strike since Wednesday evening in the latest labour unrest to hit the mining industry of Africa’s top economy.

CIVIL society in Zambia has warned the country’s president, Michael Sata, against copying the leadership style of his Zimbabwean counterpart, President Robert Mugabe, as this could have dire consequences for the country.

LUANDA — Angolans voted on Friday in a one-sided election expected to prolong President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ nearly 33 years in power, but many citizens said they wanted to see a more equal share-out of wealth in Africa’s No. 2 oil producer.

The police killing of 34 striking platinum miners in the bloodiest security operation since the end of white rule cut to the quick of South Africa’s psyche on Friday, with searching questions asked of its post-apartheid soul.

Reuters BAMAKO— Mali’s interim president returned on Friday from weeks, convalescing abroad after he was beaten up by a mob, facing pressure to form a new government and authorise a foreign military intervention against rebels in the north.

Reuters CAIRO — Egypt’s new cabinet will be announced on Thursday, state media said yesterday, ending what was seen as a long wait for a new government, following the swearing-in of President Mohamed Mursi three weeks ago.

Reuters

BAMAKO — Al Qaeda-linked Mali Islamists armed with Kalashnikovs and pick-axes began destroying prized mausoleums of saints in the UNESCO-listed northern city of Timbuktu on yesterday in front of shocked locals, witnesses said.

Reuters

KHARTOUM — Sudan has agreed to allow humanitarian aid to civilians in rebel-controlled areas of two war-torn border states where aid groups have warned of an impending famine, the African Union and Sudanese state media said on yesterday.

CAIRO — Mohamed Mursi became Egypt’s first Islamist, civilian and freely elected president yesterday, reaping the fruits of last year’s popular revolt against Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, although the military remains determined to call the shots.