Africa highlights: SA man torched in eviction protest, Nigeria job crisis 'worsens'

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At least two people have been killed in protests in a South African town after people resisted attempts by a private eviction squad to force them off land they were accused of illegally occupying, local media reports. 

One man was torched while another was hit with a blunt object in the violence near Hammanskraal town in the economic heartland of Gauteng province, police Warrant Officer Lolo Mangena was quoted as saying by TimesLive newspaper.

An anti-crime group in South Africa says the privately-owned Red Ants eviction squad was involved in attempts to clear shacks which had been built in the area:  

Read more: South Africa's Red Ants

Tomorrow marks 25 years since Eritrea gained independence.

The Eritreans - who fought a 30-year war for independence against the far larger and better-equipped Ethiopian army - are in celebratory mood, despite the country being criticised by human rights groups for its lack of  democracy, free press and forced conscription. 

The BBC's Mary Harper has gained rare access to Eritrea, and visited an exhibition about the war: 

The unemployment crisis in Africa's most populous state, Nigeria, has worsened with fewer people holding a full-time job in the first quarter of this year than in the same period last year, as data released today by the country's National Bureau of Statistics shows: 

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It has been just over a month since Rwandan-owned shops were targeted in two days of xenophobic violence in Zambia's capital Lusaka. 

BBC Focus on Africa presenter Akwasi Sarpong has travelled to Lusaka to see how the shop owners are doing now. 

One supermarket owner, Peter Jones, showed our presenter into his shop which still lies empty. He says that the city is peaceful now but he needs financial support.

Another Rwandan who called himself Fred insisted that the looting was not typical of Zambians and recalled that some Zambians were standing in front of shops to protect them while others hid property to stop it being looted.

Listen to Focus on Africa which was broadcast from Lusaka:

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The South African press has been getting more information about the news at the weekend that a South African died while climbing Mount Everest.

The South African reports that Maria Strydom aimed to be the first vegan to reach the summit of Everest, with her husband Robert Gropel.

The 34-year-old lecturer was extremely close to the mountain’s summit when she was overcome with altitude sickness, it adds.  

The Times Live added that Ms Strydom lived in Melbourne, Australia, where she worked at the university as a finance lecturer.   

Mr Gropel and Indian climber Subhash Paul also died.

The BBC News website reports between 1-3% climbers develop the most severe form of altitude sickness.

Kenyan police have denied that a protester was shot dead in the western city of Kisumu, a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga, Reuters news agency reports. 

Regional police commander Willy Lugusa told Reuters that police did not use live ammunition to disperse protesters:

Quote Message: The injury he has was in the mouth which is very much consistent with somebody who was running and then fell down."

The injury he has was in the mouth which is very much consistent with somebody who was running and then fell down."

Officials at Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu, where the man was rushed by ambulance, said the man had no gunshot wounds.  

Sam Oula, a doctor at the hospital, told Reuters: 

Quote Message: He fell down as he was running away from rioters."

He fell down as he was running away from rioters."

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This policeman wore a mask today in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, apparently to avoid being caught on camera breaking up the opposition protest against the electoral commission. 

During last week's protest, police were strongly criticised after photos and videos showed them beating up protesters. 

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Campaigners have challenged the Kenyan president's directive to collect data on primary school children with HIV/Aids in court earlier today.

In February last year President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered government officials to collect up-to-date data of school children living with HIV/AIDS, including their names, addresses and information on their guardians.

The organisation, Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS. told the High Court that the directive infringed the privacy of Kenyan children and risked exposing them to stigmatization and discrimination.

Government representatives in court said that the directive was issued in good faith with the aim of improving the health of children. 

A High Court ruling is expected on 22 July.

Security and medical sources have now confirmed that three people were killed in clashes between police and opposition supporters in Kenya. 

Two men were killed in western Siaya town while another man was killed in the lake city of Kisumu. 

Kenya's assistant inspector-general of police, George Kinoti, told the BBC that he could not comment on the casualties, but promised that a statement would be issued later. 

The opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy also says that one of its senators, who was leading a protest in the western town of Kakamega, has been arrested.  

Police also fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital, Nairobi, as this photo shows: 

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 Our reporter in Nairobi has tweeted that we can expect more protests in Kenya next week.

Cord, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy, claim that the electoral commission is biased and are demanding the board is sacked.

The announcement comes amid reports of clashes between police and protesters in Kenya this morning.

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The authorities in Japan are hunting for criminals who stole millions from cash machines across the country, in a robbery that took a few hours, using fake credit cards from South Africa's Standard Bank. 

It's reported up to 100 people raided ATMs at more than 1,000 Japanese convenience stores, which cost the African financial group $19m (£13m). 

Read more on the BBC News website.

Kenya's Daily Nation is reporting that more people have been shot in protests across the country against the electoral commission: 

All these reports of shootings, including the earlier incidents in Kisumu, are coming from areas on the edge of Lake Victoria in western Kenya.

The AFP news agency is reporting on how Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram tried to turn Khadija Ibrahim, 30, into a bomber. 

It quotes her as saying she was abducted by two men from a bus station in the northeastern city of Maiduguri on Friday, as she was on her way to hospital: 

Quote Message: They offered me a lift, which I readily accepted because I wanted to be at the hospital on time. They drugged me by placing something on my nose and I lost consciousness.

They offered me a lift, which I readily accepted because I wanted to be at the hospital on time. They drugged me by placing something on my nose and I lost consciousness.

Quote Message: I just woke up to realise I had been stripped and strapped with a suicide vest and heard one of my captors whispering to me that I was going to do God's work.

I just woke up to realise I had been stripped and strapped with a suicide vest and heard one of my captors whispering to me that I was going to do God's work.

AFP quotes Ms Ibrahim as adding that she came around from the effects of the drugs and feigned unconsciousness until she got a chance to escape when their vehicle broke down:

Quote Message: While the driver went to look for water the other man went out to the opened bonnet to examine the engine, which gave me an opportunity to run out of the vehicle."

While the driver went to look for water the other man went out to the opened bonnet to examine the engine, which gave me an opportunity to run out of the vehicle."

Read: The town that lost its girls

Kenyan police have used tear gas to push back  leaders and supporters of the opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy protesting in the capital, Nairobi.

Protesters have been demanding that the electoral commission be disbanded, alleging that it is biased.

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Torrential rains over the weekend left most parts of Ghana's capital Accra flooded.

Today things are back to normal and no deaths have been confirmed but the floods have exposed problems with drainage once again.

Floods have become a yearly occurrence in Accra.  

More than 100 people died last year in one of the worst floods to hit the country.   

The drains are prone to flooding because people dump rubbish in them.

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Governments over the years have paid lip service to the need to construct a more effective drainage system.

This is just the beginning of the raining season and more rains are expected.

Local media has also reported flooding in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city.   

Unconfirmed reports from Siaya town in western Kenya say two people have been killed in clashes between riot police and opposition protesters. 

Earlier, a man was reportedly killed in Kismuyu city, near Siaya. 

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A leading Muslim cleric in Egypt has held talks with the Pope at the Vatican, in the latest sign of attempts to improve relations between the world's two most populous faiths. 

"The meeting is the message,'' Pope Francis said, as he met Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, the head of the prestigious Al-Azhar University and mosque. 

The meeting came five years after Al-Azhar froze talks with the Vatican following sharp differences with then-Pope Benedict XVI. 

In 2006, he outraged Muslims when he quoted a Byzantine emperor as saying some of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings were "evil and inhuman" - an allegation Muslims strongly denied. 

People have been reacting on Twitter to the decision by prosecutors in South Africa not to press ahead with corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma:

Many said they saw it coming:

And a unique take on the whole saga:

A woman has escaped after militant Islamist group Boko Haram tried force her to a bomb a market in northern Nigeria's main city, Kano, police are quoted as saying by This Day newspaper. 

According to police, Khadeja Ibrahim, a mother of three, said she was offered a lift to hospital when she was waiting at a bus stop in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.

Police quote her saying that she became unconscious and when she woke up she had a suicide belt strapped to her but she escaped when the car developed a mechanical fault.