Africa highlights: Buhari 'in perfect health', Somalis 'suffocate in fish truck'

Tanzania's government says all counterfeit mobile phones in the country will be switched off at midnight.

Counterfeit handsets lack authentic International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers that are crucial to identifying and tracking mobile phones.

Such phones make it easy for some to escape detection and Tanzania faces threats from local and foreign Islamist militants, notably Somalia's al-Shabab.  

Tanzania joins other African countries, including Cameroon, South Africa and Nigeria in trying to eliminate fake phones.

The BBC's Sammy Awami reports that an estimated that 3% of Tanzanian phones are fake - and explains how Tanzanians can find out if they have a counterfeit one:

The US ambassador in Nigeria sent a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives accusing some lawmakers of attempted rape and soliciting sex workers while on a visit to the US at the invitation of the US government. 

But the lawmakers have denied the allegations and have threatened to sue the US government for character assassination.

Ten lawmakers were invited to the International Visitor Leadership Program held between 7-13 April  in Cleveland, Ohio, and three of them were accused of gross misconduct. 

In the letter, Ambassador James Entwistle said the Department of State had reports from employees of the Cleveland hotel that lawmaker Muhammed Gololo had allegedly grabbed a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for sex. 

Two other lawmakers allegedly requested hotel parking attendants to assist them to solicit prostitutes, the letter said.   

In a response to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Gololo dimissed the allegation as "totally false, baseless and unfounded". 

"I categorically deny that any such incident happened," he added. 

Mr Goloo said he was demanding an apology from the US government over the allegations or would take legal action to clear his name:

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When the BBC contacted the US embassy in Nigeria for comment, its spokesman Sean McIntosh said: "We do not comment on private diplomatic correspondence."   

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BBC Panorama has learnt that Lord Coe won the presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) with the help of the Senegalese man at the centre of the sport's doping scandal.

Text messages seen by the BBC suggest ex-IAAF consultant Papa Massata Diack, now wanted by Interpol, secured votes for Lord Coe's August election victory.

The programme also suggests Coe may have misled UK parliament.

The double British Olympic 1500m champion, 59, denies any wrongdoing.

The text messages suggest Diack, son of the disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack, helped secure African delegate votes for Coe.

Read the BBC Sport story for more.

The hashtag #AdiosCJMutunga has been trending in Kenya today as Willy Mutunga retired as chief justice - on his 69th birthday:

He's actually retiring early as by law judges now need to hang up their robes at the age of 70.

However, he decided to go now as elections are due to be held in August 2017 which would not allow enough time to appoint a new chief justice.

He has spent much of his birthday handing over flags:

It looks like Kenyan athletes can breathe a sigh of relief – and will avoid a ban on attending the Olympic Games in Rio.

The country’s sports minister has tweeted that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has approved amendments that MPs made to anti-doping legislation last month:

Hassan Wario added that the legislation now just needed to get the presidential assent and then Kenya would be in full compliance.

Wada had demanded changes last year after a spate of drugs scandals involving Kenyan athletes.

In April, Kenya did create a national testing authority and make doping an offence punishable by imprisonment, but Wada cited "inconsistencies" in the legislation and declared Kenya "non-compliant" on 12 May - so parliament had to rush through further changes.

A Ugandan army spokesman has named the soldier who killed seven people at a military police barracks near the capital, Kampala, as Sergeant Obua Isaac. 

The spokesman added:  

AFPCopyright: AFP

Thousands of people owed financial compensation over the dumping of toxic waste by oil-trading group Trafigura in Ivory Coast have won their court claim against their lawyers in the UK, AFP news agency reports. 

Trafigura agreed in 2009 to pay around $42.4m (£30m) to 30,000 people affected by the dumping of caustic soda and petroleum residues in the main city, Abidjan, in 2006. 

However, 6,000 of the claimants were not paid after £6m of the money was fraudulently withdrawn from a bank account in Ivory Coast. 

High Court judge Andrew Smith ruled that London-based legal firm Leigh Day, which represented the claimants, had been negligent in using an Ivorian bank account, leaving it open to embezzlement, AFP reports. 

Lawyer Kalilou Fadiga, who acted against Leigh Day on  behalf of the claimants, was quoted by AFP as saying that the £6m was withdrawn by an organisation claiming to be the victims' representative, but which was in fact a "mechanism to embezzle". 

He added: 

Quote Message: "It's a lesson for them [Leigh Day]. Not only should they be going round the world to try to help victims, but they shouldn't take their eyes of the ball about the ultimate goal which is to get compensation to the right people."

"It's a lesson for them [Leigh Day]. Not only should they be going round the world to try to help victims, but they shouldn't take their eyes of the ball about the ultimate goal which is to get compensation to the right people."

Leigh Day hasn't commented on the report.

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Our Facebook readers have reacted negatively to the announcement that Nigeria's President Muhammdu Buhari, 73, will return home on Sunday after resting and receiving treatment for an ear infection in the UK.  

Himw Sam says: 

Quote Message: You can stay there forever, baba. After all the country is sinking in your hands."

You can stay there forever, baba. After all the country is sinking in your hands."

Roland Goure adds: 

Quote Message: African leaders - why can't you improve the medical system in your countries? You always go abroad for good treatment."

African leaders - why can't you improve the medical system in your countries? You always go abroad for good treatment."

Menkey Casey says: 

Quote Message: Corrupt Nigerian officials don't steal small money. They steal in the billions. They could have used the money to build modern hospitals to treat their own people."

Corrupt Nigerian officials don't steal small money. They steal in the billions. They could have used the money to build modern hospitals to treat their own people."

It is no secret that Kenya is one of the hottest spots to grab a great coffee in Africa.

With the recent boom in roasteries and coffee shops there, more and more professional baristas are making an impression.

Standing out above the rest is 26-year-old Martin Shabaya, who recently won the Africa Barista Championships, and is now headed to Ireland to represent Kenya at the World Championships.

Despite all his successes, it turns out drinking coffee is not even his cup of tea:

Nigeria's government has warned parents that the Islamic State group has launched a new mobile phone application to promote jihad among children, under the guise of educating them.

In a statement, Information Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed urged parents to make sure their children stayed away from the application Huroof (or Alphabets in Arabic), which teaches children the  Arabic alphabets with the aid of guns, military tanks and cannons.  

He added: 

Quote Message: 'The application utilises colourful illustrations that attract and engage the attention of young children."

'The application utilises colourful illustrations that attract and engage the attention of young children."

HuroofCopyright: Huroof

The decision by a Kenyan High Court to uphold the legality of anal tests on men suspected of engaging in homosexual sex (see earlier posts) is unacceptable, Amnesty International has said.

Quote Message: “Forcible anal examinations of men suspected of same-sex relationships is abhorrent, and violates the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment under international law. They should not be allowed to continue.

“Forcible anal examinations of men suspected of same-sex relationships is abhorrent, and violates the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment under international law. They should not be allowed to continue.

Quote Message: It is also absurd as the government has no business proving or disproving consensual homosexual activity. It’s a violation of the right to privacy." from Amnesty International's Muthoni Wanyeki

It is also absurd as the government has no business proving or disproving consensual homosexual activity. It’s a violation of the right to privacy."

AFPCopyright: AFP

The UK-based rights group also lists some of the treaties that Kenya has ratified and which, it says, forced anal exams violate: 

• Convention against Torture
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• African Convention on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Three children and four women were shot dead by a soldier at the military police barracks outside Uganda's capital, Kampala. 

Military police spokesman Major Edward Birungi said the soldier had also been shot dead.

He was on duty, and was said to have got drunk and intoxicated on marijuana.

He is said to have had problems with his wife, and went on a shooting spree as he searched for her. However, she managed to escape.

Of the  women who died, one was a soldier and the other three were the wives of soldiers.

Eight people have died in a shooting at a military police barracks outside Uganda's capital, Kampala.

I'll bring you more details as soon as I get them. 

Sudan is hosting 232,000 refugees who fled conflict which broke out in South Sudan in 2013, the UN has said.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011, but plunged into a civil war two years later. 

"As of the beginning of June 2016, Sudan hosts the largest number of refugees who have fled South Sudan and sought refuge in neighbouring countries," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 

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Togolese authorities have destroyed 5,000 tonnes of contaminated frozen chickens imported from an unnamed European country. 

In a statement, the government said the chickens were seized a few days ago at Togo's main harbour following a tip-off from European Union health officials.

The chickens tested positive for the salmonella bacteria.

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Many people here are now scared of buying frozen chicken. 

Last year, Togolese authorities seized 24 tons of contaminated fish imported from China by a Togolese company. 

On 16 June 1976, thousands of South African students took to the streets of Soweto to protest against the apartheid regime.

Hundreds were killed in the police response, which profoundly changed the country’s social and political landscape.

The BBC's Chris Parkinson took his camera to the same streets with a survivor, as well as students from a local Soweto school to hear what happened and how things have changed.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is to return home from London on Sunday, the AFP news agency quotes his deputy as saying. 

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo told reporters in Abuja:

Quote Message: I spoke with him yesterday evening and I think it is just the best that he takes the weekend off… [he is] in perfect health and ready to resume work on Monday morning."

I spoke with him yesterday evening and I think it is just the best that he takes the weekend off… [he is] in perfect health and ready to resume work on Monday morning."

It was announced on 6 June that the 73-year-old president was taking 10 days off “to rest” and would also see an ear, nose and throat specialist for a persistent ear infection during his time in the UK capital.   

AFPCopyright: AFP

A total of 18 Somalis have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo after travelling from neighbouring Zambia in a container truck packed with fish, Zambian police say. 

Hudson Namachila, the Luapula province police commissioner, said 11 suffocated to death in the truck while another seven later died after the authorities in DR Congo rejected help from Zambia.

The truck stopped just after it had crossed the border into DR Congo because of the knocking from the passengers in the back.

Mr Namachila told the BBC's Kennedy Gondwe in Lusaka that DR Congo had now shut the border with Zambia and had arrested the two Zambian drivers and the Somalis who had survived the journey. 

When Zambia's security forces went across the border yesterday, they found there were 44 Somalis: 11 dead, 20 "gasping for breath" and 13 who were OK, he said.

The number of dead had since risen to 18, but DR Congo's authorities were still refusing "humanitarian" aid from Zambia on the grounds that it could not operate across its border, the police commissioner said. 

DR Congo has not yet commented on the allegation. 

Mr Namachila said he did not know who the Somalis were and why they were travelling in the container truck.