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South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, a leading contender to become head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December, has stepped up his criticism of the government saying state-owned companies had been “captured” and funds looted from them.

Mr Ramaphosa’s remarks during a speech yesterday to an ANC meeting in the old diamond-mining town of Kimberley were tougher than others he have made on government graft, signaling the issue would be a main theme of his campaign.

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the tomb of a royal goldsmith containing the mummies of a woman and her two children, authorities have said.

The tomb, dating back to the New Kingdom (16th to 11th Centuries BC), was found near the Nile city of Luxor, 400 miles (700km) south of Cairo.

The security forces in Togo fired tear gas in the early hours of this morning to disperse hundreds of anti-government protestors taking part in a late-night sit in in the capital, Lomé.

News agencies have been filing photographs of demonstrators bedding down for the all-night vigil:

The UN Security Council has set up a sanctions system allowing the UN to penalise anyone who violates Mali's 2015 peace deal, obstructs the delivery of aid, commits human rights abuses or recruits child soldiers.

Anyone who violates the terms will face a travel ban or asset freeze, according to the resolution which was initiated by France and unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council.

Canada and Ghana have had a very important and long-standing partnership and the two countries continue to work towards further strengthening the relationship for their mutual benefit.

“Our diplomatic relations date back to Ghana’s independence and Ghana was Canada’s first international development partner,” the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Madam Heather Cameron, has stated.

Emergency officials in Niger say torrential rains have destroyed hundreds of houses outside the capital, Niamey.

Colonel Aboubacar Bako, director general of civil protection and disasters, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying on Tuesday that residents were forced to evacuate after several days of heavy downpours. 

Fear has gripped the village of Shayamoya in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province after the discovery of a decapitated body.

The family of Zanele Hlatshwayo, 25, who has been missing since July, believe she was a victim of a cannibalism ring that has so far led to the arrest of five men.

Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu has paid a state visit to Sierra Leone to commiserate with the people and government over the great loss caused by devastating mudslides and floods that have claimed hundreds of innocent lives and left many more still missing.

Uganda police say they have arrested a number of suspects over a recent spate of killings of women near the capital, Kampala.

The Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura, said that a suspect had confessed to killing eight women on the orders of businessmen.

A Kenyan single mother has taken to the streets of the capital, Nairobi, with a huge banner in search of a husband.

Dressed in a white dress similar to a wedding gown, 28-year-old mother-of-one Pris Nyambura holds a banner in the air which bears the words:

Legal representatives of the 20-year-old South African model who accused Zimbabwe’s first lady of assault say the latter’s diplomatic immunity will not stop their fight for justice.

Grace Mugabe was granted diplomatic immunity by South Africa before she left the country on Sunday amid demands that she faces prosecution.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has addressed the nation following three months of medical leave in the UK.

In a televised speech, Mr Buhari, 74, said he was "distressed" by calls for the dissolution of Nigeria, urging Nigerians to come together.

Three female suicide bombers have carried out an attack that has killed at least 27 people in north-eastern Nigeria, officials say.

Dozens were injured when the women blew themselves up outside a refugee camp near Maiduguri in Borno state - a stronghold of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe has so far failed to appear in a South African court over an assault case despite officials saying she would do.

South African police said in the late afternoon they did not know where Mrs Mugabe was.

Kenya's opposition presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, has said the electoral commission's IT system has been hacked to manipulate the election results.

He has rejected early results from Tuesday's vote, indicating a strong lead for President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Amnesty International thinks that the recent events in Kenya, including the murder of a top electoral commission official, are creating a cloud of fear that must be properly addressed ahead of next week’s election.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes: “This brutal murder has sent a chill down the spine of many Kenyans and raised the spectre of violence.”

Angola says it will allow four experts from the European Union (EU) to monitor its election later this month, the AFP news agency reports.

"The EU will only send a small mission... We cannot really speak of observers, only experts. A real mission of observers is 200 people," a European diplomatic source told the AFP.

Somalia officials say a key al-Shabab commander has been killed in an American airstrike.

A statement from the US Africa Command did not name the dead man, but said one fighter had been killed near Tortorow in southern Somalia.