WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Ghana's government is seeking talks with the International Monetary Fund to win endorsement for its own fiscal reform program rather than because it needs a bailout, Foreign Minister Hanna Tetteh told Reuters on Friday.

ACCRA, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana is further relaxing foreign exchange restrictions imposed in February in a bid to halt a slide in the cedis currency, including a $1,000 limit on over-the-counter cash withdrawals, it said on Friday.

ACCRA, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana said the yield on its 91-day bill rose to a fresh three-year high of 25.0174 percent at Friday's auction, from 25.0104 percent at the last sale.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius wrapped up on Friday with the prosecution making a final plea for the South African athlete to "face the consequences" of shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South African judge Thokozile Masipa said on Friday she would deliver her verdict in the murder trial of Paralympic and Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius on Sept. 11.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A U.N. delegation was holding talks in Tripoli on Friday to try to broker a ceasefire between armed factions that have turned the Libyan capital into a battleground after the worst fighting since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The world's worst Ebola outbreak, which has already affected four countries in West Africa, is likely to get worse in the coming months, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - Oscar Pistorius' "primal instincts" kicked in when he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp because he was in a vulnerable and fearful state, his defence lawyer said at the athlete's murder trial on Friday.

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - West Africa's Ebola epidemic is an "extraordinary event" and now constitutes an international health risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The health care system in Liberia is collapsing, hospitals closing down and medical workers fleeing from the Ebola epidemic, which is poised to worsen, Liberia’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told lawmakers on Thursday he has activated the agency's emergency operation center at the highest response level to fight the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday ordered families of its diplomats in Liberia to leave and warned against non-essential travel to the West African country because of the growing Ebola outbreak.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has taken control of more than $480 million looted by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his associates after a court ruling, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration is forming a special Ebola working group to consider setting policy for the potential use of experimental drugs to help the hundreds infected by the deadly disease in West Africa, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

FREETOWN/MONROVIA (Reuters) - The army blockaded on Thursday rural areas in Sierra Leone that have been hit by the deadly Ebola virus, a senior officer said, after neighbouring Liberia declared a state of emergency to tackle the worst outbreak of the disease on record.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, in Washington this week to court Western investors, has sought to downplay a spate of violent attacks tied to militants in neighboring Somalia and their impact on Kenya's economy.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - Oscar Pistorius' defence team will wrap up their closing arguments in the murder trial of the South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete on Friday, after which the judge will retire to consider her verdict.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rwandan rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo believe an extended deadline to disarm allows them to stall, a top U.N. official said on Thursday, suggesting military action against factions which do not comply or commit human rights abuses.

NAIROBI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday. - - - - - EVENTS: *MAURITIUS - Bank of Mauritius auctions 273-day Treasury bills worth a total 500 million rupees. GLOBAL MARKETS Asian shares tumbled on Friday as investors sought out safe-haven assets on growing fears that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East could sap global growth, extending l