ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghanaians waited in long lines to vote on Friday in presidential elections they hope will entrench the country’s reputation for stable democracy in a part of the world better known for civil wars, coups and corruption.

The start of voting was delayed in some polling stations in Accra due to a lack of ballots and ballot boxes, but election observers said many of the problems had been resolved by midday and that voting was mostly smooth nationwide.

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghanaians voted on Friday in elections that will test one of Africa’s most stable democracies as a surge in oil revenues promises to boost development and economic growth.

Ghana has earned a reputation as an oasis of progress in West Africa, a part of the world still better known for civil wars, coups, entrenched poverty and corruption.

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghanaians choose on Friday who will run one of Africa’s most stable democracies as a surge in oil revenues promises to boost development and economic growth.

Ghana has earned a reputation as an oasis of stability and progress in West Africa, a part of the world better known for civil wars, coups, entrenched poverty and corruption.

By Pascal Fletcher and Richard Valdmanis

(Reuters) – He is one of the most wanted war crimes fugitives in the world and the International Criminal Court lists him as “at large”.

Bosco “The Terminator” Ntaganda, the Rwandan-born Tutsi warlord U.N. experts say controls the M23 rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has stayed largely invisible as M23 fighters notch up military success after success.

DAKAR (Reuters) – Sierra Leone has removed nine vessels from its shipping register after an investigation found they belonged to IRISL, Iran’s embattled shipping line, the head of the West African state’s maritime authority said on Saturday.

The move comes as Western powers seek to ground Iran’s global oil carrier fleet by urging countries to deny their flags to Iranian ships, part of a broader push to curb Tehran’s nuclear program with economic sanctions.

DAKAR, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Sierra Leone has removed nine
vessels from its shipping register after an investigation found
they belonged to IRISL, Iran’s embattled shipping line, the head
of the West African state’s maritime authority said on Saturday.

The move comes as Western powers seek to ground Iran’s
global oil carrier fleet by urging countries to deny their flags
to Iranian ships, part of a broader push to curb Tehran’s
nuclear program with economic sanctions.

OUALLAM, Niger, June 14 (Reuters) – The village of Ouallam
in Niger, with its sand-choked alleys, crumbling mud huts and
crippling poverty, is a world away from Athens, Europe’s cradle
of Western civilisation.

So when IMF chief Christine Lagarde said recently she was
more worried about the plight of deprived youngsters in Niger
than the people of Athens – causing uproar in debt-racked Greece
- she earned some fans in this remote pocket of the Sahel.

DAKAR (Reuters) – West African regional bloc ECOWAS plans to send more than 600 troops to Guinea-Bissau in coming days with orders to protect people and institutions after a military coup there earlier this month, a senior ECOWAS source said on Wednesday.

The move could trigger renewed conflict in the impoverished coastal nation after the ruling military junta, which took power in an overnight coup on April 12, said it would treat any deployment of foreign troops as occupiers.

BISSAU, April 5 (Reuters) – Wounded fighting Portugal for
his country’s independence, Flif Ntchuque lived his younger
years in uniform as a hero. Forty years on, he and the rest of
the army of Guinea-Bissau are viewed as villains.

Successive coups, assassinations and accusations of
involvement in drugs smuggling have made the military look more
like a threat to democracy in the West African nation than the
guarantor Ntchuque and his fellow fighters thought it would be.

BISSAU (Reuters) – Guinea Bissau’s former head of military intelligence was shot dead at a bar in the capital Bissau overnight just hours after a peaceful presidential vote, witnesses and a security source said on Monday.

The killing of Colonel Samba Diallo follows a rash of political assassinations in the tiny West African state, a known haven for cocaine smugglers, at a time when the election was meant to usher in a period of greater stability.