OTTAWA, March 2 (Reuters) - It is not automatically guaranteed that more asylum seekers will seek to illegally cross into Canada from the United States as the weather improves, a Canadian government official said on Thursday.

OTTAWA, March 2 (Reuters) - It is not automatically guaranteed that more asylum seekers will seek to illegally cross into Canada from the United States as the weather improves, a Canadian government official told reporters on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Several patients and workers were trapped after a roof collapsed at Johannesburg's Charlotte Maxeke state hospital on Thursday near the central business district, emergency services said.

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana aims to reduce its budget deficit and inflation in 2017, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said on Thursday in a budget speech designed to show how the new government plans to stabilise the economy.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan soldiers killed 57 Islamist militants in fighting in southern Somalia on Wednesday, a military spokesman said.

ACCRA, March 2 (Reuters) - Ghana's cedi could be affected by how markets receive the new government's first budget presented on Thursday, while the Ugandan shilling will likely weaken on increased dollar demand from manufacturers and fuel importers.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently on indefinite medical leave in Britain, has spoken to the King of Morocco by telephone, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo travelled to the restive southeastern oil region on Thursday to continue peace talks, according to his Twitter account, as the government seeks a deal with militants that could revive crude production.

ACCRA, March 2 (Reuters) - Ghana aims to reduce its budget deficit to 6.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2017 from 8.7 percent on a cash basis last year, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told parliament on Thursday in the annual budget.

ACCRA, March 2 (Reuters) - Ghana will aim to reduce its budget deficit to 6.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2017 from 8.7 percent on a cash basis last year, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told parliament on Thursday in the annual budget.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak denied on Thursday involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule as his final retrial in the case began.

ACCRA, March 2 (Reuters) - Ghana will review the structural benchmarks of its $918-million International Monetary Fund programme that is designed to stabilize national finances, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told parliament on Thursday in the annual budget.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Suspected militiamen have kidnapped five workers, including one French national, a Tanzanian and three Congolese, at Banro Corp's Namoya gold mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the company said on Thursday.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe, which is recovering from drought and battling a pest outbreak that threatens its staple maize crop, has budgeted $140 million to buy the grain from farmers for its strategic reserve, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told parliament on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Consumer Commission (NCC) said it has launched a probe into the local unit of U.S. automaker Ford over the recall of 4,500 Kuga SUVs after dozens of reports of the vehicles catching fire spontaneously.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - In a cluster of luxury residences that survived Tripoli's battles almost unscathed, a self-declared defender of Libya's revolution has set up base as one of three claimants to the country's premiership.

OKAHANDJA, Namibia (Reuters) - Namibia's Herero people are heartened that Germany is keen to atone for the genocide of their ancestors, but they expect something Berlin says it is not in a position to give.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir named his first vice president and long-time ally Hassan Saleh to the newly created post of prime minister on Wednesday, the clearest sign yet that he intends for him to one day take over.

NAIROBI, March 2 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Thursday. - - - - - GLOBAL MARKETS Asian shares rose on Thursday as investors were encouraged by President Donald Trump's less combative tone in his first speech to Congress, which sent Wall Street stocks sharply higher, while growing bets on a U.S. rate hike this month buoyed the dollar.