Policeman sentenced to 15 years by Egyptian
* An Egyptian court has sentenced a policeman to 15 years in prison for shooting dead a man in detention, judicial sources said. The low-ranking policeman shot dead the detainee in April inside a Cairo police station. They had a history of disputes and had fought before the policeman, Ahmed al-Tayyib, detained him over an outstanding warrant last April, hours before he shot him dead, according to court evidence. It was among the harshest in years against a policeman, with dozens in particular acquitted of charges of violence or brutality against protesters. - New24
* A Somali police official says security forces arrested a senior pirate commander in Mogadishu. Captain Mohamed Hussein said that Mohamed Garfanji, considered to be the second-ranking leader of Somalia's pirate industry, was arrested in Mogadishu last Sunday for possessing illegal arms and other charges related to piracy. Garfanji is the second top pirate leader arrested. Belgium arrested pirate kingpin Mohamed Abdi Hassan last year with a trick which lured him to Belgium to work on a documentary about piracy. - News24 * The ban on safari hunting to allow the Zambia Wildlife Authority generate operational income has been lifted. Tourism Minister Jean Kapata said the prolonged ban had a negative impact on the local communities that depend on wildlife for sustenance. - Daily Mail * Mauritania's newly re-elected President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has named a former senior official with the West African nation's state-owned mining and construction companies as Prime Minister. Yahya Ould Hademine, whose nomination was announced by the country's state-owned press agency on Wednesday, entered the government as transportation minister in 2010. - News24 * Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has reportedly ridiculed former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's call for an early return to polls, labelling the demand a 'joke'. Tsvangirai wrote a 'damning' letter to the SADC Troika of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security detailing the country's economic hardships and also stating that Mugabe was an 'illegitimate leader'. - News24 * West Africa must openly confront its political and governance weaknesses to curb the growing drug trade in the region, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said last week. 'West Africa is no longer only a transit zone of drugs but an attractive destination where pushers take advantage of the weak political system to perpetuate their trade,' said Obasanjo, who chairs the West Africa Commission on Drugs. - News24