ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Guillaume Soro, a former rebel leader in Ivory Coast and a candidate in next year's presidential election, could face life in prison over an alleged coup plot that involved amassing weapons, the country's public prosecutor said on Thursday.

ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey will send troops to Libya now that the north African country requested it, and he will present deployment legislation to the Turkish parliament in January.

DAKAR, Dec 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Africa tunes into the burgeoning movement of business for good, young people across the continent are finding innovative solutions to problems from illiteracy to pollution.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis and two other religious leaders sent out an extraordinary Christmas appeal on Wednesday to the leaders of South Sudan to keep their promise to form at least a transitional unity government early next year.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Thousands of Algerians gathered on Wednesday for the funeral procession of the country's powerful army chief, who fought for independence from France as a young man and this year became the country's de facto leader.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's home affairs minister said on Tuesday that a U.S. ambassador who criticised the jailing of a gay couple for 15 years had "crossed the line," adding that the United States had responded to an official complaint by recalling him.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - The overhaul of South Africa's coaching structure has given the team a major boost as they get ready to take on England in a four-test series which begins on Thursday, captain Faf du Plessis said.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso insurgents killed 35 mostly female civilians on Tuesday after attacking a military outpost in northern Soum Province, and about 87 militants and local security forces were killed in the clash, authorities said.

GABERONE (Reuters) - Botswana's high court on Tuesday dismissed petitions filed by the main opposition parties against the election result that returned the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to a parliamentary majority.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian activist Omoyele Sowore and former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki left prison Tuesday evening after the attorney general ordered their release on bail, in recognition of court orders.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast has issued an arrest warrant for Guillaume Soro, a former rebel leader and candidate in next year's presidential election, four government sources said on Monday, just before he was due to return home after more than six months overseas.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Pro-government activists in Nigeria on Monday attacked civil society protesters who were demanding the release of people they say are illegally detained, a Reuters witness said.

LUSAKA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has withdrawn its ambassador to Zambia following a row with authorities in the southern African nation after he criticised the jailing of a gay couple, embassy sources said on Monday.

GABORONE (Reuters) - Rhino poaching in Botswana's Okavango Delta has risen at an unprecedented rate with 23 white rhinoceros and eight black rhinoceros killed since October 2018, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism said.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's powerful army chief Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaed Salah, who was instrumental in bringing down long-time president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has died, state media reported on Monday.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's powerful army chief Ahmed Gaed Salah has died, the private Ennahar television reported on Monday, at a time of bitter political divisions over the military's dominant role in the major energy exporter.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have come closer to aligning their views on filling the reservoir of and operating the giant hydroelectric dam that Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the Sudanese irrigation minister said on Sunday.

BENGHAZI (Reuters) - The eastern-based Libyan National Army force said on Sunday it had monitored a Boeing 747-412 that had flown from Istanbul to Libya carrying military equipment.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's former military chief-of-staff Sami Anan was released from detention on Sunday almost two years after his arrest following his plans to compete in the 2018 presidential election, his office manager said on Twitter.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack outside a hotel in the town of Galkayo, in the country's Mudug region, which killed at least seven civilians, their spokesman told Reuters.