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The world is talking, are you listening?

Benjamin Roger for Jeune Afrique reports [fr] that 18 soldiers, one civilian and four terrorists were killed early morning in an suicide car bombing in Agadez, Niger on May 23. He adds that military school students are currently being held hostages by another attacker following the bombing. Simultaneously, another car exploded in an uranium mine exploited by the Areva Group in Arlit, Niger. The militant group MOJWA has claimed responsibility for both terror attacks.

Locust invasion in down town Fianaratsoa, Madagascar

Locust swarmed many regions of Madagascar and even a few of its cities. This disaster comes as a result of the humid conditions[fr] that remained after cyclone Haruna's landing. The FAO states that 60% of rice production will be affected by the invasion.

Human Rights Watch reports that there is still work to do to achieve impartial justice in the post-2010-11 elections crisis in Côte d'Ivoire:

The ICC’s one-sided approach has legitimized the same approach by Ivorian judicial authorities and undermined perceptions of the ICC’s impartiality.

Update:  Here is the full list of the 49 candidates [fr] for the presidential elections. It does not include the current president of the transition.

As the deadline to submit candidacies for the Malagasy presidential elections ends today (28/04), a few surprising candidates have allegedly come forth. While the earlier candidates were relatively new to the general public,  a few prominent political players from the past are expected to contest: former president Didier Ratsiraka, current president of the transition Andry Rajoelina [fr] and the spouse of former president Ravalomanana, Lalao Ravalomanana.

Cameroonian blogger Edouard Tamba posted on twitter about the first online mapping tool to tool to track insecticide resistance in mosquitoes that cause malaria : IR Mapper.

Interactive map that consolidates reports of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors onto filterable maps via irmapper.com

Explosion at the French embassy in Libya via @Eh4b10 on Twitter

Twitter user @Eh4b10 has posted several photos on twitter of a car explosion near the French Embassy today around 6:50 am local time in Tripoli, Libya.

Comoros police forces state that they have arrested Congolese and Chadian mercenaries in an attempted coup over the week-end. Linfo.re adds that [fr]:

Army commanders did not want to engage in an open conflict with the mercenaries. They believe that “any Comoran casualties over protecting an elite cast is itself a act of betrayal towards Comoros”.

Madagascar's GDP compared to ssAfrica's GDP via Lalatiana Pitchboule

While sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth is projected to “outpace the global average“, a study by M. Razafindrakoto et al. from IRD (The Institute of Research on Development) published earlier this month unpacks the causes of Madagascar's economy lagging behind its African counterparts [fr] (Via Madagoravox).

The presidential elections are set for July 24, 2013 in Madagascar. According to Ben from mada-tribune.com, the first candidates to have submitted their dossiers [fr] to the special electoral court are:

Hajo Andrianainarivelo, Jean Lahiniriko et Roland Ratsiraka are the first to have filed their candidacies.

Dr. Jean-Louis Robinson, Pierrot Rajaonarivelo, Edgard Razafindravahy, and Vahombey are also candidates for the presidency. Other political parties are expected to announce their selections shortly. Update: Lalao Ravalomanana, spouse of former president Ravalomanana was selected [fr] to represent his political party TIM.