South African police were in a standoff on Thursday with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to "smoke them out".

An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein, in the North West province, for about a month.

Members of Mozambican police walk as they disperse people gathering to take part in the peaceful marches called by presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane to repudiate the murder of two supporters, in Maputo, Mozambique, last month. Many of the migrants ...