Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for October 29, 2014

Continue reading for a summary of recent news stories relating to some of the most pressing issues on the continent. We draw on a wide range of respected news sources, both from Africa itself and around the world. The themes of today's In the News post are: efforts to combat Ebola, French troops in Mali, Agriculture insurance, strikes in Zimbabwe, Zambia's succession battles, Liberian women against Ebola stigma, state building in Somalia and the ongoing negotiations with Boko Haram.

IBM Partners With Airtel and Echo Mobile to Launch Ebola Containment Initiatives in Africa

IBM Research Africa, Airtel and Kenya's Echo Mobile have joined forces to launch several initiatives to help curb the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

The initiatives include a citizen engagement and analytics system in Sierra Leone that enables communities affected by Ebola to communicate their issues and concerns directly to the government; a donation of IBM Connections technology in Nigeria to strengthen the Lagos State government's preparedness for future disease outbreaks; and a global platform for sharing Ebola-related open data.

To read more from African Business Review, Click here.

French troops in fierce clash with Islamist militants in Mali

French forces engaged in a fierce clash with Islamist militants in a mountainous region of northern Mali on Wednesday, France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

"A violent clash between the Barkhane (French) forces and a large number of armed terrorists took place in the Tigharghar valley," Le Drian said during a parliamentary hearing.

To read more from Reuters, click here.

Agriculture insurance: freeing farmers from extreme weather risk

Agriculture is a main source of income for rural communities in many developing countries. More than 2 billion people depend on smallholder farms for their livelihoods, so improving conditions for smallholders would reduce global poverty levels.

Life for rural smallholder farmers is often marred by difficulties, and there are many constraints limiting their economic potential. Challenges include uncertain weather conditions affecting harvests, insecure land ownership limiting farmers' propensity to invest, restricted access to capital and farm inputs such as fertiliser or seeds, unfavourable trade policies and price fluctuations.

To read more from The Guardian, click here.

Zimbabwe doctors walk out on strike

Patients have been waiting in long queues while others were being turned away at state hospitals in Zimbabwe, as hundreds of doctors staged a strike to press for higher pay. About 300 junior doctors went on strike at the lapse of a two-week ultimatum for the government to address their demands for a pay rise of nearly 400 percent.

"The nationwide strike has attracted an overwhelming response from all government hospitals over 300 doctors withdrawing their services until the employer meets their demands," Farai Makoni, president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, told the AFP news agency.

To read more from Al Jazeera, click here.

Zambia's succession battle at full throttle ahead of 2016 elections

The appointment of Guy Scott as Zambia's interim president following the death of President Michael Sata is only the beginning of a long internal succession struggle. Sata's death in London on Tuesday may have lifted the lid on a succession struggle in that country but it remains unclear if his party will stay united ahead of the next election.

The southern African country has a constitutional provision stipulating that upon the death of a serving president, an election must be held in 90 days.Vice-president Guy Scott was appointed as interim president until the next elections after cabinet deliberations on Wednesday morning.

To read more from The Africa Report, click here.

Liberian women hit back against Ebola stigma

Ebola has killed more than  2,700 people in Liberia, making it the hardest hit of the the three West Africa countries most severely affected by the worst ever outbreak of the unrelenting virus.

Many Liberians have fled the country and some Liberian immigrants, especially those living in the United States, have become victims of what many are calling "a stigma based on fear of the unknown."They say people from Sierra Leone and Guinea, the other two countries at Ebola's epicentre, are facing the same.

To read more from Al Jazeera, click here.

Nigeria says Boko Haram negotiations are 'ongoing'

Nigeria says it is still holding talks with Boko Haram, two weeks after the government said it had agreed a truce with the Islamist militant group.

A presidential spokesman said he was optimistic that something "concrete and positive" would come out of the talks. There has been no comment from Boko Haram, and violence in northern Nigeria has continued.

To read more from BBC News, click here.

Analysis: The state of state-building in Somalia

A fence-mending deal signed this month by Somalia and Puntland has variously been hailed as a blueprint for stability and state-building in the wake of decades of civil war, and dismissed as a recipe for renewed inter-clan violence.

The 14 October agreement between the Mogadishu-based Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and the autonomous Puntland State covers issues including bilateral relations, contentious political boundaries and national security.

To read more from IRIN, click here.