Three Algerian naval officers were killed when their helicopter crashed after striking power lines during a night patrol southwest of Algiers, the defence ministry said on Monday. The navy rescue helicopter went down on Sunday night in Tipaza province, 70km from the capital, it said.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir declared a unilateral ceasefire on Monday as he launched a national dialogue, a controversial bid to end a civil war that excludes his rival Riek Machar. It is not the first time Kiir has vowed the army will lay down arms in the three-year conflict, …

Mali will keep fighting “terrorist groups” in the country until they engage in serious peace talks, the country’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said. Despite continued French troop deployments, a UN peacekeeping mission comprising 11,000 soldiers and years of peace talks, Mali remains beset by political unrest and ethnic strife.