BAMAKO (Reuters) - Riot police used teargas on Saturday to break up opposition supporters who had planned to march through Mali's capital calling for transparency in next month's presidential election, witnesses and the authorities said.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's parliament is set to lift a six-month state of emergency two months early, after the cabinet approved a draft law that said calm has been restored, an official said.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's militant Islamist group al Shabaab has retaken a small town in the centre of the country after it was abandoned by government troops, residents said on Saturday.