• Sudan general says coup attempt foiled

Sudan's ruling military council says it foiled a coup attempt in yet another likely blow to ending the three-month political impasse in the country.

General Jamal Omar said officers and soldiers from the army and the National Intelligence and Security Service NISS, including retirees, were involved in the plot in which 12 officers and four soldiers were arrested.

The military council and protest leaders are going through an agreement to end the transition standoff and any instability would give the generals an opportunity to waver from the commitments brokered by the AU.

• Burkina Faso extends state of emergency by 6 months

Burkina Faso's parliament on Thursday extended by another six months a state of emergency imposed in 14 provinces grappling with jihadist violence since 2015.

Parliament said the extension until January 12 would buttressing the fight against insecurity by giving defence forces leeway to confront the extremists through all means necessary.

The jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso have left more than 450 dead and are led by Ansarul Islam and JNIM (Group to Support Islam and Muslims), an ally of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

• Libya demands urgent answers over French missiles found at pro-Haftar base

Libya's internationally recognised government on Thursday demanded France explains the presence of its missiles which were found at a base used by strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces that are fighting to take over the capital Tripoli.

Foreign Minister Mohamad Tahar Siala asked French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian to "urgently explain" how the missiles "reached Haftar's forces, when they were delivered and how" in a statement.

Denying that it breached a UN arms embargo on Libya, France said it lost track of the US-made Javelin Missiles, each worth $170,000, after they were adjudged defective.

Chinese-made shells bearing United Arab Emirates marks were also found at the base in Gharyan, 100 kilometres south of Tripoli.

• Central Africa revenge clashes leave four dead

Clashes sparked by the militia killing of a vendor rocked the Muslim-majority PK5 district of the Central African Republic capital Bangui for a second day Thursday, leaving four dead and 26 wounded.

An Imam said a dispute between the petrol seller and armed youths over a protection tax prompted the lobbing of a grenade that killed the 40-year vendor.

His family mobilised a rival gang to avenge the death resulting in the clashes that have seen the UN mission in CAR increase patrols in the area.

• Missing Tanzanian reporter dead - Minister
  

Press freedom advocates demanded Thursday that Tanzanian authorities disclose everything they know about missing journalist Azory Gwanda who disappeared in 2017.

Foreign Minister Palamagamba Kabudi told the BBC that Gwanda, who vanished after reporting on a string of murders, had "disappeared and died" somewhere in Tanzania's eastern Rufiji region.

The ministers statement provoked outrage as Gwanda, a reporter for the Mwananchi and The Citizen newspapers, disappeared while on the trail of mystery motorbike attackers who had killed at least 20 police officers and local administration officials.

• UN chief Guterres seeks $2b more for Mozambique
  

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday said only a third of funds pledged to help Mozambique recover the devastation of two successive cyclones has been committed.

International donors last month pledged $1.2 billion after the country was battered by two powerful cyclones within weeks of each other killing 700 people and displacing more than 1.5 million others.

The UN estimates that $3.2 billion is needed overall besides the $273 million for emergency response.

• Youth, poor likely more corrupt than seniors

Transparency International says young people in Africa, aged 18-34 years, are more likely to pay bribes than older people aged more than 55 years.

In its 2019 Global Corruption Meter TI also found the poorest people are twice as likely to pay a bribe and more likely to be victims of corrupt behaviour by bureaucrats – than the richest.

The survey said corruption is highest in Democratic Republic of Congo and lowest in Mauritius.

Foreign companies pursuing deals in mining and construction were found to play a significant role in corruption and undermining sustainable development in the content.

• Missing teen mystery deepens as Vatican dig reveals empty graves

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Italian teenager Emanuela Orlandi 36 years ago deepened Thursday after two graves at the Vatican thought to possibly hold her remains were discovered to be empty.

"The last thing I expected was to find empty tombs," said her brother Pietro Orlandi, 60, who still hopes to find his sister, last seen leaving a music class aged 15, alive.

The dig followed an anonymous tip-off that the Teutonic Cemetery in the tiny city state may be the last resting place of Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee.

• IMF agrees to $448.6 mn credit for Republic of Congo

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it had agreed to a three-year $448.6 million credit for Republic of Congo to help develop the economy of the central African oil producer.

The country, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, had been negotiating with the IMF for two years over a bailout after its economy was battered by the collapse of world oil prices.

The IMF said it authorised an immediate payment of $44.9 million of the loan and called for action on corruption, debt and poor governance.

• Ghana president Akufo-Addo asks exiles to invest in Africa
  

Ghana president Nana Akufo-Addo says the Africa diaspora needs to contribute more to the continent's development just like its China counterparts spurred the dragon's rise to the world's global manufacturing hub.

During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at Elysee palace in Paris, Akufo-Addo said Africa's relationship with Europe was tilted in favour of the latter and needed a rethink.

He said political independence should translate to social and economic transformation through education of the continent's youth to put the continent on a strong economic growth path.

• Bankrupt Becker's trophy auction raises nearly $900,000
  

An on-line auction of 82 of the trophies and other memorabilia of bankrupt German tennis legend Boris Becker realised approximately $860,000, the company handling his bankruptcy said.

The 51-year-old six-time Grand Slam winner was declared bankrupt two years ago and his debts could total as much as $63 million.

A replica of the 1989 US Open trophy when Becker beat Ivan Lendl realised the highest price of $189,000 in the auction of trophies, photographs and other memorabilia.