Four United Nations deminers arrested by the Sudanese army along the country's tense southern border were released on Sunday and turned over to chief African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki, the defence minister said.

Fresh clashes between the DR Congo's army and a group of mutineers erupted Sunday in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, the defectors said, a day after fierce battles near a rare gorilla park.

Black market currency traders in Sudan put their business on hold on Sunday to assess the impact of new government measures aimed at closing a wide gap between the official and unofficial forex rates.

Western Stormers supplanted the Northern Bulls at the top of the Super 15 series this weekend with the ACT Brumbies, Canterbury Crusaders and Coastal Sharks keeping in the hunt for the playoffs.

Orlando Pirates striker Benni McCarthy gave South Africa coach Pitso Mosimane food for thought this weekend with a title-clinching brace.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe reportedly told a former minister in his government that he wants to retire but fears his party would disintegrate, an independent weekly said on Sunday.

G8 leaders on Saturday pledged to lift millions of Africans out of poverty by promoting investments in sustainable agriculture.

Leaders of a coup in Mali said they respect a decision by the West African bloc ECOWAS that interim president Dioncounda Traore must head the transition until general elections.

Guinea-Bissau's junta, parliament and a group of political parties have signed a roadmap aimed at ending the crisis created by the April 12 coup, officials told AFP Saturday.

Sudan and South Sudan need peace and Khartoum is committed to all security agreements it has signed, African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki on Saturday quoted the Sudanese leader as saying after talks.