CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied on Thursday Ethiopian accusations that his country was supporting the opposition after a wave of violent protests that left hundreds dead.

KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Thirty people were killed and 57 others wounded during an attack on refugees by largely Muslim Seleka militia in the north of Central African Republic on Wednesday, U.N. peacekeepers said on Thursday.

DAKAR (Reuters) - The United Kingdom said on Thursday it backs targeted European Union sanctions against officials in Democratic Republic of Congo to end government repression and encourage a peaceful transition of power.

ROME (Reuters) - At least 17 migrants are missing after a night-time rescue of more than 100 others from a partially submerged rubber boat off the coast of Libya, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) said on Thursday.

(Reuters) - About 70 sub-Saharan African migrants forced their way over a barbed wire barrier into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African politician Julius Malema, who wants mines and land nationalised and whites' economic power curbed, was on Thursday served with a summons to appear in court on charges that he incited his supporters to invade land.

OSLO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Ride-hailing company Uber has offered over a million trips in Nigeria two years after it started there and is eyeing expansion to a French-speaking West African country next, its West African chief said on Thursday.

DAR ES SALAAM, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The Tanzanian shilling is expected to remain stable next week due to sapped demand for U.S. dollars, while the Kenyan shilling is expected to find support from foreign exchange inflows.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The premier of South Africa's most economically important province said on Thursday fraud charges levelled against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan were frivolous and undermined efforts to avoid a ratings downgrade.

DAKAR/AGADEZ (Reuters) - When German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured three African nations this week for talks on curbing migration to Europe, the leader of the world's poorest country, Niger, suggested it would take a "Marshall Plan" of massive aid to stop people coming.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Boko Haram has freed 21 of more than 200 girls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group in April 2014 in the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, the government said on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma has asked a court to stop the Public Protector, an anti-corruption watchdog, from releasing an investigation into alleged political interference by his wealthy friends, online publication Times Live reported on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will experience water rationing if consumers do not heed calls to cut consumption to avoid a collapse of the water system as dam levels fall after a drought, an official in the country's water department said on Thursday.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudanese opposition leader Riek Machar is in South Africa to receive medical treatment, his spokesman said on Thursday, after the former vice president fled fighting that erupted in the South Sudanese capital in July.

KAFFRINE, Senegal (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the humid heat of Senegal's rainy season, Mbayan Fam points across a bleak expanse of sand dotted with grass to the shallow sea inlet where she and her fellow salt collectors harvest white "gold" with their bare hands.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Twenty-one of the more than 200 girls kidnapped over two years ago in a raid on their school in Chibok town by Boko Haram militants have been released, the BBC reported on Thursday citing a government official.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will lease additional land next year to expand a military base in Djibouti, eastern Africa, as a counterweight to what it sees as growing Chinese influence in the region, three Japanese government sources said.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's government adopted a set of power sector decrees on Wednesday meant to open it up to competition and address shortfalls in the electricity supply to Francophone West Africa's biggest economy, its spokesman said.

KAGA BANDORO, Central African Republic (Reuters) - Fighters from Central African Republic's largely Muslim Seleka militia attacked refugees in the country's remote north on Wednesday, stabbing or hacking to death 13 people before U.N. peacekeepers repelled them, killing at least 10, officials said.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen killed three Burkinabe soldiers and two civilians on Wednesday, a military source said, in the latest sign that instability in Mali is spreading to its southern neighbour.