Luanda - Pope Benedict XVI left Africa on Monday after a week-long visit, which was marred at the outset by his controversial remarks over condoms but ended on a more positive note in Angola, where he was acclaimed by hundreds of thousands of Catholics.

Benedict lifted off from the main airport in Angola's capital Luanda shortly before 11 a. m. local time (10 GMT) after a three-day visit, during which he urged the oil-rich southern African nation to tackle high levels of corruption and inequality.

Luanda  - At least two people were killed and eight injured in a stampede Saturday at a stadium in Angolan capital Luanda before Pope Benedict XVI addressed thousands of youth.

While Angolan authorities confirmed the incident before the outdoor ceremony at the Dos Coquieros sports stadium, the details were unclear.

Luanda - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday called for the further evangelization of the African continent on the second day of his first visit to Angola.

Five hundred years after Catholic missionaries began converting people in present-day Angola to Christianity - the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to be evangelized - many people still lacked direction and feared unholy spirits and powers, he told a mass attended by local bishops and priests in Luanda's Sao Paulo church.

Johannesburg/Luanda  - Angola's ruling MPLA party was heading for a massive victory in the country's first parliamentary elections in 16 years, with initial projections by the country's electoral commission showing the party claiming more than 80 per cent of the vote, reports said Sunday.

Although the opposition UNITA party has already begun to dispute the results of the two-day vote due to problems during the polling, independent observers such as those from the European Union spoke only of poor preparation that affected some parts of the capital Luanda.

Johannesburg/Luanda - Angolan opposition parties on Saturday, the second and last day of the country's national elections, expressed misgivings about the running of the polls in the capital city Luanda and were considering calling for a new vote.

According to election observers the opening of polling places was delayed by several hours on Friday in the capital, where 20 per cent of country's 8.3 million registered voters live.

The country's first national election in 16 years though praised by the head of the European Union observer team for its "peaceful manner" was nevertheless marked by a lack of preparedness.

Johannesburg/Luanda - Angolans were going to the polls Friday in the first national election in the war-scarred country in 16 years. President Eduardo dos Santos' party was expected to win easily.

Dos Santos, 68, who has maintained a tight grip on power for 29 years, had repeatedly delayed parliamentary and presidential elections on the grounds that the country's ruined infrastructure made them unfeasible.

The elections to the 220-seat National Assembly on Friday and Saturday, while deemed unlikely to dent the majority of dos Santos' MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), are seen as a dry run for presidential elections scheduled for next year.