Africa highlights: Nigeria police arrest 'IS recruiter', Zimbabwe's $1.5bn drought appeal

The head of Kenya's Olympics committee has denied reports that his country could pull out of the Rio Olympics because of the Zika virus.

"Everything is entirely with the Brazilians to clear those things... Kenya is going to go there. We are preparing a team to go there,"  Kipchoge Keino told Reuters news agency.

It had earlier quoted the same Mr Keino saying: "We are not going to risk taking Kenyans there if this Zika virus reaches epidemic levels." 

The virus has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains.

Brazilian authorities insist there will be no risk to athletes and spectators, except pregnant women, when the Rio Games take place in August. 

A leader of a minor Zimbabwean opposition party has been found guilty of plotting to blow up a dairy run by President Mugabe's wife, the AFP news agency reports

It says that Owne Kuchata pleaded guilty to having weapons that could be used for "insurgence, sabotage, banditry or terrorism".

He was arrested last month with three other opposition activists.

The country's Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana had dropped charges against two of the men which led to him being arrested for obstructing justice.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Nigerians have been responding on Twitter to a campaign to encourage people to buy locally-made goods in an effort to support the currency, the naira.

It has been losing value recently on the black market despite its official rate being kept at around 200 naira to the dollar.

We've been asking Nigerians to send us their pictures of what made in Nigeria goods are available.

Kingsley in Yola sent us this picture of local fashions:

KingsleyCopyright: Kingsley

And we also got this picture of candles proudly bearing the Nigerian flag.

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South Africa's top court has been hearing an opposition case that President Jacob Zuma should repay about $23m (£15m) of state funds used to renovate his rural home.

Karen Allen reports from Johannesburg.

Libyan hospitals will run out of life-saving medical supplies by the end of March if the international community does not meet its funding needs, a senior UN official has told me. 

Ali al-Zaatari, who is the UN humanitarian coordinator to Libya, says it’s only received 1% of pledged donations to assist 2.4 million people in the country who are in need of some form of aid. 

Chaos and political deadlock that followed the overthrow of long-term leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has put a strain on state institutions in the country.  

Mr Zaatri told me that part of the problem is that humanitarian efforts are explicitly linked, by donors, to the political process.

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Libyan hospitals have been facing shortages in equipment and medicines for over a year, including access to dialysis machines and chemotherapy drugs.  

Libya crisis in numbers

• 1.3 million to be affected by absence of life-saving medical supplies
• 1.08 million to be affected by shortage of vaccines
• 2.4 million in need of some form of aid or protection [includes Libyans, and migrants and refugees]

Source: WHO, OCHA, UNSMIL

Zimbabwe's government has appealed for international assistance to deal with the impact of the continued drought.

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa says the government needs $1.5bn (£1bn) to finance humanitarian aid operations until the end of this year. 

There are now about three million Zimbabweans - or around 30% of the population -  who need food aid.

"It is is clear that there is a threat to human and animal life as safe water, irrigation water and drinking water sources for animals are increasingly drying up." Mr Mnangagwa said.  

A special cabinet committee has been set up to oversee the response to the drought.

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Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou is weighing up whether to stop playing international football.

The former Chelsea player has 81 caps and 29 goals for his country but hinted he could be about to end his nine-year career with the Elephants.

He told BBC Sport: "I won the Africa Cup of Nations and played in two World Cups. But you have to think about if it is the right moment to stop.

"I turn 30 this year and I will start having to think about resting my body."

Nigeria's secret police have been giving more details about the alleged recruiter for Islamic State (IS) they arrested in the north of the country. 

A statement from the police said Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa is part of a terrorist cell funded by a Sudanese man on behalf of IS in West Africa. 

A number of people suspected of having links to the militant group have also been arrested, the statement added.

In a related development, the secret police or DSS, say they have arrested five people accused of planning to carry out "terror attacks" in several northern states.

It is not clear whether those arrested have links with militant Islamist group Boko Haram who have been carrying out deadly attacks in the region.

Three South African mine workers who were trapped when part of the mine collapsed are still stuck under tonnes of rubble.

There were in a container which fell into a sink hole when one of the mine's supporting columns broke on Friday.

Contact had been made on Monday, but rescuers are still trying to move the tonnes of debris.

A South African journalist has been tweeting comments made by one of the mine managers Mike Begg:

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Nigeria's secret police have arrested a university student accused of recruiting young people to join the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq.

Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa was arrested on 17 January in the northern city of Kano after he tried to join an IS training camp in Libya with other people he recruited, the police said in a statement.

Mr Yunusa, who is studying Information and Media Technology in central Niger State, was radicalised and joined a member of an extremist cell who was being trained in Libya. 

Last year, Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS and changed its name to Islamic State in West Africa.

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Guinean newspapers have not been published today and there have been no TV and radio news bulletins in protest over the killing of a journalist at an opposition rally last week.

It's the first time that the state broadcaster has joined in such a blackout.

Thirty-year-old El Hadj Mohamed Diallo was killed last Friday when he was hit by a bullet during a confrontation between rival opposition supporters. 

The government has condemned the killing and officials have promised to find the culprit.

The BBC's Abdinoor Aden has been speaking to people in the Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh, where a disgruntled gambler killed two casino employees before being killed himself.

He says that the man had been drinking heavily and got cross when the casino was unwilling to give him credit so that he could continue playing on the gambling machines.

He got a knife and attacked the employees, a mob then killed him.

A local businessman Ahmed Mohammed told our reporter that he had predicted that this kind of incident could happen, and said that people in the area had been complaining about the growth in the number of gambling places.

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Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila has given each player from the country's football team, which won the African Championship trophy, a Toyota Jeep worth $60,000 (£40,000).

The players were also given gold medals by the president.

The Leopards beat Mali 3-0 in the final in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, last week to become the first country to win the trophy twice.

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The hearing at South Africa's Constitutional Court over the upgrades to President Jacob Zuma's private home is now over. 

His lawyer conceded he should have abided by the Public Protector's report which said he should repay some of the money, but says he has not breached the constitution.

The judges now have to consider their verdict.

A South African Constitutional expert has been tweeting through the day:

He warns that we may not know the decision for a while:

Police in Ghana have launched an investigation into the murder of a senior opposition MP Joseph Boakye Danqua Adu in the capital, Accra (see 10:46 post).

Greater Accra regional police commander George Dampare told AFP news agency that two security guards at Mr Ado's house were taken in for questioning after Tuesday's incident.

In 2010, the late MP was attacked and stabbed, suffering deep cuts to his hand. Three people were convicted for the attack in 2013, AFP reports.

Attacks on politicians are rare in Ghana but another leading member of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Adam Mahama, died in May last year after an acid attack.

The country will hold a general election in November this year.

Algerian football journalist Maher Mehazi reveals how a "street style of play" affected Leicester's Riyad Mahrez so much that he didn't know how to take a throw-in.

Mehazi adds that despite the midfielder's great form this season, he is "improving tactically after a late start to his career".

There's some more great insight in this BBC Radio 5 Live page clip:

The UN's special envoy to Libya has warned of the growing strength of the so-called Islamic State militant group in the country. 

Martin Kobler told the BBC that the current power vacuum in Libya was creating a risk that IS fighters there could join up with militants elsewhere on the continent.

He said "fragmentation is creating a political vacuum and a military vacuum" which is allowing IS to spread.

"Particularly worrisome [is] the expansion of zones of influence to the south. 

"And if they are going further to the south they could team up with terrorist organisations in Niger and Chad, Boko Haram and the like. And that's why it's really important to get a government of national unity in place as soon as possible," Mr Kobler said.

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Lawyers representing South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma have said he will repay the money spent on non-security upgrades to his private home in Nkandla. 

Mr Zuma had always described the corruption watchdog’s findings as mere recommendations which were not binding, but it looks like he has now changed his mind.   

Opposition parties took the matter to court after Mr Zuma failed to comply with a 2014 report which stated that the president unduly benefited from refurbishments at his home which were estimated to have cost $23m. 

But the parties do not only want the president to repay the money, they also want the Constitutional Court to rule on the powers of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, who had written the report into the Nkandla spending.

Mr Zuma has also been accused of violating the constitution, but his lawyers have refuted this as it would allow grounds for his impeachment.

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We've been getting a response from a lot of Nigerians on our WhatsApp number (+447341070844) about whether they buy Nigerian-made goods.

This is after some people on Twitter called for people to buy locally-made products to help support the naira which has come under a lot of pressure on the currency market.

We got this photo of a pair of sandals bought in a village in the north of Nigeria:

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Shadrach Yusuf has been proudly showing off a bag of sugar he bought:

Shadrach YusufCopyright: Shadrach Yusuf

Thank you for your contributions so far - and do send us more pictures.