ACCRA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Ghana President John Dramani Mahama said he would aim to oversee annual economic growth of at least 8 percent while keeping comsumer prices in check in the West African State, if he wins elections in December.

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A bond auction in Ghana next week that is open to foreign investors is likely to buoy the Ghanaian cedi, while the Ugandan shilling is seen regaining stability after a three-month bout of weakness.

LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - West African crude oil differentials diverged on Thursday, with Nigerian values under pressure but Angolan levels underpinned by anticipation of greater Asian demand in the next few months. Asian buying tenders have increased over the last few weeks with Indian, Indonesian and Taiwanese refiners all buying extra quantities of light, sweet grades for loading in the last month of the year. But Nigerian differentials have come under heavy pressure with unsold Nove

PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande is pushing hard for military action against al Qaeda-linked militants in northern Mali to quash what he believes is a growing risk of them launching an attack on French soil.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Gold Fields said most miners returned to work at its strike-hit South African operations on Thursday but a new walkout at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine dampened hopes of an end to the worst labour unrest since apartheid.

LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - UBS managers have sacked two traders involved in unauthorised trading incidents unrelated to accused fraudster Kweku Adoboli, a London court heard on Thursday.

STONE TOWN, Zanzibar (Reuters) - Supporters of a separatist Islamist group in Zanzibar looted shops and fought with police on Thursday after their leader disappeared, witnesses said, the third outbreak of violence this year on the Indian Ocean archipelago.

PARIS (Reuters) - Demonising ultra-conservative Salafi Islamists is a mistake that will only lead to them eventually winning power, said the leader of Tunisia's ruling Islamist Ennahda party, Rachid Ghannouchi.

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan lawmaker and prominent Muslim preacher appeared in court on Thursday accused of inciting violence, days after he said he would be willing to fund a group campaigning for independence for the country's coastal region.

* Trade sees possible record '12/13 smuggling out of I.Coast

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court pleaded for stronger support from the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to ensure states cooperate with its war crimes inquiries, complaining it had faced problems in cases on Darfur and Libya.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rwanda appears likely to win one of five U.N. Security Council seats up for election on Thursday, despite accusations by a U.N. expert panel that the country's defense minister is commanding a rebellion in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Thursday. - - - - - EVENTS: ZAMBIA - The central bank auctions Treasury bills of various maturities at its weekly auction. KENYA - The central bank sells 91-day Treasury bills. GLOBAL MARKETS Asian shares struck a seven-month high on Thursday as a slew of Chinese data pointed to stabilisation in the world's second largest economy, an

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - According to his "final ultimatum" to wildcat strikers, Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland is hours away from firing 23,000 miners.

(Reuters) - More investment is needed to increase food production in Africa and Asia as rising demand and scarce resources leave millions of people vulnerable to hunger, a corporate-backed report said on Wednesday.

KIWANJA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Four years after dozens of his neighbours in the remote eastern Congolese village of Kiwanja were butchered by rebels, Olivier has a sense of a recurring nightmare.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - One international peacekeeper was killed and three wounded in an ambush in Sudan's western Darfur region on Wednesday, the international force UNAMID said, two weeks after four Nigerian peacekeepers were killed,

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hit rival Mitt Romney hard on women's issues as he headed back on the campaign trail on Wednesday after a spirited debate performance that re-energized his bid for a second term.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Ten people were killed and dozens wounded as Libyan militias operating alongside the defence ministry shelled the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid and faced counter-attacks, a resident and medical source said on Wednesday.

PHOKENG, South Africa (Reuters) - While South African mining companies try to halt the spread of deadly labour strife, a kingdom that partly governs a small stretch of the country's platinum belt has managed to transform mineral wealth into social stability.