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Tehran — a metropolis with 7.8 million inhabitants, 22 districts and 354 neighborhoods — conducted its fourth set of neighborhood council elections in March. More than 13,000 candidates ran for office, and according to high-ranking municipality officials, the number is a significant increase compared with 2009 elections. Still, although voter turnout was significant, there are doubts about the effectiveness of the councils in the framework of urban policymaking.

A group of 25 African and Sudanese civil society organisations have sent a letter to the AU Commission and the AU High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) for Sudan, expressing their “deep concern” about the decision by the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) to send a an electoral observation mission to Sudan.

At least three civilians were killed and nine United Nations peacekeepers seriously injured in a suicide attack on Wednesday at a U.N. base in town of Ansongo in northern Mali, a spokesman for the peacekeeping mission said.

"A vehicle tried to penetrate the camp and there was an explosion," Olivier Salgado told Reuters by telephone from the capital Bamako. He said the casualty figure was provisional as the wounded were still being evacuated.

Al-Shabab militants have attacked a government complex in a busy area of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, leaving at least 17 people dead, including seven assailants.

A car loaded with explosives was driven into the wall surrounding the compound, and gunmen then stormed the building.

Officials say the attack is now over and the building has been secured.

Al-Shabab opposes the UN-backed administration and wants African Union forces to leave Somalia.

Last month, the al-Qaeda-linked insurgents launched a two-day siege at a hotel in Mogadishiu.

Abdelilah Benkirane se dirigerait, conformément à des orientations royales, vers une modification de l’architecture du gouvernement, en lieu et place d’un remaniement ministériel partiel. 

The African Union (AU) launched its election monitoring in Sudan on 10 April with the deployment of 20 short-term observers from 14 African countries, representing institutions such as the Pan-African Parliament, Election Management Bodies, and civil society organisations.

The observers were deployed in teams of two to cover seven states in the country, the AU Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) said in its arrival statement today.

The statement from Nebojsa Radmanovic, a senior leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, sparked a heated debate in Bosnian media over the weekend, with opponents claiming that it could unsettle the ethnically-divided country’s stability.

“The resolution that was anounced directly threatens peace and stability in our country,” said a statement from an opposition Social Democratic Party, SDP.

Dans une ambiance de désordre et de confusion générale, le président du Conseil constitutionnel, Mourad Medelci, a été contraint de sortir de sa réserve afin de recadrer le débat sur l’état du projet de révision de la Constitution tel que porté par certains acteurs de premier plan, dont le président de l’APN lui-même.