Africa highlights: Ugandans arrested 'over Besigye T-shirt', Oromo protesters 'leak Ethiopia exams'

BBC Newsday's Julian Keane is in Niger at the moment and he says wherever you go in the country, you can hear the Sahel groove of Tal National, one of the country's most famous bands. 

Band leader Issoufou Hamadal Moumine Almeida is also known as the "singing judge". 

When he's not busy with the band he can be found passing judgement in the local court.  

Julian met up with him:

The US Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a statement welcoming the conviction for crimes against humanity of Chad's former leader Hissene Habre.

He calls it a landmark ruling.

This is what you might expect from the US, but the interesting thing is that the country was a major backer of Habre.

In the 1980s it saw him as a way to block a threat from Muammar Gaddafi in neighbouring Libya.

Noting this, Mr Kerry  goes on to say:

Quote Message: As a country committed to the respect for human rights and the pursuit of justice, this is also an opportunity for the United States to reflect on, and learn from, our own connection with past events in Chad."

As a country committed to the respect for human rights and the pursuit of justice, this is also an opportunity for the United States to reflect on, and learn from, our own connection with past events in Chad."

AFPCopyright: AFP

The BBC's Julian Keane is given rare access to Base 101 in Niger, where drones are flying almost every day to combat groups like the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.  

The country plays a key role in the fight against extremist various groups operating in the area.

Niger needs French and US help in tackling extremism.

Social media has been awash with reports that it snowed near the city of Gweru in central Zimbabwe, over the past few days:

But people were sceptical.

South Africa's News 24 said  "almost nobody believes that the current round of extreme weather photos on Facebook and Twitter are real".  

This tweet suggested it could be true:

So we got our weather team to look into it.

The BBC's Aisling Creevey says that while what we see could be real, it's probably more likely to be hail.

Hail, it turns out, is very different to snow.

We do get hail in hot climates from large thunder clouds. 

She adds that satellite pictures show that there were large shower clouds in the area.

Construction of the largest dam in the world could soon start in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Guardian reports.

The Inga 3 is set to span one part of the Congo river and could be producing electricity within five years.

The report does not give a date for the beginning of construction but says that plans are being "fast-tracked" by the government.

One problem is that the building of the dam will mean the relocation of 35,000 people and could have a big environmental impact, which has led some groups to oppose it.

The dam is set to be built in several phases, but once its complete its projected to provide 40% of the continent's electricity.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Somalia's Radio Dalsan reports that a 60-year-old has "become a social media icon" after he was pictured taking the secondary school exams which started yesterday.

Radio DalsanCopyright: Radio Dalsan

The site says that photos of Ahmadey Saney other students in the exam room in Balcad exam centre went viral as people sent congratulatory messages. 

It's the second year of nationalised secondary school exams, it adds.

South Africa's Communications Minister Faith Muthambi has welcomed the decision by the national broadcaster, the SABC, to not show pictures of people destroying public property during protests, News24 reports.

It said it wanted to discourage copycat violence.

Some criticised the decision saying it amounted to an act of self-censorship but Ms Muthambi said that the SABC was right to put nation building first.

A number of schools and libraries have been attacked in recent protests about local services.

The minister said that the ban "will go a long way to discourage attention-seeking anarchists".

ENCACopyright: ENCA

The relatives of a Congolese man who was murdered in India have travelled to the capital, Delhi, where they've met government officials.

Masonda Ketada Olivier was beaten to death earlier this month by three Indian men after an argument over a rickshaw ride. 

Some African student groups and diplomats have staged protests, saying Mr Olivier's death, and a string of subsequent attacks on African nationals, have been motivated by racism. 

Police are also investigating a case where an Indian taxi driver says he was beaten by a group of African men and women on Monday, after refusing to take all six of them.

EPACopyright: EPA

Shots were fired in the early hours of Monday morning in the vicinity of the French Embassy in the Mauritian capital, Port Louis, and a business hotel, where many Europeans stay.

There were no casualties and the embassy was empty at the time.

Two security guards are being questioned by the police.

Graffiti relating to the so-called Islamic State group was found on the wall of the embassy saying: "You will no longer live in peace here.”

Police commissioner Mario Nobin said "no country is immune but we appeal to the solidarity of all".

“I appeal to the public to inform the police if they find anything suspicious,” he added.

Security has been beefed-up especially near the city's embassies and high commissions.

CAECopyright: CAE

Today's verdict will be seen as a major step forward by those who have campaigned for African leaders to be tried on the continent.

They are calling for an African court of justice to be set up, which would supercede the International Criminal Court, based in the Netherlands.

But It is a far away goal. 

It took 25 years to bring Habre to justice, and some people are still critical of this court, seeing the funding it received from the European Union and the US as evidence of Western influence.

However the victims, relieved to see justice served after so many years, do not seem to care about who had funded it.

Tanzania's education minister has told parliament that the reason thousands of students were ordered to leave Dodoma University yesterday was because of a lecturers' strike which has been going on at the college for the last month.

Education Minister Joyce Ndalichako told parliament that 7,802 students were ordered to go back home.

Opposition MP Joshua Nassari told the BBC that the problem was caused by the government failing to pay lecturers.

The BBC's Maud Jullien is in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, and she's been speaking to victims of the country's former president Hissene Habre who were following his trial.

Habre was president from 1982 to 1990, and fled to Senegal when he was overthrown.

His trial for crimes against humanity took place in Senegal's capital, Dakar, and he was found guilty this morning.

One victim told our reporter:

Quote Message: I am very satisfied with the verdict. Hissene Habre being sentenced for life is just fine with me. I didn’t expect to feel such joy, but today I am very very happy."

I am very satisfied with the verdict. Hissene Habre being sentenced for life is just fine with me. I didn’t expect to feel such joy, but today I am very very happy."

Another said that the verdict had resonance beyond Chad:

Quote Message: This is a historic day for Chad and for Africa. It is the first time that an African head of state has been found guilty in another African country. This will be a lesson to other dictators in Africa who are still there and impose dictatorship."

This is a historic day for Chad and for Africa. It is the first time that an African head of state has been found guilty in another African country. This will be a lesson to other dictators in Africa who are still there and impose dictatorship."

AFPCopyright: AFP

Malawi's President Peter Mutharika has asked the church to step in and help stop the killing of people with albinism. 

Malawi police say that 18 albinos have been murdered and dozens of others have been attacked or abducted since early 2015.  

In his first interview as president on the subject, Mr Mutharika told the BBC that he feels ashamed about the way that they were being targeted. 

He said he's sending officials to other countries in the region that have faced similar problems to learn how they have dealt with the issue.  

Albinos are thought to be targeted because of beliefs that their body parts can increase wealth, make businesses prosper or facilitate employment.  

AFPCopyright: AFP

The victims of Chad's former President Hissene Habre have been welcoming his guilty verdict and life sentence, but his wife has dismissed it.

Fatim Raymonde Habre told the BBC:

Quote Message: [This was an] unfair trial. A trial that is not worthy of the rule of law. There were no defence witnesses and no investigation. And today it was so miserable when I heard the judge speaking. I did not see a solid legal argument worthy of justice."

[This was an] unfair trial. A trial that is not worthy of the rule of law. There were no defence witnesses and no investigation. And today it was so miserable when I heard the judge speaking. I did not see a solid legal argument worthy of justice."

APCopyright: AP

Habre refused to recognise the legitimacy of the court.

Ethiopia's university entrance exams, due to start today, have been cancelled because one of the papers has been leaked online, reports the government-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate.

Pictures of the English exam have been widely shared on social media.

Minister of Education Shiferaw Shigute is quoted as saying: “After a cross check, we decided to terminate the whole exam since we had no evidence that the other exams were safe."

People supporting the protests for greater rights for Ethiopia's Oromo people are saying that they are responsible for the leak.

Photographs of some of the exam papers have been posted on one activist's Facebook page:

Jawar MohammedCopyright: Jawar Mohammed

The activists said they wanted Oromo students to have more time to study for the entrance exams after their high schools had been closed for several months during a wave of protests at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

Ethiopia's education ministry has said that a plan for new exams will be announced soon.

Reed Brody, from Human Rights Watch, who has worked on the Hissene Habre case since 1999 has honoured the tenacity of the victims.

"In a case which looked dead so many times, the victims made it clear that they would never go away."        

"It’s been a long journey for me too, which began in 1999, while still working on the Pinochet case which set a precedent that Chadian survivors were inspired to emulate" he added.

Over 15 years ago he stumbled on the files of Hissene Habre's secret police in an abandoned building in the capital of Chad, Ndjamena, he told the BBC.

"In these documents alone, there are the names of 1,208 people who died in detention, of almost 13,000 people who were victims of torture, extra-judicial execution, and arbitrary arrest" he said.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has been drawing inspiration from South Korea after the visit of its President Park Geun-hye.

We reported in our 09:00 post that Uganda has promised to halt military cooperation with old ally North Korea.

The main reason given is the increased sanctions against the North. 

In the past the two countries have traded arms, including anti-riot equipment, and North Korea trains Ugandan security personnel. 

Uganda’s closer relationship with the South seems to be more commercial. 

A South Korean company is bidding against a Russian one to build Uganda’s first petroleum refinery.

And the two governments signed several bilateral agreements on areas like defence, health and diplomacy during the South Korean President Park Geun-Hye's visit this weekend.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

BBCCopyright: BBC

A trust fund for victims of convicted war criminal Hissene Habre should be set up "without delay", says Amnesty International.

In a statement the human rights organisation says the Extraordinary African Chambers is due to hold reparations hearings and is mandated to establish a trust fund for all victims, whether or not they participated in the proceedings.  

Habre was accused of ordering the killing of 40,000 people, which gives some indication of the possible scale of these reparations.