Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - A serious food security crisis is developing in the Gao region of northern Mali due to a shortage of cereals in the market, rocketing food prices and restricted access, international aid agency Oxfam warned Wednesday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The World Food Programme (WFP) will this year give food assistance to more than a million Malians through an emergency operation for people affected by the conflict in the north of the country. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The New York-based press freedom watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has condemned Togo's police for firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse protesting journalists in the West African country. Full text...

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) – A senior government official during the Mouammar Kadhafi era, Ahmed Kadhaf al-Dem, on Tuesday surrendered to Egyptian authorities after his house near Cairo, the Egyptian capital, was surrounded by Egyptian security forces. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The police in Nigeria's northern state of Kano said Tuesday that 22 people died while 65 were injured in a suicide bomb attack at a motor park in the state capital, Kano, on Monday evening. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has constituted a delegation, to represent Nigeria in London at the formal enthronement of the Rt. Reverend Justin Welby as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the presidency said in a statement here Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - One soldier was killed and two others wounded when a remote controlled Improvised Explosive Device, planted by terrorists targeting the Joint Task Force (JTF) patrol vehicles, exploded at the First Bank/ Mr. Bigs Round About in Maiduguri, capital of the northern Borno State Tuesday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – Eight people are reported to have died on Tuesday in a rainstorm that swept across parts of northern Ghana. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Accredited by the National Training Authority (NTA), the Gambia Press Union (GPU) School of Journalism becomes Gambia's first journalism school mandated to provide journalism education up to diploma level. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The global anti-corruption organisation Transparency International (TI) has opened its global call for nominations for its 2013 Integrity Awards. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - A maintenance officer was killed Monday when a Mauritanian military plane crashed near the town of Aoujeft, northern Mauritania, the country’s defence department said in a statement issued here. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Mauritanian opposition Union of the Forces of Progress (UFP) has condemned the arrest and deportation of some African migrants living in the capital city of Nouakchott as well as Nouadhibou, the country's second largest city, by the Mauritanian authorities. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) on Tuesday joined the International Bar Association (IBA)( in condemning the arrest of prominent Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa in Harare on Sunday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - With no official casualty figure from the authorities yet, Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday put the death toll from Monday evening's suicide bomb attack at a popular bus park in the northern city of Kano at around 60. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen suspected to be members of the violent Islamic sect Boko Haram on Monday shot dead a teacher and injured three students at the Sanda Karami Secondary School in Nigeria's northern city of Maiduguri, the military said. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - General Jean Bosco Ntaganda, a dissident officer of the Congolese army who surrendered to the US embassy in Kigali on Monday, is willing to hand himself to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, according to a statement made public by the US embassy. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – The Congolese dissident army general, Jean Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Monday surrendered to authorities of the US embassy in Kigali, the Rwandan government said here in a communique. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – Significant progress is being made in Libya in the fields of justice and human rights, according the Libyan Justice Minister, Salah Al-Marghini, who unveiled a wide range of bills to be submitted to the National General Congress. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, Abdel Bari Al-Aroussi, has denied the closure of the oil field, "Ghalo 59", from which 350,000 barrels of crude oil of the daily output of 1.6 million barrels are produced. Full text...

Melrose, Mauritius (PANA) - A modern high security prison that can accommodate a thousand prisoners is under construction in Melrose, central Mauritius, according to the Commissioner of Prisons, Dr. Jean Bruneau. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of South African global icon Nelson Mandela, has expressed her shock at comments by South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority that she might be prosecuted for the deaths of two men during the apartheid era. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – Zambian former president Rupiah Banda, whose immunity was lifted by parliament on Friday, has appealed to all Zambians to remain calm and show love towards one another. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – With his immunity taken away, Zambian former president Rupiah Banda has been summoned to appear before the Government Joint Investigative Team (GJIT) for questioning on Monday, 18 March. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Saturday that renewed fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR) is threatening civilians in the south-east of the country and compromising access to refugees and internally-displaced people. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – Nineteen-year-old French woman has been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment and a US$ 3,500 fine for drug trafficking, judicial sources told PANA on Saturday. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – Unidentified people on Thursday set fire to an Egyptian Coptic church in Benghazi, Libya, causing damage on the building, the Libyan news agency has reported, quoting an adviser in the Egyptian consulate of the city, Mohamed Kamel. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - As Zimbabwe heads to the polls this weekend to vote on a proposed new constitution, Amnesty International urges the authorities to allow eligible civil society organizations to observe the process without harassment and intimidation. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The government of Chad must arrest and surrender the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) when he visits Chad on Monday, Amnesty International said on Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Gunmen, suspected to be Boko Haram members, on Thursday attacked a prison in Gwoza Local Government Area of the northern Borno state with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs, setting all the inmates free, the local Vanguard newspaper reported. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - An inter-ministerial conference of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea will be held in Cotonou, Benin Republic, on 19 March, 2013, according to a statement from the ECOWAS Commission here. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Sudan has praised the African Union (AU) and former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who helped Khartoum and Juba to reach an agreement on post-secession question, including an implementation matrix. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has banned Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators from all airports across the country, following Wednesday night's attack on the operators at the main Gateway Murtala Mohammed International Airport in the commercial city of Lagos that left several persons, including policemen, dead. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Catholic faithfuls in Mauritius Thursday greeted with joy the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope to take over from Benedict XVI, who resigned last month, citing deteriorating health. Full text...

Rabat-Morocco (PANA) - In a recent report, the International Medical aid group, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has urged Morocco and Spain to take immediate and drastic measures to ensure that their security forces discontinue abuses against sub-Saharan migrants. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, Thursday congratulated Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected Pope the day before. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - The nine activists working for a Mauritanian anti-slavery NGO Initiative for the resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) were released from detention Wednesday night, the organisation has announced. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A UN report released Thursday said the number of deaths in detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nearly doubled in 2012, and the conditions in which prisoners live remain extremely poor in the majority of the detention centres. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday welcomed the appointment of Pope Francis (Bergoglio) of Argentina as the 266th Pontiff of the Catholic church, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has congratulated Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected the new Bishop of Rome on Wednesday evening and has taken the name Pope Francis I, as well as Catholics across the world. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - As Nigeria's estimated 20 million Catholics join their counterparts around the world to celebrate the emergence of a new Pope, the Nigerian media Thursday gave a big play to the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as the new head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Armed robbers Wednesday night attacked foreign exchange operators outside Nigeria's main gateway Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, killing two policemen and escaping with a huge amount of money, the local media reported Thursday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Thanks to modern communication networks, Tanzanians of all faiths late Wednesday instantly joined the huge crowd at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to welcome, congratulate and pray for newly-elected Pope Francis as successor of retired Benedict XVI. Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Association of journalists in Burkina Faso (AJB) on Wednesday condemned the arrest of Malian journalist Boukary Daou and demanded his release. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina has emerged the new Pope (Bishop of Rome), succeeding Pope Benedict XVI who resigned last month. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A new Pope (Bishop of Rome) has emerged and will soon be named, after a white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Wednesday evening, on the second day of voting by the cardinals. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The sub-regional rights body, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has supported Togo's media groups for staging a news blackout in protest against a new law recently passed by the country’s parliament, PANA reports Wednesday. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) – Two Tunisian rappers have been held in custody for "using threatening and insulting speech" against the Tunisian police and judges in a Youtube video, according to a communiqué released by the Home Affairs ministry. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military said Wednesday it killed four armed persons, including a woman, in a joint raid with the police on their hideout at Alu Quarters in the northern city of Sokoto. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Winnnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of South African global icon Nelson Mandela, has been linked to a double murder that took place in Soweto 25 years ago, as a result of the testimony of one of the victim’s fathers. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The recent military intervention in northern Mali has been followed by a serious escalation of retaliatory violence by government soldiers who appeared to be targeting members of various ethnic groups perceived to be supportive of the armed groups, the UN Full text...