Egypt jihadists seek ISIS ties

Cairo - Under increasing pressure from the military, Egypt's deadliest jihadist group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State organisation in a bid to boost recruitment and bolster its fight against the army, analysts say.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has waged an insurgency from its Sinai Peninsula stronghold that has killed scores of Egyptian police and soldiers since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year.

In response, the army has launched a huge operation in Sinai targeting jihadists and last month began building a buffer zone on the border with Gaza to stem the flow of militants and weapons from the strip.

Mali due to declare 108 Ebola-free

Geneva - Mali is preparing to release 108 people from Ebola quarantine in a tentative step towards declaring it has contained an outbreak.

Mali became the sixth West African country to report a case of Ebola when a 2-year-old girl died last month, leading to an urgent search for anyone who may have been infected during her 1 200-km bus trip from Guinea to the Malian town of Kayes.

The Malian Ministry of Health is expected to confirm later on Monday that 29 people who may have had contact with her during a two-hour stopover in Bamako, along with 12 people in Kayes, can be released from a 21-day quarantine on Tuesday.

Running for Nigeria president? That'll be $132K

Lagos - Nigeria's main political parties are charging eye-watering fees from election hopefuls, in a move condemned as undemocratic and a breeding ground for high-level cronyism and corruption.

Supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan pooled their resources to stump up the 22 million naira ($132 000) to buy his nomination form from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is asking for 27.5 million naira, forcing one prospective candidate, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, to take out a bank loan.

For governorship posts, the PDP is asking for 11 million naira while the APC wants 10 million naira - all before anyone is even chosen to run at the elections next year.

Explosions end meeting of UN envoy, Libyan premier

Cairo - A series of nearby explosions prematurely ended a meeting between Libya's prime minister and the United Nations top envoy to the country, though no one was wounded.

Samir Ghattas, spokesperson for the UN mission in Libya, said it was not clear whether the explosions on Sunday were targeting the meeting between UN envoy Bernardino Leon and Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni in the eastern city of Bayda.

Leon, who had planned to travel to other cities on his visit, left immediately after the blasts for the airport.

Sudan army denies Darfur mass rape report

Khartoum - The Sudanese army on Sunday said a media report that its troops had carried out a mass rape in the war-torn western region of Darfur was "unjustified and unreasonable".

The denial came days after the military refused peacekeepers access to Tabit in North Darfur state, where they were travelling to investigate the alleged rape of 200 women and girls.

Army spokesperson Colonel Al-Sawarmy Khaled Saad told reporters mass rape "cannot be committed by any Sudanese institutions, military or otherwise".