Africa highlights: Nigeria court blocks petrol strike, Ethiopia athletics giant dies

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has spoken out about newspaper reports predicting his imminent arrest. 

He described them as "extremely distressing" saying in a statement: 

"I cannot believe that I am being investigated and could possibly be charged for something I am completely innocent of."

The rand fell sharply on Monday after a newspaper report that Mr Gordhan might be arrested by the Hawks, an investigative police unit seen as close to President Jacob Zuma.

Mr Gordhan has previously accused the Hawks of trying to undermine the Treasury. 

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Ethiopian Woldemeskel Kostre, who coached some of the greatest names in distance athletics, has died at the age of 69.

He oversaw the success of Olympic champions Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba and Derartu Tulu.

The international athletics federation - the IAAF - says Mr Woldemeskel "was considered by many to be the architect of Ethiopia’s phenomenal success at longer distances from the mid-1980s onwards".

Haile Gebrselassie paid tribute to his former coach:

Quote Message: He was a very strict man but he showed me how to behave. He gave discipline a top priority. It very sad he has now left us."

He was a very strict man but he showed me how to behave. He gave discipline a top priority. It very sad he has now left us."

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The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday over the yellow fever outbreak that has killed more than 290 people in Angola and threatens other countries, the AFP news agency reports.

It quotes a WHO spokesman saying that it plans to reiterate the need for a mass vaccination campaign.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has also been affected, and has 44 suspected cases.

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The Kenyan authorities have continued today with their demolition of buildings in the capital, Nairobi, which are considered unsafe to live in.

The BBC's Peter Njoroge captured what was going on in the city's Mathare slum area:

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Around 100 buildings have been earmarked for demolition in Mathare.

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The demolitions attracted a crowd of onlookers:

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The work comes in the wake of last month's building collapse in Nairobi in which 51 people died.

Ghana international Andre Ayew has welcomed Fifa's appointment of an African woman as its first female secretary general.

It is hoped that Fatma Samoura's two decades of experience as a UN diplomat will help her restore the image of world football.

Andre Ayew told Focus on Africa radio that it's a huge appointment for the continent.

A protester who was filmed being severely beaten by police in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday is alive, despite earlier reports of his death, according to local media.

The Capital FM radio station, which had run the story of his death, has identified the man seen in the footage as 36-year-old Boniface Manono, from Kibera in Nairobi.

Mauritian Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth has threatened to take the UK to the International Court of Justice over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands.

He told parliament in Port Louis that the UK must tell Mauritius by the end of June when it will return the archipelago, otherwise it will go to court.

The islands were part of Mauritius until 1965, which was at the time a British territory.

Britain then made it a separate territory, expelled the islanders and allowed the US to set up a naval base on one of the islands - Diego Garcia. 

Sir Anerood told parliament:

Quote Message: [The British] pretend to be freedom lovers but their philosophy is might is right.”

[The British] pretend to be freedom lovers but their philosophy is might is right.”

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The supreme court in Mauritania has ordered the immediate release of two prominent anti-slavery campaigners, who had been convicted of public order offences. 

The court ruled that they should not have been sentenced to more than 12 months in prison in January, 2015. 

The men have already spent over a year in jail. 

The most well known of the two, Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, also came second in the 2014 presidential election. 

Slavery has officially been abolished in Mauritania, but the practice continues. 

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Entrepreneur Guy Oulla has come up with his own solution to the lack of power on Ile Boulay, one of the islands which sits in the lagoon of Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan.

His solar-panelled charging station, or Solrebox as he calls, offers islanders wifi for $0.90 per day and phone charging for $0.20.   

He tells me he wants to install 15,000 of the stations across the country, in remote areas which have a strong mobile phone signal but no access to the grid.

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Nigeria's senate has withdrawn what was dubbed the "anti-social media" bill, which detractors thought would restrict the freedom of expression.

Last December there was an angry reaction to the bill, which sought to punish anyone who "propagates false information" on electronic media.

It proposed a maximum seven-year sentence or $25,000 (£17,000) fine for anyone found to be sending "abusive messages".

The senate has been tweeting some highlights from today's discussions:

The US says it "deplores the excessive use of force by the Kenyan security services" when dealing with demonstrators on Monday.

An emailed statement goes on:

Quote Message: We urge the security services to exercise restraint during demonstrations and to protect the rights of free speech, assembly, and political participation guaranteed by the Kenyan constitution."

We urge the security services to exercise restraint during demonstrations and to protect the rights of free speech, assembly, and political participation guaranteed by the Kenyan constitution."

The US also welcomes an investigation announced by Kenya's police chief into the police reaction.

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Hundreds of mourners have turned out for a funeral in Potiskum, north-east Nigeria, of a mother, father and two daughters who were murdered on Monday.

Ibraheem Al TafseerCopyright: Ibraheem Al Tafseer

The police have arrested their 22-year-old son for the crime.  

They say that he was angry after his parents had told him off for taking drugs.

As we've been reporting, Kenya's police chief Joseph Boinnet has said there will be an investigation into the police reaction to Monday's opposition demonstration (see 13.09 entry).

There are reports that one demonstrator has died, but the police have not confirmed this.

The police chief's spokesperson George Kinoti has told the BBC that some police officers were also injured as they clashed with protesters.

The police say their officers were trying to deal with people who were rioting and looting.

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Punches were thrown in the South African parliament as security guards forcibly ejected several opposition lawmakers. 

Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party had tried to stop President Jacob Zuma from speaking, the latest in their protests against him. 

Pictures from parliament show the guards surrounding the EFF MPs, dressed in red boiler suits:

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Then objects, including bottles of water and a hard hat, are thrown as the guards try to wrestle the MPs out of the chamber:

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You can watch the events on this link - you need to fast forward about 17 minutes: 

 Mr Zuma has been under increasing pressure since a court ruled in March that he had violated the constitution in failing to pay back public money used to upgrade his rural home.   

The renewed troubles in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region have made it to the front page of today's Financial Times. 

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It reports that concerns about what's happening there briefly pushed oil above $50 a barrel.

Ironically, the recent decline in oil prices has exposed the over-reliance of Nigeria's economy on oil revenue, which has already led to an increasing budget deficit.

Earlier this month, a previously little-known group the Niger Delta Avengers attacked an offshore facility owned by Chevron Nigeria, causing it to shut down.

We have not seen this level of violence from police in recent times.

Pressure has been building since since opposition supporters started staging weekly protests last month outside the headquarters of the electoral commission, which they accuse of being biased in favour of the ruling party. 

Kenya’s minister for internal security and the city’s chief of police had warned that there would be consequences if Monday’s protests went ahead. 

Opposition groups are calling for the commission to be disbanded immediately, so that new members can be agreed between parties before general elections next August. 

The protesters say the violence was unprovoked, but police argue that they were rioting, looting and throwing stones.

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We've already featured the work of one Kenyan cartoonist commenting on the police action to quell a demonstration on Monday (see 11.48 entry).

And now Gathara - another cartoonist - has used the same image to make his point:

Kenya's police chief has said that there will be an internal investigation to see if any police officer broke the law.