African news : breaking news, features, analysis

Burkina Faso has frozen the assets of the leader of last week's failed coup, Gen Gilbert Diendere.

Another 13 people suspected of involvement have also had their assets frozen, the state prosecutor says.

Interim President Michel Kafando was reinstated on Wednesday after an intervention from the army and West African leaders.

On Friday, his government ordered the presidential guards' unit that carried out the coup to be disbanded.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 100 injured in clashes during the take-over which Gen Diendere described as "the biggest mistake".

We arrive at Tanzanite One on a cool September morning.

The drive from the nearest town, Arusha, was not too long, but the last stretch on a gravel road littered with ditches made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Once we got to the mine, we were given an induction and a quick briefing on the safety rules. After that we were off to the actual shaft, where we were allocated overalls, helmets and yellow plastic boots.

When I saw the contraption that would carry us 460 metres (yards) below ground, my excitement turned into fear.

Nigeria on Saturday celebrated the announcement by the U.N. health agency that polio is no longer endemic in the West African country.

The news of Nigeria's progress, made by the World Health Organization (WHO) on late Friday, leaves only Pakistan and its war-battered neighbor Afghanistan as countries where the disease is prevalent. Polio, which can cause life-long paralysis, can be prevented with a simple vaccination.

"It's a great moment for Nigeria," said Dr. Tunji Funsho, chairman of Rotary International's anti-polio campaign in Nigeria. "We should celebrate but with a caveat that we should not let our guard down." He attributed the success to teamwork between government and non-governmental health organizations.

The Accra Veterinary Laboratory has held training on Avian Influenza, commonly known as bird flu, for laboratory workers in the West African sub-region.
With support from the United States Development for Agriculture (USDA), the five-day training brought together 25 participants from Nigeria, The Gambia, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Niger.

Burkina Faso's interim President Michel Kafando has been formally reinstated a week after the military takeover.

The ceremony took place in the capital, Ouagadougou, in the presence of several West African leaders who helped mediate an end to the crisis.

The presidential guard carried out the coup. Its leader Gen Gilbert Diendere admitted to local media that it had been "the biggest mistake".

"We knew the people were not in favour of it. That is why we have given up."

Burkina Faso's interim President Michel Kafando has said he is back in charge and civilian rule restored after last week's military takeover.

His announcement came as coup leader Gen Gilbert Diendere went to welcome several African leaders arriving to oversee the transfer of power.

His presidential guard agreed to a deal overnight with the regular army to avoid violence.

They pledged to return to barracks and the army to withdraw from the capital.

Nigeria’s military on Saturday claimed further gains in its counter-offensive against Boko Haram, but the group’s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau dismissed the talk of success as “lies”.

Army spokesman Sani Usman said troops destroyed more rebel enclaves and camps in the restive state of Borno, which has been worst hit by the six-year Islamist insurgency.

“The fight against the terrorists in the northeast is gaining successful momentum, with most of the camps falling to the Federal might,” he said in a statement.

A total of 62 people were rescued from around the town of Gwoza, which last year Boko Haram declared the headquarters of its caliphate but which it lost control of in March.

At least 50 people were reportedly killed with 95 critically sustained injuries as a result of multiple explosions that rocked Ajilari Railway Cross and Bintu Sugar suburbs of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

Sources from National and International Humanitarian agencies that participated in the evacuation of the victims told Vanguard Nigeria's correspondent.

Other hospital sources put the death toll at over 60 as many of the injured victims died while receiving treatment Monday morning.

Ajilari Cross and Bintu Sugar are located at the outskirt of Maiduguri which have witnessed a series of boko haram attacks including bombings of a football veiwing centre in recent past.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday night ruled out paying teachers higher salaries, saying that doing so would raise the cost of living.

In a televised address from State House, Nairobi, the President said the government had taken the decision to close all schools to ensure the safety of children and safeguard school property in the wake of the teachers strike that started on September 2.

He also asked teachers to consider the interest of children and return to work and give the relevant constitutional institutions time to handle the pay dispute.

“It is wrong to hold our children hostage to wage demands,” he said and reiterated that working in the public sector was a service.

Three blasts have struck the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the army says.

A spokesman blamed the Islamist militant group Boko Haram for the attack. The group was founded in Maiduguri.

Unconfirmed reports say as many as eight people may have died from the blasts.

Public schools in Kenya have been shut by the government in response to the three-week teachers' strike.

A Kenyan court has ordered a pay rise of at least 50%, but the government is challenging this.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said that teachers are well paid already and a salary increase would damage government finances.

Teachers argue that a pay deal struck in 1997 has only been partially fulfilled.

The decision comes after Boni Yayi held talks with coup leader general Gilbert Diendere in the capital Ouagadougou.

"We may hope again," Boni Yayi said at a press conference after a third round of talks with Diendere late on Saturday.

"We are going to relaunch the transition that was under way - a transition led by civilians, with Michel Kafando," he added, saying that more details of the "good news" would be provided on Sunday.

Soldiers from the elite presidential guard (RSP) stormed into a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and abducted President Kafando and Isaac Zida, the prime minister, disrupting a transition period due to end with polls next month.

At least 4,000 inmates are being evacuated from the Pollsmoor Detention facility near Cape Town after at least one prisoner died from a disease related to rat infestation at the facility.

Manelisi Wolela, spokesperson for the department of correctional services, confirmed to Al Jazeera on Saturday that around 4,100 detainees were being evacuated to prevent a massive outbreak of a disease, blamed on the inmates' close proximity to rats.

"We have been fumigating the place, but as of now, we are moving the prisoners to other locations, and it will take some days to complete," Wolela said.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the infection, known as leptospirosis, is carried in rat urine and conditions at the prison were likely to faciliate more infections.

Burkina Faso's interim President Michel Kafando has been freed and is in good health, the new junta leaders say.

However, Prime Minister Isaac Zida, who was also detained when the presidential guard stormed a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, remains under house arrest.

The African Union has suspended Burkina Faso and threatened sanctions unless the junta releases all interim political figures from detention.

The US and France have also condemned the coup in the former French colony.

Mozambique has removed its last known landmine after two decades of work to get rid of the explosives.

Close to 171,000 landmines were removed, according to the Halo Trust, a British charity that led the clearance.

The landmines were left after a long fight for independence followed by a civil war. Many were planted up until the 1990s.

Presidential guard officers in Burkina Faso have announced the dissolution of the transitional government.

A new "national democratic council" had taken control to end the "deviant regime", Lt-Col Mamadou Bamba said on state television.

Interim parliament speaker Cheriff Sy said the move was "clearly a coup".

Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe read out the wrong speech at the opening of parliament on Tuesday, an error which the main opposition quickly used to question whether Africa's oldest leader was still of a sound mind.

Mugabe, the only ruler the southern African nation has known since it was recognized in 1980, delivered the same speech he gave on August 25, pinning his hopes on China to help revive Zimbabwe's struggling economy. Mugabe finished the speech without interruption and his spokesman blamed officials, adding the president would read the correct speech at a later date.

The world is running out of one of the most effective snakebite treatments, putting tens of thousands of lives at risk, warn experts.

Medicins Sans Frontieres says new stocks of Fav-Afrique, which neutralises 10 different snakebites that can occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, are desperately needed.

The last batch will expire in June 2016 and there is no comparable replacement.