Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai was shuttling between African capitals Friday in an attempt at winning the hearts and minds of regional leaders ahead of a crisis summit on Zimbabwe that finally promises some tough talking.

Harare, Johannesburg  - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has congratulated US president-elect Barack Obama on his election, saying he is prepared to work with the new US government to improve relations between Washington and Harare, the state-owned Herald reported Friday.

Relations between Zimbabwe and US have been strained over the past eight years as Washington and other Western powers accuse Mugabe of being responsible for Zimbabwe's political and economic meltdown.

Johannesburg - The last and the biggest of four special auctions of ivory stockpiles got underway in South Africa Thursday after a nearly two-hour delay caused when Asian buyers refused to bid for 51 tonnes of tusks in front of the media.

Around two dozen mainly Chinese and Japanese buyers threatened to boycott the one-off sale unless journalists were barred from the conference centre of the Reserve Bank in Pretoria, where the auction opened shortly after 10 am (0800 GMT).

The ivory was not on show in Pretoria. Instead, images of the tusks, which are being stored in Kruger National Park, were being displayed on a big screen.

Johannesburg - The last and the biggest of four exceptional auctions of ivory stockpiles got underway in South Africa Thursday, with Chinese and Japanese buyers vying to buy up 51 tonnes of the so- called "white gold."

The sale takes place nearly a decade after the last authorized sale of ivory in southern Africa in 1999.

The ivory trade has been banned since 1989 but the 171 members of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have given the go-ahead for four countries with thriving elephant populations to sell off ivory accumulated in their national parks.

Johannesburg - Former South African president Nelson Mandela said Wednesday Barack Obama's election to the White House was a triumph for hope.

In a letter of congratulation to the president-elect, Mandela, 90, said: "Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place."

Johannesburg - Zambia's opposition leader Michael Sata on Tuesday again rejected ruling party Rupiah Banda's victory in last week's presidential by-election, setting the stage for a protracted political stand-off in the southern African country.

"I have not lost this election," Sata, 71, told South Africa's SAfm radio. "Rupiah Banda has no vision, Rupiah Banda has no platform. The only platform Rupiah Banda is on is cheating."