Harare - The 19-country Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), Africa's largest trading bloc, will finally launch its customs union at a long-awaited summit in Zimbabwe in June, COMESA said Friday.
The summit of heads of state and government, which was twice postponed last year, will be held on June 7 and 8 in Victoria Falls resort, Comesa secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya told journalists in Harare Friday.
"We shall have the launching of the Comesa customs union during the summit," he added.
Nairobi/Mogadishu - Two European aid workers employed by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who were kidnapped in Somalia over a week ago have been released, reports said Tuesday. The pair - a Dutch nurse and a Belgian doctor - were taken nine days ago on the way to Hudur, the capital of the Bakol region in south-west Somalia. 
Brussels - Politicians and donors from around the world gathered in Brussels on Thursday for a conference aimed at raising funds to boost security in Somalia and crack down on the epidemic of piracy in the country's waters.
Washington - While Africa has managed to avoid the worst effects of a recession that has gripped most other parts of the globe, the International Monetary Fund warned that the downturn could erase much of the hard-won gains made by the world's poorest continent over the past few years.
Antananarivo - Madagascar government soldiers killed and wounded several persons Monday when they fired into a demonstration in the capital Antananarivo, the television broadcaster TVplus reported.
