Africa highlights: Obama at AU

Cameroon is to send around 2,000 extra troops to the north of the country to fight the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

It brings the total number of Cameroonian troops involved to 8,500.

The country has joined forces with Nigeria, Chad and Niger to fight Boko Haram.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is due to make his first official visit to Cameroon on Wednesday, to discuss the security situation with President Paul Biya.

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In his speech to the African Union President Obama warned that Africa would not realise its full potential without democratic reforms.

He mentioned the way that journalists are jailed and was critical of presidents who stayed beyond constitutional term limits.

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Some in the audience emerged blinking in disbelief that he'd talked with such candour.

A university student I chatted to afterwards, confided that he was afraid of applauding President Obama in case anyone was watching him, such is the level of paranoia here.

"I was looking around and I was wondering 'should I clap?'" he said.

For those outside the UK, Tomi Oladipo's report on trafficking from Nigeria's Benin city will be available online from Wednesday. 

Former Tanzanian Prime Minister Edward Lowassa has caused controversy by leaving the governing CCM party and joining the opposition Chadema party.

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Mr Lowassa accused the CCM of being "undemocratic" and "oppressive", according to the AFP news agency.

He was in the race to become the presidential candidate for the CCM, but lost out to John Magufuli.

He then said CCM was "infested with leaders who are dictators".

Conservationists in Zimbabwe say the man who paid $50,000 (£32,000) to kill the country's most famous lion was an American dentist. Read the BBC story here.

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South African security analyst Ryan Cummings reacted to the news on twitter:

The death sentences on former officials from Col Gadaffi's regime handed down by a Libyan court have sparked a lot of debate.

I've been monitoring social media and there has been a mixture of views.

Many think this was a miscarriage of justice in the sense that they did not see it as a fair trial.

Others felt the trial was fair, that the alleged crimes of these men were clear to many and they deserved the sentences.

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The hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar has been trending after Siyanda Moutsiwa, an author from Botswana, posted this tweet:

Almost 50,000 people have now used the hashtag in the past 24 hours, with many satirising characteristics of and relationships between different countries on the continent. 

Now that Mr Obama has left the continent - some Kenyans and Ethiopians may already be missing him. But there's one Kenyan driver who's created his own homage to the president, spotted by a BBC reporter in Nairobi.

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"The Beast" is a reference to the armoured limousine that Mr Obama travels in.

An unnamed former government minister in Nigeria stole $6bn (£3.8bn) of public money, a state governor has alleged.

Adams Oshiomhole said US officials informed President Muhammadu Buhari of the alleged theft during his visit to Washington last month.

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Mr Buhari took office in May, ending the rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

US officials described the theft during the PDP's rule as "earth-quaking", Mr Oshiomhole, the Edo State governor, told journalists in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

The wife of Col Gaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, who received a death sentence today, along with the ex-ruler's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, has been speaking to the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme:

"The decision of the court [in Tripoli] is unfair," Fathma Farkash Hadad told the BBC. "This is a military decision and the accusations that he's facing are untrue... everybody makes mistakes in life but the accusations are not true."

She also said the trial was unfair as her husband was not given the chance to answer the accusations properly.

Hear the full interview on Focus on Africa.

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US President Barack Obama has left Addis Ababa at the end of his five-day two-nation trip to the continent.

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Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said farewell to him at the airport.

The Kenya leg of the trip may be best remembered for the "homecoming", as it was billed by some Kenyans, and the upbeat message on the future of the continent.

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In Ethiopia, he gave the first speech by a US president to the African Union, where he said that America wants to be an equal partner with Africa and encouraged leaders to "abide by term limits".

A conservation charity in Zimbabwe has accused an American tourist of killing the country's most famous lion.

Poachers used bait to lure "Cecil the Lion" outside Hwange National Park, and shot him with an arrow.

They later shot the injured animal with a rifle and then skinned and beheaded it.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the tourist had paid a professional hunter and a local land owner $50,000 (£32,000) to kill the lion.

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• "The AU's authority and strong voice can also help the people of Africa ensure that their leaders abide by term limits... Nobody should be president for life."

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• "Sometimes you will hear leaders say 'I'm the only person who can hold this nation together.' If that's true, then that leader has failed to truly build their nation."

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• "When journalists are put behind bars for doing their jobs or activists are threatened as governments crackdown on civil society then you may have democracy in name, but not in substance".

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• "We must uphold the inherent dignity of every human being. Dignity - that basic idea that by virtue of our common humanity - no matter where we come from, or what we look like, we are all born equal - touched by the grace of God."

An Angolan government minister Bornito de Sousa praised the speech at the AU by US President Barack Obama on his Facebook page.

It seems that he particularly liked the message about unity.

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Mr de Sousa doesn't mention the bit where the US president suggested that long-serving leaders should step down.

Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been in power since 1979.

South Sudan looks set to become the latest - and 206th - country to gain Olympic recognition after receiving the backing of the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday.

The country still needs to be voted in by the full IOC at a meeting on Sunday and should it do so, it will be able to send a team to next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

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At the 2012 Olympics, South Sudanese marathon runner Guor Marial competed as an independent athlete under the IOC flag. His nation had only achieved independence the previous year.

The trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and other former officials from the Gaddafi government, did not "meet international standards of fair trial in a number of ways", according to the UN mission in Libya, Unsmil.

Saif al-Islam was sentenced to death in absentia earlier today by a court in Libya's capital, Tripoli.

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Among the problems, Unsmil says in a statement, was the fact that "during their pre-trial detention defendants were denied access to lawyers and family for prolonged periods".

Some defendants also reported being beaten.

Journalist and author Howard French, who has written a book on the impact of Chinese involvement in Africa, provides his view on the subtext of the speech by Mr Obama. 

Journalist and author Howard French criticises what he sees as double standards at play in US diplomacy. 

President Obama was highly critical of Burundi, where the president has just won a controversial third term. He described Ethiopia as a "democracy" in a speech on Monday.

Ethiopia's ruling party, the EPRDF, and its allies  won every single parliamentary seat in May's elections. 

President Obama's speech to the AU is over. Here's what BBC producer Kelvin Brown tweeted were the most popular parts with the audience:

Mr Obama wraps up saying that Africa has no better friend than the United States as it tries to change.

And he finishes the speech, to loud cheers, with: "God bless Africa, God bless America."

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Mr Obama says "your dignity depends on my dignity and my dignity depends on yours - imagine if governments could operate that way".

"I believe minds can open - that's how change can happen - it's not always a straight line," Mr Obama says, but he is optimistic that things can change.

Mr Obama is talking about a dance display that he saw on Monday where all the groups of Ethiopia were represented, and he praises the country's diversity.

He says: "We all go back to the same root - we're all one family, we're all one tribe and yet so much of the suffering... is because we don't recognise ourselves in each other"

Mr Obama says that his wife, Michelle Obama, is leading a campaign with a simple message: "Let girls learn".

When women are educated, he says, nations are more prosperous.

"If you want your country to grow and succeed you have to empower your women," he says.

Mr Obama says that some traditions which demean women "set the continent back".

He adds that early marriage and FGM must end - he says that the US is working with some African countries to keep girls safe and Aids free.

When girls can't go to school that "sets us all back - that's a bad tradition," he says.

Mr Obama criticises the leaders of South Sudan for failing to bring peace to the world's newest country, currently in the midst of a civil war.

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Mr Obama says he will host a UN summit to get more commitments for peacekeeping operations to help boost peace on the continent.

But, he adds, good governance is key to getting peace.

He says that if we sacrifice liberties to insure security then we risk losing both.

Mr Obama says that development cannot really happen without peace.

He says that Islam means peace and groups like Boko Haram and al-Shabab should be described for what they are: "murderers".

Mr Obama says when a leader tries to change the rules it risks instability as we've seen in Burundi. And this is often a first step down a perilous path.

He says if it's true that the leader is the only one who can lead, then that leader has not done his job properly.

"Nobody should be president for life," he says to cheers.

Mr Obama has said Africa's progress is at risk when leaders refuse to step aside when their term is over.

He says that he can't run again even though he thinks he's a "pretty good president".

No-one is above the law, not even the president, he adds.

Mr Obama says that the world should speak out if citizens are denied their rights - even if that is uncomfortable.

It's not that the US is perfect, he says, when the US falls short we strive to do better.

Those of African descent knows what it feels like to be discriminated against "so how can we standby" when rights are denied? Mr Obama adds.

Mr Obama says Africans deserve the dignity of being in control of their own lives. The freedom of speech and the press, the freedom of assembly - these rights are universal, Mr Obama says, and he points out they are written into African constitutions.

He praises the Nigerian election.

But at the moment these freedoms are denied to millions and, to loud cheers, he says that democracies are not just about elections.

"So when journalists are put behind bars and activists are threatened, then you have democracy in name but not in substance."

He says that Ethiopia will not realise the potential of its people if people are restricted.

Mr Obama says that his Power Africa initiative will help bring electricity to millions of people.

He says the US is also working hard to support the continent tackle climate change, and help the continent use renewable energy.

Mr Obama says that history shows that nations that do best are the ones which invest in the education of its people.

He says this should ensure a better future.

He adds that people everywhere deserve "the dignity of living a life free from want".

Mr Obama says that nothing will unlock the continent's economic prospects better than "ending the cancer of corruption".

He says that in Africa corruption drains billions of dollars from economies that can't afford it.

He says bribery "is not the African way", it "undermines the dignity" of the people doing business.

Mr Obama says that most US trade is with Nigeria, South Africa and Angola - and most of that trade is based on gas and oil.

He adds that he wants the US to trade with more countries like Tanzania and Mozambique.

Mr Obama says that in many places in Africa it is still too hard to do business, but the US will support business reform.

He says that he is not just talking about trade with the US, but trade within Africa itself.

Mr Obama says that large numbers of young people with no prospects can fuel instability - the biggest challenge is to create opportunities for the next generation.

Mr Obama says that Africa's rise is "important for the entire world".

He adds that the world will not be able to meet its challenges without the voices of one billion Africans.

Mr Obama says that he has worked to transform the US relationship with Africa so that we are working as "equal partners".

He says he is working to boost trade and investment in the continent.

Mr Obama says the world must recognise the continent's "extraordinary progress". He adds that "Africa is on the move" and in partnership with the world, it is changing.

He cites falling HIV figures and growing numbers of people in education to show that more people are living with dignity.

Mr Obama says that he has learnt in Africa that "we must uphold the inherent dignity of every human being".

He says that every person deserves to be treated with decency and respect - but this has not always been recognised.

President Obama says he is honoured to address the AU.

"I stand before you as a proud American and I also stand before you as a son of an African. Africa and its people helped to shape America and allowed it to become the nation that it is".

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He also said that Africa has shaped him.

President Barack Obama is now addressing the African Union, the first US president to do so.

AU Chair Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says that in electing Mr Obama Americans showed that they believed in the "oneness of humanity... to them you were a worthy American to lead them".

AU Chair Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says to applause: "always we look at all Africans outside Africa as part of Africa" - and she extends that to all humanity, noting that all people originally descended from Africa.

She then turns to praising the thaw in US-Cuba relations.

President Obama is in the chamber at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. He will speak directly after AU Commission President Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who is currently at the podium.

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AU Chair Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says the continent must invest in its girls and women in all fields from agriculture to science and beyond.

"We are also taking steps to address violence (against women) and other harmful cultural practices."

AU Chair Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says that Africa should get more recognition at the United Nations:

"We should remind the world and the UN, and members like the US, that there is a historic injustice that needs to be corrected at the UN. Africa is the only continent that is not represented as a permanent member of the Security Council."

AU Chair Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says that Africans remain Africa's most precious resource and it is for this reason that the AU is embarking on a "skills revolution", and Africa would appreciate US assistance in training future engineers and scientists.

AU chair Nkosozana Zuma says to loud applause that while Mr Obama is American we "claim you as one of our own".

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AU Commission Chair Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma says it is a great honour to welcome President Obama to the AU headquarters.

She says that Africa and the US have strong and historic bonds, referring to the people forcibly transported from the continent and enslaved.

And referring to the wide contribution of African Americans to US life today she says: "Today there is no America without Africa."

President Obama has walked into the Mandela Hall at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa to loud applause.

The spokesperson for the AU chief has tweeted a warning from President Obama:

President Obama is about to address the African Union in the next few minutes - and he will become the first US president to do so.

Here's a reminder of what he has said before.

Almost exactly a year ago he addressed dozens of heads of state at the US-Africa Leaders summit in Washington:

"As President, I've made it clear that the United States is determined to be a partner in Africa's success."

"We don't look to Africa simply for its natural resources; we recognize Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people and its talents and their potential."

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The White House is running a live stream of the first ever address by a US president to the African Union. Mr Obama is due to speak shortly. 

This was a mass trial with 38 former Gaddafi-era officials - but only 29 were in court today.

Said al-Islam Gaddafi was handed a death sentence in absentia.

Eight others were sentenced to death including the former chief of military intelligence Abdullah al-Senussi, who was the most feared man in Libya during Col Gaddafi's rule.

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Said al-Islam is being held by former rebels in Zintan but it is unlikely they will hand him back to Tripoli as they don't recognise the current authority there.

Former South Africa captain and all-rounder Clive Rice has died at the age of 66. Read the BBC Sport story here.

Rice, who had been suffering with a brain tumour, passed away in a Cape Town hospital on Tuesday.

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Rice was considered one of the world's best all-rounders in the 1970s and 1980s, but he only played three international games because of the boycott on South Africa sports teams during apartheid.

Prosecutors said that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was part of his father's plans to "quell, by all means, the civilian demonstrations against Gaddaffi regime".

His trial, and those of the other officials, has been dogged by criticism from human rights organisations, with lawyers having little access to the prosecution's evidence, reports the BBC's Rana Jawad.

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The charges included murder, kidnap and embezzlement, during the uprising that eventually toppled Col Gaddafi in 2011.

The AU chief has welcomed President Obama according to the AU's official Twitter account:

Mr Obama is due to address the AU in just under an hour.

The health of Congolese footballer Rudy Guelord Bhebey-Ndey is improving after he suffered a dangerous injury at a match in Cairo, an Egyptian doctor has told the BBC.

Bhebey-Ndey was playing for Congolese side AC Leopards in a Caf Confederation Cup game against Zamalek on Sunday when he "fell awkwardly on his head", reports the African football body Caf.

Dr Salah Abdelkhaleq who has been treating Bhebey-Ndey said that his blood pressure has stabilized, and he is now conscious and recognises people around him.

More than 30 officials from the Gaddafi era were sentenced today in a court in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Nine death sentences were handed down for crimes committed during the 2011 uprising - including for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

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Others were given sentences of between five years and life.

They will be given the right to appeal, according to the BBC's John Simpson who is in Tripoli.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Libya over war crimes connected to the 2011 uprising. He is currently being held by a militia in the mountainous town of Zintan in Western Libya.

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Here's a reminder of what more we know about the "stylish" son of former Libyan leader , who was educated at a prestigious university in the UK. Read the BBC profile on him here.

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Along with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, eight other former Libyan officials have been sentenced to death by a court in Libya's capital, Tripoli.

Among them are the former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi and the former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.

The sentences are in connection with crimes committed during the Libyan uprising in 2011.

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Kenya is considering cancelling a big advertising deal promoting tourism in the country with the TV news network CNN, reports Kenya's Star newspaper.

This comes after the angry reaction among Kenyans on Twitter last week to CNN referring to their country as a "terror hotbed".

An unnamed officer at the Kenya Tourist Board is quoted as saying that the advertising deal is currently suspended, but no final decision has been made.

Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has signed for Major League Soccer side Montreal Impact.

The 37-year-old left Stamford Bridge after playing 381 games and winning four Premier League titles across two spells with the London club.

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Drogba is the Ivory Coast's all-time top scorer, with 65 goals in 105 international appearances.

Montreal president Joey Saputo said the signing made it "one of the biggest days in club history".

President Obama's address to the media in Addis Ababa on Monday was "a letdown for the public", not putting any pressure on the Ethiopian government to curb its human rights violations, Ethiopian civil society activist Blen Sahilu has told the BBC.

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He missed "an opportunity to highlight something the Ethiopian people don't have the opportunity in to say", Ms Sahilu said.

The activist and law lecturer also said that the call from Ethiopia's Prime Minister for more "ethical journalism" in the country was "patronising and unacceptable".

It was just another way of saying "stop criticising us", she said. The Committee to Protect Journalists says Ethiopia currently has in jail the second highest number of journalists in Africa.

The queues started early for those who wanted to get into the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa to hear President Obama later today.

A BBC reporter snapped this view:

And President Obama will be making the speech in the Nelson Mandela hall, which was built with Chinese funding:

The African Union has been tweeting a series of pictures as it gets ready for President Obama's speech - the first by a US president to the AU:

President Barack Obama will become the first US president to address the African Union here in Addis Ababa today at 10:35 GMT.

The president is keen to push the discussion to trade rather than aid - trade between the US and Africa is currently very low and is mostly made up of oil and gas.

The other big issue that we expect to dominate the conversation is security, with the US backing many countries in their fight against violent extremism.

Strengthening and deepening democracy is also likely to come up.

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Today's African proverb: "Whatever the type of firewood found in a place, it is usually good enough for the people of that place to cook with." An Igbo proverb sent by Chukwuemeka Ekere, Calabar, Nigeria.

Follow this link and scroll to the bottom to contribute your proverb.

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page for Tuesday when US President Barack Obama wraps up his visit to the continent with a speech at the African Union in Addis Ababa.

We'll be following it closely, along with other African stories.