Jean Marc Mojon

The body replaces the TMC that took charge after months of deadly street protests brought down longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir

Pressure mounted on the Kenyan authorities a week after the Nairobi mall carnage, amid accusations that top brass failed to heed security warnings.

Bashar al-Assad has made a rare public appearance for the end of Ramadan but activists say his forces are pressing on with a blitz of rebel areas.

As monsoon winds ease and the sea settles, a new season of piracy begins off Somalia, with hijackers marauding ever further afield.

US Vice-President Joe Biden was on Wednesday to focus on troubled Somalia after discussing the fate of the volatile region with Kenyan leaders.

The Seychelles is engaged in an unprecedented military drive in a bid to keep marauding Somali pirates at bay.

The number of hijacked vessels off the coast of Somalia is at a one-year low but both pirates and anti-piracy leaders are bracing for more attacks.

Arresting Somali pirates may be the easy part. Foreign navies have detained dozens of them but the ensuing legal avenues are ill-defined.

Pirates seized ships from France, Britain, Germany, Taiwan and Yemen, defying world powers by prowling further out in the ocean to target victims.

Foreign jihadists have flocked to Somalia in recent months, joining forces with local fighter to turn the country into an al-Qaeda haven.

Forget the Maasai Mara reserve, Mount Kenya and palm-lined Indian Ocean beaches. The hippest tourist spot in Kenya these days is ''Obamaland''.

African Union heads of state were set on Thursday to begin a three-day summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, focused on the deadly crisis in Kenya and the challenges facing the body's peacekeeping missions. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was expected to address the organisation and call for a peaceful resolution of the post-poll dispute in Kenya.