Nairobi  - Congolese rebels and government officials were in the Kenyan capital Nairobi Monday for talks aimed at cementing a ceasefire in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The talks mark the first direct conversation between the government and Tutsi rebel group the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which launched a major advance in October.

The CNDP had threatened to pull out of the talks after the DR Congo government invited various other militia to take part, but early Monday it looked like the meeting would go ahead.

"We are here in Nairobi and the talks will begin this afternoon," Bertrand Bisimwa, a spokesman for the CNDP, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Nairobi/Accra  - Ghana's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) edged ahead in presidential elections Monday morning as results from across the West African nation trickled in.

Early results from 18 constituencies showed that Nana Akufo-Addo had around 53 per cent of the vote, compared to 44 per cent for his main opponent, John Evans Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The other six candidates were, as expected, out of the race.

However, only a small percentage of the votes have been counted. Full results were expected within the next 60 hours.

Nairobi, December 6 : Barack Obama’s grandmother, Sarah Obama, has become a celebrity in Kenya ever since he has been elected 44th U. S. President, prompting the governments of both countries to take full charge of her security.

The number of guests visiting Sarah’s home in Alego Kogelo, Siaya, is said to have increased tenfold since the U. S. election on November 4.

According to reports, the American and Kenyan governments have restricted her movements for security reasons.

Nairobi/Arusha - One of Rwanda's most famous singers has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for inciting the 1994 genocide, the international criminal court for the genocide in Rwanda (ICTR) said Tuesday.

Simon Bikindi was convicted for making a speech in June 1994 in which he urged Hutus to kill the Tutsi minority.

"The chamber found Simon Bikindi guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide for his calls to exterminate Tutsi at the end of June 1994 on the Kivumu-Kayove road," the ICTR said in a statement on its website.

The ICTR also said that three of Bikindi's songs were used in 1994 to "promote contempt for and hatred of the Tutsi population, and to incite people to attack and kill Tutsi."

Nairobi/Berlin - Somali pirates have seized a Liberian- flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden, although several crew members managed to escape overboard and were picked up by a German Navy helicopter, US Navy and German officials said Friday.

"The Liberian-flagged tanker Biscaglia was successfully attacked today in the Gulf of Aden," Commander Jane Campbell of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Two helicopters from a coalition ship found several people in the water and transferred those individuals to a French ship that is on national tasking," she added.

Nairobi  - Kenya's cabinet has agreed to implement a report into this year's post-election violence that should see a local tribunal set up to try politicians and businessmen accused of orchestrati