Rapidinhas :Sub-Saharan Africa

Burundi

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has said his government would not meet new demands from the country's last rebel group, accusing them of failing to keep a ceasefire deal. The Hutu Forces for National Liberation (FNL) signed a peace agreement with the government in September after a South African-led mediation. But the FNL last week stopped participating in a ceasefire monitoring team, arguing that government forces had not been withdrawn from areas under their control. (Reuters)

Central African Republic (CAR)

The CAR plans to issue a bond on a new regional bourse later this year to help raise funds to boost its ailing economy and curb insecurity, Prime Minister Elie Dote said in an interview. Current information suggests the Central African state needs around USD 1 billion to ensure security and peace and drive its economic development, he said. (Reuters)

Chad

UNHCR and its partners are dealing with a new wave of displacement in south-eastern Chad following a deadly attack at the weekend against the villages of Tiero and Marena. Preliminary reports by UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies indicate that since Saturday's attack between 2,000 and 3,000 people have arrived at the Goz Amir refugee camp near the town of Koukou, which is located about 45 km east of the two villages. The camp is home to more than 19,000 Sudanese refugees from the neighboring Darfur region. (UN News)

Guinea

Guinea's president has named a new government, a month after appointing a consensus prime minister to end a series of crippling strikes. Lansana Conte's decree was announced in a television broadcast to the West African nation, following consultations with Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate. More 100 people were killed during a seven-week period of unrest earlier this year in the country. Most were shot by Guinea's security forces. (BBC)

Ethiopia

Ethiopian soldiers have killed 23 Eritrean-backed rebels, captured 18, and received the surrender of 112 more, the state news agency ENA said April 3. "The 23 rebels engaged in proxy war coordinated by the Eritrean government were killed in gunfire with the army in Armacheo district of the northern Gondar region," ENA said, quoting a regional official. Ethiopia, the major military power in the Horn of Africa, has frequently accused Eritrea of backing, arming and harboring a variety of insurgents. (Reuters)

Kenya

The lives of many Kenyans are being transformed by an innovative mobile phone money transfer service. The free account - M-Pesa - is offered by Safaricom Kenya, a leading mobile phone service operator and is a technological breakthrough say the operators. It enables subscribers to send large volumes of money in an instant transaction. Statistics show USD 93 billion in remittances is sent by migrants overseas to Africa each year and M-Pesa hopes to tap into this transfer of funds. (BBC)

Madagascar

As the sixth mayor cyclone to hit Madagascar this season tears across the northeast of the impoverished Indian ocean island, a relentless succession of natural disasters has left nearly half a million people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Tropical cyclone Jaya made landfall on Madagascar's northeastern coast today on a projected trajectory that will see it rage through areas already devastated by cyclone Indlala just over two weeks ago. (IRIN)

Nigeria

Nigeria's electoral body has been told to allow Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to run for president in April's poll. Abubakar was indicted for graft by a government ministerial panel which investigated corruption in an oil fund. But the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled the electoral body lacked the power to exclude Abubakar from the election, in contradiction to a ruling made hours earlier by a superior court which said the electoral body could disqualify candidates. (BBC)

Rwanda

European countries should put on trial 37 suspects of the 1994 Rwandan genocide who are living in Europe, human rights groups said April 3. They accused France and Belgium, among others, of giving the suspects safe haven. Speaking ahead of the 13th anniversary of the genocide, when 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered in 100 days of state-sponsored killings, rights group REDRESS and the International Federation for Human Rights said delays in putting suspects on trial were inexcusable. (Reuters)

Somalia

Mogadishu residents buried their dead and ventured onto streets for the first time in five days April 2 during a lull in battles pitting Ethiopian and Somali troops against Islamist insurgents and clan militia. But even as elders from the dominant Hawiye clan insisted a truce was in place, hundreds of Ethiopian reinforcements drove into Mogadishu from other parts of Somalia, witnesses said. The UN said 47,000 Somalis have fled Mogadishu in the last 10 days, making a total of 96,000 since February. (Reuters)

Sudan

Unidentified gunmen killed five African Union peacekeepers in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the deadliest single attack against the force since late 2004, the AU said April 2. The five were guarding a water point near the border with Chad when they came under fire on Sunday. Three gunmen were also killed, he said. AU Commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare warned that continued violence raised the possibility "for a catastrophic and tragic breakdown of the security and humanitarian situation in Darfur." (Reuters)

Uganda

Sixty-six children were killed in eastern Uganda during an army operation against suspected cattle rustlers, UK charity Save the Children says. They were shot by soldiers, run over by armored vehicles or crushed by stampeding animals last month. The aid group said it had not found physical evidence of the alleged deaths in Karamoja, but had consistent reports after interviewing some 200 people. (BBC)

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called on South Africa's leader to act quickly and decisively to halt political violence in his country. President Thabo Mbeki was appointed to mediate between Zimbabwe's government and the opposition party of Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Tsvangirai said he felt threatened by President Robert Mugabe. (BBC)