(BBC News) Africans across the continent share their views on the US-African military command (Africom) which has begun operating from its headquarters in Germany.

(VOA) South Africa's parliament has elected African National Congress deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe as the third post-apartheid president of the country. VOA's Delia Robertson reports from our Johannesburg bureau, the new president made it clear he did not intend to deviate from the former president's policies.

(This Day) African leaders have been over the moon since Monday, September 15, when the two antagonistic Zimbabwean rivals, President Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwean African Union, and Morgan Tsvangari of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, signed a power sharing deal in which the former retains his position as president and commander in chief of the armed forces and the latter becomes prime minister with a supervisory role over the police.

GOMA (Human Rights Watch) – Renewed combat in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has caused a drastic deterioration in the humanitarian situation and immense suffering for civilians, the Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group of 83 aid agencies and human rights groups, said today. The coalition called for urgent action to improve protection of civilians and an immediate increase in assistance to vulnerable populations.

DAKAR (AFP) Mauritania's junta, widely condemned since coming to power in a coup last month, could gain Western support by pledging to fight "terrorism" after a grisly attack blamed on an Al-Qaeda-linked group, analysts say. Eleven Mauritanian soldiers and one civilian who went missing following an ambush of a patrol in the country's north on September 14 were found decapitated over the weekend.

JOHANNESBURG (IHT) Last year, The Financial Mail, one of South Africa's leading business magazines, placed a photo of Jacob Zuma on the cover and then, alongside in big letters, the warning: "Be Afraid."

JOHANNESBURG (IHT) President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the loser in a prolonged power struggle with his rival, Jacob Zuma, agreed Saturday to resign after the top leaders of his party, the African National Congress, asked him to step down.

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Andrew Mwangura, East African coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said on Friday in a phone interview with Xinhua that to curb the rampant piracy off the Somali coast, concerted and effective international efforts are needed.

APA-Kigali (Rwanda) Rwandan women representation to the parliamentary chamber of deputies is projected to reach a world record level of 55% after a provisional release of Monday’s general election results by the electoral commission that gave women 20 seats from the three political parties, APA learns here Wednesday.

Lagos, Nigeria (Christian Science Monitor) A rare military raid on a militant camp in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta last week points to a new, tough approach by the Nigerian military that could force the region into a deeper state of anarchy.

LONDON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai was quoted on Wednesday as saying some senior members of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party could face trial over political violence, but not the veteran leader himself.

(Al Jazeera) It is obvious to just about everyone – with the apparent exception of the government of Robert Mugabe, the president – that Zimbabwe's economy has passed "tipping point".

(VOA) The ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Somalia are taking a severe toll on the school system. Enrollment has plummeted and years of war have resulted in generations of uneducated children.

(Times Online) Somalia is rapidly becoming an economy without a state. After almost two decades of warlord-driven anarchy, a weak interim government cannot police its capital, much less the waters that fringe the Horn of Africa.

(VOA) In Angola, the ruling MPLA party is headed for a landslide victory in Friday's legislative elections. The vote count so far gives it more than 80 percent, with the opposition party, UNITA, getting only about 10.5 percent.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says the Movement for Democratic Change must join the proposed unity government or be left out completely.

NAIROBI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Kenya said on Wednesday the proliferation of small arms and light weapons were the main cause of instability in the region.

(Mail & Guardian) Angolan political parties were set to wrap up an intensive election campaign on Wednesday with mass rallies as Africa's biggest oil producer prepared for its first peacetime election on Friday.

(Daily Nation) Zimbabweans are slowly resigning themselves to the prospect of another five years under President Robert Mugabe’s rule after last ditch power sharing talks between the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition at the weekend left the two parties further apart.

(BBC News) Bauchi State in northern Nigeria has banned co-education at all junior and senior schools.

(Times Onlines) Robert Mugabe today plunged Zimbabwe into a new crisis by announcing he is to form a government without the opposition.

(Al Jazeera) Sudanese forces have begun massing outside a camp for displaced persons in Darfur, sparking fears of new violence in the area.