Politics

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for calm in Togo, where the provisional results of the 4 March presidential election were announced on Saturday, and for any grievances to be resolved through the proper channels.

"He calls for the same calm and restraint during this period as that which was witnessed on voting day," Mr. Ban's spokesperson said in a statement.

More than 3,000 local election observers, 6,000 soldiers, and representatives of international election transparency watchdog groups are scattered across Togo on the eve of a presidential election crackling with tension, yet billed as a "national reconciliation" by its leaders.

Almost half a million people have petitioned Parliament to drop debate on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

Religious leaders and HIV/Aids activists handed a copy of the petition with signatures, collected mainly through the Internet from all over the world, including Uganda, to Speaker Edward Ssekandi on Monday.

Youths from President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party today marched through the streets of Zimbabwe's capital demanding that Western sanctions against the country be lifted.

The placard waving youths staged peaceful demonstrations outside the United States Embassy and the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Nigeria's leadership of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was extended for another year last night as Acting President Goodluck Jonathan was elected the new chairman of the sub-regional body.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday said he was confident that the main partners of the ruling coalition would find a way to end a rift over corruption allegations.

Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, head of the Convention démocratique des peuples africains (Democratic Convention of African Peoples (CDPA) opposition party, is Togo's first female presidential candidate.

But she has withdrawn from the electoral process.

The Orange Party on Monday called for the return of mediator Kofi Annan as the crisis in the coalition government entered its second day.

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi accused President Kibaki of breaking the law by quashing Prime Minister Raila Odinga's suspension of two ministers whose dockets have been embroiled in corruption claims.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has moved to unify the Presidency. His action comes against the backdrop of the bad blood generated by the failure of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to forward a letter to the National Assembly on his medical vacation and the subsequent appointment of Jonathan as Acting President by the lawmakers.

President Kibaki has overruled the suspension of two ministers by the prime minister over graft allegations, saying there has not been any consultation on the matter.

The President said the legal provisions on which the PM acted did not give him the power to dismiss a minister from his office.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has given the clearest indication that his party is preparing for fresh elections when he hinted they were prepared to 'park' outstanding issues in the GPA and go for a poll.

After 18 years of successful multi-party democracy, Ghanaians are bracing themselves to review the Fourth Republican Constitution.

Following cabinet's approval of a memorandum on the consultative review, government has established an independent body to spearhead the process.

AFTER a week of censure over his sexual indiscretions, President Jacob Zuma yesterday got the first public show of support from political ally the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

U.S President Barack Obama has criticized the controversial anti-gay law which has been proposed to Uganda's legislature.

Speaking at a national prayer breakfast in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Obama described the proposed law as "odious," according to a text posted to the White House website.

PRESIDENT Umaru Yar'Adua will hand over to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan after transmitting a letter of his medical vacation to the National Assembly, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji said yesterday.