New York, US (PANA) - UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday said members of the violent sect, Boko Haram, and other extremist groups in Nigeria could face war crimes charges for deliberate acts leading to ethnic and religious cleansing. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A court in Nigeria's South-west state of Osun has sentenced a 31-year-old man, Kelvin Ighodalo, to 10 years in prison without an option of fine for stealing a Sony Ericsson mobile phone valued at 50,000 naira (US$300) from the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, on Monday said that the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) is deteriorating daily and the number of civilian victims affected by serious crimes continues to rise. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Mrs. Zainab Bangura, has praised the Somali government's efforts to enhance the protection of women against sexual violence. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A Senegalese woman, identified as Kamara Oumou, has been arrested in Nigeria for alleged drug trafficking, according to Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - British expatriate Christopher Paige, who was kidnapped in Nigeria's economic capital city of Lagos last Saturday, has been freed unharmed, the private Punch newspaper reported Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigeria police have confirmed the abduction of a Briton in Nigeria's economic capital city of Lagos by unknown gunmen. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen suspected to be members of the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram on Monday shot dead a teacher and injured three students at the Sanda Karami Secondary School in Nigeria's northern city of Maiduguri, the military said. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has banned Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators from all airports across the country, following Wednesday night's attack on the operators at the main Gateway Murtala Mohammed International Airport in the commercial city of Lagos that left several persons, including policemen, dead. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Armed robbers Wednesday night attacked foreign exchange operators outside Nigeria's main gateway Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, killing two policemen and escaping with a huge amount of money, the local media reported Thursday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Winnnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of South African global icon Nelson Mandela, has been linked to a double murder that took place in Soweto 25 years ago, as a result of the testimony of one of the victim’s fathers. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) – The Nigerien Minister of Public Security, Decentralization and Religious Matters, Abdou Labo, on Wednesday launched a nationwide initiative aimed at identifying all users of cell phones in the country. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State in South-east Nigeria, where a top police boss was killed by gunmen over the weekend, has offered 10 million naira (US$65,000) for anyone with information that can lead to the arrest of the killers. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigeria Police have vowed to fish out and bring to justice the killers of the Commissioner of Police for the country's central Kwara state, Mr, Chinwike Asadu. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Unknown attackers on a motorbike early Sunday shot and killed a Roman Catholic priest who was on his way to celebrate Mass at Mtoni parish in Zanzibar, according to reports reaching here from the East African offshore island which is part of the United Republic of Tanzania. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has launched  an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against  humanity in northern Mali since early 2012, the Hague-based court said on Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A man suspected to be a serving Nigerian Army soldier has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping for ransom of an Indian national in the African country's South-west city of Abeokuta. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Agents of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have clashed with suspected petrol thieves in Majidun on the outskirts the country's commercial city of Lagos, resulting in the death of one person and the arrest of 60. Full text...

Lagos, Lagos (PANA) - A veteran guitarist who played with one of Nigeria's top musicians for about 30 years has been arrested with 1.575kg of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in the commercial city of Lagos, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen have abducted a deputy manager at the area office of the state-run Pipelines Products Marketing Company (PPMC) in the oil-rich Rivers State, the police said Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The military Joint Task Force (JTF) in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region, Operation Pulo Shield, has registered 85 vessels, 217 boats and 64 barges in an effort to check pipeline vandalism, illegal bunkering and other crimes in the region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Some 30 rampaging gunmen bombed a police station and kidnapped a French Engineer, Mr Francis Colump, in Rimi local government area of Nigeria's northern Katsina State on Wednesday night, the police said Thursday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, will appeal against the acquittal of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, who was charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes following the 2003 fighting in the restive region of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Pre Trail Chamber 1 of the International Criminal ourt (ICC) Tuesday in The Hague, Netherlands, acquitted Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui of the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - For the second time in a month, gunmen Friday shot dead an MP in Nigeria's northern Kano state, the local media reported Saturday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has confirmed the release of her kidnapped mother, five days after she was seized from her residence in Ogwashi-Uku in oil-rich Delta State by gunmen. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gov. Sule Lamido of Nigeria's nothern Jigawa State has denied allegations that his eldest son, Aminu, was laundering money for him, after he (Aminu) was arrested with US$50,000 while about to travel to Egypt through the Aminu Kano International Airport in northern Kano State Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) may issue new arrest warrants against rebel commanders and government functionaries for blocking aid to Sudan's troubled Darfur, Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Aminu, the eldest son of Gov. Sule Lamido of Nigeria's northern Jigawa State, has been arrested for alleged money laundering, after he attempted to travel to Egypt with US$50,000 in cash Wednesday, the local media reported. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Kidnappers have demanded 200 million naira (US$1.25m) each for the abducted mother of Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and wife of former Nigeria's Ambassador to US Oluwole Rotimi, the local media reported Thursday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - A former Assistant Coach of South Africa’s national football team has been found guilty of match-fixing by a Cape Town court. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigeria police said 302 people, including 32 policemen, were killed between 1 Nov. 2011 and 31 Oct. 2012 in Lagos, Nigeria's most populous state and the country's economic nerve centre. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian Navy has said it intercepted 17 vessels for engaging in illegal maritime activities during its (navy's) recently-concluded military exercise in the oil-producing Niger Delta region. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Somalia's little-known military court, asserting its authority, has announced plans to hear crimes committed by uniformed officers for violations committed during the country's long-drawn civil conflict, the UN said Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) President Sang-Hyun Song has called on the UN Security Council to support its efforts to deal with the war crimes cases in Libya and in Sudan's Darfur. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South African authorities have warned that Sheryl Cwele, the wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, will be arrested if she fails to report to prison before Thursday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa is mourning one of the country’s most famous sports personalities, former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders, who was shot dead by armed robbers who burst into his nephew's birthday party in the rural town of Brits near Pretoria. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South African Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s claims that the government is winning the war against crime has been welcomed in some quarters, but not everybody is convinced. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Three staffers of the state-run oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have been killed by suspected pipeline vandals, the company said in a statement. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – Rwanda and Tanzania have signed a bilateral agreement on trans-national crime, which aims particularly at preventing and fighting new kinds of crimes, including telecommunication fraud, human trafficking and money laundering, an official statement said on Thursday in Kigali. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria is to host a three-day World Cyber Conference aimed at developing strategies against the latest developments in cyber crimes and its threats to national security. Full text...

Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - The general crime level in Mauritius has gradually declined from 2008 to 2011, according to figures released on Thursday by the Statistics Office in Port-Louis. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - One of the suspects in the high-profile Anni Dewani murder trial, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, was jailed for 25 years on Wednesday for his role in the incident. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A Belgian ship and its 15-member crew have been arrested for allegedly stealing Nigerian crude oil, the Nigerian Navy (NN) confirmed. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Mai Ahmed Fatty, leader of the opposition Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), has expressed support for the government’s resolve to tackle rising crime rate in the country, PANA reports Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) will present a progress report on its investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya to the UN Security Council, the Court said Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said Tuesday he could launch investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes, including rape, committed in Mali, the court said in a statement. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenya's anti-terrorism police Friday questioned a suspected terrorist, Abdulhah Abdul Majid, in connection with the recent grenade attacks in the tourist havens of Mombasa and Kilifi. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it had foiled an attempt by a 52-year-old man to export 25.4kg of powdery substances that tested positive to ephedrine to Mozambique. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has urged police chiefs in Member States to develop regional strategies and synergy in tackling the myriad-organized transnational crimes confronting West Africa, especially the illegal circulation of weapons, piracy and terrorism, according to an ECOWAS press statement, received here Wednesday by PANA. Full text...