ABIDJAN/BAMAKO (Reuters) - French forces killed 33 Islamist militants in Mali on Saturday using attack helicopters, ground troops and a drone, near the border with Mauritania where a group linked to al Qaeda operates, French authorities said.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament approved on Saturday a security and military cooperation deal signed with Libya's internationally recognised government last month, state media reported, an agreement that could pave the way for military help from Ankara.

DHUSAMAREB, Somalia (Reuters) - Somali farmers on Saturday urged their government and the international community to help protect their crops from an invasion of locusts that is leaving many unable to feed their families.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Five people suspected of burning down four mosques in Ethiopia's Amhara region were arrested on Saturday, a regional spokesman said, as rising inter-communal and ethnic violence threatens political reforms initiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A car bomb went off on Saturday outside a hotel in the Somali town of Galkayo in the Mudug region, killing at least seven civilians, a local military officer said, and wounding dozens.

ABIDJAN/BAMAKO (Reuters) - French forces killed 33 Islamist militants in Mali on Saturday using attack helicopters, ground troops and a drone, near the border with Mauritania where a group linked to al Qaeda operates, French authorities said.

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon's parliament granted special status on Friday to two English-speaking regions to try to calm a separatist insurgency that has killed 2,000 people, but the separatists said only independence would satisfy them.

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzanian police said on Friday they had arrested a human rights activist in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam hours after the rights group that employs him said he was snatched off the street by men in civilian clothes.

MBABANE (Reuters) - Police in eSwatini arrested the head of the southern African country's largest opposition party and several other politicians and activists in raids on their houses on Friday, their parties said.

BANGUI (Reuters) - Four workers for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) have been detained in Central African Republic for nearly a week following a raid by security forces on an MSF hospital in the capital Bangui, the aid group said on Friday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Health officials in eastern Congo have documented the first relapse in the current Ebola epidemic, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Water downstream of a Rio Tinto mine in southern Madagascar contains high concentrations of uranium and lead, potentially endangering local residents who depend on a nearby lake and river for drinking water, a study released on Friday found.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A security contractor was killed in an attack on a plant in South African miner Harmony Gold's Kalgold operation about 330 km from Johannesburg, the mining company said on Friday.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia launched its first satellite into space on Friday, as more sub-Saharan African nations strive to develop space programs to advance their development goals and encourage scientific innovation.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people marched in cities across Sudan on Thursday to celebrate the first anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir and demand justice for people killed in protests.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's former attorney general was detained by the country's financial crimes agency upon his return home on Thursday, the commission said in a statement, as part of an investigation into one of the oil industry's biggest suspected corruption scandals.

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea President Alpha Conde said on Thursday that he would seek a public referendum on a new constitution, a move his opponents fear he will use as a pretext to hang onto power beyond the end of his constitutional mandate.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia launched its first satellite into space on Friday, as more sub-Saharan African nations strive to develop space programs to advance their development goals and encourage scientific innovation.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Sudan on Thursday to celebrate the first anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis called for the closing of migrant detention camps in Libya on Thursday, saying they were rife with torture and slavery.