Libya’s new Tripoli-based government must get down to “practical work” to ensure a peaceful handover of power from the country’s many factions, the UN envoy told the Security Council on Thursday. Martin Kobler told a closed-door session of the council that he was “cautiously optimistic” about prospects for the new …

French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says France is considering reopening its embassy in Libya. Ayrault said on France Info radio that he would travel to Libya “as soon as the conditions are met.”

Two members of Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked Shebaab jihadist group were executed by firing squad on Saturday for the murder of a journalist killed by a car bomb in 2015, a judge said. Abdirisak Mohamed Barow and Hassan Nur Ali, who admitted being Shebaab members during their trial, were shot on Saturday …

Saudi Arabia’s king has addressed the Egyptian parliament on the fourth day of a landmark visit that saw the oil-rich kingdom pledge billions of dollars in investment and aid to Egypt. In his six-minute address on Sunday, King Salman said Egypt and Saudi Arabia have agreed to build a bridge …

Juba – Armed South Sudanese rebels have begun taking up positions in the capital, a risky but crucial step to end two years of war. The Associated Press and other journalists on Thursday toured one of the rebel camps where fighters dressed in green fatigues stood in semi-circle formation, chanting …

Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Monday declared a state of emergency across the entire national territory for a period of 10 days. The imposition of a state of emergency was decided upon during a special cabinet meeting presided over by the president.

Every day lost in the implementation of Mali’s peace agreement is a day gained for extremist and terrorist groups that have bet heavily on the failure of the process, the UN peacekeeping chief said here Tuesday. Herve Ladsous, the UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, stressed that the Malian government and …

Tunisia and Algeria are for a political solution to the crisis in Libya, Speaker of the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) Mohamed Ennaceur was quoted as saying. At his meeting Tuesday in Algiers with Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation Ramtane Lamamra, Ennaceur told reporters “the talk focused on …

Algeria’s army on Monday killed four armed Islamists in El-Oued, the defence ministry said, meaning almost a dozen have been killed in the lawless desert region in the past two weeks. Four Kalashnikov automatic weapons, grenades and ammunition were also seized during the military-led operation in the Bir El Kasira …

At least 100 000 people have been driven from their homes in an upsurge of fighting since January in Sudan’s Darfur region, the UN’s peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday. “Clashes and aerial bombings are currently continuing” in the rebel stronghold of Jebel Marra, Herve Ladsous, the under-secretary general for peacekeeping …