Africa Briefs

AU ends summit divided
ADDIS ABABA – African Union leaders wound up a summit here yesterday with the continent beset by conflict and divided over new chairman Muammar Gaddafi’s plans for unifying its 53 member states.

Zim cholera cases up to almost 65 000GENEVA – The number of people reported to be infected by cholera in Zimbabwe has risen to almost 65 000, latest data from the World Health Organisation showed on Tuesday. Some 64 701 people have caught the disease during the outbreak, which started in August, and 3 295 among them have died, the WHO said.Gunmen kill prominent Somali journalistMOGADISHU – A Somali journalist says masked gunmen have killed the director of Somalia’s largest media company at a market in the Somali capital. The journalist says he was with HornAfrik Director Said Tahlil and six other journalists when the gunmen stopped them, took then to a corner and shot Tahlil in the chest. UN rights chief alarmed by Darfur fightingGENEVA – The UN’s top human rights official Navi Pillay said she was ‘alarmed’ on Tuesday by reports of deteriorating conditions faced by civilians amid an upsurge in violence in south Darfur.Algeria, UN deny Qaeda plague reportsALGIERS – Algeria has dismissed press reports that around 40 al Qaeda militants were killed by an outbreak of bubonic plague at a secret training camp in the country. ‘No case of plague of any type has been recorded in any region of Algeria since 2003 in Oran,’ health ministry communication director Slim Belkessam told AFP on Tuesday.