A South African university is training South Sudan government leaders in international law, security and other affairs of state as the region prepares for a 2011 independence referendum, university officials said.

President Jacob Zuma, chosen as Africa's finest, had the prestigious African President of the Year award 2009 bestowed on him on Tuesday.

Three African trade blocs that have agreed to form a free trade area covering more than half a billion people created a long overdue roadmap on Monday.

Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC, said President Jacob Zuma would be vocal about problems in Zimbabwe when he visits Harare this week, a reversal of the quiet diplomacy practiced by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.

Thirteen years after it opened for signature, the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty has finally come into force, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said on Wednesday.

The good news for Africa in these tough times is that the continent is riding out the global tempest better than it did in previous – and, be it noted, lesser – downturns.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to travel to Africa next week on a seven-nation tour aimed at highlighting the Obama administration's commitment to the continent.

President Barack Obama addressed parliament in Ghana's capitol of Accra on Saturday, in a speech that marked his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as the leader of the United States.

Posters of Barack Obama festooned the streets of the Ghana capital on Thursday ahead of the first visit to sub-Saharan Africa by the first black US president.

Obama will go from the Group of Eight summit in Italy on Friday to press his message that conflict-tainted Africa needs good governance and economic progress.

His aides said the president wants to stress the interconnection between Africa and the rest of the world in the 21st century.

Africans have been invited to send a text message to US President Barack Obama in advance of his visit to Ghana on Friday and Saturday.

Google on Monday unveiled a new service designed to provide information via SMS text message to mobile phone users in Africa, where cell phones are prevalent but Internet penetration is low.

The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), has revealed the continent's top innovators - Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia. The report was launched just before the WEF on Africa, held in Cape Town from 10 to 12 June.

The Schwab Foundation has recognised three new social entrepreneurs with significant impact in Africa as winners of the Africa Regional Social Entrepreneurs Award for 2009.

Entrepreneurs from both Egypt and South Africa have been invited to join a global network of high-impact entrepreneurs, at an Endeavor International Selection Panel (ISP) in New Delhi, India.

Pope Benedict XVI was set Tuesday to leave for a weeklong trip to Africa, his first as pontiff to the world's poorest continent, with stops in Cameroon and Angola.

Benedict said Sunday he wanted to wrap his arms around the entire continent, with "its painful wounds, its enormous potential and hopes." He also intends to "confirm the faith of Catholics, encourage Christians in their ecumenical engagement and transmit to all the announcement of peace given to the Church by Christ resurrected," he said during his Sunday Angelus blessing.

The pope's two destinations were selected for their pan-African and international dimensions, respectively.

A new online resource aims to preserve an important slice of shared African and American history covering 50 years of activism in the US against apartheid and colonialism.

The African ICT industry has been "quite sheltered" from the global economic downturn, global consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan said on Tuesday. 

Following almost a decade of political chaos in Zimbabwe, a glimmer of hope emerged on Wednesday as opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was finally sworn in as the country's Prime Minister.

Tsvangirai stood across from his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe as he took his oath, vowing to "well and truly serve Zimbabwe in the office of Prime Minister."

Standard Bank will be providing free financial advisory services to African health aid recipient countries, as part of a new engagement with the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. 

The African Development Bank (ADB) will attempt to counteract the negative effect of the global financial crisis on African economies, the bank’s president Donald Kaburuka, said on the weekend.

Sub-Saharan Africa's economy expanded 5.4 percent in 2008, the first time in more than 45 years that growth exceeded 5 percent for five years in succession, and despite substantial deterioration in the external environment during the year.

According to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects for 2009, GDP gains in the subcontinent have been broad-based and less volatile, even in oil-importing economies, as strong commodity export revenues and capital inflows underpinned domestic demand.

The level of transparency in African countries has improved as a result of awareness and more pressure from governance watchdogs, a World Bank official said in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

"Many African countries are acting on sustaining transparency and accountability and this speaks of progress across the continent," said Anand Rajaram, the World Bank's Manager for Public Sector Reform and Capacity for Africa.”

Between 1999 and 2006, 69 percent of the world's lower income countries receiving interest-free credit from the Bank improved in handling the public sector, according to the Bank.

South African leaders congratulated US president elect Barack Obama on his victory on Wednesday, expressing hope that it would place Africa's problems higher on the global agenda.

Obama became the world power's first black president as his Republican rival John McCain conceded defeat in historic elections on Wednesday morning.

President Kgalema Motlanthe sent "warm congratulations" to Obama. "Your election to this high office of the American people carries with it hope for millions of your country men and women as it is for millions of people particularly of African descent..."

The leaders of 26 African countries agreed last week to form a unified free trade bloc that would create the largest free trade area in Africa with an estimated combined GDP of US$650 billion.

The recent Global Location Trends study conducted by IBM reveals that multinational companies are increasingly widening their investment nets, with notable increases in Africa.