With a kind of hide and seek that is beginning to be the hallmark of the common market talks, there is a likelihood that the dream of reaping from a large economic market of over 90 million people, may fail.

Six new envoys who presented their credentials to President Paul Kagame yesterday said they were optimistic about theeir missions.

ON Monday many primary schools countrywide were closed. Reason? It was World Teachers' Day and they needed a day off to attend the celebrations. In practice, however, most teachers used this as a day off to catch up on other issues.

Guinea has become a major drug-trafficking hub and the trade there is now potentially more dangerous than in Guinea-Bissau, according to Antonio Mazzitelli, regional representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

In August, floods loosened the dry caked Sahelian earth in Gao, northern Mali, affecting more than 1,000 people, many of whom temporarily took refuge in area schools.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe gives key ministries to his own party - in defiance of a power-sharing deal, reports say.

Somali pirates holding a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying military tanks threaten to blow it up if they are not paid a ransom.

Pictures from the African continent this week

Ghana captain Stephen Appiah calls for patience ahead of Saturday's must-win 2010 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho.

DR Congo's leader makes a televised appeal for people in the east to take up arms against rebel general Laurant Nkunda.

A bug which lives entirely on its own without oxygen and in complete darkness could offer clues to life on other planets.

About 100 Somalis are feared drowned in the Gulf of Aden after being forced overboard by smugglers, the UN says.

Nigeria's romantic texters resort to shock tactics