Jack Kim

Tunisian Islamist leader Rachid Ghannouchi is seen by many secularists as a dangerous radical, but for some conservative clerics who see themselves as the benchmark of orthodox Islam -- he is so liberal that they call him an unbeliever.

NATO has postponed until later this week a meeting that had been expected to formalise a decision to conclude the alliance's Libya mission at the end of the month after Libyan officials called for it to be kept going for longer.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been forced to cancel a trip to Geneva for a United Nations meeting this week after his wife and some of his aides were denied visas, state media said on Wednesday.

South African maize farmers intend to cultivate more land in the 2011/12 season as they are lured by strong prices, while wheat output for 2011 is seen down from a previous forecast, an official survey showed on Tuesday.

Mauritania's current economic growth rate is not high enough to significantly dent poverty and the country will next year face the twin challenge of drought and uncertainty over mining revenues, the International Monetary Fund said.

Tanzanian Royalty Exploration (TNX.TO), a Toronto-listed metals explorer, on Tuesday signed a joint venture agreement with the Tanzanian government to develop a $280 million gold mine in the east African country.

Prices on Egypt's stock market must stabilise before same-day settlement resumes, the financial regulator said, shrugging off warnings from some traders that the delayed settlement imposed during February's popular uprising was deterring investors.

South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar on Tuesday after the government said it was not thinking about using reserves to manipulate its value, while comments that the Treasury will not issue new debt boosted government bonds.

South Africa will see its budget deficit widen a touch this year to support a weak recovery, but aims to constrain expenditure and keep debt in check and over the following three years.

The Kenyan shilling slipped against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed on by offshore banks closing out dollar positions after the central bank issued new trading rules, while stock rose slightly on the back of banks' nine-months earnings.

Egypt's Citadel Capital plans to scale back investments outside its existing projects until the political and economic outlook becomes clearer, its chairman told Reuters.

Ghana, Africa's second biggest gold producer, should look at options to increase tax revenues from its mining sector, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

Somali gunmen kidnapped three aid workers working for Danish Demining Group in northern Somalia on Tuesday, the humanitarian agency said, the second capture of Western aid agency staff working in the region this month.

Uganda will keep opposition leader Kizza Besigye under house arrest until he promises to stop participating in anti-government protests that have marred the nation's image, national police said on Tuesday.

International Criminal Court deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is one of four candidates on a shortlist to replace Luis Moreno-Ocampo as chief prosecutor of the world's top war crimes court when his term ends next year.

An Egyptian court ruled on Tuesday that Egyptians living abroad should be allowed to vote at embassies in upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, a judicial source said.

Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi wrote to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in August begging him to halt a NATO-led intervention that was helping a rebel uprising drive him from power, French weekly Paris Match reported.

Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were buried in a secret desert location on Tuesday, five days after the desposed Libyan leader was captured, killed and put on grisly public display.

The United Arab Emirates plans to provide $3 billion in financial aid to Egypt but is still discussing the mechanism to deliver it, a senior UAE official said on Saturday.

Egypt pushed back the closing date for parties to register in a parliamentary election for the second time on Saturday after some politicians asked for more time to do their applications, the head of the election committee said.

Libyans should be allowed to vote within eight months to elect a national council that would draft a new constitution and form an interim government, Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said on Saturday.

Libyan forces guarding Muammar Gaddafi's body in a cold storage room on Saturday let in members of the public to view the deposed leader for a second day, but the wounds that may hold the clue to how he died were covered up.

Kenya said Somalia's al Shabaab militants were on the run after it deployed more troops and struck rebel targets by air to secure its border from rebels Nairobi accuses of kidnapping foreigners on its soil.

As Muammar Gaddafi lay still unburied, Libya's outgoing premier said the coming days posed a crucial test of resolve for the new men of power, who are wrangling over the body, and about a formal end to the war.

South Sudan expects the South Sudanese pound to improve further after doubling the monthly supply of foreign currency to financial institutions, central bank officials said on Friday.

Kenya's shilling gained slightly against the dollar on Friday as commercial banks and the central bank sold dollars, while stocks edged up.

Vodacom's joint venture partner in the Democratic Republic of Congo has filed court papers to block the pan-African operator from selling its majority stake in the unit, a spokesman for the South African company said on Friday.

Nigeria's central bank said on Friday it will sell U.S. dollars both directly into the market and at auctions, while it lifted the amount of dollars banks' can hold in reserve, in a continued effort to stabilise the naira currency.

South Africa's rand ended the week with its biggest loss in a month on Friday but had bounced from two-week lows on hopes that European leaders were close to a deal that will recapitalise banks and stop the debt crisis from spreading.