Police arrested at least 70 people in South Africa's commercial capital, Johannesburg, Sept. 2, after protesters looted mostly foreign-owned shops and set fire to cars and buildings in the second outbreak of urban rioting in a week.

Africa's bishops pledged to work together to ensure that the continent's resources serve development and peace of all people.

The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is leading peace and reconciliation efforts while it does what it can to help the millions of people who have fled their homes in an upsurge in communal violence.

Helping children who lost their parents when a pair of cyclones hit Mozambique is among the most difficult work in the aftermath, an aid worker said.

A South African archbishop has urged the government to act against xenophobic attacks, which have increased as general elections approach.

Two boys at a Catholic boarding school in Zimbabwe are among the more than 300 people killed in the aftermath of a cyclone that slammed into Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in mid-March.

After reports of multiple deaths in violent protests over steep fuel price hikes in Zimbabwe, Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare called for restraint by the security forces and protesters.

The church in Zimbabwe said it is prepared to mediate between government and opposition leaders after six people were killed in violence that followed a disputed presidential election.

"It is you rich people who have finished the water, and now you want us to share the consequences."

Mugabe's policies are widely blamed for Zimbabwe's economic decline over the past two decades. Millions of economic refugees have left the country, with most going to South Africa.