Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Civilians are among dozens of people who have been tortured, killed or have disappeared, including while in detention, since the launch of the French army’s intervention in the country five months ago, Amnesty International (AI), the international human rights group, said in a new briefing published on Friday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama on Friday directed the state security agencies to declare a security alert at all important public buildings and installations across the country following a series of fires, especially at markets. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – At least four big stores have been destroyed by a fire that broke out at the trade center of Muhanga, about 50 kilometers from Kigali, in southern Rwanda, police sources told PANA on Friday in the Rwandan capital. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - One hundred and forty Nigerian Police personnel will leave Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, for deployment to the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA), according to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – Zambia’s former president, Rupiah Banda, was Friday stopped by immigration officers at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka from leaving the country, saying that they had received instructions not to allow him fly to South Africa. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission is soliciting for strong support for the operationalization of its conflict-prevention framework, the ECPF, as a major tool for addressing the proximate and structural causes of violent conflicts and the promotion of human security and peace building in the region. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – France has expressed concern about press freedom in Burundi following the promulgation by the authorities of a new media law that bans reporting on matters which could undermine national security, public order or the economy. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A new US$1 million programme, launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the African Union (AU) 50th anniversary celebrations, is designed to offer African journalists reporting grants to support investigative, multimedia and data-driven stories that aim to improve health and prosperity across the continent, according to a news dispatch from the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan army has initiated a plan to relocate its barracks outside the cities, the Libyan media reported Thursday, citing the Army Chief of staff. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - For effective implementation of a post-2015 development agenda, global partnership must adapt to the changed development landscape and reflect the shared responsibilities and different capabilities of the stakeholders, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo said here Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian Senate has stopped the controversial African First Ladies' Peace Mission headquarters project being pushed by Nigerian First Lady Patience Jonathan. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the Egyptian government Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Tuesday pledged to send experts to Libya to help the North African country improve its precarious security situation due to the presence of militia groups fighting for power with the central government. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The Malian government on Tuesday decided to extend, for the third time, the State of Emergency declared on the country since January, according to a press statement issued at the end of the council of ministers’ meeting. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military Wednesday announced the arrest of a total of 55 suspected Boko Haram terrorists (BHT) as the "war" against insurgency continues in North Eastern States of Borno and Yobe, according to a statement issued by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - African states that have signed the Convention on the ban of chemical weapons have been urged to continue to abide by their commitment in order to save the continent from the spread of chemical weapons. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - An ECOWAS Commission delegation has paid a courtesy call on Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, Nigeria’s former Minister of Economic Development and the longest serving head of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), who played a pivotal role in the formation of ECOWAS through the Treaty of Lagos on 28 May 1975. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - As discussions on a post-2015 development agenda accelerate, a range of actors from all regions will meet here Thursday for a two-day symposium to assess how a global partnership for development beyond 2015 can be put into practice. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN has allocated US$7.1 from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide more than a million people in the Central African Republic (CAR), half of them children, with lifesaving assistance, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – A 36-year old German national, Konrad Myland, was arrested the weekend in Mauritius for possessing one kilogramme of heroin on arrival at Port-Louis airport from Madagascar, police sources told PANA on Tuesday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – Two Nigerians, a Ghanaian and a Colombian have been arrested in the US for drugs offences, the Ghana Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) announced in Accra on Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday formally ordered the proscription of the Islamist terror group, Boko Haram, and its affiliates. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya’s military police has seized a truck loaded with 230 bags of explosives on its way to the eastern city of Toubrouk, the local press reported on Tuesday, quoting security sources. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has announced the dismantling of an arm-smuggling network in southern Libya. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A commemorative service in honour of the 157 victims of last year’s Dana Airline plane crash was held Monday at the crash site in Iju-Ishaga, on the outskirts of the commercial city of Lagos, with the laying of wreaths and opening of a memorial cenotaph. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – Members of Libya's auxiliary security forces, who Sunday "attacked" the Home Affairs ministry, were all arrested shortly after the assault, the Libyan Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan, told a press briefing here same day. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The sub-regional rights body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Monday released a statement condemning an alleged ''series of violent attacks'' resulting in a number of ''regrettable deaths'' by police in Guinea. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan are expected to lead the way on Monday at the United Nations in signing an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) designed to protect millions of people living in daily fear of armed violence around the world. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday expressed concern over the failure to arrest ex-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s former Chief of Staff Bashir Saleh, who is on Interpol’s most wanted list. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Seven persons died while three others were injured in a road crash in Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Nigeria's oil-rich Bayelsa state has forfeited a US$700,000 residential property at Rockville, a suburb of Washington, DC., US, following the approval of the Department of Justice’s forfeiture order request by a US federal Judge, the local media reported Sunday. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – A heat wave in Mauritanian regions of Trarza, Brakna, Assaba and western Hodh have claimed the lives of 10 people, medical sources told PANA on Saturday. Full text...

The Hague, Netherlands (PANA) - The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday rejected the challenge to the admissibility of the case against Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader. Mouammar Gaddafi. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, on Friday stated that the global scourge of human trafficking was being fuelled by demand for sexual exploitation, cheap labour, human organs, illegal adoption and forced marriages. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Divers have recovered the bodies of 10 sailors who drowned when their anchor handling tugboat sank 14 nautical miles off the Nigeria coast last Sunday, tugboat owner and Chevron contractor Sea Trucks Group (STG) said in a statement made available to PANA here Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military on Friday released from its custody 38 women and children suspected to be Boko Haram members. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Ghana-based sub-regional rights body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Friday condemned the death threat against Guinean journalist, Nouhou Baldé. Full text...

Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - President of Burundi's football association Lydia Nsekera has become the first woman to be elected a member of the decision-making Executive Committee of world soccer's governing body, FIFA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military has announced the discovery of an armoury belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Nigeria's northern city of Kano, which has been attacked several times by the local Islamic sect Boko Haram Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's lower legislative chamber, House of Representative, Thursday passed an anti-gay bill that prescribes 14-year imprisonment for persons who engage in same-sex marriage. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military Thursday said that five Nigeriens and two Chadians were among the fleeing insurgents apprehended as the Special Forces troops continue their pursuit of terrorists dislodged from their bases. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – Mauritius will open, in August, its first high security prison, constructed since independence in 1968, at Melrose, in the eastern part of the island, PANA reported from here. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Kidnappers of Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, wife of Supreme Court Justice, Bode, her daughter and driver, allegedly collected 3 million Naira (about US$ 20,000) ransom before releasing them on Tuesday, the local VANGUARD newspaper reported Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military has arrested four foreigners, suspected to be from the Middle East, in the northern city of Kano following the discovery of military-grade weapons in their warehouse, the local media reported Thursday. Full text...

Marrakech, Morocco (PANA) - Nigeria's Guarantee Trust Bank won the African Bank of the Year award at the 2013 African Banker Awards ceremony organised here on Wednesday evening by African Banker magazine, IC Events and BusinessinAfrica Events, PANA reported. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday honoured UN peacekeepers who lost their lives over the past year serving under the blue flag, while also raising awareness about new developments in the field of peacekeeping. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Three illegal miners have died after inhaling toxic gas in the pit they were digging for gold. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) – A new campaign to mop up light and small weapons from unlawful owners, mostly civilians, was launched Wednesday in Burundi, security sources told PANA here. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday warned of severe humanitarian needs, including the need to rehabilitate the water supply system and increase food assistance in Gao, eastern Mali. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Tanzania’s National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda has ordered the government to issue a statement on civilian killings by the police, after official admission of at least 68 such deaths between 2010 and 2012. Full text...