MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique is discussing with its foreign coal mining partners ways to help them ride out depressed markets but will not be offering special tax breaks to ease the pain, its mineral resources minister said on Monday.

BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - Central African Republic's interim president appealed on Monday to Muslim Seleka rebels and 'anti-balaka' Christian militia to agree a ceasefire at the start of talks in the neighbouring Congo Republic.

MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police arrested eight suspects on Monday in connection with an attack in the port city of Mombasa at the weekend that killed four people, a senior police officer said.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's navy said it rescued nearly 1,800 migrants in overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean over the weekend, and a merchant ship recovered five bodies from a sinking rubber raft off the coast of Libya.

BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least one person and wounding 20 others, sources said.

MELBOURNE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - After Uganda passed a law that punished gay sex with long prison sentences, Daisy Nakato got a visit from the police.

ABIDJAN, July 21 (Reuters) - Rain mixed with sunny spells last week in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions helped the development of plentiful small pods, suggesting a strong start to the next main crop as the mid-crop tails off, farmers said on Monday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - The economist behind a plan to unlock at least $380 billion worth of assets from Egypt's black market says President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi must first restore another asset that has depreciated over the years: the trust of a wary public.

ACCRA, July 21 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana will issue a 400 million-cedi ($117 million) three-year domestic bond on July 31 to support the government's budget, head of the treasury Yao Abalo said on Monday.

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Religious leaders in Sierra Leone criticised the government's handling of an Ebola outbreak that has killed 194 people in the West Africa country, saying a lack of information was prompting rural communities to shun medical help.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Cairo on Monday for meetings with Egyptian and other senior officials on the situation in Gaza where fighting between Israel and the Islamist Hamas group has cost more than 400 lives, the State Department said on Sunday.

LONDON (Reuters) - A former Libyan Islamist commander who says he suffered years of torture by Muammar Gaddafi's henchmen after British and U.S. spies handed him over to Libya will try this week to overturn a ruling blocking legal action against the British government.

ABUJA/LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's press is traditionally free to write almost anything about anyone - whether it's true or not. But reporters fear a government sensitive to criticism is now cracking down, especially on coverage of the battle against Boko Haram.

MAIDUGURI Nigeria - Suspected Islamists raided the remote northeast Nigerian town of Damboa over the weekend, shooting dead more than 40 residents and burning down houses in a familiar pattern of killing that has forced tens of thousands to flee their homes this year.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Cairo's Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned the Turkish charge d'affaires in protest over derogatory comments by Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, aimed at the Egyptian president, state media reported.

MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least four people and injured several others in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on Sunday, police said.

NAIROBI, July 21 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Monday. - - - - - GLOBAL MARKETS Asian stocks were a fraction firmer on Monday as investors set aside geopolitical concerns for the moment to focus on the generally upbeat flow of U.S. corporate earnings ahead of a host of results due this week. WORLD OIL PRICES Brent crude held s