Chad has declared victory after several days of fighting in the eastern desert against anti-government forces.
The claim on Saturday came after battles which left scores of people dead and provoked the government to threaten to break off ties with neighbouring Sudan.
Idriss Deby Itno, the Chadian president, renewed his accusations that the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR) is being backed by Sudan, warning that diplomacy between the nations could be cut.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sri Lanka to stop using heavy weapons that risk civilian lives and to suspend its offensive against ethnic Tamil rebels so that desperately needed aid can be sent to the war zone.
Ban spoke to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the telephone Tuesday night amid heavy international pressure for a humanitarian cease-fire in the conflict. Rajapaksa has brushed off such calls, saying a truce would give the rebels a chance to regroup.

Cambodian and Thai officials held talks to prevent fresh fighting on their border Sunday after tensions over disputed land around an ancient temple flared into deadly gunbattles.
A third Thai soldier died in hospital following Friday’s clashes, which rattled relations between the neighbours just days before a regional summit that was supposed to focus on the global economic slowdown.
Military officials from both sides met over lunch in disputed territory near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on Sunday, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was set to meet Thai officials later in …

Witnesses in southwestern Somalia say fighting between government troops and Islamist militants has killed at least 14 people.
The clash broke out Wednesday in the Bakool region, after government troops attacked a base belonging to the al-Shabab militant group in the Rabdhure district.
Heavy gunfire was exchanged and at least one vehicle was burned. Another vehicle was reported to have been captured by the militants.

In Madagascar, mutinous troops say they control the army’s tanks but deny they are planning to attack the presidential palace. The latest development comes amid weeks of unrest.
A spokesmen for the mutinous troops, Col. Noel Rakotonandrasana, Friday said his group had deployed the tanks at a barracks in Antananarivo.
But local reporter Mialy Randriamampianina said that no tanks were visible in the capital.
“It is said that there are some tanks here in the town of Antananarivo right now,” he noted. “We haven’t really seen it in the streets. We don’t know …

Israeli air raids on Hamas-run Gaza killed four militants just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended her first Middle East trip vowing to breathe life into the peace process Thursday.
An air strike in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday killed three militants and wounded two others, medics said.
An army spokesman said the raid targeted a group who had fired an anti-tank shell at an army unit on the Israeli side of the border.
Late Wednesday, an Israeli air raid killed a senior …

The bodies of dozens of officers have been found stuffed into drains and buried in shallow graves at a border compound in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, following a mutiny by hundreds of guards.
The corpses of at least 66 people were unearthed at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters on Friday, two days after a revolt by hundreds of border guards protesting over pay and conditions.
Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque in Dhaka said: “The senior officers killed are just the first out of the mass graves.
“There are flies all over the place, …

Bangladeshi border guards who staged an armed mutiny have begun laying down their arms, cabinet minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak has told reporters.
The news, which is unconfirmed, comes hours after PM Sheikh Hasina offered the troops a general amnesty.
At least five people died and a number were wounded in the mutiny, which was said to be over pay, conditions, career advancement and alleged discrimination.
The rebels battled troops sent to quell the mutiny for several hours.

Sri Lankan security forces have killed at least 65 Tamil Tigers in a week of intense fighting that further reduced the territory under rebel control, according to the military.
The Tigers have been driven back into just 73 square kilometres (28 square miles) of jungle, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said, having controlled large swathes of the north and the east of the island less than two years ago.
Officials say the rebels are increasingly desperate and may launch more attacks such as the air strike on the capital Colombo on Friday, when …

Rebels fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace in Mogadishu Saturday hours after Somalia’s new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed returned to the capital following his election at U.N.-led talks in Djibouti.
Ahmed has promised to build on his record of bringing security when his Islamist forces ruled much of the country, which has been racked by war for 18 years.
African Union peacekeepers said the attack was intended to provoke return fire.