Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The American government Monday welcomed the release of Gambian Moslem cleric, Imam Baba Leigh, who was detained by the West African country’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for more than five months. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - ECOWAS member states have been urged to establish a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the efficacy of their National Youth Employment Plans in responding to the youth employment challenges facing the region. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Assistance Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has strongly condemned the bombing that took place on Monday near a hospital in the Libyan city of Benghazi resulting in a number of deaths, including children, as well as injuries. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Top UN officials on Monday urged the UN General Assembly to fully implement key anti-human trafficking treaties and to cooperate more closely to counter the estimated US$32 billion industry which has trapped some 2.4 million people into forced labour and domestic servitude, sexual work and as child soldiers. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday stressed the need to adopt a "holistic approach" to deal with terrorism in Africa, warning that the continent was facing a rise in the presence of extremist groups and terrorist entities. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A Nigerian court Monday sentenced an Iranian, Azim Aghajani, and his Nigerian accomplice, Ali Usman Abbas Jega, to five years in prison for smuggling weapons into the country. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Head of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), Pierre Buyoya, has expressed shock and sadness at the sudden death of the mission's Deputy Force Commander, Brig.-Gen. Yaya Garba. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Amid reports in some quarters that the federal government may impose emergency rule on some states worst-hit by the violence being perpetrated by the Islamic sect Boko Haram, Nigeria's main opposition party has advised against such move. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS) has arrested two Chinese and one Malian for attempting to smuggle out of Nigeria over 21kg of processed ivory and elephant tusks, NCS spokesperson Thelma Williams told journalists here on Sunday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the expulsion of Chadian blogger and journalist Makaila Nguebla by the Senegalese government, describing it as a blow to freedom of expression. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The deadly militia group that killed at least 30 policemen and many other security agents last week in Nigeria's northern Nasarawa State are still holding four policemen in captivity, the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, said. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen have kidnapped the wife, daughter and driver of Nigeria's Supreme Court Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, according to the local Punch newspaper. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Deputy Force Commander of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), Brig.-Gen. Yaye Garba, has died, PANA reported Sunday, quoting ECOWAS sources. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council Counter-terrorism committee dealing with Al-Qaida is strengthening its work and cooperation with related UN bodies to more urgently address the evolving threats posed by the network in Mali, the Sahel and Somalia, a UN statement said on Saturday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A contingent of Tanzanian soldiers Friday arrived in the eastern city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the intervention brigade authorized by the UN to help neutralize armed groups in this volatile part of the country, a UN statement said on Saturday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, has ordered the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the police and the State Security Service (SSS) to fish out killers of scores of policemen in the central Nasarawa State on Tuesday, according to local media reports. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Ethiopian police on Friday arrested 13 officials, including the Director General of the powerful Customs and Revenue Authority and his Deputy on charges of corruption filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEAC), the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported Saturday. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - On the occasion of celebrations marking Europe Day in Banjul, the head of the European Union (EU) delegation in Gambia, Madam Agnès Guillaud, said both parties had enhanced the socio-economic development of the country, especially in the areas of transportation and infrastructure, food security, education, governance, economic growth and poverty reduction. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Popular Islamic cleric Imam Baba Leigh, who was held incommunicado for a little over five months, has been released by the Gambian government, according to State-owned Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Over 150 widows and orphans of the policemen and prisons officials killed on Tuesday in Bama, north eastern Borno State, by Boko Haram gunmen, have "grudgingly" accepted a 5 million Naira (US$ 33,000) donation by the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, when he paid a condolence visit to survivors of the attack. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, has sent a condolence message to Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, over the death of two Nigerian Air Force fighter-jet pilots who died while providing support to the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA). Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) – The African peacekeeping mission in Darfu, the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), has provided education assistance to five primary schools in and around Sortoni, North Darfur. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – Five members of the same family perished here Friday when a two-storey building collapsed, injuring scores of other people, according to local media reports. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - With many people arrested in Chad over an alleged coup plot, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked the government to adhere to its international legal obligations and respect human rights law as it investigates the alleged plot. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Members of the Seleka rebel coalition, which ousted President François Bozizé of the Central African Republic (CAR) on 24 March 2013, have committed grave violations against civilians, including pillage, summary executions, rape, and torture, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - As part of government's move to resolve the security challenges in northern Nigeria, all the 25 members of the "Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges" on Thursday met with 40 detained Boko Haram commanders and operatives at the Kuje Minimum Security Prison, in the outskirts of Abuja, the nation’s capital. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – Mauritius will Friday introduce the "Penalty Points System" (PPS) for drivers on its roads, a PANA correspondent reported from here Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The death toll from Tuesday's attack on the police by a militia group in Nigeria's northern Nassarawa state has risen to 30, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Abayomi Akeremale, told journalists Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A militia group has ambushed and killed 20 policemen in Nigeria's northern Nassarawa state, the local press reported Thursday, quoting State Governor Tanko Al Makura. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – Hundreds of women on Wednesday demonstrated against violence in the capital, Nouakchott, and urged the authorities to protect the citizens. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian Army has reorganised its counter insurgency and counter terrorism operation to contain the activities of members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, according to the Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on Wednesday deplored Tuesday's attack by armed terrorists on Bama, in Nigeria's North Eastern Borno State, which claimed scores of lives. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - The Zambian authorities must immediately release two young men who have been denied bail after being arrested on charges of having sex “against the order of nature”, Amnesty International said here Wednesday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Accra-based sub-regional rights body, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Wednesday strongly condemned the violent attack against two Ghanaian journalists, Frank Worlanyo and Thomas Attram, reporter and cameraman respectively from Metropolitan Television (Metro TV), an Accra-based privately-owned TV station. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Mr. Doudou Diene, the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Cote d'Ivoire, says justice is a key element of the reconciliation process in the West African country and called on the government to strengthen the rule of law. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's main opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) party has strongly condemned Tuesday's attack on Bama town in the country's northern Borno state by suspected Boko Haram insurgents, which left 55 people dead. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Efforts being made to ensure development in Africa cannot be divorced from positive imaging of the continent, Ethiopia’s Minister for Government Communication Affairs Bereket Simon said here Wednesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African Union (AU) Commission Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha has challenged African communicators to tell the African story as it is, instead of the stereotype version being peddled by outsiders. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen suspected to be members of the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram Tuesday killed 55 people, including security agents, one woman and three children, during an attack on Bama town, 70 kilometres from Maiduguri,the capital of Nigeria's northern Borno state, regarded as the spiritual base of the sect, the private Vanguard newspaper reported Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - One person was killed and seven others trapped when a four-storey building collapsed in Nigeria's economic capital city of Lagos late Tuesday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – Tens of thousands of people on Tuesday swarmed the church of a Nigerian prophet in Accra, Ghana, causing a huge traffic jam on an important road linking east of the capital. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – A Mauritian court Tuesday sentenced a South African to 20 years in jail for drug trafficking in Mauritius, judiciary sources told PANA here. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A 40-year-old man, Victor Adepoju, died while running in a 10-km road race in Nigeria's southern Edo state last weekend, the private Vanguard newspaper reported Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has tasked all warring parties in northern Mali to abide by the laws of war, in the event of a Malian military offensive against opposition armed groups in the Kidal region. Full text...

Washington, US (PANA) - US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Robert D. Hormats is currently on a five-day visit to Africa to meet with government officials, civil society, advocate for U.S. businesses and investors. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The UN has expressed deep concern about the situation of thousands of civilians in South Sudan who require humanitarian assistance and protection. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the attack on a UN convoy in Abyei, during which a top tribal chief and a peacekeeper from the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) were killed. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha jet crashed in Dargol, near the Nigerien capital city of Niamey, on Monday, killing the two pilots on board, Nigeria's Defence Headquarters said in a statement. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A Kenyan court on Monday jailed two Iranians for life after finding them guilty of plotting a terror attack in the country in June 2012. Full text...

Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - Malawi President Joyce Banda has said she will not be stampeded into signing the 'Table Mountain Declaration' that urges governments in Africa to abolish “insult laws” and set free press high on the agenda. Full text...