South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday started a four-day African Union-sponsored visit to Côte d’Ivoire where he will present a ”road map to peace” for the west African country, riven by more than two years of conflict and political crisis. Mbeki arrived in the southern city of Abidjan late on Thursday and immediately went into talks with his Ivorian counterpart, President Laurent Gbagbo.

Just days after African leaders pledged to end the running sore of warfare in the heart of their continent, the Great Lakes region threatened to explode again. Former United States secretary of state Madeleine Albright has previously characterised the conflict in this region as the closest thing Africa had experienced to a world war.

On a roundabout in the centre of Ramallah, the Palestinians’ political capital, young men hang out around a steel structure guarded by plastic lions. Aged between 18 and 30 and dressed in leather jackets and jeans, they should be the kind of voters that the jailed Palestinian militant, Marwan Barghouti, can rely on in next month’s election.

Iraq’s Shia parties have built a powerful political alliance uniting moderates with extremists and seem likely to dominate next month’s general election. The coalition, formed in weeks of private negotiations, will put forward a joint list of candidates. The process has been overseen by Iraq’s most revered Shia cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

It is often said of an unexpected football result that the underdogs had not read the script. After the Uefa Cup tie between Panionios and Dinamo Tbilisi in Greece on Tuesday night, however, many bookmakers suspect that the underdogs had not merely read the script, but had helped to write it too.

It has long been a source of debate why there are so few Asian players in English football and none at the top level — until now. Zesh Rehman, whose parents are from Pakistan, is the first British Asian to command a regular place in the top flight.

Kaizer Chiefs are tipped to beat Moroka Swallows in a do-or-die semifinal match at Loftus Versveld Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday night. Kick-off is at 8pm. It will be the two South African football giants’ second clash during the semifinals of a major competition in less than two months.

Once again South African rugby is in trouble. Last time it was Straeuligate, which led to Staaldraadhekkie where otherwise respectable Springbok rugby stars were forced to scrum in the nude, cook eggs with nothing but the warmth of their personalities and spend long nights in the bush plucking (sic) dead chickens. Rescue for SA rugby has come in the shape of much needed advice from the African National Congress Youth League.

England’s cricket tourists are counting down their three days left in Zimbabwe, two of which they want to spend beating the home side as comprehensively as possible.
England won the first two of the four internationals — the first just comfortably, the second on Wednesday in a wicket spree by Alex Wharf (four wickets) and James Anderson (three) to skittle the young Zimbabweans for 102.