Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana has engaged an international consultant to measure customer service satisfaction in the country’s public offices, according to a statement Monday from the presidency here. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Political dialogue among all elements involved in the current crisis in Mali is the only important key to reaching durable peace in the West African country, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso said here Monday. 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...

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDDS) rose from their one-day emergency meeting here Saturday, agreeing to accelerate the deployment of additional forces of the African-led Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA), according to a communique issued at the end of the meeting. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have differed on the appointment of top officers in the Kenya Police Service. 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) - 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) - 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 African Union’s (AU) Peace and Security Council met at the summit level late Friday to discuss the lack of progress in dealing with the conflict in South Sudan and the Sudan, as well as the deployment of African troops in Mali. 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...

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) - Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir held direct talks with his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir, on Friday in an effort to overcome differences over the resumption of oil exports and security issues. 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...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU) has extended until March 2015 the training mission of the armed forces of Somalia, EUTM/Somalia, the European Commission said in a statement received by PANA 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...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West African military chiefs, under the aegis of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDDS), are due to meet at an emergency session in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on Saturday, in what will be their second meeting on the crisis in Mali within 10 days, the ECOWAS Commission announced Thursday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian government has asked the country's military to respect human rights and comply with all the provisions of international humanitarian law as it battles to reclaim the northern part of the country from armed Islamist groups. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Burundi and Chad are among the African countries that have offered to send troops to join the Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), the African Union (AU) said Thursday. 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) - Libya’s new government has stopped the flow of weapons being smuggled across the Saharan desert to Mali during the country’s (Libya's) liberation struggle, Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdul Aziz said in Addis Ababa Thursday. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is due in France 1 Feb., official sources told PANA here Thursday. 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...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - Two members of Togo's umbrella opposition group 'Sauvons le Togo’ (Let’s Save Togo) have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the fire that gutted Lome and Kara markets recently, the group said in a statement made available to PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Libya’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdul Aziz Thursday warned that the military operation to restore state power in northern Mali must be carried out within the shortest possible time, to avoid complicating the fragile security situation across the North African region. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - South Sudan has expressed the hope that Congo would be involved in ongoing efforts to find a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Sudan. Full text...

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Egypt and Libya are to set up a joint commission to enhance the political and economical relations between the two countries and speed up the extradition of Libyan fugitives in Egypt, President Mohamed Mursi and Libyan General Congress’ Speaker Mohamed Al-Megreyef announced in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, Wednesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African foreign ministers under the aegis of the African Union Executive Council opened their meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Thursday, with a plan to outline a new set of measures to deal with unconstitutional take-over of power, including the amendment of the landmark Lome Declaration. 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...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – The European Union (EU) has hailed the decision of Madagascar's interim president, Andry Rajoelina, as well as his predecessor, Marc Ravalomanana, not to stand for the presidential election due in May this year, a statement issued on Wednesday in Brussels said. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union will on 5 February organize a meeting on Mali aimed at strengthening international coordination on the political, security and reconstruction components of the situation in the West African country that is battling jihadists who have seized large swathes of the north. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - With slightly over a month before Kenya's general elections, the European Union (EU) has deployed 70 polls observers to the east African nation. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has finalised plans to ensure that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in conflict-hit Central African Republic, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are protected from abuses and provided with basic needs, an AU official said Wednesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has called on Togo to demonstrate its commitment to international justice and the fight against impunity for grave crimes by acceding to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) – The second contingent of 96 Togolese soldiers left Lomé on Tuesday by road to Bamako as part of the peacekeeping force of the International Mission to Support Mali (MISMA), official sources told PANA. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Niger's president, Mahamadou Issoufou, on Tuesday exhorted Niger's soldiers heading to Mali to accomplish their mission with professionalism. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – The Guinean president, Alpha Condé, left Conakry on Tuesday for Davos, Switzerland, to attend the annual meeting of the world economic forum, according to a communiqué from the presidency of the Republic made available to PANA. Full text...

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) – African Union Chairman, Benin's president Boni Yayi, on Tuesday began a four-day visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, according to a communiqué from the Benin foreign affairs ministry. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - A body comprising influential organisations in Zambia has expressed shock and alarm at the government's ambivalence on whether or not the country's draft constitution will be subjected to a referendum. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenya Prime Minister Raila Odinga's brother and sister are among the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) aspirants for governorship who fell by the wayside in the just-concluded, hotly-contested and controversial party primaries. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has donated US$190,000 to Cape Verde in support of victims of the unprecedented flood disaster that displaced many people and damaged property on the country’s Boa Vista Island last year. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - The Mauritanian government has strongly condemned the hostage-taking by terrorists at the gas complex In Amenas in South-eastern Algeria. Full text...