Guinea-Bissau's junta has vowed to defend itself from interference as the international community condemns a two-year transition government.

Mali is waiting anxiously to see if the military junta would restore democracy after the toppled president formally resigned.

West African leaders have lifted all sanctions imposed on Mali with immediate effect following the agreement on restoring the constitutional order.

Ecowas has warned the Mali junta that it will close all its land borders and freeze the nation's bank account if it does not step aside.

African leaders began talks on insecurity in the Sahel region at the first African Union meeting convened by Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi.

The battle for control of Côte d'Ivoire moved to Pretoria this week as lobby­ists for the presidential rivals tried to swing the SA government.

A summit of West African leaders on Tuesday told politicians in Côte d'Ivoire to preserve peace after last week's sacking of the Cabinet.

A West African court of justice convicted the state of Niger on Monday for failing to protect a 12-year-old girl from being sold into slavery.

Local and municipal elections in Benin passed off without evidence of fraud but with some functional problems, the head of a regional observer team said on Wednesday. The leader of the monitors from the Economic Community of West African States singled out in particular the lack of ballot papers and other materials.

Sierra Leone's military chiefs are working on means to downsize from its current 10 000 soldiers to 8 500, Defence Minister Palo Conteh said on Friday, according to a state radio report. "We cannot allow a large army ...We have to downsize to a lean army that can react quickly to a given situation," he said.