Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders rose Monday from two days of intensive talks on the conflicts affecting the continent with a resolve to pep up the continent's response to the crises by making the African Standby Force (ASF) a reality. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) –A special brigade of some 2,000 soldiers, which will be set up within the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO), will be headed by a Tanzanian official. Full text...

Addis Abeba, Ethiopia (PANA) – African leaders on Monday threw their weight behind the candidature of Djiboutian Rachad Farah for the position of Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation (UNESCO) which would decided on in October.Full text...

Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – African leaders ended their meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday with a pledge of US$50 million for the Mali International Support Mission (MISMA). Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – The Prime minister of the Libyan interim government, Ali Zidane, on Monday held talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, with the Ivorian president, Alassane Ouattara, during the just-ended African Union summit. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has appealed to African male leaders to join his campaign to end violence against women, specifically rape and sexual violence in conflict. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African Union (AU) Chairperson and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn has launched a celebration of the continental organisation's Golden Jubilee, saying the event has a special significance for the people and government of Ethiopia. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - UN will deploy an international peacekeeping operation in Mali once the armed operation to oust Islamist insurgents is over, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced here Sunday.Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African countries need to mobilise enough domestic resources and speed up their efforts to reduce the current levels of maternal and infant mortality on the continent, according to heads of state and government gathered here for the 20th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU). Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Speaking on the sidelines of the 20th Summit of the African Union (AU), which began here Sunday, Senegalese President Macky Sall has called on Ivorians to continue their political dialogue until they can achieve national reconciliation, since his mediation mission in Côte d'Ivoire had ended. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn took over the Chairmanship of the African Union (AU) on Sunday, with a pledge to work towards the execution of various plans, including AU's internal reforms.Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) foreign ministers have elected new members to the Peace and Security Council, bringing on board Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda, diplomats said here Sunday, the opening day of the 20th AU summit. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Africa has the experience to forge solutions to its own challenges and contribute to global goals of inclusive growth, social justice and protecting the environment, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told African leaders here Sunday at the opening session of the 20th Summit of the African Union (AU). Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders opened the 20th session of the African Union (AU) Assembly on Sunday, with calls to urgently tackle rapid poverty, advance democracy and re-examine economic growth models to spur industrial growth. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Despite Tanzania's strength in political stability and national unity, the East African country faces the challenge of sustaining the nearly 50-year Union created out of the merger of Tanganyika (on the mainland) and the off-coast Isles of Zanzibar, according to a review report released here by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will make his first appearance at the African Union (AU) Summit Sunday, and will then assume the rotating AU presidency. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso left Brazzaville Saturday for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to attend the 20th AU Summit scheduled for 27-28 Jan., sources said. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has renewed its call for all its member states to contribute directly to the Malian army to better equip it against an Islamist insurgency in the northern part of the country. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - As African leaders fly into the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, this weekend for the 20th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly, leading civil society organisations (CSOs) present here have said they want the 50th anniversary of the Pan-African organisation to be marked by decisive actions for lasting peace on the continent. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Heads of State and Government constituting the Orientation Committee (HSGOC) of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) started their 28th meeting here Saturday, underlining the need for all African countries to strengthen the modest gains of the continent in the fields of agriculture and infrastructure development. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The Congolese rebel movement, M23, has continued to threaten the city of Goma, in eastern DRC, despite its purported withdrawal from the city, Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Francophonie Raymond Tshibanda said Thursday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Mauritian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and International Trade, Arvin Boolel, Thursday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, expressed his country’s willingness to host a conference for the reconstruction of the conflict-stricken Madagascar. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki left Friday for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a a three-day official visit, the Presidential Press Service (PPS) said. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Armed groups in eastern DRC have been denying international charities easy access to conflict-affected people living in the areas they control, Emmanuel Kabengele of the National network for security sector reform, said on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – African heads of state and government, for the 20th ordinary summit of the African Union (AU), must take bold steps towards peace in eastern DR Congo, the international humanitarian agency, Oxfam, said Friday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The donors' conference slated to hold in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 29 January, aims to raise US$500 million to support ongoing efforts to assist Mali to restore its sovereignty over the northern part of the country that was seized by armed Islamist groups last year, PANA learnt from sources close to the organisers here Friday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders must be held accountable to make sure the continent benefits from natural resources currently being exploited by foreign conglomerates, a senior official of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said here Friday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders started arriving in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Friday, for Sunday's African Union (AU) summit that is expected to deal with renewed conflicts in the Central African Republic (CAR), Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia as well as Sudan and South Sudan. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Around 7,000 Malians have arrived in refugee camps in the country's neighbouring countries since the 11 Jan. 2013 launch of the French military operation, aimed curtailing the advance of the north-based armed Islamist groups towards the south, according to an OXFAM official. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - An exhibition showing the atrocities of the war in northern Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has opened in the main hall of the new headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - As African nations mark the 50th anniversary of their unity this year, they should give the continent's young people hope for and a stake in the future, African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said here Thursday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – Malian interim president, Dioncounda Traoré, leaves Bamako on Saturday for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for the African Union summit of heads of State and donors' conference for Mali, official sources told PANA. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - On the eve of the 20th African Union (AU) Assembly, a coalition of over 350 civil society organisations from Sudan, South Sudan and across Africa has appealed to African leaders to do all that is possible to end the violence and restore peace to the people of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile in Sudan Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The creation of a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), one of the landmark declarations adopted by African leaders to bolster trade by 2017, will depend on the progress made by African regional blocs over the next year, a senior African Union (AU) official said Wednesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has promised a strong response to the Algerian hostage crisis which led to the killing dozens of captives, Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra said Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, one of the greatest athletes of all time, will return to the Austrian capital and compete in the half marathon, which will be staged parallel to the Vienna City Marathon on 14 April, according to the online RaceNewsService. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African Ambassadors accredited to the African Union (AU) Monday kicked-started a preparatory meeting ahead of this month's AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, outlining priorities that include building on strategic partnerships to advance continental trade in the wake of the global economic slowdown. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan will leave the capital city of Abuja Monday on a trip that will take him to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Ethiopia for the African Union (AU) Summit, the presidency said in a statement made available to PANA here Sunday. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma, arrived here Friday for a brief working visit to Angola. Full text...

Johannesburg, South Africa (PANA) - Ahead of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations starting in South Africa Saturday, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the African Union (AU) have underscored the role of football in promoting peace, education and stability on the continent. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The African Union (AU) Chair and Benin president, Thomas Boni Yayi, on Wednesday called on Africans to break the jinx of coups and war and enthrone democracy, the only way to change a legitimate government.Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has renewed the mandate of its force in Somalia (AMISOM) for six months, pending a review of its operational structure to secure more dependable funding and operational status, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) said Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Director-General of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Professor Akpan Ekpo, has called on member States of the West African Economic bloc, ECOWAS, to fast track efforts to remove existing barriers to free movements of goods, services and finances, saying the move would hasten economic integration. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union Commission (AUC) Friday strongly condemned the renewed attacks by armed terrorist and criminal groups in northern Mali, which resulted in the capture of the town of Konna, in the Mopti area. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) have signed a two-year community stabilisation project to support Chadian migrants who have returned from Libya and are currently living in three northern regions bordering Libya, Niger and Sudan. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra has left Kigali after a three-day visit to Rwanda. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – A two-day meeting of the economic grouping in Arab Maghreb opens in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday, sources at the Mauritanian Central Bank told PANA on Monday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The African Union (AU) says it is deeply encouraged by the convening of the summit meeting between Sudan and South Sudan and expressed the hope that it will enable the two Presidents to agree on the best means and ways of overcoming the challenges encountered in the implementation of last September's landmark agreements. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African Union's top security official Ramtane Lamamra was due in Kinshasa Wednesday at the start of a visit to the troubled Eastern region of Congo and Rwanda to discuss the preparations for the deployment of a neutral force in the region. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has expressed its rejection of violence and attempts to seize power by force in the Central African Republic (CAR), saying such a trend would be a setback to the progress achieved in democratising Africa. Full text...