ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – West African governments – with help from the international community – need to resolve Mali’s crisis fast to stop the Sahelian belt becoming a haven for terrorists and traffickers, the head of the African Development Bank said.

The bank’s president, Donald Kaberuka, also said in an interview that while growth in sub-Saharan Africa had good momentum, economies needed to prepare for the risk of external shocks from slower growth in developed and large emerging economies.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Raising capital is the biggest constraint facing private equity firms seeking to invest in potential projects in sub-Saharan Africa, the chairman of Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital (CCAP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) said.

Citadel, which has focused on the Middle East and north Africa but is also looking to expand its portfolio in sub-Saharan Africa, has $4.3 billion of assets under management.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said his conglomerate needed to spend $7.5 billion over the next four years to expand operations in a range of sectors.

“We are going into something big. We are going into mining, petrochemicals, cement and infrastructure,” he said on Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

NAIROBI, May 3 (Reuters) – Kenya’s central bank held its
benchmark lending rate at 18 percent for a fifth month in a row
on Thursday as expected, saying lingering price pressures still
needed to be squeezed out of the economy.

The Central Bank of Kenya’s Monetary Policy Committee
(MPC)said even though the year-on-year inflation rate fell to
13.06 percent in April from 15.61 percent in March, underlying
food and fuel price pressures had increased.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya blamed Somali al Shabaab rebels on Sunday for grenade attacks that killed at least six people and wounded scores at a bus station near the heart of the capital Nairobi a day earlier.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said four grenades were hurled into the Machakos bus station at about 7.30 p.m. (1630 GMT) on Saturday from a passing vehicle, killing one person while five more died later from their injuries.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Uhuru Kenyatta quit as Kenyan finance minister Thursday, days after being indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Kenyatta, Kenya’s richest man with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at half a billion dollars, is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, the country’s first president after independence from Britain in 1963.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya Monday dismissed as “al Shabaab propaganda” reports that its warplanes hit a refugee camp in southern Somalia where five people were killed and 45 wounded a day earlier.

Kenya’s military said its jets hit the town of Jilib on Sunday in an operation targeting fighters from the Somali insurgent group, killing 10 and wounding many.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya on Monday dismissed as “al Shabaab propaganda” reports that its warplanes hit a refugee camp in southern Somalia where five people were killed and 45 wounded a day earlier.

Kenya’s military said its jets hit the town of Jilib on Sunday in an operation targeting fighters from the Somali insurgent group, killing 10 and wounding many.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – An airstrike on Sunday in Somalia killed five people and wounded 45, mostly women and children, in a camp for people displaced by drought and violence, aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.

Kenya’s military spokesman confirmed on Sunday its jets struck the town of Jilib, where the camp is located, saying 10 al Shabaab insurgents had been killed. He dismissed reports of any civilian casualties as propaganda from al Shabaab, an insurgent group linked to al Qaeda.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – An airstrike on Sunday in Somalia killed five people and wounded 45, mostly women and children, in a camp for people displaced by drought and violence, aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.

Kenya’s military spokesman confirmed on Sunday its jets struck the town of Jilib, where the camp is located, saying 10 al Shabaab insurgents had been killed. He dismissed reports of any civilian casualties as propaganda from al Shabaab, an insurgent group linked to al Qaeda.