Nigeria's largest rebel militia group declared a 60-day ceasefire Wednesday, following the release by the government of their leader.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced the ceasefire, starting Wednesday, in a statement after the government in Abuja released Henry Okah.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Niger Friday to back a deal by French firm Areva to exploit uranium deposits in the north of the West African country.

Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive officer of Areva, is travelling with Sarkozy on the whistle-stop tour that saw him also visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo.

Lauvergeon on Thursday signed an agreement with the Congolese Minister of Mines, Martin Kabwelulu, on the prospecting and mining of DR Congo's sizeable uranium reserves.

Sudan's Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi was freed after two months of imprisonment, news reports said Monday. Authorities gave no explanation for the release of the moderate opposition leader, which came just a few days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Al-Turabi's state of health deteriorated significantly in the past days, the Sudan Tribune reported, quoting members of his family.

The moderate Islamist and opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected Somalia's president early Saturday in a parliamentary vote held in neighbouring Djibouti.

Of the 420 votes cast, 293 went to Sharif, the Somali news agency Shabelle reported.

The vote took place in the same week that legislators decided to nearly double the size of parliament to include Sharif's opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) and at a time when their nation is under siege from Islamist insurgents.

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has been arrested in Rwanda after attempting to stand against a joint Rwandan-Congolese military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the operation's co

Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al- Turabi has been arrested for saying that President Omar Beshir should face war crimes charges in relation to the Darfur conflict, reports said Thursday.

The last Ghanaian constituency to vote in a run-off presidential election appeared Saturday to have handed victory to opposition candidate John Atta Mills, although final results were yet to be announ

A UN tribunal trying the most high-profile figures accused of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide was Thursday expected to pass judgement on a man accused of being one of the slaughter's top plann

UN-brokered peace talks between Congolese rebels and the government aimed at cementing a lasting ceasefire have been suspended and will resume on December 17, the UN's special peace envoy to the Democ