Africa highlights: Ethiopians raid Nigerian tycoon's factory, SA students in topless protest

We all know that politicians make promises during their campaigns, but what happens after they've been elected? 

One Malawian lawyer, Ambokile Salimu, is pushing for campaign promises to be legally binding. He speaks to the BBC Focus on Africa's David Amanor:

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The Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila has said that elections, due in November, will be delayed to give the country more time to prepare for the polls, Reuters news agency reports. 

On Saturday the national electoral commission filed an election postponement request to the constitutional court, formally confirming that the 27 November date for the presidential vote would be missed.  

On Saturday, the head of the electoral commission said he expected the presidential elections to take place in December 2018. 

Opposition parties have long accused him of planning to delay elections, leading to deadly clashes with the security forces. 

The constitution bars Mr Kabila, who has been in office since 2001, from running for office again. 

Speaking to journalists in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Mr Kabila said the delay was "to avoid locking out a huge number of people, most of them young voters", Reuters reports.

He added:  

Quote Message: "As many as 10 million unregistered voters could miss out on the chance to vote if we proceed with the elections."

"As many as 10 million unregistered voters could miss out on the chance to vote if we proceed with the elections."

The electoral commission has said it will need at least until the middle of next year to complete voter registration in the country of more than 30 million people. 

DR Congo has never had a smooth transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. 

Read: Too rich for its own good 

Lesotho is celebrating 50 years of independence today.

One instagrammer has caught some of the celebrations in the capital, Maseru:

In comparison, this tweeter has dug out some archive footage which shows what Lesotho looked like shortly after independence from Britain:

A lot of people have marked the day by posting pictures of themselves in the national hat, called the mokorotlo:

The hat is a symbol of Lesotho's unification and depicts a mountain top.

This cake also looks like it depicts the hat surrounded by the mountainous kingdom:

A 13-year-old Ivorian footballer is being called a child prodigy after playing for Scottish football club Celtic under-20's in their win against Hearts last night.

Karamoko Dembele came on for the final nine minutes.

He appeared for the club's reserve team, which is seven years above his age group.

The youngster, who lives in Glasgow in Scotland, joined Celtic in July 2013 and posted the news on Instagram:

He first created a buzz on social media after footage of his skill against Barcelona during an under-13 tournament in Dublin emerged.  

Running battles between police and students at South Africa's University of Witwatersrand have left several people wounded. 

They include students, two journalists and at least one lecturer, the local Times Live newspaper reports. 

Images of the wounded students have been posted on Twitter: 

A student journalist tweeted about the injuries suffered by the academic:

The university management is holding talks with student leaders in a bid to end the unrest, triggered by a government proposal to increase tuition fees by up to eight percent next year.   

See earlier post for more details

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Nestle brand Nespresso is suspending exports from South Sudan because of increasing instability in the country, reports the US-based Wall Street Journal.

The decision is the latest blow to South Sudan's economy, which has been battered by conflict since independence from Sudan in 2011.  

Jacquelyn Campo, a spokeswoman for Nestle in South Africa, is quoted as saying: said.

Quote Message: As a result of the increasing instability we have had to temporarily cease operations while we closely monitor the situation. In the last year, we were making solid progress until the situation deteriorated.”

As a result of the increasing instability we have had to temporarily cease operations while we closely monitor the situation. In the last year, we were making solid progress until the situation deteriorated.”

The report said that since 2011, Nespresso had been working with NGO TechnoServe to set up coffee mills and revamp defunct plantations which stopped being used during pre-independence conflict.   

Read: 'We want peace - and ice cream'

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Protests have broken out on the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, police say. 

I saw truckloads of police headed towards the areas where demonstrators have been blocking roads and singing. 

Rights groups say more than 500 people have died since protests first erupted in Ethiopia's Oromia and Amhara regions in November 2015. 

The unrest was sparked by a government plan to expand the capital into Oromia. 

This led to fears that farmers from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, would be displaced.

The plan was later dropped but protests continued, highlighting issues such as alleged political repression and economic marginalisation.

On Sunday, at least 55 people died in a stampede at an religious festival in Oromia.

Activists say the security forces opened fire on protesters, causing the stampede. 

The government denies the allegation, blaming "evil forces" for the stampede.   

See earlier post: Nigerian tycoon's plant attacked

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A regional court has ruled that Nigeria's ex-national security adviser, who has been held since December for alleged fraud, should be released, reports Reuters news agency.

Sambo Dasuki was accused of illegally transferring $50m (£39m) from the national security budget to fund election campaigns for members of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan's party.

He was also accused of awarding "ghost contracts" to buy 12 helicopters and four fighter jets which never materialised.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and says they are politically motivated.

A judge at the court of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) ruled that his detention was unlawful and arbitrary, Reuters reports. 

The judge also ordered the government to pay Mr Dasuki $47,000 in compensation for his arrest and detention. 

It is unclear whether the government will abide by the verdict. 

Sovereign states do not have accept the court's rulings and there is no framework for making them binding, Reuters says.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Researchers in northern Tanzania have built an app that nurses and doctors can use to screen women for cervical cancer, which they say is the first of its kind in the world.

It requires health workers to take a photographs of the cervix with a smartphone and then send them via the app to a medical expert in a specialised clinic. 

BBCCopyright: BBC

Doctors at the clinic review the image and immediately send a diagnosis via the app back to the health worker, giving instructions about treatment.  

Although mobile phone connectivity is a problem, it allows health workers to screen and save the images and send them later.  

In Tanzania, more than 4,000 women die every year from cervical cancer, according to the World Health Organization.

Cervical cancer is preventable. 

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At least two female students at a leading South African university have taken off their bras to protest against alleged police brutality.   

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In a video posted on Twitter, the topless students stared at police with their hands crossed above their heads, chanting:  

Quote Message: It's for free education. Stop shooting us‚ comrades. Cease fire‚ comrades. It's for free education."

It's for free education. Stop shooting us‚ comrades. Cease fire‚ comrades. It's for free education."

Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesting students at the University of Witwatersrand in the main city, Johannesburg. 

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Its vice-chancellor, Adam Habib, said police and private security guards would help "take back our campus'' on behalf of students and staff who wanted to return to class, the Associated Press news agency reports.  

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The university and other campuses have been hit by protests since last month, when the government proposed a tuition fee increase of up to 8%t for 2017. 

ReCopyright: Re

The protesters are demanding that tuition fees be scrapped, causing some of the worst unrest at South African universities since apartheid ended in 1994. 

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President Jacob Zuma has said the protests have damaged property worth about $44m (£35m) and threaten to sabotage the country's higher education system.

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See earlier post for more details

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The former captain of Cameroon’s national football team Rigobert Song is no longer in a coma, according to the authorities.

The ex-Liverpool and West Ham defender is said to be breathing without help, two days after being rushed to the hospital.   

The 40-year-old was admitted to Yaounde Central Hospital on Sunday after falling unconscious.  

Song, considered a national hero in his country, twice won the African Cup of Nations and played in four World Cup finals. 

He is due be flown to Paris this afternoon for treatment, under the orders of Cameroon's President Paul Biya.  

"As soon as the president was informed, he has given instructions to the health minister to do everything they can so he can be flown abroad," said government spokesman Issa Thsiroma.

"Thanks to the high-level medical equipment and expertise that we have in Cameroon, we have succeeded in stabilising his situation... so he can travel," the spokesman added.   

Read more on BBC Sport

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The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has asked the UN mission in the country, Monusco, to move 750 South Sudanese fighters loyal to South Sudan's sacked vice-president Riek Machar.

The presence of the fighters in the northern Congolese province of Kivu has become a cause of concerns for local officials. 

Last week, local officials wrote to the government in the capital Kinshasa warning that the South Sudanese fighters are a risk to security in the area. 

The government has now asked Monusco to fly out the rebels by 10 October. 

Congolese dandies, or sapeurs as they are known, have gained a global reputation for their flamboyant fashion style.

But Barbara Yves, a resident of the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, says you do not have to be a man to join the Society of Ambience-Makers and Elegant People.

Being a dandy, she says, is in her blood.

Video journalist: Horaci Garcia

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A global media watchdog body has called for the release of detained Ethiopian blogger and academic Seyoum Teshome.

He was arrested in a police raid on his home in Woliso town in Ethiopia's restive Oromia region, some 110km (68 miles) south-west of the capital Addis Ababa, on 1 October, the Committee  to Protect Journalists (CPJ) quoted an Ethiopian journalist exiled in Kenya as saying. 

In a statement, CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney said:

Quote Message: This arrest of a prominent writer and commentator is deeply disturbing as it comes against a backdrop of government moves to stifle protests and criticism.

This arrest of a prominent writer and commentator is deeply disturbing as it comes against a backdrop of government moves to stifle protests and criticism.

Quote Message: Seyoum Teshome should be released without delay and without condition."

Seyoum Teshome should be released without delay and without condition."

In a recent New York Times article, he was quoted as saying that the anti-government protest at the Rio Olympics by marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa had struck a blow against the Ethiopian government's carefully constructed image as a thriving developing state. 

Ethiopia's government spokesman Getachew Reda told The Associated Press news agency that he heard about Mr Seyoum's arrest and he was investigating why he had been detained.

Mr Seyoum wrote for the Amharic-language Ethiothank.com website and lectured at lectured at Ambo University's campus in Woliso.

Ethiopia's security forces have been accused of trying to crush dissent in Oromia where people have been demanding greater political freedom.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the protests - the worst to hit Ethiopia in more than two decades. 

Ethiopia’s ruling party and its allies won all 546 parliamentary seats in elections last year, but the main opposition parties said the result was rigged and the poll was not free and fair. 

The government rejected the allegation. 

Read: Endurance test for Ethiopia's marathon runner

We reported earlier that Nigerian actress Rahama Sadau has apologised for hugging on-screen on a music video.

Ms Sadau has been banned from working in the film industry in Kano, known as Kannywood, because of the hug. 

But this tweeter got in touch with us to say another Kannywood actor - this time a man - was not punished for "offensive lounging" on-screen:

The tweeter is not alone in complaining about alleged double standards - people have been saying the same thing to our BBC Hausa colleagues this morning.

And it's not just leading actor Ali Nuhu, pictured in the tweet, who they feel has been let off.

Fans argue that Ms Sadau has been singled out when other leading actors like Adam Zango and Sani Danja have done similar or worse things in the past and have gone unpunished.

However, BBC Nigeria bureau chief Naziru Mikailu reports that an official for the Kannywood film association said the decision taken against Ms Sadau was part of the organisation’s efforts to set a standard and no-one will be spared in future.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has accused France of inciting dissent against its regime over the upcoming presidential election.

It is in reaction to repeated calls issued by French Foreign Minister Jean-Mark Ayrault for President Joseph Kabila to abide by the constitution and step down at the end of his current term.

The Congolese Communication Minister Lambert Mende told the AFP news agency that France is playing a dangerous game:

Quote Message: After setting off the blaze by encouraging the extremists, France will fly out its citizens and will leave the Congolese to fend for themselves."

After setting off the blaze by encouraging the extremists, France will fly out its citizens and will leave the Congolese to fend for themselves."

Mr Mende added:

Quote Message: The concerns of Minister Ayrault over the DR Congo are now suspicious as they bring to mind the interference which created the chaos in Libya."

The concerns of Minister Ayrault over the DR Congo are now suspicious as they bring to mind the interference which created the chaos in Libya."

A Kenyan man has been arrested, after a Twitter campaign, for allegedly posting pictures online of a 10-year-old girl with whom he said he had sex, police spokesman George Kinoti has confirmed.

He added that the man was hiding when they arrested him and they recovered his phone and saw the photos in question.

The accused has not commented since his arrest.

He will appear in court tomorrow, the police said. 

Kenyans on Twitter, known as #KOT, pushed for his arrest. A caption with pictures he allegedly posted said that "today I had sex in the bush with a standard 4 gal".

Earlier we reported that stun grenades had been fired at protesting students at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

We now have footage of that:

Meanwhile, this tweet gives a very different perspective of the protests:

  The protesting students are demanding free education for all.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A police officer is reported missing and four gendarmes wounded in Katiola, a town in central Ivory Coast. 

Violence broke out between security forces and protesters who were angry at the death of a 25-year-old man who was wanted by the police. 

The main police station in the city and homes belonging to police officers were torched in the violence.