DURBAN, South Africa, March 26 (Reuters) – “BRICS, Don’t
Carve Africa” reads a banner in a church hall in downtown Durban
where civil society activists have gathered to cast a critical
eye at a summit of five global emerging powers.

The slogan evokes the 19th Century conference in Berlin
where the predominant European colonial states carved up the
African continent in a scramble historians see as epitomising
the brash exploitative capitalism of the time.

DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) – The French dubbed it the neglected “Cinderella” of their African colonial empire; modern observers have called it a “phantom state”.

Landlocked, isolated and poverty stricken, despite its reserves of gold, timber, uranium and gemstone quality diamonds, Central African Republic has been racked by debilitating rebellions for more than a decade.

By Pascal Fletcher and Richard Valdmanis

(Reuters) – It was a surprisingly meek end of a career for “The Terminator”, one of the world’s most wanted war crime fugitives.

Bosco Ntaganda, the Rwandan-born Tutsi rebel sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and an alleged leader of the M23 revolt in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, walked into the U.S. embassy in Rwanda on Monday and handed himself over, the U.S. government said.

BAMAKO (Reuters) – When former colonial power France sent warplanes and troops to Mali on January 11 in a historic intervention, it did not just halt a menacing advance on the capital Bamako by Islamist rebels allied to al Qaeda.

It also snuffed out what diplomats and local politicians say was a political conspiracy in the capital to oust Mali’s interim civilian rulers, an attempted replay of the March 2012 coup that had plunged the Sahel state into turmoil and made it a potential launch pad for attacks on Western interests.

BAMAKO (Reuters) – French and African forces aim to hunt down and eradicate Islamist rebels in northern Mali, not contain them, the African contingent commander said on Thursday.

The African military force (AFISMA) drawn mainly from Mali’s neighbors is accelerating deployment in support of around 4,000 French soldiers already on the ground in the Sahel nation, said its commander Nigerian Major General Shehu Abdul-Kadir.

BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) – The European Union should complement a mission to train Mali’s army, routed by rebels last year, by providing equipment from uniforms to vehicles and communications technology, a French general said on Wednesday.

General Francois Lecointre, appointed to head the EU training mission to Mali (EUTM) that was formally launched this week, said in Bamako equipping the “very impoverished” and disorganized Malian army was as important as training it.

BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) – The United States is likely to eventually resume direct support for Mali’s military, but only after full restoration of democracy through elections, the head of a visiting U.S. Congress delegation said on Monday.

Senator Christopher Coons, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa, was leading the first American congressional visit to the West African nation since France sent a military force there last month to halt an offensive by al Qaeda-allied insurgents.

BAMAKO/DAKAR (Reuters) – The French or African troops who hunt down the Islamist fighters holed up in the mountains and deserts of northeast Mali may find a resilient enemy capable of fighting back with a concealed arsenal of surprising firepower.

France’s initial success in its three-week old intervention in its former colony has gained Paris plaudits at home and abroad as a welcome blow struck against radical jihadists threatening Africa and the West.

BAMAKO/DAKAR (Reuters) – The French or African troops who hunt down the Islamist fighters holed up in the mountains and deserts of northeast Mali may find a resilient enemy capable of fighting back with a concealed arsenal of surprising firepower.

France’s initial success in its three-week old intervention in its former colony has gained Paris plaudits at home and abroad as a welcome blow struck against radical jihadists threatening Africa and the West.

DAKAR (Reuters) – The majority of Timbuktu’s ancient manuscripts appear to be safe and undamaged after the Saharan city’s 10-month occupation by Islamist rebel fighters, experts said on Wednesday, rejecting some media reports of their widespread destruction.

Denying accounts that told of tens of thousands of priceless papers being burned or stolen by the fleeing rebels, they said the bulk of the Timbuktu texts had been safely hidden well before the city’s liberation by French forces on Sunday.