JOHANNESBURG Canada's First Quantum Minerals said on Wednesday that a strike at its flagship Zambian copper mine was illegal.

Workers at the Kansanshi mine, Zambia's largest copper mine which produced 231,000 tonnes of the red metal in 2010, downed tools on Tuesday demanding 100 percent pay rises and bringing production to a halt.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Burundi grew 4 percent to $104 million in 2011, due to improved reforms on investment procedures, the country's investment board said on Tuesday.

Much of the investment went into tourism, agro-businesses and the processing industry. The coffee and tea producing nation collected $100 million last year in FDI.

The economy of Mauritius grew 4.1 percent in 2011 and will expand at a fractionally slower pace of 4 percent in the new year, the statistics office said on Tuesday, matching the finance minister's most recent forecast.

"Taking into consideration measures announced in the last budget and (the) economic situation in our main markets, gross domestic product is expected to grow by around 4.0 percent in 2012, slightly lower than the 4.1 percent registered in 2011," Mauritius Statistics said in a statement on its website.

Zambia's new government will institute new guidelines for metals exports in the first quarter of 2012 that aim to enhance transparency in Africa's largest copper producer, the minister of mines said on Tuesday.

The country's new president, Michael Sata, has expressed concerns that copper exporters are misrepresenting the amount of metal leaving the country.

Abuja: Rep. Taiwo Adenekan, the member for Ajeromi Ifelodun Federal Constituency, says the president must convince Nigerians to get the support of the National Assembly on the plan to remove fuel subsidy.

Adenekan spoke to newsmen in Lagos at the graduation ceremony of the Computer Training, Adult Literacy and Skill Acquisition programme, organised by the deputy speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly.