that had been the unspoken tradition of la francophonie, that an african elder statesman would be at the helm. it's been broken by a canadian woman of haitian origin. she is a former governor general of canada and she'd like to take la francophonie into the 21st century with a greater emphasis on women's rights and the rights of young people, human rights, democracy and so on. we'll have to see how easy that will be. it appears her selection was something of an arduous process, the announcement coming later than expected. perhaps that indicates tensions behind the scenes. the french supported her, they are keen to dispel the notion that la francophonie is a cosy cabal of old-style west african leaders, if you like, with close ties to governments in paris >>> barnaby phillips reporting >>> the mayor of ferguson, missouri says his city is taking steps to address issues raised following the killing of michael brown and hopes the community can begin healing. jonathan martin joins us with more. the mayor is hopeful. it seems there are significant segments of the community that are not as

rather like the british commonwealth, la francophonie is trying to change itself in a changing itself to be more than a cosy gathering of leaders. this may be an indication of whether it can succeed. >> nearly 7,000 people have now died from the ebola outbreak across west africa. the latest figures are from the world's health organization which says more than 16,000 people have been infected with the virus. the world's largest ever outbreak is mostly effected beginy, liberia and sierra leone. most deaths have been recorded in liberia. al-shabab fight verse infiltrated the town. the rebel group attacked a bus where it killed 28 people. >> her husband was killed in september. he was a government official, a local chief, unidentified men came to their home with guns and hand grenades. they were caught in the down fire. she's recovering from shrapnel wounds. it's not clear why the chief was targeted. >> he kept telling me, i don't know if it was al-shabab or not. >> but the governor here is more certain about the attackers. there have been several attempts on his life. just last month a g