20111227
Reuters
(Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Monday condemned the Christmas Day bomb attacks by Islamist militants in Nigeria as an "absurd gesture" and prayed that "the hands of the violent be stopped."

20111227
AFP
Four people were killed and 15 were injured in inter-ethnic clashes on Monday near the Ivory Coast economic capital Abidjan, a defence ministry spokesman said Monday.

20111227
AFP
Thousands of young people in South Sudan are preparing to attack a rival tribe in what could become a major tragedy, the United Nations warned on Monday.

20111227
AFP
Fear gripped Nigeria on Monday after a wave of Christmas bombings blamed on Islamists killed at least 40, including worshippers who were left begging for mercy as they exited a church.

20111227
AFP
Libya's former rebels, who battled the forces of dead dictator Moamer Kadhafi, are demanding greater representation in the National Transitional Council, a commander from Misrata said on Monday.

20111227
AP
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) — A top military official attempted unsuccessfully to seize power early Monday, an army official said, while the ill leader of this tiny, coup-prone West African country is believed to be undergoing medical treatment abroad.

20111227
AP
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean state radio says 11 people died, most of them children, in a Christmas Day boating accident on a lake outside the capital.

20111227
AFP
The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) and the government's sports ministry have resolved a damaging dispute that threatened the country's preparations for next month's Africa Cup of Nations.

20111227
AFP
The electoral commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has halted the vote count for parliamentary elections until experts arrive from the United States and Britain, it announced Monday.

20111227
AFP
Algeria has named retired general Athman Tartag to head up the country's fight against armed extremists, the daily El Watan reported Monday.

20111226
Reuters
(Reuters) - Sudan's armed forces have killed the leader of Darfur's most powerful rebel group, state media said on Sunday, dealing a severe blow to insurgents in the remote western region in their nearly decade-long war with Khartoum.

20111226
Reuters
(Reuters) - Libya will include thousands of former rebels who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in its armed forces from January, the defense minister said on Sunday, testing the government's ability to get rebel leaders to cede command of their fighters.

20111226
Reuters
(Reuters) - Egypt's military rulers are studying a proposal from their own advisers to bring forward parliamentary elections by two weeks after demands from protesters and politicians to speed up transition to civilian rule, an advisory council member said Sunday.

20111226
Reuters
(Reuters) - Somalia appealed against a decision by a U.S. bank to shut down its money transfer service that serves as a lifeline for tens of thousands of Somalis who depend on remittances, saying the closure could lead to the collapse of the economy.

20111226
Reuters
(Reuters) - Egypt's two leading Islamist parties won about two-thirds of votes for party lists in the second round of polling for a parliament that will help draft a new constitution after decades of autocratic rule, the election committee said Saturday.

20111226
AP
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A police commissioner says a suicide bomber has detonated his explosive-laden car in northeast Nigeria, causing an unknown number of injuries.

20111226
AFP
The Christmas morning bomb shook the Nigerian church as worshippers were filing out after mass. Some of those caught in the blast ran towards a priest with dying pleas for blessings.

20111226
AFP
Sudanese riot police and university students battled in central Khartoum on Sunday after students staged an exam boycott, an AFP reporter witnessed.

20111226
AFP
When Somali refugee Madina Ali escaped harsh drought and famine in Somalia, she hoped to find a better life in Ethiopia's Dolo Ado camp.