Daily News on the Issues Affecting Africa for October 30th

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 updates on French hostages in Niger, religious-based violence in Nigeria, a Nairobi public transportation accident, refugees in Cameroon, political turmoil in Mozambique, decreased border barriers in East Africa, and child marriage across the continent.

Four French hostages freed in Niger – President Hollande
Four French hostages kidnapped in Niger in 2010 have been released, France's President Hollande has announced. The men boarded a French government plane on Wednesday from Niger's capital Niamey. They are expected to be greeted by Mr Hollande in Paris. The French defence minister said the four men were freed without a military assault or a ransom being paid. They were seized on 16 September 2010 in raids targeting two French firms operating a uranium mine near Arlit. The al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group said it was responsible. – BBC
To read more, please visit the BBC site here

Islamic Attack: 128 dead in Nigeria state capital
A 5-hour battle between Islamic extremists and army troops in the capital of Yobe state killed at least 127 people, all but two combatants, according to reports from army and police officers that raise doubts about military claims that they have the upper hand in Nigeria's fight to halt an Islamic uprising in the northeast. The stench of rotting corpses from the morgue hung over Damaturu Specialist Hospital on Tuesday, where a reporter counted 31 bodies identified as those of extremists. Details still are trickling in about the attack, which militants began at dusk Thursday on an army barracks 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside Damaturu, the capital, where they overpowered the soldiers, seized an armored car, looted the armory and set the barracks ablaze with improvised explosive devices. – ABC News
To read more, please visit the ABC News site here

Train crashes into bus at Nairobi rail crossing
A train has crashed into a passenger bus as it passed through a rail crossing in Nairobi, killing at least 11 people and injuring more. – The Guardian
To read more, please visit the Guardian site here

Refugee influx causes unease in Cameroon
Cameroon is grappling with the influx of over a hundred thousand refugees from neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) and Nigeria, whose presence is causing tensions with the local population.  The refugees are hosted in some 300 sites in Cameroon's eastern and northern regions. Some 90, 000 of the 105,467 refugees are Central Africans, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). – IRIN
To read more, please visit the IRIN site here

Mozambique: Army seizes Renamo base in Maringue
The Mozambican Defence Ministry announced on Monday that the armed forces (FADM) have knocked out a major base of the former rebel movement, Renamo, in the central district of Maringue. The assistant national director of defence policy in the ministry, Col Manuel Mazuze, told reporters that the FADM had reacted on Monday morning to an ambush by Renamo gunmen elsewhere in Maringue district. They pursued the group right to the base which the army then "de-activated." – allAfrica
To read more, please visit the allAfrica site here

East African nations launch single customs territory
Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan have agreed to establish a single customs territory to promote business between one another. The Presidents of the partner states signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday, during a regional integration summit in Kigali. A single customs territory between these states will see the reduction of time a cargo takes to arrive at its destination from any other member state. For example, the transportation time of a cargo traveling from Kenya's Mombasa port to Rwanda is expected to be cut down from twenty-one to just eight days, and all shipments from Mombasa to Uganda are expected take just five days instead of fifteen. – Zegabi
To read more, please visit the Zegabi site here

Child marriage could trigger surge in Africa's under-15s pregnancy rate – UN
The number of girls giving birth before the age of 15 in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by more than 1 million by 2030 unless urgent action is taken to end child marriage, get more girls into school and ensure their rights are protected, according to the UN's flagship population report. If current trends continue, the number of girls under 15 having babies in this region is projected to increase from 1.8 in 2010 to 3 million over the next 17 years. This would take the estimated total number of under-18s giving birth in sub-Saharan Africa to more than 16 million by 2030, up from 10.1 million in 2010. – The Guardian
To read more, please visit the Guardian site here