(By Estera Popowska)
Latest in a series of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, foreign-owned shops have reportedly been attacked and looted in east Johannesburg, BBC reported.
A standoff is ongoing in Johannesburg, with police forming a barrier between an angry crowd and foreign-owned shops.

South African president Jacob Zuma. On Thursday held a ralley against xenophobia in the coastal city of Durban in which he condemned the violence against foreigners. But this has done little to quell the increasing xenophobic attacks.

(By Estera Popowska)
Following an upsurge in xenophobic violence, Malawi says it will repatriate its nationals from South Africa. According to reports, at least five foreigners, including a 14-year-old boy, have been killed in attacks in South Africa's coastal city of Durban since last week.

At least 200 South Africans on Tuesday attacked foreign-owned shops, on Dr Pixley KaSeme Street (West Street), prompting riot police to shut down the area, Times Live reported Wednesday adding that foreigners took up arms to fight back.

(By Estera Popowska)
Following a low voter turnout , Sudan has extended nationwide elections by one day Wednesday; a move opposition reportedly said reflected apathy towards President Omar al-Bashir.

In addition to the extra day of voting, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) had already extended Wednesday poll opening by an hour, to 1600 GMT. Polls will close at the same time on Thursday.

(By Estera Popowska)
In what is suspected to be the work of Islamist Ugandan rebels, officials have said at least five people were beheaded in a machete attack in an eastern area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, New Vision reported Thursday morning.

Amisi Kalonda, the area administrator of the town of Beni, reportedly said “five civilians were killed by machete in the Mbau area, ” adding that the army was alerted by a resident of the village who managed to escape. The victims were killed "as they were going to work in the fields this morning", Kalonda told AFP.

(By Estera Popowska)
About 200 South Africans on Tuesday attacked foreign-owned shops, on Dr Pixley KaSeme Street (West Street), prompting riot police to shut down the area, Times Live reported Wednesday adding that foreigners took up arms to fight back.

According to reports, the fights erupted within an hour of South African Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba assuring diplomats from Nigeria, Somalia, Malawi, Mozambique and Ethiopia that their citizens would be protected.

(By Estera Popowska)
As Nigeria marked the first anniversary of the abduction of 219 school girls by Boko Haram rebels, Nigeria’s president-elect Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said he could not make promises on their return, AFP reported.

Nigeria’s newly elected leader said there was a need for “honesty” in his new government’s approach to the girls’ abduction, with nothing seen or heard from the students since last May when they appeared in a Boko Haram video.

(By Estera Popowska)
According to survivors brought to Italy, some 400 illegal migrants died after their vessel capsized off the Libyan coast on Sunday, where tension is mounting over a surge in boat arrivals from North Africa, AFP reported late Tuesday evening.

(By Estera Popowska)
Amnesty International said on Tuesday that Nigeria’s rebel group, Boko Haram has kidnapped at least 2,000 women and girls since the beginning of last year. The New Vision says the kidnapping of the teenagers from Chibok, in the northeastern state of Borno, on April 14 last year brought unprecedented world attention to the brutality of the insurgency.

(By Estera Popowska)
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Monday that the conflict in northeast Nigeria between Boko Haram, Nigeria’s military forces and civilian self-defense groups have forced some 800,000 children to flee their homes.

According to UNICEF’s report titled “Missing Childhoods” the “number of children running for their lives within Nigeria, or crossing over the border to Chad, Niger and Cameroon, has more than doubled in just less than a year.”

(By Estera Popowska)
In an election expected to extend the 25year rule of incumbent Omar al-Bashir, voting opened on Monday in Sudanese presidential and parliamentary elections amidst opposition boycotts.

According to press reports, the mainstream opposition is boycotting the elections and has called on voters to stay away, saying that the conditions in the country are not right for free and fair polls.