Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- Music dominated Cape Verde's cultural landscape in 2001, particularly with the celebrated Cesaria Evora and musicians like Ildo Lobo. Full text...

Moroni- Comoros (PANA) -- The release in France of "Kweli", the first solo album of Nawal Mlanano, was unanimously praised by critics in the Comoros as a high-impact cultural event. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Mauritania last year launched an award dubbed the Chinguitty Awards for Arts, Sciences and Culture, with the first winners announced 31 October. Full text...

Lisbon- Angola (PANA) -- Angolan writer Carvalho Neto (Yanguene) will launch his first book of proverbs in January 2002 in Lisbon (Portugal). Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Benin's French cultural centre in Cotonou has organised a two-week exhibition of works and press cuttings to pay tribute to the late former president of Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor, who died 20 December in France at the age of 95. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Benin's French cultural centre in Cotonou has organised a two-week exhibition of works and press cuttings to pay tribute to the late former president of Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor, who died 20 December in France at the age of 95. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Artists from Senegal's Daniel Sorano Theatre Thursday evening paid their respects to late former President Leopold Sedar Senghor who died 20 December in France at the age of 95. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South African Tourism is well on track to placing South Africa firmly in pride of place around performances of Disney's Broadway musical, "Lion King", that had its much-acclaimed German premiere at the Hafentheater in Hamburg this month. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Mali's famous storyteller Baba Sissoko, better known as Djeli Baba Sissoko, 74, passed away Tuesday evening in Bamako, the Radio and Television of Mali (ORTM) has announced Wednesday. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Like the famed Welwitschia plant one of Namibia's marginalised ethnic groups, the Topnaar people, know how to survive in the vast Namib Desert. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- A senior Burundian lecturer has likened the former Senegalese poet President Leopold Senghor, who passed on Thursday in France at the age of 95, to the French poet, Victor Hugo. Full text...

Ziguinchor- Senegal (PANA) -- Organisers of Senagal's National Arts and Culture Festival (FESNAC) closed the event in the southern town of Ziguinchor Friday morning, a day after former President Leopold Sedar Senghor's death was announced. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Burkina Faso's second city, Bobo-Dioulaso will host the fifth Yeelen "Story-telling and Music" festival from 28-31 December, the organisers said. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Beauty queens from eleven countries will compete in the 8th edition of Miss ECOWAS pageant (Economic Community of West African States) scheduled Saturday in Bamako, the local press said Thursday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- In an unprecedented judgement since the Sharia law was introduced in Nigeria two years ago, a court in northern Sokoto state has ordered the amputation of the right hands and left legs of two men convicted of armed robbery. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- The national symphonic orchestra of Algeria, led by Amine Kouider who was recently appointed a UNESCO "artist for peace", Wednesday performed a concert of universal classical music at the national Algerian theatre in Algiers. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Several top musicians are on roll to perform at this weekend's annual Durban Jazz Festival organised by US-based Black Entertainment Television (BET). Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Sixteen contestants are to participate in the Miss South Africa Pageant 2001 to be held Saturday night at Sun City in the North West province. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The first West African Film Festival dubbed "Free Screens" will hold 15-22 December in Bamako, the organisers announced Thursday. Full text...

Saint Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- Ziskakan musical group's 11th album titled "Rimayer" has been released this week in Reunion, reports the sub-regional agency (MATERA). Full text...

Antananarivo- Madagascar (PANA) -- The Ambohimanga Royal Palace on the outskirts of Antananarivo will be registered this week on UNESCO's world heritage list, the regional news agency, MATERA, said. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The 5th edition of the Lema rural and environmental broadcasting days (JAREL) will hold 10-20 December in Dassa, 200 km from Cotonou, the organisers announced Saturday. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- The recent appointment of a woman, Mosadi Seboko, as a paramount chief of the Balete tribe, goes down in the history of Botswana as a milestone in the dismantling of a traditional set up that discriminated against and subordinated women. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- Botswana's National Assembly has adopted a national policy on culture that seeks to re-awaken and make the population proud of their own culture. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese musicians are preparing a song to encourage their national football team during next year's African Cup of Nations in Mali early next year and the FIFA World Cup to be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea in May-June 2002. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Internationally acclaimed South African singer Miriam Makeba was Thursday named winner of this year's Otto-Hahn golden peace medal for her efforts and commitment to human rights and overcoming of apartheid. Full text...

Saint Denis- the Reunion (PANA) -- The Reunion will celebrate its African heritage on 20 December to mark the end of slavery on the Indian Ocean island which is still under French rule. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A funeral ceremony for one of Kenya's foremost musicians, Daudi Kabaka, will be held at his ancestral home in western Kenya next week (15 December), family members said Thursday in Nairobi. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Benin's fifth edition of its National Crafts Show will be held in Cotonou from 7 to 17 December. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The government of Benin has released 8,500,000 FCFA (about 11,378 US dollars) in cash prizes to its team which took part in the fourth games of French-speaking countries, held July in Ottawa, Canada. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Malawi's reggae musician, Evison Matafale, 32, who died Tuesday in police custody was buried Wednesday at Chileka near Blantyre at a funeral attended by some 10,000 people from all walks of life. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- N'Java, a band from Madagascar, is expected to take part in the six-day 23rd modern dance and music festival of Rennes (western France) scheduled to start Tuesday, the organisers said. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Fans of American jazz legend Al Jarreau have snapped up tickets for his Johannesburg concert on Tuesday night, forcing organisers to add one more show at the same venue. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- A film by Algerian producer Yamina Benguigui, titled 'Dimanche s'il plait à Dieu' (Sunday, God willing) has been listed for the Oscar award by the Los Angeles Arts Academy. Full text...

London- UK (PANA) -- Twenty-one-year old Namondo Domanju, a student nurse in the University of Sheffield, has been crowned the first-ever Miss Cameroon, UK at a Cameroon cultural evening held Saturday in London. Full text...

Porto-Novo- Benin (PANA) -- More than 50,000 people visit museums in Benin each year, according to Alain Godonou, who heads the African Heritage School. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura has welcomed the proclamation of 2002 as United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- A Paris-based radio station, Beur FM, is organising a musical concert in the French capital Thursday as a sign of solidarity to Algerians affected by the recent floods. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritius Arts and Culture minister Motee Ramdass has tabled a bill in Parliament proposing a Trust Fund Bill to honour the memory of Indian immigrants, as well as protect Aapravasi Ghat, the site where they first settled on arrival in 1834. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Governor Peter Odili of Nigeria's south-eastern Rivers State has congratulated the newly-crowned Miss World, Nigeria's Agbani Darego, expressing the hope her victory would trigger a new enthusiasm and positive spirit of adventure among youths in the State. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Volume 2 of a compilation of songs by old Benin music celebrities would be officially launched on 24 November, according the initiator of the project, Jean Luc Akplogan. Full text...

Saint Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- The months of November and December are particularly religious in Reunion, where the Hindu, Muslim and Catholic communities celebrate their holidays in harmony. Full text...

Porto-Novo- Benin (PANA) -- More than a hundred researchers and policy makers are expected at an international conference on the Aguda or descendants of former slaves, billed for 20-26 November in Porto-Novo, Benin. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is supporting the preservation of the famous historical town of Kilwa, 280 km south of Dar es Salaam but off the Tanzanian coast, which UNESCO declared a world heritage site in 1981. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Four prizes worth over two million CFA F (2,666 dollars) were awarded Thursday to Benin's outstanding journalists and artists for 2001. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The fifth edition of the Benin Golden Awards (BGA), the largest awards event in the country's cultural and artistic scene, was launched Thursday in Cotonou by Culture, Crafts and Tourism Minister Amos Elegbe. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A Sharia court in Nigeria's northern state of Katsina has sentenced a man, Sani Rodi, to death by stabbing after convicting him of murder, the local media reported Thursday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad says the rabid Afro-pessimism that prevailed a few years ago is on the retreat and positive events on the continent have proven many sceptics wrong. Full text...

Saint Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- Seven films from six African countries aare among 22 selected at the Reunion Film Festival which opened on Tuesday in Saint-Denis. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- An International Fashion Show featuring designers and models from Africa and outside the continent, is planned for 8 December in Cotonou, Benin, the organisers said Tuesday. Full text...