Trudging through a bog with temperatures in the high 30s, dozens of Orthodox Puttis made their way towards the new mikveh. Onlookers from neighbouring Ugandan villages could hardly believe their eyes.

The decision by Britain and France to launch strikes in northern Mali, where al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its myriad affiliates have taken control, has brought to the world’s attention how the poisonous tentacles of the Arab Spring have reached a great swathe of Africa.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has sent a search-and-rescue team to Ghana after a shopping centre collapsed in Accra on Wednesday.

The team of doctors, engineers and communication experts left Israel Wednesday evening, only hours after the multi-story building collapsed, trapping many people inside.

The most credible information coming out of Sudan over the past week came from an NGO set up by Hollywood megastar George Clooney.

An African National Congress (ANC) International Solidarity Conference has backed the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

The support for BDS follows an international statement presented by Dutch former anti-apartheid activist Adri Nieuwhof signed by 35 organisations from 19 countries.

The Sudanese government has blamed Israel for explosions at an arms factory in Khartoum in which two people were killed. Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman made the accusation to reporters in Khartoum and said: “We reserve the right to react at a place and time we choose.”

The ongoing controversy over Israel’s treatment of African immigrants came to the streets of London as more than 100 Eritrean refugees protested outside the Israeli embassy.