Mozambique has witnessed a season’s amount of rain in a week which has caused flooding, killed 26 people and left thousands of others homeless. - Wednesday 14 January 2009

The Contact Group on Somali Piracy (CGSP) holds its inaugural meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, pursuant to last December’s UN Security Council Resolution 1851, which authorises states to use armed forces onshore to defeat piracy in the Gulf of Aden. It is incumbent on them to focus on coordination to suppress not only piracy in the region, but also seek ways of avoiding intelligence breaches between states which could lead to much bitter repercussions. - Wednesday 14 January 2009

A service-orientated job, particularly one as a bank teller, in most countries is considered as a pretty good job. This is not the case in Zimbabwe. Banking staff deal daily with sullen or irate customers wanting to get their hands on their savings, but who have been limited by law to a ceiling on withdrawals that does not cover the cost of a loaf of bread. - Wednesday 14 January 2009

Fresh from losing to Columbia, the Nigerian football federation and the head coach of the Nigerian super eagles Shaibu Amodu has decided to recall exiled midfield wonder Mikel obi of Chelsea into the fold of the super eagles. - Wednesday 14 January 2009

According to locals in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Ethiopian troops for the first time quit some of their bases, on 13 January. Muse Nur Amin, the Minister of the Interior and National Security in the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), confirmed that Ethiopian forces had begun leaving the capital. - Tuesday 13 January 2009

IMANI: The Center for Policy& Education has undergone remarkable growth since its inception barely 4 years ago, and has today attained a stature that is in many ways truly astounding. - Tuesday 13 January 2009

Widespread increase in prices of goods and services, unemployment, and increase in costs of capital projects across Nigeria has been forecast as the Naira continues to freely fall against the dollar in a difficult time in the country. - Tuesday 13 January 2009

Zimbabwe on Monday stepped up police and military security around the country amid claims by Bright Matonga, the deputy information minister, that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was “recruiting youths to use as bandits to destabilise our country and topple the government”. Accordingly, the police and military were searching for weapons and suspicious people, he said. - Tuesday 13 January 2009

An initiative of a league of African kings led by Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, which had been planned to discuss an eventual African unity, in matters such as a single economy, currency and army, has encountered a fatal blow. The proposed meeting for the league of African traditional rulers called the ‘king of kings’ has been banned by the Ugandan government. - Tuesday 13 January 2009

Fresh reports from Mogadishu claim that Ethiopian troops have completely withdrawn from Somalia leaving the country in the hands of the Islamists once again. - Tuesday 13 January 2009