Nairobi/Lome(Togo), Jan 11 : Togo's national football team flew home from Angola after retiring from the Africa Cup following an attack on its bus by separatist militants.

Thousands of fans were waiting Sunday night at Lome's airport, where the team was greeted by Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo, the BBC reported.

The crowd watched quietly with many people in tears as the coffins bearing the two members of the delegation killed in the attack were carried across the runway.

Houngbo called it a "sad day" and a "disgrace for African football". The prime minister ordered the team's return home and sent a government plane to Angola to fly it back to the capital.

Nairobi, Jan 4 : Days of heavy rainfall in northern Kenya have left 26 people dead due to flooding, the Daily Nation newspaper reported Monday.

Due to the high number of missing people, officials fear the number of deceased could rise. According to the Red Cross of Kenya, more than 30,000 people have lost their homes due to the rains and flooding.

Especially hard hit has been the region around Lake Turkana, which is normally semi-arid. The Kerio river overflowed its banks, washing away several villages. Many herders have lost their livelihoods after much of their livestock drowned in the flooding.

Nairobi/Mogadishu, Jan 4 : Yemeni rebels are arming Islamist militants in their fight to take over Somalia, Somali Defence Minister Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indha Adde told broadcaster Radio Garowe Monday.

Adde said two boatloads of light weapons, munitions for Kalashnikovs and hand grenades were sent "to further fuel the violence in Somalia".

Witnesses have confirmed the arrival of the boats with weapons, while journalists were threatened against reporting on their arrival by members of the al-Shabaab militia.

Nairobi/Abuja, Dec 28 - Friends of Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a passenger jet in Detroit Dec 25, described him as a pious loner, but not one who had ever showed an interest in political violence, reported a Nigerian newspaper Monday.

Abdulmutallab was religious, but focussed more on daily situations or moral questions, not politics, a childhood friend told the Daily Trust newspaper. He never came across as a religious extremist, the friend told the newspaper.

Nairobi, Dec 22 :Somali pirates have seized an Indian vessel with 13 people aboard, an official said Monday.

Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP), said the pirates seized the MV Neseya off the coast of Kismayo in southern Somalia last Friday.

The crew comprises 13 Indian nationals.

The incident took place some 170 nautical miles northeast of Mombasa.

The present location of the vessel is not yet known, Mwangura told Xinhua by phone from Mombasa. He said about eight to 10 pirates are on board the vessel.(IANS)

Nairobi/Mogadishu, Dec 17 :Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab Thursday said it was banning the UN Mine Action agency from operating in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab, which is battling to topple the weak Western-backed government, said in a statement that Mine Action was paying the salaries of government forces and "surveying and signposting some of the most vital and sensitive areas" under insurgent control.

Somalia is awash with mines from earlier conflicts with Ethiopia.

Nairobi, Dec 14 : Pirates have hijacked an Indian vessel off the coast of Somalia, Xinhua reported Monday.

Andrew Mwangura, the East African Coordinator of Seafarers' Assistance Program (SAP), confirmed that the vessel, Laxmi Sagar, was seized Sunday.

"The Indian boat was seized on Sunday but we received the report early today (Monday). The crew is Indian. I have not established where the vessel was heading from and its destination," Mwangura told Xinhua over phone from Mombasa, Kenya.

Nairobi/Accra, Dec 5 : Ghanian football officials and fans are quietly confident they can emerge from their World Cup group to face England, favourites in Group C, in the next round.

The Black Stars are up against Germany, Serbia and Australia in Group D and are looking to secure second place.

"Germany are a quality team, Serbia too, but I'm convinced we can match them," Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevic told the FIFA website after the draw. "I'm confident we can make it into the second round."

Nairobi/Accra, Nov 25 : When Ghana finally burst into the World Cup finals for the first time in 2006, they made an instant impression by emerging from a tough group to qualify for the second round. This time around they will be looking to do even better.

The Black Stars were once a dominant force on the African continent, winning the Africa Cup of Nations four times, although their last championship came in 1982.

Nairobi  - Patricia Njuguna knows all too well the suffering of her little patients at the children's clinic in Kilifi. "Every day I have severe cases of malaria: children with high fever and convulsions, children who go into a coma," the paediatrician said. "And I see the mothers' helplessness."

A town on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, Kilifi is a holiday paradise for the foreign tourists in air-conditioned hotels. But the town's fishermen and farmers cannot cool their homes down to temperatures that make mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite passive.

Nairobi, Nov 19 : Sahrawi human rights-defender and political activist Aminatou Haidar, considered by her supporters as the ''''Sahrawi Gandhi'''', has gone on a hunger strike at a Spanish airport after being expelled over her refusal to accept Moroccan nationality.

Haidar was detained at the airport in Western Sahara''s administrative capital, Laayoune, on her return from the US, where she was awarded the Train Foundation''s Civil Courage prize of 50,000 dollars for her struggle for the Sahrawis'' right to self-determination.

Nairobi (Kenya), Nov. 19 : Somali pirates have attacked the US ship Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months, but were thwarted by private guards on board.

A U. S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast.

Somalian pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama for the first time last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days.

Nairobi - Nigeria's Super Eagles on Saturday came from behind to beat Kenya 3-2 in an African World Cup qualifier to advance to next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

The West Africans benefited from a Tunisian slip-up in Mozambique, where the game ended in a 1-0 victory for the home side to see Nigeria top Group B with 12 points from the Tunisians, who finished on 11.

Nairobi, Nov 14 - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has invited the qualifying teams to take advantage of the country's state-of-the-art sport facilities for training before their FIFA World Cup contest in South Africa next year.

He said a committee has been formed to work on the modalities to invite the teams which have qualified for the event.

He pointed out that the country is well connected with all parts of the globe and is just a few hours away from South Africa by air.

Nairobi  - Kenya heads into a crucial qualifier for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations against Nigeria on Saturday without German coach Antoine Hey, who has not turned up at training this week following a dispute with the Kenyan football authorities.

The Harambee Stars need to beat Nigeria in Nairobi and Mozambique to lose to Tunisia in Maputo in order to book their place in Angola.

However, their preparations have been thrown into turmoil by Hey's disappearance.

Nairobi  - Daniel Chege Gichia, 39, and Charles Ngengi, 40, promised to love and be faithful to each other recently before a London justice of the peace.

The two had only a vague idea how their union would affect their lives back home in Kenya because they are the first married gay couple in the east African country. The initial reaction to their homosexual marriage was overwhelmingly opposed.

Nairobi, Mogadishu - Pirates on Wednesday seized a Greek cargo ship some 400 nautical miles north-east of the Seychelles, a spokesman for the European anti-piracy mission Atalanta said.

The Marshall Islands-flagged MV Filitsa was carrying three Greek and 19 Filipino crew, according to Atalanta. The vessel, which had been en route to the South African port of Durban, was now sailing in a northerly direction.

Nairobi, Nov 11 : A Greek cargo ship with at least 20 crew members on board was seized by Somali pirates Wednesday in the Indian Ocean, news agencies reported citing the European Union Naval Force.

The Greek-owned Filitsa was captured hundreds of miles off the Seychelles with three Greeks and 19 Filipinos on board, Xinhua reported.

A dozen vessels, including the Marshall Islands-registered Filitsa, are being held by the Somali pirates, who demand huge sums of money in ransom for the release of the ships and more than 200 hostages. (IANS)

Nairobi/Mogadishu  - Somali pirates on Monday attacked a 330- metre-long oil tanker some 400 nautical miles north-east of the Seychelles but were unable to capture the ship, a spokesperson for the European Union's anti-piracy mission Atalanta said.

The pirates fired grenades at the Hong Kong-flagged tanker BW Lion from two speedboats. The tanker was able to escape through some evasive manoeuvres.

Nairobi  - International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Saturday that he believes he has a strong case against two or three high-profile figures suspected of orchestrating violence after Kenya's 2007 election.

"I'd like to be very clear: My policy is to prosecute those most responsible for the most serious crimes," he told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after a two-day visit. "I think I have a strong case."