April 22, 2013.
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:

African ministers tell rich nations to work harder to end the economic crisis.

France says it will negotiate to modify a UN proposal on the Western Sahara.

And, the DA says more toll roads have been proposed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited.

African finance ministers told their rich nation counterparts at weekend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to work harder and faster to kick-start their economies to avoid a prolonged slump that could undermine strong growth in the developing world.

Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the meetings of global finance leaders said that if slow growth in the euro zone continues, and is coupled with a slowdown in emerging economies, then the developing world will become more vulnerable. The euro zone provides a large market for many African countries.

Despite a global economic slowdown in 2012, most African economies grew at close to 6% buoyed by strong internal demand and higher commodity prices. Strong and better-managed economies have also attracted investors' attention, with net capital flows to the region reaching a record $54.5-billion last year. This was an increase of 3.3% from 2011. However, figures released by the World Bank last week showed that most of the world's poor are now concentrated in Africa despite increased economic growth.

Okonjo-Iweala said the region was concerned with how central banks in advanced economies planned to exit from years of easy monetary policy, which has led to a surge in investment capital in emerging and developing countries. She also said that it would be important for central banks to signal early on when they intend to change course.

France has signaled that it will push to modify a US proposal to the United Nations to allow UN peacekeepers to monitor human rights in the disputed Western Sahara before deciding which way it would vote.

The US draft resolution to the Security Council, designed to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Western Sahara for another year, was circulated this week to the so-called Group of Friends on Western Sahara, which includes the US, France, Spain, Britain and Russia.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the conflict in Mali, where France deployed troops and air power to oust Islamist rebels, threatens to spill into Western Sahara, with the possibility of infiltration by foreign militants.

The dispute, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which says the Western Sahara is its territory, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which says it is an independent state.

The Democratic Alliance said on Sunday that more toll roads have been proposed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (or Sanral) at a closed meeting. DA MP Ian Ollis said in a statement that the CEO of Sanral, Nazir Alli, revealed new toll-roads that the entity is considering for implementation, at a parliamentary portfolio committee of transport strategic planning session last week. The committee meeting was closed to the media.

Ollis said the proposed new tolls roads were the: N3 Durban to Pietermaritzburg, N12 Kimberley to Johannesburg, N1 Ring road at Musina, N1 Kroonstad to Winburg, and N1 Botlokwa Interchange.

He said that the toll roads would hit the poorest South Africans the hardest and that it would increase the price of doing business, increase food prices and would inevitably undermine economic growth and job creation.

The City of Cape Town has taken legal steps to stop the project. On May 16, the Western Cape High Court will hear the city's application to stop Sanral from taking further steps to implement the project.

Also making headlines: 

Sudan is expected start peace talks with border state rebels on Tuesday.

An international peacekeeper was shot dead by unknown gunmen in an eastern part of Sudan's Darfur region.

A man has died from wounds suffered during clashes in the Guinean capital of Conakry between security forces and demonstrators protesting against preparations for a long-delayed parliamentary election.

And, South African Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus says that despite improvement in South Africa’s terms of trade since 2010, the country’s exports have seen a slow recovery, weighed down by lagging global recovery and widespread stoppages in the mining sector.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.