Aides of Mali's former junta chief Captain Amadou Sanogo rejected an offer of asylum made on Friday by the west African nation of Benin. Benin's Foreign Minister Nassirou Arifari Bako said his country was extending its hand to Sanogo "in its search for peace and to assist in the democratisation process of that country". "We categorically reject the offer of exile. Why should he go into exile? It's out of the question. He will remain in Mali," said Makan Konate, president of Mali's Group of Patriots (COPO), a coalition of organisations supporting the former junta.

Supporters of Chadian journalist and blogger Makaila Nguebla announced Thursday they were forming a group in Senegal to protest his "summary" expulsion from the west African nation last week. Human rights groups have slammed the sudden deportation of Nguebla, an outspoken critic of Chadian President Idriss Deby, who had been living in Senegal for eight years. He was questioned on Tuesday last week by the authorities before being put on a plane to Guinea, a country where he has no friends or relatives.

Japan briefed the United States on Thursday on the ongoing visit to North Korea of an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which the U.S. said it had not been informed about in advance. After meeting with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo, Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said he hoped to gain more "insights" into Isao Iijima's trip in the coming days.

China has signed $6 billion mining and construction deal with Sierra Leone, which the west African nation said Thursday would boost an economy still recovering from an 11-year civil war. The private China Kingho Group will build a $1.7 billion north-south railway stretching 250 kilometres (155 miles), an industrial park, a deep water port for the transportation of ore to China, and a "mineral resources project", a government statement said, without elaborating.