African

Baidoa Captured

Ethiopian and Somali troops have taken a strategic stronghold of Islamist militants in south-western Somalia. Eyewitnesses said about 50 vehicles, including some 20 tanks, had entered Baidoa, which was not defended.

After the southern port of Kismayo, the town was the most important al-Shabab base. The news comes as the UN Security Council voted to increase the African Union force in Somalia from 12,000 to 17,731.

These developments come ahead of a major conference to be hosted by the UK on Thursday aimed at ending two decades of conflict in the troubled country.

Al-Shabab, which has recently joined al-Qaeda, confirmed that it had withdrawn its forces from Baidoa as part of a "tactical retreat" and threatened to start a guerrilla war in response.

"The takeover does not mean that the enemy will enjoy the city, there will be more bloodshed," said Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim, an al-Shabab commander, according to media reports.

A Somali government military commander in the town said his forces were moving to the outer edges of the town to ensure they had full control of it.

Force Boost

The UN Security Council is to vote to increase the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia by more than 5,000 soldiers, diplomats have said. The resolution will increase the number of troops in the country to 17,731 from its current level of 12,000.

The vote on Wednesday comes ahead of an international conference on Somalia to be held in London. British Prime Minister David Cameron says the threat from Somalia's al-Shabab militants is "substantial".

"It is based on the fact that al-Shabab is an organisation that has now explicitly linked itself to al-Qaeda, and it encourages violent jihad not just in Somalia but also outside Somalia," Mr Cameron said.

Food Boycott

A Kenyan men's lobby group has called for a six-day food boycott to highlight what it says is increasing domestic violence against men. The organisation, Maendeleo Ya Wanaume, wants Kenyan men to stop eating meals cooked at home by wives and partners.

It says men should instead eat together outside the home, and share experiences of emotional and physical abuse. Kenya's government does not take domestic violence against men seriously and may be fuelling it, the group says.

Maendeleo Ya Wanaume's leader Ndiritu Njoka said he called for the nationwide boycott to try to stop women beating up or emotionally abusing their husbands and spouses.

Somali Agreement

Key Somali leaders have signed a plan to try to end the country's two-decade-long political crisis. The agreement provides for a new, smaller parliament and an upper house of elders.

The deal came at a meeting in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, but did not include some key actors. Al-Shabab militants, who control large areas of central and south Somalia, and the self-declared independent state of Somaliland did not take part.

The latest agreement provides the first indication of what Somalis would like to see from this week's key conference in London. For three days Somali leaders had met in Garowe, the capital of Puntland.

Sanctions Lifted

The European Union has lifted some more of its sanctions against top officials and institutions in Zimbabwe. An EU diplomat said the bloc was ending measures against 20 entities and 51 people including the justice and foreign ministers.

However restrictions on President Robert Mugabe continue. Mugabe, who turns 88 next week and has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, and other ZANU-PF members were hit with sanctions 10 years ago in response to suspected mass human rights violations and vote rigging.