South African troops are being withdrawn from the Central African Republic, a South African National Defense Union spokesman said April 2, SAPA reported.

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir on April 1 issued an order to release all political detainees in preparation for national dialogue among Sudan's political forces, Xinhua reported.

Malian troops conducted house-to-house searches in Timbuktu on April 1 after fighting for hours with Islamist rebels in the city on March 31, Reuters reported.

Malian soldiers backed by French fighter jets clashed with Islamist militants in Timbuktu after militants used a car bomb to cover their overnight incursion into the city, sources said March 31, Reuters reported.

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir will visit South Sudan during the week of March 31 for the first time since the two countries split in 2011, a Sudanese official said March 30, Reuters reported.

The U.N. Security Council on March 29 unanimously approved an "offensive" peacekeeping brigade to fight rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first U.N. force of its kind, The News International reported.

A bomb attack March 28 destroyed the Al-Andlusi mausoleum, one of the major Sufi shrines in Libya and a national monument, the Libya Herald reported.

A March 26 battle between the South Sudanese military and rebels allegedly supported by Sudan left 143 rebels and 20 soldiers dead, AP reported March 28, citing South Sudanese military officials. The military captured an airstrip in the town of Okello that the South Sudanese government said had been used by Khartoum to transport weapons and ammunition to the Yau Yau rebels. Sudan and South Sudan have been struggling to resume oil production after territorial disputes and clashes along their shared border halted exports.

South Africa deployed 200 soldiers to Uganda on March 28, Reuters reported.