Gunmen shot dead the Somali head of the UN Development Programme in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, according to a UN official in the latest in a series of attacks on aid workers in one of the world's most dangerous cities.

British-Dutch oil giant Shell is considering pulling out of Zimbabwe, British paper The Observer has revealed. If it does so, it would be the first multinational company to boycott the country to denounce the regime's violations of democracy.

In his role as chief regional negotiator on the Zimbabwean crisis, Thabo Mbeki met with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe during a trip to Harare. But opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai declined to meet the South African leader.

Several hundred members of Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition party MDC gathered in front of the US embassy in Harare to ask for help in ending violence that has plagued the country in recent months.

Former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba made his first appearance Friday before the International Criminal Court where he stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Zambia's vice president denied media reports on Thursday that President Levy Mwanawasa had died, saying he was in stable condition in a Paris hospital.

Details of a US draft for a UN Security Council resolution against Zimbabwe emerged on Wednesday. It calls for an arms embargo as well as financial and travel sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and 11 of his close associates.

Judges at the International Criminal Court ordered the release of Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga, but said he should stay in detention pending a prosecution appeal. Lubanga is accused of using child soldiers and abducting minors under 15.

The White House announced that it has dropped former South African president Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress party from its terror watch lists. Their original placement on the list occurred during the Reagan admininstration.

Clashes between Islamist insurgents and Somali, Ethiopian, and African Union forces resulted in at least 39 deaths. Of these, 13 were civilians.

Moussa Toybou, a 45-year-old engineer, won the presidential election on the Comoros isle of Anjouan, three months after renegade leader Mohamed Bacar was ousted by joint Comoran and African Union forces.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has deemed "not legitimate" the re-election of President Robert Mugabe, who was sworn in on Sunday following a long, contentious election.

Official results say Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has won the one-man run-off elections in eight of the country's ten provinces by huge margins. Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday at a ceremony in his official residence.

President Robert Mugabe stopped short of announcing he won the one-man election in footage shown on state television. He cited as an encouraging sign his victory in all the 26 constituencies in Harare, known as a stronghold of the opposition.

African leaders are to meet in Egypt for the African Union summit on Monday. The West hopes they can come up with a solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe but they are already expressing their opposition to sanctions.(Report: C.Westerheide)

A Swedish and a Danish national working for the UN anti-mining programme were released hours after armed Somali extremists kidnapped them in Hodur, a town west of the capital Mogadishu.

A public prosecutor on Monday blocked the release of prominent Niger journalist Moussa Kaka after a judge ordered his conditional release, now leaving his fate in the hands of an appeals court ruling.

Several people were arrested in the south of France after police intercepted a helicopter coming from Morocco with 560 kg of cananabis on board. A haul of this size has a street value of 600,000 euros.

The Algerian President stopped short of saying whether he would attend the inauguration of the Mediterranean Union on July 13 in Paris, despite the French PM’s insistence. President Bouteflika wants 'clarifications' on a project he deems 'vague.'