• Switzerland steps up Cameroon dialogue efforts

Switzerland is working with opposition groups in Cameroon to facilitate an inclusive dialogue with President Paul Biya's government on resolving the crisis in Western Cameroon.

A statement from the the country's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said it held discussions with opposition groups between Wednesday and Friday last week in partnership with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

Though it did not name President Biya as a participant he has been in Switzerland since June 23 when he left Cameroon for "a brief stay" in Europe.

• Ecowas allows Guinea-Bissau president to stay on

Ecowas has allowed President Jose Mario Vaz to remain in office as a figure head until elections in November, ECOWAS mediators have said, preventing a lengthy power vacuum in the country.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Vaz would stay in office but the management of government affairs would be under a Cabinet appointed by Prime Minister ....

The Ecowas statement came after Parliament had picked the speaker Cipriano Cassama to be the interim President until the elections.

• Sudan general says snipers shot civilians, paramilitaries
  

A top Sudanese general claimed on Sunday that a third force was active in the protests to demand civilian rule, shooting at least five civilians and three members of a paramilitary force.

"There are snipers who are firing on people, they shot three members of the Rapid Support Force and five or six citizens," said General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF's commander and deputy chief of the ruling military council.

He said the "infiltrators" were people who wanted to jeopardise progress.

• Nigeria protesters demand end to anti-Boko Haram militia

More than 2,000 people protested Sunday in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, calling for a ban on the anti-Boko Haram CJTF militia they accuse of abuses.

"We want the CJTF to be banned from the city because of the abuses we suffer in their hands," said Suleimanti resident Bukar Saleh.

The protest erupted hours after a rickshaw driver was shot dead near a militia checkpoint, apparently after he failed to stop during night-time curfew.

• Algeria arrests prominent war veteran

Algerian authorities have arrested a well-known veteran of the war of independence against France after he reportedly criticised military chief Ahmed Gaid Saleh.

Lakhdar Bouregaa, 86, was arrested at his home in the upscale Hydra neighbourhood overlooking Algiers on Saturday and taken to a intelligence services base, grandson Imad Bouregaa said.

Bourega said that his grandfather was arrested for saying Gaid Salah wanted to impose his own candidate in presidential elections but state TV said he had insulted a state body and undermining army morale.

• DRC's Tshisekedi warns on democracy

Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has warned opposition leaders not to "confuse democracy with anarchy" after they insisted on organising a banned march in Kinshasha and Goma.

The protests were aimed at instability in the restive east where ethnic clashes between Djugu and Mahagi where Tshisekedi has ordered large scale operations.

The offensive also targets South Kivu where militia groups led by the Ngudjolo have forced more than 300,000 people from their homes leaving 160 civilians dead.

Tshisekedi is working with MONUSCO and neighbouring countries for "complete eradication" of foreign armed groups.

• ECOWAS adopts 'ECO' as name for planned common currency

A planned common currency for 15 western Africa states boasting a market of 385 million people that will come to force next year will be known as the ECO.

Leaders of the member states of the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, formally agreed on the name at the end of a summit in Abuja Nigeria.

The single currency is expected to boost cross border trade between Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Eight ECOWAS countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo - currently use the CFA franc but the other seven have own currencies that are not freely convertible.

• BIS urges central banks to 'conserve fuel'

The Bank of International Settlements on Sunday called on countries toconserve fuel in case of more serious economic downturns ahead.

Basel-based BIS chief Augustin Carstens warned that the slowdown on global growth was worsening and spreading.

Carstens said ongoing trade tensions between the US and China was the main factor slowing growth, followed by swelling debt levels.