Africa round-up: Wednesday 6 May 2015

The BBC's Maud Jullien tweets: "Opposition candidate Audifax Ndabitoreye was arrested by the police accused of "insurrection" #burundi"

BBC Africa's Rage Hassan has met a Somali man who married a Zulu woman in Durban, the South African city recently hit by xenophobic violence.

Mohamed Yusuf and Asha Mehlala told him that they married for love seven years ago and have three children, one of whom is from Mrs Mehlala's previous marriage.

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Mrs Mehlala says she converted from Christianity to her husband's religion, Islam. The couple also had a Zulu ceremony where the two families exchanged gifts as a sign of welcoming each other.

She believes that more mixed marriages could help ease tensions between foreigners and locals in South Africa.

"The men here in South Africa expect women to work and earn. But Mohamed provides every thing for this house. So I see myself as a queen," Mrs Mehlala says.

Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has revealed the extent of the financial crisis facing Africa's biggest oil producer. She told reporters that although $4bn ($2.6m) was earmarked as the borrowing limit for the current financial year, the government has spent more than half the amount, barely four months into the year. The money has been used on salaries and other overheads, she said.

Other officials say despite the heavy borrowing, civil servants in many of Nigeria's 36 states have not been paid for up to five months.

The financial crisis is bad news for the incoming government of Muhammadu Buhari. It will find it difficult to deliver on its promises to improve people's lives, especially in the north-east where militant Islamist group Boko Haram has exploited poverty to recruit young men into its ranks and has caused widespread destruction.

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Lots of commenters on BBC Africa's Facebook page have been reacting to what Togo and Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been saying about the financial disputes in his family.

Simon Didie blames three things: "Greed greed and greed."

"Most Africans and myself have been through the Adebayor story," he adds.

Erickat Bebe says: "This Dependancy Syndrome should stop. Everyone should get out and work to get their own bite."

Meanwhile, Henry Adeoye argues that although he thinks many people can attest to Adebayor's experience he would not castigate the family entirely. This is because ordinary people's only chance to get the services they need is through successful family members, he says.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The financial row in football star Emmanuel Adebayor's family (see earlier post) has been going on for about four years, with his relatives making all sorts of accusations against him. Adebayor has now broken his silence, putting forward his version on his Facebook page. It is very sad to see the family washing its dirty linen in public.

The BBC's Milton Nkosi tweets that demonstrations against South Africa's power utility Eskom are continuing in Orlando West in Johannesburg Soweto's township, as residents complain of high electricity tariffs:

"I saw this burning barricade on Vilakazi Street. Orlando West is tense as protests against Eskom continue."

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Some of the women and children rescued from Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram are now rehabilitating at a camp in the north-eastern city of Yola.

The BBC's Christine Otieno sent these photos from the camp:

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Some of the women make a high protein infused maize and bean meal after not eating properly during their captivity:

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The UN says its camp in Kidal, Mali, came under rocket attack this morning.

The United Nations mission Minusma says between six and eight rockets were fired in the space of 20 minutes but there were no victims.

In the same communique Minusma reports that later a civilian vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) one kilometre north of the Minusma camp, injuring three civilians, two of them seriously. Minusma has evacuated them for treatment in Gao.

The BBC's Milton Nkosi tweets a photo from South Africa's famous Soweto township, hit by a protest over high electricity bills:

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The Tanzanian peacekeepers killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (see earlier post) were part of a special 3,000-strong UN intervention bridge, UN peacekeeping spokesman Nick Birnback has told the BBC's Newsday programme.

The brigade has a more robust mandate than the rest of the peacekeeping mission, which is "to engage with the illegal armed groups that have been preying on the civilians in that area for years now", he said.

As diplomatic efforts to end the crisis in Burundi continue (see earlier post), protests have again taken place in parts of the capital, Bujumbura:

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Some of the demonstrators in Musaga district camouflaged themselves with leaves, as they voiced their opposition to President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term:

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Others were more militant, displaying weapons:

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While police secured an area barricaded by protesters in Bujumbura's Kinindo district:

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Nigeria's army says it has freed 25 more women and children from militant Islamist group Boko Haram's captivity.

Troops also destroyed seven jihadist camps in "fierce encounters" with the militants in the north-eastern Sambisa forest, the army added in a statement.

More than 700 women and children have been rescued from Boko Haram in recent days.

An appeal tribunal has ordered the United Nations to immediately lift the suspension of a whistleblower who reported alleged sexual abuse of children by peacekeeping troops in Central African Republic (CAR), the UK's Guardian newspaper reports.

A judge said the decision to suspend Anders Kompass, the director of field operations for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, was "prima facie unlawful", the report says.

Mr Kompass leaked the UN report to French prosecutors. It alleged that children as young as nine were abused by some French troops in CAR.

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As protests against Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term continue, the BBC's Maud Jullien tweets this picture from the opposition stronghold of Musaga in the capital, Bujumbura:

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While giving counselling to a child forcibly recruited into Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, Victor Ochen realised that the person he was counselling had come into his own home and taken his brother.

"He explained exactly how they came at night through our home when it was raining.

"I thought what to do with this kid? He was just innocent. He was taken. I thought this kid is good and the best thing to do was employ him."

Heather McClintockCopyright: Heather McClintock

Victor took his client on as a counsellor in his organisation which works on healing people traumatised by the conflict in Uganda.

He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize.

Listen to Victor tell his full story on BBC World Service's Outlook.

The Swazi Observer newspaper reports that dog owners could be taxed as the kingdom's financially embattled government tries to increase its revenue.

The BBC's Zenaida Machado tweets: "Mozambique expected to be the fastest growing African market for millionaires, followed by the Ivory Coast & Zambia https://shar.es/1pTrUY"

Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor has written a lengthy Facebook post revealing alleged financial conflicts with his family.

BBC Sport says the Togolese footballer was granted personal leave from the club in December and the post gives an insight into what he described as his "dark moments".

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Adebayor's complicated family life saw him given time off by Spurs, with the striker being quoted at the time as saying his mother had been practising black magic on him.

There have been explosions in a military area in Sudan. They occurred in the city of Omdurman, just across the River Nile from the capital, Khartoum.

People in Omdurman said the explosions were so powerful that houses shook. Flames shot up into the night sky. The Sudanese military said anti-aircraft weapons were used against something resembling a jet or a missile. But it denied that an army base had been targeted.

Sudan in the past has accused Israel of bombing its military facilities, including a weapons factory in Khartoum in 2012. Israel has refused to comment on such allegations. But there have been reports that weapons bound for the Palestinian group Hamas are smuggled through Sudan.

Burundi's police have used live ammunition to disperse more than 200 people protesting in the capital Bujumbura's Kinindo district over President Pierre Nkuruziza's decision to run for a third term in elections due in June.

There were also clashes this morning between protesters and members of the ruling party's youth wing, Imbonerakure, in Kanyosha district, according to eyewitnesses.

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The Nigerian press are reporting that Nigeria's President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has met a journalist he jailed 31 years ago.

Journalist Tunde Thompson had been jailed under a decree which suppressed press freedom while Mr Buhari was a military ruler.

The Premium Times says Mr Thompson had said before the March election, won by Mr Buhari, that he had forgiven him and even joined his media team.

Naij has a picture of the two laughing and said they cracked jokes together.

Foreign ministers from four African states have arrived in Burundi for talks aimed at ending the crisis over President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term in elections due in June, AFP news agency reports.

The delegation will "listen to all parties in the conflict, and to try to propose ways out of [the] crisis," Burundi's foreign ministry spokesman Daniel Kabuto is quoted as saying.

At least six people have keen killed in protests in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, since Mr Nkurunziza announced his bid to extend his 10-year-rule.

The World Food Programme tweets this picture:

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They say they are providing food to 24,000 people in Rwanda who fled Burundi and that number is growing. However, Burundian officials say 1,500 refugees have come back from Rwanda.

Ivory Coast's authorities say they have identified 74,000 victims who qualify for financial compensation following the violence that hit the West African state in 2010 and 2011.

They would start getting paid next month from a $16.9m (£11m) fund.

Desire Amon Tanoe, the vice-president of the commission in charge of reconciliation and compensation, says he expects far more people to apply, and they had another month to do so.

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The commission says it operates impartially, and people from both sides of the conflict will receive money.

More than 3,000 people were killed in the clashes between supporters of President Alassane Ouattara and his ousted predecessor Laurent Gbagbo.

Two of Kenya's newspapers reflect on US Secretary of States John Kerry's visit.

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The Standard, instead, reports that at least 50 people were murdered on Monday evening in clashes involving cattle rustlers in Rift Valley.

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Suspected gunmen from militant Islamist group al-Shabab have killed a government official in a drive-by shooting in the Somali capital Mogadishu's Wadajir district.

Abdi Fatah Barre Gure, the deputy district commissioner of the district, died while being rushed to hospital. The gunmen escaped from the scene after the shooting.

When fighting broke out in South Sudan in 2013 David got separated from his brother.

He was waiting to see a Red Cross worker about a job when he was handed a book full of pictures of people who wanted to be reunited with their families.

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He couldn't believe it when he saw his brother's face.

The two spoke for the first time in more than a year.

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David Dak Chak's brother told him that he had continued his education in Ethiopia

Two UN peacekeepers from Tanzania have been killed in an ambush in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN has said.

Thirteen others were wounded and four were still missing when their convoy was ambushed by suspected Ugandan rebels in the village of Kikiki, around 50km (30 miles) north of the town of Beni in North Kivu province, it added.

On Tuesday, DR Congo's army said it had killed 16 fighters from Uganda's Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group in the same area at the weekend.

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Today's African proverb is: "If you eat the fruit of a big tree, don't forget to thank the wind." A Baatonu/Bariba proverb from Benin sent by Yvon Atsiba in, Quebec, Canada.

Click here to send us your African proverb.

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