- converge: Thousands of hardline Islamists, some in Afghan military garb and waving swords, converged Sunday in central Tunisia to rally for one of the country's most radical religious movements.
- hush: We are all the children of Osama (bin Laden) ", and " Jews, Jews, the army of Mohammed is back " were among the slogans that could be heard, though organisers tried to hush such chanting.
- martial: Some attendees shouted war cries or voiced religious chants, while others gave martial arts, sword fighting and horseback demonstrations.
- loathe: The hardline movement was launched in April 2011 after a popular uprising led to the ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a secular dictator who came to be loathed by his people.
- autocrat: The protests against his rule triggered what would become the Arab Spring uprisings that led to the toppling of other longstanding autocrats including Libya's Momamer Kadhafi.
- vegetable: The topic consuming the residents of this village, that sits in the middle of citrus orchards and vegetable fields, is the landmark presidential election.
- cynicism: Across the room, sits Ibrahim, a university student who belongs to the Muslim Brother hood, wearing a young beard he is still learning to groom and who speaks without the cynicism that marks the words of his elder neighb ours.
- self: The Koran should be the basis of the state, religion is the answer to get rid of any self interest," he told the others, causing an uproar in the room.
- errand: Outside the cultural centre, where the debate was reserved for men, women and their children shuttled busily doing errands across the village, before the farmers come back from the fields with their cattle.
- irrigate: Stories of armed marijuana dealers roaming the banks of the canal that irrigates the village have kept them indoors after dark for the past few months.
- avert: The May 2 Security Council resolution made a number of other demands in an effort to avert a " serious threat to international peace and securit y" caused by the situation along their disputed border.
- demarcation: The UN resolution, however, says its demand " in no way prejudices" negotiations over disputed areas, and border demarcation.
- demarcation: These include oil payments, the status of each country's citizens resident in the other, the status of the contested Abyei region, and resolution of disputed and " claimed" border areas as well as demarcation of the frontier.
- mediate: The regional bloc successfully mediated a transition agreement and convinced the junta to hand power to interim president Dioncounda Traore on April 12.
- rotate: The junta itself created (this) blockage," Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, whose country holds the rotating ECOWAS presidency, told a regional ministerial meeting.
- vacuum: While the junta justified the coup saying the government was not doing enough to fight a rebellion by ethnic Tuareg rebels in the north, the power vacuum in Bamako has enabled Islamist and Tuareg fighters to seize most of the vast desert north, effectively splitting the country in two.
- scorch: Senegal cattle dying, fields scorched amid drought- Yahoo! News.
- scanty: As scanty rains wreaked havoc across the belt, hitting drought-weary Chad, Niger, Mali and other countries, this west African hub is struggling to provide food to its people and entire villages are going hungry.
- erratic: Crops have failed across eight countries after late and erratic rains in 2011, and aid agencies have raised the spectre of a food crisis bigger than the one which left millions starving in 2010.
- emaciated: Emaciated cattle lie in the shade, too weak to lift themselves.
- irrigate: In another village named Dolel, chief Mamadou Gaye does not complain about the drought, but calls for water pumps, machines to irrigate the land and proper health infrastructure.
- intrepid: Bone-white sand squeaks beneath your feet, the curved beach framed by lush forested hills, empty but for a handful of expats and intrepid tourists who have got wind of Sierra Leone's raw beauty.
- estuary: Arriving at the run down Lungi international airport, situated across a wide estuary and four hours by road from Freetown, visitors have to decide how to cross the water to reach the capital.
- harrowing: Most flights arrive in the dark, and making the crossing in an aged ferry moving at a snail's pace or a faster water taxi in often rough waters with poor visibility, can be harrowing.
- respite: Arriving in Freetown, the sea breeze affords a welcome respite from the thick tropical heat.
- dilapidated: In its chaotic and dilapidated streets, one can still find examples of Creole architecture in homes built by slaves returning from Nova Scotia.
- replenish: According to interviews with witnesses, Ntaganda and fighters under his command told those living in towns under their control that they needed children to replenish their ranks.
- predominant: They told officials that " fear of recruitment into militia groups (was) their predominant reason for flight.
- pillage: This week, the chief prosecutor of the ICC announced that he is seeking an expanded indictment against Ntaganda, which will include additional charges for murder, persecution based on ethnic grounds, rape, sexual slavery, and pillaging in connection with his activities in Ituri in 2002 and 2003.
- avert: It sought to avert a " serious threat to international peace and securit y" caused by the situation along the disputed border between the two countries, after weeks of fighting.
- demarcation: These include oil payments, the status of each country's citizens resident in the other, disputed and " claimed" border areas as well as demarcation of the frontier.
- port: The South separated last July with about 75 percent of the former united Sudan's oil production, but Juba still depended on the north's pipeline and Red Sea port to export its crude.
- export: The South separated last July with about 75 percent of the former united Sudan's oil production, but Juba still depended on the north's pipeline and Red Sea port to export its crude.
- protracted: A protracted dispute over fees for use of that infrastructure led South Sudan in January to shut its oil production after accusing the north of theft.
- retrieve: He said police officers went to the bus company and retrieved Yah ya's luggage and found a pistol magazine with eight rounds of ammunition.
- improvise: In Tuesday's other attack, one policeman was killed and four others were seriously wounded when the car they were traveling in was hit by a suspected improvised explosive device at the world's largest refugee camp, near the Kenyan-Somali border.
- grievous: On Tuesday, police charged Ibrahim Kibe Kag wa, a Kenyan, with six counts of causing grievous body harm during a grenade attack on God house of Miracles on April 29.
- coerce: Witnesses were paid, coerced and in many cases threatened with prosecution if they did not give statements," the former Liberian president told the Special Court for Sierra Leone ahead of his sentencing on May 30.
- mutilate: Once one of west Africa's most powerful men, Taylor was found guilty last month of arming and aiding rebels who killed and mutilated thousands in Sierra Leone during a decade-long civil war that killed 120,000 people.
- conscript: The trial heard that children under the age of 15 were abducted and conscripted during the conflict, and had the letters " RUF" carved into their foreheads and backs to deter escape.
- lurk: Truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns and 107mm rocket launchers lurk underneath the trees.
- arbitration: Southern leaders say Heglig belongs to them even though a 2009 arbitration court ruling produced a map that showed Heglig remaining in Sudan, helping the country to cement its claim.
- scorch: Powerless high-tension lines run beside a dusty road, past mud and straw huts that provide precious shade from the scorching sun in the almost treeless, stark landscape.
- tranquil: It was a tranquil scene, but Gatluak does not think it will last.
- citadel: When we saw them loading a second gre nade, we ran to the citadel," said Mariotti, looking at the eight suspected pirates behind bars on the defendants ' benches.
- interpreter: The suspected pirates-- many of them lanky youngsters in tracksuit tops and freshly pressed shirts-- hunched over in concentration as a Somali interpreter translated parts of the hearing in a vast courtroom used for mafia trials.
- fool: Domenico Guglielmi, the commander of the Andrea Doria, said: " Don't let yourselves be fooled.
- minor: Eleven Somalis were arrested on the Montecristo and four on the second boat-- some are being tried as minors and one has opted for a fast-track trial.
- viewpoint: BBC News- African viewpoint: Should tributes to the dead be honest?
- viewpoint: In our series of viewpoints from African journalists, Elizabeth Ohene ponders the nature of obituaries and what a fitting tribute means for Africa's former leaders.
- overdo: Okay, I thought, this man was not exactly the most popular man but surely that was overdoing it.
- charlatan: My view has always been that if telling the truth about a dead person means that he is portrayed as the charlatan that he was, then it is better to be quiet than to heap undeserved praise simply because the person is dead.
- eulogy: That she accorded the fallen president every honour in the book was to be expected, Joyce Banda oozes dignity, but the eulogy surely went over the top?
- capture: The capture of one of the Lord Resistance Army's top commanders is a major blow for the rebel group and will provide a boost for those hunting its leader Joseph Kony, analysts say.
- capture: The Ugandan army called Acellam, who was previously the LRA's intelligence chief, a " big fish" and said that his capture could help end the rebel group's 25-year insurgency.
- dwindle: Acellam tried to downplay his role within the rebel ranks, saying that his importance had dwindled since he was injured in 2002, but admitted that his detention would be a big psychological blow to the rebels.
- capture: Ugandan and US officials refused to comment directly on the role played by special forces in Acellam's capture, but Acellam's group was being monitored in DR Congo, where the Ugandan army is not currently deployed.
- apprehension: Regardless, Acellam's apprehension was a sign that increased efforts to end the LRA threat are paying off, analyst Izama said.
- alter: The statement warned that Mali would again face sanctions if the putschists do not alter its behavior.
- dissolve: Sanogo's National Committee for the Reestablishment of Democracy and the Restoration of the State has yet to be dissolved.
- loyal: Sanogo still announces important decisions and forces loyal to him have carried out numerous arrests.
- deteriorate: The United States is deeply concerned about the deteriorating political situation in Mali," Nuland said.
- offensive: Monday's ECOWAS statement referred to the fact that the north of Mali is currently under the control of Tuareg rebel forces and Islamist groups which took advantage of the coup in the capital to launch a major military offensive.
- nurture: Attachment to an idea she may have nurtured from the very beginning never occurs.
- versatile: She also says the more vocational certificate courses she studied helped give her a versatile and common-sense approach to setting up a new project.
- burgeon: Despite this burgeoning umbrella of companies, it's her Business Lounge, a plush and modern looking space, created for entrepreneurs to brain-storm and network, which has proved a real labour of love.
