Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Legal experts from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) began a seminar Thursday in Ouagadougou, on the ratification and implementation of the UN Convention and relevant protocols against organised trans-national crimes. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Community, church and political organisations Tuesday night held a vigil for abused children in Elsies River near Cape Town. Full text...

Oshakati- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibian soldiers will soon be allowed to shoot criminals found with assault rifles in the northern regions, the country's defence minister, Errki Nghimtina, disclosed Friday. Full text...

Saint Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- Police and the general population in Reunion have expressed deep concern over the rising crime rate, especially among youths in the country. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Shocking cases of child rape being reported in South Africa are not isolated events, says an academic who has studied causes of the problem. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Four men were found guilty in the Pretoria Magistare's Court Monday of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm after admitting they set police dogs on a group of helpless illegal immigrants. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- A criminal court in Khartoum Thursday passed a death sentence on a man convicted in March of killing a police officer and three other people who tried to prevent him from abducting his fiancée. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya has established a national crime research centre to serve as a reference point for all crime-related activities, Attorney General Amos Wako disclosed Wednesday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Alleged paedophile James McNeil, 72, who has admitted to sexually abusing a number of children aged between six and 16 over the past 35 years, was denied bail at the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Tuesday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Amid rising cross-border crimes, the heads of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and the European Union's Police Bureau (Europol) on Monday signed a co-operation agreement aimed at ending duplication of law enforcement efforts. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was among those killed in a resurgence of armed robbery in Nigeria's commercial city of Lagos at the weekend, police sources said Tuesday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Claremont Police Station in Cape Town was under quarantine on Wednesday morning after a policeman reported that he had received a letter containing a death threat and "unknown substance". Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Airports and border posts around South Africa are on high alert, four days after a group of high-profile urban terrorism suspects escaped from the Cape Town High Court. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- A massive police search was still underway in Cape Town on Friday, a day after seven high-profile suspected urban terrorists escaped from the Cape High Court. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Four men last Saturday surrendered the keeper of a guest house in the Zambian town of Kitwe and made away with 5. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The body of an unknown person has reportedly been found locked for two years in a shop at an edible oil processing factory in Bedele district, Illubabor Zone, Ormia State in Ethiopia. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- A gang of smugglers shot dead four customs policemen and wounded three others Tuesday in north-west Sudan near the borders of Libya and Chad, customs police said in Khartoum Wednesday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- A man in Bujumbura's working class district of Bwiza was early this week flown to Belgium for treatment after his genitals were severed by a neighbour who caught him with his ex-wife, press accounts said. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Ghana's Minister of Presidential Affairs, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, on Thursday urged members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to prevent cross-border criminal activities from undermining the sub-region's development. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- Hundreds of Botswana nationals are believed to have lost large sums of money to a South African based mail piracy syndicate, press reports in Gaborone said Monday. Full text...

Douala- Cameroon (PANA) -- The military is reviewing its approach at combating crime in Cameroon's economic capital of Douala, in the wake of sharp criticism by human rights groups against the existing method. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- A 60-year-old man in the banana growing southern district of Thyolo is recovering from a serious condition after robbers castrated him at the weekend in a botched mugging attempt. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Police have raided two cyber-cafes in downtown Nairobi suspected to have hacked into Kenya government's classified data, a daily reported Tuesday. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Police in the southern district of Mulanje have arrested a herbalist on charges of raping a 20-year-old woman on the pretext of treating her anxiety. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Poverty alone should not be blamed for the crime wave in Nairobi, the Co-ordinator of the "Sister City" programme, Cruz Vanderschuereu, said in the Kenyan capital Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The "crucifixion-style" execution of the leader of a three-man armed robbery gang by vigilantes in Nigeria's economic hub of Lagos Wednesday, is being seen as the latest act of desperation by citizens that have virtually taken the laws into their own hands in trying to combat the rising crime rates in the sprawling city. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Convicted killers Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus may spend the rest of their lives in jail after exhausting all appeals against their sentences for their role in the murder of former South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Chris Hani. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Armed Gangs shot dead a police officer and a barman Saturday after robbery in Nairobi's Land Mawe Industrial area. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- A man who failed to make good his escape after robbing a jewellery shop in Addis Ababa, killed himself as pursuers closed in on him, Radio Ethiopia reported Sunday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- An hour-long, day-time armed robbery in Nigeria's economic hub of Lagos Thursday is one of the most vivid reminders that police are far from winning the war against rising crime wave in the country. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Police in South Africa are investigating a bizarre racially-motivated attack in the southern Cape town of George, where a white woman was attacked by two men who carved the letter "K" on her breast. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Police are investigating a bizarre racial attack in the town of George, after a woman was attacked by two men who carved the letter "K" on her breast believed to represent the word "kaffir," a hated racial slur in South Africa. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Prosecutors in the case of five men accused of the 1996 murder of Hard Livings Gang boss Rashaad Staggie, received a major blow Tuesday when the Cape High Court ruled that video footage taken the night that Staggie was killed could not be submitted as evidence. Full text...

Douala- Cameroon (PANA) -- Armed robbers late last week attacked a Post Office in Cameroon's West provincial capital of Bafoussam, making a way with 11 million francs CFA (about 15,000 US dollars), reports said. Full text...

Oshakati- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia's former deputy police commissioner, Gerhardt Shipena (40), Monday appeared before the Oshakati magistrate court on charges of fraud, theft, forgery and uttering. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Swindling and breach of trust are the most common offences committed in Niger these days, says the official weekly, "Sahel Dimanche," quoting police records. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Against the backdrop of rising violent crimes in Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo says the government may resort to the use of the country's armed forces to ensure security of lives and property. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Interpol Wednesday concluded its biennial African regional conference in Gaborone, Botswana, stressing the need to improve communications and technology with a view to better coordination of action against crime on the continent. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A police patrol team returning to base in a convoy of vehicles after routing a gang of armed robbers suddenly runs into a hail of bullets from runaway bandits. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Police in Blantyre have in a raid arrested a gang of four alleged criminals they described as "ruthless and dangerous. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The much talked about partnership between business and government received a major shot in the arm, when Justice and Constitutional Development minister Penuell Maduna Friday opened a new Newlands Regional Court building in Johannesburg. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Armed robbers on Monday shot two security guards in a daring cash-in- transit near Morola Casino in North Western South Africa. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation has called for a public seminar to look into the rising incidents of vigilantism in the country. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Oupa Gqozo, the former military ruler of the apartheid-era Ciskei homeland is in a critical condition after being shot and wounded during an armed robbery in the Eastern Cape. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia's Justice Minister Ngarikutuke Tjiriange Wednesday urged the National Assembly to approve the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime without delay. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Namibia's Justice Minister Ngarikutuke Tjiriange Wednesday urged the National Assembly to approve the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime without delay. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Police in Kenya were on Wednesday questioning six Nairobi City Council employees in connection with the mysterious disappearance of the Mayor's chain. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- A KwaZulu-Natal court has slammed lengthy jail terms on four men convicted of raping and assaulting the wife of Deputy President Jacob Zuma. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Nigerian Community in Kenya has warned its members to refrain from criminal acts that could taint the image of their country. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- A French national was found dead Sunday in his bedroom in Abidjan's Bietry residential area, police sources said in Cote d'Ivoire's business city. Full text...