For African nations, moving from promises to send hundreds of troops to help fight al-Qaida in troubled Mali to getting boots on the ground has been more complicated than first hoped.

A South African government official says two prisoners were killed and 65 injured when a fight broke out between two gangs.

One day after suffering a deadly attack, a Kenyan community retaliated with their own tribal assault on Thursday, killing 10 people and furthering a tribal feud that threatens to explode as March elections approach.

A Gambian journalist who contributes to The Associated Press was released on bail Thursday after being detained by Gambia's internal security service for nearly three days.

Radical Islamists held on to a city in central Mali Friday after sending the Malian military reeling in retreat. With the militants showing the capability to press even further into government-held territory, international aid organizations began evacuating staff from the narrow central belt of the country.

President of the Central African Republic has labeled the country's Seleka rebels, who have seized control of much of the country's north, as "mercenary terrorists", in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera.

A family of eleven elephants have been killed in Kenya in what officials say was the worst such incident in the past three decades.

Rebel fighters in Mali have captured at least 12 government soldiers along with their vehicle and equipment, reports say.

Tunisian authorities have unconditionally released the only suspect they held in custody over the deadly attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, his lawyer says.

Striking farm workers in South Africa's Western Cape province have clashed with police after blocking roads in several areas as part of a protest for higher wages.

The UN peacekeeping department has asked the Security Council to back the use of surveillance drones for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

At least eight people have been killed in the latest tribal violence in Kenya's Tana Delta, police and local officials say.

The African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, has said AU is interested in finding the root causes and solution to the crisis in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Security challenges, which have prompted the Federal Government to deploy troops to many parts of the federation, have forced Nigeria to scale down the number of men of the armed forces it will contribute to a sub-regional military contingent for peacekeeping in Mali.

Anthony Masamba, a journalist with one of Malawi's major radio stations, Malawi Institute of Journalism FM (MIJ FM), was assaulted on 5 January 2013 while conducting a face-to-face interview with the head of the Malawi Confederation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), Chancellor Kaferapanjira.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has been sworn in following a controversial election victory in December 2012.

The Central African Republic (CAR) and the Seleka rebels are preparing to hold peace talks in Gabon.

A group of 30 armed men have attacked two neighboring villages in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara, shooting or hacking to death about 10 people, security officials say.

The President of Libya's national assembly, Mohammed Megaryef has survived an assault on his hotel in the southern oasis of Sabha.

A truck carrying illegal migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has flipped in Angola, killing 16 people and seriously injuring three others.