Oumar Ould Hamaha, known for his red beard, his bloodthirsty statements to the media and his role in kidnapping a Canadian diplomat in 2008, was killed by French forces, the officials said.    

Militants with Boko Haram on Friday attacked a military prison in northern Nigeria, freeing some of their comrades but also suffering heavy losses.    

As president of the West African nation, Mr. Kabbah ended an 11-year civil war, though he could not lift the country from poverty.    

A lawmaker in Nigeria’s Katsina State said a group of gunmen on motorbikes, thought to be ethnic Fulani herdsmen, went on a “killing spree.”    

East African states agreed on Thursday to send troops to South Sudan by mid-April to help enforce a cease-fire deal between government forces and rebels, the chief mediator in peace talks said.    

North Korea denied any responsibility for an oil tanker that loaded crude from a rebel-held port in Libya and eluded attempts to seize it.    

Ahmed Shafik, who had supported the military takeover, said the voting would be fixed, an almost heretical expression of cynicism from a member of the military elite.