Africa highlights: Executions by firing squad, Zimbabwe war veterans 'treasonous'

Chris Froome became Britain's first three-time winner of the Tour de France when he crossed the finish line of the 21-stage race in Paris on Sunday.But he went to school in South Africa - at St John’s in Johannesburg - which celebrated his victory. All the pupils turned up in the yellow jersey in his honour - the school is also growing its own cycling talent. 

The BBC's Karen Allen spoke to Froome's former teachers and current students.  

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The number of people killed by a fire in Madagascar has risen to 39, police have told Reuters news agency. 

The fire broke out at a compound in the remote Ikalamanovy district on Saturday evening while people were celebrating the completion of a house renovation. 

Police official Anthony Rakotoarison told Reuters:

Quote Message: Thirty-nine people were killed by the fire - 38 of them died on Saturday, another victim passed away today."

Thirty-nine people were killed by the fire - 38 of them died on Saturday, another victim passed away today."

The bodies of two of the 38 people people who died in a fire at a house-warming party in Madagascar were "charred", a police statement has said, Reuters news agency reports. 

The other 36 were "burnt and asphyxiated", police said. 

There was no fire station in the deeply rural area where the fire broke out. 

See earlier post for more details

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Kenya's higher education loans board wants to ban people who haven't paid their student loans from getting married, reports Kenya's Capital FM.

The article adds the proposal is to make sure people don't get their marriage certificates until they have got clearance from the loan board.

Simphiwe SomdyalaCopyright: Simphiwe Somdyala

Parts of South Africa are covered under a white blanket of snow following extremely cold weather in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Drakensberg mountain range.

The weather service has issued snow travel road alerts, warning motorists to avoid various passes affected by the disruptions.

Meteorologists say the cold front responsible for the freezing conditions will prevail until Thursday.

It's the same here in Johannesburg, the man city, where many people are dressed in long coats, gloves, woolen hats and scarves.

Simphiwe SomdyalaCopyright: Simphiwe Somdyala

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South Sudan's President Salva Kiir will sign a decree appointing mining minister Taban Deng Gai as the new vice-president to replace Riek Machar, Mr Kiir's spokesman has told BBC focus on Africa radio

Mr Deng would take the oath of office after the signing of the presidential decree,  Ateny Wek Ateny said. 

Mr Machar fled the capital, Juba, earlier this month after heavy fighting between his troops and those loyal to Mr Machar killed nearly 300 people. 

Mr Machar's spokesman said he rejected Mr Deng's appointment.   

Mr Deng was Mr Machar's chief negotiator and his move to claim the vice-presidency suggests they have fallen out, creating a split in the opposition which will further complicate efforts to achieve peace in South Sudan, analysts say.

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Today Mauritania hosts its first ever Arab league meeting since joining the organisation in 1973.

But over half of the leaders of the 22 members didn't turn up, reports BBC Arabic.

The summit was cut down to one day because so many leaders were absent, it adds. 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stayed at home because of "a busy domestic schedule" while Saudi Arabia's King Salman's no-show was due to "health reasons", an Arab League source told AFP news agency.

The meeting was meant to discuss setting up a joint armed force.

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It would have been political suicidal for Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to press ahead with his plan to build a film village in the mainly Muslim north once it faced opposition from influential Muslim clerics and their followers. 

As Mr Buhari has strong support in the north, it became difficult for him to ignore the opposition once the clerics started using their weekly Friday sermons to condemn the plan as un-Islamic. 

They argued that the Hausa language film industry was corrupting the values of youth by promoting things like public romance and dancing, which are not part of the culture of Muslims in the north.

But many people are also bound to be dismayed by the decision because the films are extremely popular. 

A 28-year-old Nigerian man has received a strange punishment for stealing a phone, reports the local Punch news site.

The judge in Lagos state sentenced the thief to carry two buckets of water up and down a staircase 100 times, the site says.

It adds that the phone was worth 6,000 naira ($20; £15). 

 A court in Congo-Brazzaville  has jailed an opposition leader for two years for inciting public disorder, reports AFP news agency.

The charge arises from unauthorised demonstrations Paulin Makaya organised in 2015, AFP adds.

The demonstrations were called to protest against referendum that ended a two-term limit on presidential terms and allowed the incumbent Denis Sassou Nguesso to successfully run for re-election in March this year.   

Makaya said he would appeal against his conviction and his lawyers called the verdict "unjust and illegal".

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The fire which killed 38 people at a house-warming party in Madagascar was believed to have started from embers of a fire that had been used earlier to cook food for the guests, AFP news agency reports.

The victims were trapped inside the house in Ambalavato village in the rural centre of the Indian Ocean island, it adds. 

Other villagers tried to rescue the people trapped inside but failed to open the door, AFP reports. 

Only one 14-year-old boy managed to escape the inferno by jumping through a window, the agency quotes police as saying.   

The party-goers were celebrating the renovation of the house when the fire broke out, AFP adds. 

See earlier post for more details

It has taken Zimbabwe's defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi four days to respond to calls for President Robert Mugabe to step down by freedom fighters of the 1970s war against white-minority rule.

It appears that the communique by war veterans sparked intense behind the scenes talks on how best to address the crisis.  

Mr Sekeramayi has now defended his boss, the 92-year-old Mr Mugabe who has ruled since independence 36 years ago.

He indicated that investigations were under way and said the communique could have been the work of “our enemies” who had “infiltrated" the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association. 

Mr Skeremayi added that "the truth will come out”, hinting that the government will blame the British and American governments. 

But the 150 war veterans who converged in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, last Thursday all agreed with the communique. 

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Talk that Mr Mugabe must now step down appears to be the general feeling not only in opposition circles but also in the ruling Zanu-PF party as the economic crisis worsens - the government is struggling to pay employees, including soldiers, because it has run out of money . 

In fact, there is speculation that these could be Mr Mugabe's last days in power, especially as he has lost the confidence of some of his most loyal backers - the war veterans - who have accused him of being dictatorial and egotistical.

See earlier post for more details

A fire during a house-warming party in central Madagascar has killed 38 people, including 16 children, police have said, AFP news agency reports. 

The blaze ripped through a thatched roof on Saturday, police spokesman Herilalatiana Andrianarivosona is quoted as saying. 

He added that the fire was an accident. 

Leading Nigerian actor and director Ali Nuhu has told the BBC that he was confounded by President Muhammadu Buhari's decision to scrap plans to build a film village in the northern state of Kano following an outcry from conservative Muslim clerics and their followers. 

The $10m (£7.6m)  project was going to be built on 20 hectares of land at Kofa village, about 70 kilometers away from Kano city, to give the Hausa language film industry and the economy a major boost. 

Film making is one of the sectors of the economy that employs a lot of Nigeria's youth. 

But the local populace, especially Muslim scholars, held a different view - they used social media to voice opposition to the idea. 

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Controversial pictures of actors and actresses were used in the campaign to create the impression in people's minds that the film village, which was going to be named after the president, will become a breeding ground for social vices. 

Industry players have always denied the charge, but to no avail as Mr Buhari scrapped the plan. 

Ever since its creation more than 20 years ago, Kannywood - as the Hausa language film industry is known - has attracted a lot of criticism from the conservative society whose realities it seeks to reflect. 

It has been accused of encouraging teenage girls to run away from home with the hope of acting in films.  

Others condemned the project as a misplaced priority, saying what they wanted from the government was the revival of their dams for agricultural development. 

In the end, a presidential adviser, Abdurrahaman Kawu Sumaila, announced that Mr Buhari had heard the voice of the people and had scrapped the project. 

We reported in an earlier post that tweeters have been getting angry after a well wisher gave a free flight to a man that became famous for hanging off a helicopter as it took off.

I have just talked to the 41-year-old Swaleh Wanjala after his free internal flight to Kenya's capital Nairobi.  

He compared the two experiences:

Quote Message: Last time I hung on the plane, it was very windy and the wind even caused my shirt to unbutton itself. But today I am happy and I was seated inside, it was cool.

Last time I hung on the plane, it was very windy and the wind even caused my shirt to unbutton itself. But today I am happy and I was seated inside, it was cool.

He added that he is still recovering from jumping 11 metres from the helicopter to the ground back in May, and he struggled to step on the plane this morning.

The man who payed for his flight, Joseph Lendrix Waswa, insisted he wasn't trying to encourage dangerous behaviour:

Quote Message: Apart from giving Wafula the experience, I also want to educate people on dangers of hanging on a plane. I have warned Wafula against repeating his actions.

Apart from giving Wafula the experience, I also want to educate people on dangers of hanging on a plane. I have warned Wafula against repeating his actions.

Mr Wanjala travelled with his mother, Evelyne Namusya, who was flying for the first time. 

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She revealed that she wasn't impressed with her son's actions two months ago:  

Quote Message: I never thought I would see him alive. His actions were dangerous and scary."

I never thought I would see him alive. His actions were dangerous and scary."

Mr Wafula has been branded Kenya's James Bond for pulling off the stunt. 

Kenyans have also developed an online game called Bungoma Hangman, where players survive by hanging on the plane, avoiding objects which would cause them to fall.

Some of South Sudan’s top musicians have come together to produce this song calling for peace:

The track was recorded in a few days, following the latest outbreak of fighting in Juba earlier this month. 

The title Dafa Dafa means revenge in Juba Arabic.  

“Revenge will finish us,” MC Lumoex, who came up with the idea for the song, told the BBC's Alastair Leithead.  

“I’m calling upon all of us to leave revenge behind, and forgive each other.  Forgiveness is what we need for this nation to go forward.”

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One of the lyrics sung by Mandari is: “I wish my talent could be a weapon, I would use it to protect my people.”   

Dafa Dafa is already getting radio airplay in Juba.  The band won’t make money from it, but they do hope it reaches the ears of the men in charge. 

“We don’t even know why they’re fighting… We just wish that they listen to our song and hear the message,” Mandari told the BBC. 

A Nigerian pastor has been arrested for allegedly chaining his nine-year-old son in a room for more than a month with a padlock and denying him food, police have said. 

Pastror Muyiwa Adejobi, 40, had been on the run since Friday, when police rescued the emaciated boy from a room near a church in  Atan in south-western Ogun state after a tip-off. 

The pastor told investigators that he had locked up his son to teach him to stop him stealing, AFP reports. 

It quotes police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi as saying:  

Quote Message: The man said his son was always stealing his things and to stop the habit, he needed to chain him with [a] lock so that he would not run away.

The man said his son was always stealing his things and to stop the habit, he needed to chain him with [a] lock so that he would not run away.

Quote Message: "It is shocking and baffling that a man who claims to be a man of God could be involved in a such a barbaric and inhuman act."

"It is shocking and baffling that a man who claims to be a man of God could be involved in a such a barbaric and inhuman act."

 Mr Adejobi said the boy was found chained to the ground on Friday, adding:

Quote Message: He was in a very bad shape, greatly emaciated because of poor feeding. The boy told us his father was not giving him food regularly and that he had been locked up in the room for over one month."

He was in a very bad shape, greatly emaciated because of poor feeding. The boy told us his father was not giving him food regularly and that he had been locked up in the room for over one month."

 Pastor Adejobi  has not yet commented on the allegation. 

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Nigerian canoe slalom athlete Johny Akinyemi has just told BBC Sport World that he is stranded at Germany's Frankfurt airport while on his way to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He added that he doesn’t know when he will get to Rio de Janeiro, where the Olympics starts on 5 August.

His flight from Manchester in the UK was delayed on Sunday, so he missed his connection with Lufthansa in Frankfurt. 

Akinyemi days he is on standby but all flights to Rio are booked up over the coming four or five days and he’s about 12th on the list. 

Making matters worse, Lufthansa is the only airline that can take his kayak – so he’s stuck with them.

He was due to start training on the course in Rio this morning. 

We reported earlier that the English Premier League football club Hull City has announced its new sponsors will be Kenyan betting firm SportPesa.

Along with a picture of Hull player Momo Diame wearing the new shirt, SportPesa has tweeted that, in this unusual sponsorship deal, Hull players will travel to Kenya to play: