KIWANJA, Congo–Thousands of hungry and homeless lined up for food Friday deep in rebel-held territory in eastern Congo as the U.N. began its first large-scale delivery in the area since fighting broke out in late October.

GONAIVES, Haiti–Cries of adulation— and hunger—followed Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean and actor Matt Damon as they toured flood-ravaged Gonaives on Sunday to call attention to widespread suffering in the marooned city.

Plans to return lands illegally seized by whites after 1913 to South African Blacks appear dead for now. The Expropriation Bill was quietly shelved late last month. Kgotso Khumalo, spokesman for the ruling African National Congress said the party believed not enough time was given for deliberations on the bill that would have speeded up the return of lands.

A woman carries a mattress and other belongings past Congolese army soldiers as she flees to escape fighting between U.N.-backed government forces and renegade troops loyal to a local warlord, in the village of Sake in eastern Congo in this file photo.

In a new outbreak of xenophobia, some 200 Somali traders in South Africa’s Western Cape reportedly received letters from a local business group telling them to close their shops by Sept. 21 or face physical violence.

CABARET, Haiti–Hurricane Ike’s torrential rains swelled rivers across Haiti and sent floodwaters gushing into homes in the dead of night in one eastern town, killing at least 58 people. Flooding also collapsed a bridge that had been the last land route to the foodshort northern city of Gonaives, where residents fled to rooftops as waters rose for the second time in a week.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay Libya $5 billion and make “complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era.”

Venezuela and South Africa signed a recently to strengthen cooperation between their oil and gas industries. Oil-rich Venezuela is expected to supply crude to the South African oil firm Petro SA at preferential rates.

South Africa and Nigeria are the worst greenhouse gas emitters in Africa, according to climate experts attending the recent U.N. conference on climate change in Accra, Ghana. But agreement among the experts ends there.

An attempt to increase the salary of President Ernest Bai Koroma ten-fold has sparked a public outcry and forced the resignation of his senior aide. Koroma claimed he was unaware of the proposed raise and had not approved it.