Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir rejected for Malawi's Banda

Malawi's new President Joyce Banda has said she does not want Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, accused of war crimes, to attend a summit in July.

She says she fears the "economic implications" if Mr Bashir attends the African Union meeting in Malawi.

Her predecessor, Bingu wa Mutharika, who died last month, last year defied calls to apprehend Mr Bashir.

Tanzania President sacks ministers amid corruption scandal

He has been under pressure to deal with the scandal following a report by a body overseeing public finances.

The inspector of the government's accounts noted the rampant misuse of funds in at least seven ministries.

The ministers who have been dropped from cabinet all hold high-profile portfolios: Finance, energy, tourism, trade, transport and health.

Obama invites President John Evans Atta Mills to G8 Summit

President John Evans Atta Mills together with three other African leaders has been invited to attend the upcoming summit of the group of eight industrialized countries in the United States of America.

Chairperson of the African Union and President of Benin Yayi Boni, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete and President Mills will be attending the Group of Eight (G8) Summit at Camp David in the United States of America.

Mali coup: Army arrests ex-President Amadou Toure allies

Soldiers have arrested several allies of Mali's ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure days after handing power to a civilian leader, witnesses say.

Former Prime Minister Modibo Sidibe was picked up by men in military police vehicles, an aide said.

Ex-Defence Minister Sadio Gassama and chief of staff, Gen Hamidou Sissoko, have also been arrested.

Bamako-based journalist Martin Vogl says the arrests suggest Mali's interim leader does not have total authority.

Dioncounda Traore - sworn in as interim president last week - has refused to comment on the arrests - while the European Union delegation in Mali has called for "an urgent clarification and their immediate release".

The head of one of Mali's biggest political parties, Soumaila Cisse, has also reportedly been detained.

Mr Cisse was a frontrunner in elections due this month but derailed by last month's coup led by Capt Amadou Sanogo.

A top ranking policeman, Mahamadou Diagouraga, was also detained, the AP news agency reports.

All those arrested have reportedly been taken to Kati, the junta headquarters just outside the capital, Bamako.

Mr Toure agreed to resign as part of the deal for the army to leave power - he was due to stand down in April after two terms as president.

Waiting for a premier

Mr Sidibe, who served as Mr Toure's prime minister from 2007 to 2011, was first arrested shortly after the coup and later released.

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In A New Video Boko Haram Leader Threatens To "Devour" President Jonathan In 3 Months

Posted: April 12, 2012 - 15:28

In a new video posted on Youtube today, the leadership of the Jama’atu Ahl-Sunnati Lil Da’awati Wal Jihad popularly known as Boko Haram today stated that President Goodluck Jonathan cannot end its insurgency in June as publicly stated. Sheik Abubakar Imam Shekau the leader of the group also boasted that Nigerian security agencies cannot take down the sect by June 2012 as earlier promised by the president recently in South Korea.
The sect leader who appear agitated throughout the video recording was surrounded by several bodyguards. Shekau delivered the message via a Youtube video which lasted for 14 minutes and two seconds. In it Shekau also threatened to consume Jonathan's regime in 3-months.
The video message  was titled “Message To Jonathan”
In the preamble of the message, Shekau vowed that it must destroy  Christians and Christianity in Nigeria particularly those killing Muslims in Nigeria and it will also kill all Muslims aiding the arrest and harassment of its members.
The message as conveyed by its principal Sheik Abubakar Imam Shekau was mainly in Arabic and  Hausa language.
Shekau said, “You Jonathan cannot stop us like you boasted, instead we will devour you in the three months like you are boasting. If death is your worldly gain, for us, it is eternal victory to die working for Allah. Our joy is to die in Jihad for Allah against infidels like you…"
“We are also aware of some Muslims using our name to make money, we will say nothing but let them continue, and they will meet Allah in the last day.
“We are not doing physical human service, but Allah’s work and it is clear your aim is killing us. Let me tell you with Allah we will triumph over you and your men in hundreds. We are not boasting rather keeping quiet and working for Allah.
“Allah that finishes Pharaoh and others wicked rulers that you are not even up to them, will finish you and end your government. We are not afraid because we are not doing man work but Allah’s work. And we will see who will carry the day.”

Jonathan to sign 2012 budget today

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan will assent to the 2012 Appropriation Bill today, having apparently resolved his differences with the National Assembly on the matter which has delayed its signing since being passed by the legislature.
The signing of the N4.7 trillion budget will take place in the State House, at a ceremony expected to be witnessed by leaders of the National Assembly, ministers and other top officials of government.
The president had been reluctant to append his signature to the document, because of the changes made by the National Assembly to the original estimates he submitted to the lawmakers for their consideration and approval.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had given reasons President Jonathan was yet to sign the budget, telling State House correspondents after a meeting of the National Economic Management Team that government was studying the details because of the changes made by the legislature.
She had revealed that the executive would meet with the leadership of the National Assembly to find a common ground on the areas where there might be differences.
Pressed to point out the specific areas of differences, the minister said an example was the crude oil benchmark eventually adopted by the lawmakers.
According to her, “obviously, the first one is the benchmark price that went from $70 to $72, which we have looked into. We are still ending up with fiscal deficit that is reasonable and under three per cent and reduced debt, that is okay.”

Congo's 'Terminator': Kabila calls for Ntaganda arrest

President Joseph Kabila has said ex-rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, must be arrested.

But Gen Ntaganda must be tried in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the president says.

Mr Kabila had previously refused to call for the arrest of the man known locally as "The Terminator".

The ICC indicted him five years ago, for allegedly recruiting child soldiers during DR Congo's bloody five-year war.

'Judged in Goma'

President Kabila held emergency meetings with top army officials in the east of the country, following the defections earlier this month of hundreds of Congolese troops.

The soldiers, loyal to Gen Ntaganda, were integrated into the national army in 2009. However, people in and around the town of Goma, where the troops are based, blame them for persistent unrest - including looting and rape - since the formal end of the war in 2003.

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Algeria's first president Ahmed Ben Bella dies

The first president of independent Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella, has died at his home in Algiers following an illness, official media say.

Mr Ben Bella, who was 95, had recently been treated in hospital for respiratory problems.

Mr Ben Bella led Algeria to independence from France before becoming president in 1963.

He ruled Algeria as head of a one-party state but three years later was overthrown by the head of the army.

The BBC's Chloe Arnold, in Algiers, says that while Mr Ben Bella's policies were controversial, he was widely respected for his struggle against French rule.

In later years, our correspondent says, he became an advocate for democracy, rejecting the growing Islamist elements in Algerian society amid the bloody conflict between militants and security forces in the 1990s.

Revolutionary leader

Mr Ben Bella was born in a rural area near the Moroccan border in 1916, and fought with distinction with the Free French Forces in Italy during World War II and won five gallantry medals.

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