At least 40 people were killed and 23 seriously injured on Wednesday in a collision between a bus and a truck in central Tanzania, officials said.

A statement from the president's office said the packed passenger bus was traveling between the western town of Mbeya and the economic capital and coastal city of Dar es Salaam when it was crushed by a container truck traveling in the opposite direction.

At least 50 people died and dozens were hurt in heavy rains and floods in Tanzania's northwest, a senior official said Wednesday.

Torrential rains, hail and high winds hit Kahama district in Shinyanga region late on Tuesday, injuring at least 82 people.

In a small windowless room in the far west of Tanzania, 23-year old Paskazia Mwenebato sorts through a pile of lentils, dreaming of a life outside a refugee camp.

In Nyarugusu, Tanzania's last major refugee camp, the government and United Nations are trying to end a rootless life for generations of people living -- and many born -- in exile.

A local leader in Tanzania was attacked and beheaded by a gang of men, who then cooked some of his body parts, allegedly following accusations of adultery, police said Sunday.

The attack took place on Friday night in the southern Katavi region of the east African nation, local police chief Dhahiri Kidavashari said, naming the dead man as 31-year old Richard Madirisha.

Warring South Sudanese factions gathered in Tanzania Wednesday in the latest peace efforts to end over a year of civil war which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Rebel chief Riek Machar is expected to meet later Wednesday with arch-rival President Salva Kiir to ink the latest in a string of agreements, Tanzanian government officials said.

Tanzania will back a U.N. military offensive against Rwandan rebels in lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, President Jakaya Kikwete has said, dismissing accusations he favored the insurgents as "preposterous."

United Nations peacekeepers are preparing a military offensive against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) -- an ethnic Hutu group, some of whose members took part in atrocities in the 1994 Rwandan genocide before crossing into DR Congo -- after they ignored a January 2 deadline to surrender.

A Libyan accused over the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa died on Friday, days before he was to stand trial in New York.

Abu Anas al-Libi, 50, was on the FBI's most-wanted list with a $5 million price on his head when he was captured by U.S. troops in the Libyan capital Tripoli in October 2013.

Tanzanian MPs have called for the sacking of several top officials including two cabinet ministers implicated in multi-million dollar energy sector graft scandal, officials said.

In a vote late Saturday, the east African nation's parliament voted for the immediate dismissal of Attorney General Frederick Werema, Energy Minister Sospeter Muhongo, Lands Minister Anna Tibaijuka and the energy ministry's permanent secretary, Eliakim Maswi.

Direct talks between South Sudan's president and the country's rebel chief have failed to strike a peace deal, mediators said Friday, but added that discussions would continue over the weekend.

President Salva Kiir and ousted vice president Riek Machar have held two days of meetings in Addis Ababa, with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalgen and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta leading the latest push for an end to the nearly 11-month-old civil war.

Warring South Sudanese factions were meeting Monday in Tanzania in the latest bid to end a 10-month civil war in which thousands of people have been killed, a presidential aide said.

Peace talks to find a lasting solution to the conflict that broke out on December 15 between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar have been repeatedly interrupted.