Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo Wednesday slammed same sex marriage and homosexuality as "unbiblical, unnatural and definitely unAfrican". Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The First All-African Anglican Bishops Conference (AABC) begins in Lagos Wednesday to discuss problems facing the Anglican Communion on the continent. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- UNESCO is expected to get involved in preparations for the international conference Islamo-Christian dialogue scheduled 2005 in the Senegalese capital Dakar, reliable sources said here Tuesday. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Moroccan King Mohammed VI Monday presided over the first "religious talk" of the holy fasting month of Ramadan amid extensive efforts by the authorities of the kingdom to regulate religious activities. Full text...

Moroni- Comoros (PANA) -- The Comoran police said they arrested five people Sunday for eating food, drinking alcohol and smoking Indian hemp during daytime in violation of the Ramadan fasting. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Muslims in Mauritius begin the month-long fasting of the Ramadan on Saturday, sources at the Grand Mosque of Port-Louis confirmed here, saying the moon was sighted Friday evening. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Muslims in the Gambia will this weekend join the rest of the Islamic world in observing the holy month of Ramadan, according to Alhaji Banding Drammeh, the president of the country's Supreme Islamic Council, Friday here. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Some 300 Anglican Bishops from across Africa are expected to attend an African Anglican Bishops conference in Nigeria from 26 October to 1 November. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- France has expressed "outrage" over the death Saturday of Alexandria Patriarch Peter VII, the primate of the African Orthodox Church in a helicopter crash on Mount Athos in Greece. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) --- Ugandan Anglican Church Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi has said the Anglican community will not turn away dissident churches which wish to abandon the Episcopal Church of America for supporting gay unions. Full text...

Birnin Kebbi- Nigeria (PANA) -- To defuse a looming sectarian violence, governor Adamu Aliero of Nigeria's northern Kebbi State Wednesday ordered the destruction of an "Islamic republic" proclaimed by a self-styled Muslim leader in the State, Sanusi Maikera Gandu. Full text...

Rabat- Morocco (PANA) -- Islamic scholar Haji Amadou Mustapha Wade has stressed the imperative of promoting Islamic virtues and encouraging access to its world of knowledge and culture. Full text...

Kinshasa- RD Congo (PANA) -- Congo's National Episcopal Conference has banned Catholics in the Democratic Republic of Congo from holding ecumenical prayers with believers in Kimbanguism In a statement issued last weekend at the end of its 28 June-3 July plenary assembly, the conference also nullified the Kimbanguist baptism of Catholics, saying it is not conferred in the name of the Holy Trinity. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Imams in Mauritania have undertaken to sensitise men against the dangers of sexual violence against women. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- The third edition of the International Symposium of Moslems in the Francophone Space (CIMEF) will hold here 30 July to 2 August, the Islamic monthly As-Salam reported Tuesday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The Ghana branch of Nigeria-based Winners Church, embroiled in internal feud, has been served notice by the Accra Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the scrutiny of the Church accounts for taxation purposes. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- The third International Symposium of Moslems in the Francophone Space (CIMEF) will be held in Niamey, Niger from 30 July to 2 August, the Islamic monthly magazine, As- Salam reported here Tuesday. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- The third International Symposium of Moslems in the Francophone Space (CIMEF) will be held in Niamey, Niger from 30 July to 2 August, the Islamic monthly magazine, As- Salam reported here Tuesday. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger President Mamadou Tandja left Niamey Sunday for Sokoto to participate in ceremonies commemorating the bicentenary of the neighbouring northern Nigerian caliphate. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Members of a Ghana branch of the Nigeria-based Winners Chapel Pentecostal church, have rejected the transfer of their Bishop to Nigeria and are threatening to break away. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- A 35-year-old Catholic nun was killed Tuesday night by suspected thugs who broke into the Banyatereza Sisters' Convent of Virika, in Uganda's western district of Fort Potal, police said Thursday. Full text...

Maputo- Mozambique (PANA) -- The Brazilian nun Maria Elilda dos Santos, who reported alleged child and human organs' trafficking in Mozambique's northern Nampula province, has left the country under alleged pressure from Mozambican authorities, national news agency, AIM reported Thursday. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The "Jamiat-Ul-Ulama" Islamic movement Thursday threatened to demonstrate in the streets of Port Louis if Prime Minister Paul Berenger fails to address the grievances of the Moslem community. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- UN Secretary General's Special envoy to the Great Lakes region Ibrahima Fall, has called on religious groups in Africa to stop fighting among themselves for supremacy but to focus on the promotion of peace on the continent. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- The faithful in Mauritius joined the Moslem community worldwide Monday to mark the anniversary of the birth of Prophet Muhammad. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- The 16th Scientific Symposium organised by the Islamic Grouping, with support from the Islamic Research Institute, Wednesday continued proceedings under the patronage of Mauritanian Head of State, Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Ivorian and Burkinabe bishops will 25 April converge at the Saint Paul Cathedral in Plateau district here to celebrate a mass of repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and grace, church sources revealed Thursday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, immediate past President of a Ghanaian NGO, Youth in Action, said some churches in the country, like the mines, industries, vehicles and discotheques, were making excessive noise and should be equally checked. Full text...

Kigali- Rwanda (PANA) -- Rwandan Christians Sunday celebrated Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the country continued to observe the weeklong national mourning launched Wednesday to commemorate the 1994 genocide victims. Full text...

Luanda- Angola (PANA) -- The Angolan National Assembly Tuesday voted a law on the freedom of conscience, belief and religion in the country. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Mauritanian police on Monday briefly arrested Imam Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Dedew of Nouakchott, who is indexed because of his critical sermons against the government, informed sources told PANA Tuesday. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Twelve bishops of the Rwandan Protestant Church Council, CPR is in DR Congo as part of efforts to reconcile Christians in both countries and support the peace process in the Great Lakes region, informed sources said Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A Kenyan cabinet minister and an Anglican Church bishop are locked in a tussle over the controversial payment of monthly allowances for spiritual services rendered to the Nairobi City Council. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria urged his compatriots Sunday to reflect on the key themes of Eid- El-Kabir, as they joined Muslims around the world to celebrate the Feast of the Ram. Full text...

Kinshasa- RD Congo (PANA) -- Bushop Paul Mambe of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Kindu diocese in Maniema province passed away suddenly on Monday, Kinshasa-based priests from the area reported Wednesday. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritian Imam (Muslim dignitary), Ariff Bahemia, has complained that the Indian embassy here has denied him entry visa to visit the Asian country. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Pope John Paul II has appointed Bishop Paul Richard Gallagher of Britain as the replacement of Mgr Michael Courtney of Ireland, who was assassinated in an ambush late last month south of Bujumbura, Catholic Church sources disclosed here. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- The first batch of 500 Burkinabe pilgrims left Ouagadougou Monday afternoon on board an Air Senegal International Boeing for Mecca. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will Saturday ordain his youngest daughter, Mpho a priest in the US, Tutu's office said in Johannesburg Friday. Full text...

Bangui- Central African Republic (PANA) -- Catholic Bishops in the Central African Republic (CAR) have denounced the state of insecurity imposed on civilians by rebels and called on the government to restore peace. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- About 1,650 Mauritanians have registered for the 2004 pilgrimage to Mecca, the most holy city in Islam, official sources have revealed here. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Libya's Al-Afriqiyah airline will carry Malian pilgrims on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in January 2004, the airline sources said in Tripoli Tuesday. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Monsignor Marc Courtney, Pope John Paul II's representative in Burundi, was murdered by unknown gunmen Monday on a road south of Bujumbura, official sources said. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- About 1,800 Mauritian Muslims would make the pilgrimage to Mecca next January, Islamic Cultural Centre (CCI) director Mohamedally Mownah announced here Friday. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Christian and Muslim religious leaders from four West African countries and the World Conference of Peace and Religion (WCRP) Sunday ended a four-day meeting in the Liberian capital, with a call on warring factions and the transitional government "to respect the Accra peace accord and work towards consolidating the peace and stability in Liberia. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Catholic Bishop of newly-created Mindelo Diocese in Cape Verde, has promised to work hard for the good of the Church and the entire humility. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Jewish community can look forward to their new rabbi after the official naming of Warren Goldstein to the post on Monday. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- About a fortnight after the faithful elsewhere marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, Moslems in Mauritius officially celebrated Aid-el-Fitre Sunday. Full text...

Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- Libyan daily Al-Chams Wednesday strongly criticised puritan extremism, charging that it was fuelling confusion regarding the beginning and end of the lunar months in the Muslim calendar. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- After severing ties with the US Episcopal Church over the consecration of a gay bishop, the Anglican Church in Nigeria plans to set up a branch in the US for Nigerians living in that country, a senior official of the Nigerian church has affirmed. Full text...