The leader of the South African Communist Party has accused poultry manufacturers of racism. Blade Nzimande said that the poultry industry was selling "rotten" meat to black people. He said chicken past its best-before date was being recycled - thawed, washed and injected with flavouring - then sold to shops in black townships. A spokesman for the poultry industry admitted...

Kenya's Olympic Marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru has been charged with threatening to kill his wife and illegal possession of an AK-47 firearm. Mr Wanjiru, the first Kenyan to win a gold Olympic marathon medal, was also charged with assault and threatening to kill a domestic worker. He was arrested on Wednesday after police were called to his...

Suspected Islamists have killed at least five people, including three police officers, in attacks in northern Nigeria, police say. The Borno state police commissioner said that 92 people had been arrested since the attacks on Wednesday in the city of Maiduguri. The attackers are suspected of being members of the Boko Haram sect. Clashes between the group and the...

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) as part of its commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the December 31st Revolution which falls tomorrow’ wish to remind Ghanaians of the events that brought about the revolution of 31st December, 1981; which lit the path for Ghana’s transformation from a state of decadence to one of sturdy development...

All civil servants in the office of Guinea's president and prime minister are to be replaced, Alpha Conde orders, nine days after being sworn in. The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in Conakry says hundreds of people are affected by the decree. He says many are believed to be beyond the retirement age but remained in work because of their political...

A renowned international journalist Kweku Sakyi-Addo has suggested to member states of the Africa Union to revoke any diplomatic ties with envoys appointed by Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast. International bodies like the United Nations, Africa Union and ECOWAS, as well as the world’s powerful nations like the USA and France recognize Alassane Ouattara...

Six Russians have been jailed in the northern Somali breakaway territory of Somaliland. Their aircraft was seized earlier this month carrying military equipment bound for the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Puntland. A court sentenced them to a year in jail and fined them $500 for supplying military equipment to an enemy. The charterer of the plane, Saracens International, denied that...

A security analyst with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Dr Kwesi Anning, has downplayed the guts of ECOWAS to forcibly oust Laurent Gbagbo for holding himself as the president of the Ivory Coast. According to Dr Anning the sub-regional body is only blowing hot air over the dicey situation and does not have the...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned supporters of Ivory Coast incumbent Laurent Gbagbo not to attack his rival Alassane Ouattara's HQ. An attack - threatened for Saturday - could spark civil war, he said. Mr Ouattara, internationally recognised as winner of the presidential poll, is protected by UN soldiers in Abidjan. Regional countries have threatened to oust Mr Gbagbo,...

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who twice ruled Nigeria, once in the 1970s and then for eight years starting in 1999, collapsed today, Thursday, December 30th, at the St. Stephens Anglican Church in Igbotako, Ondo State. The fainting incident took place at about 12 noon, Nigerian time, at a thanksgiving service in honour of Major General Olu...