Africa highlights: Nigeria billionaire 'escapes abduction', gay Ivorians jailed

MyjoyonlineCopyright: Myjoyonline

A mobile phone light came to the rescue during the official launch of Ghana's election rule book today when the venue was plunged into darkness, Joy News reports.

The dignitaries at the Accra International Conference Centre had just started listening to the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, when the electricity cut,  it reports.

But the master of ceremonies rushed forward so he could read his speech using his mobile phone as a torch light.

The chief justice and attorney general also addressed guests in the dark, using the MC's phone.

It was more than an hour before organisers managed to provide light using rechargeable lamps, Joy reports:

MyjoyonlineCopyright: Myjoyonline

Ghana has been struggling with power outages, locally known as “dumsor” – meaning “off and on”, for the past four years.

The country goes to the polls on 7 December.

Read more: Eight consequences of Ghana's 'dumsor'

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has told African leaders that the continent needed to "speak in a single voice" and "demand climate justice".

He was speaking as 20 African leaders met on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Marrakesh to agree a joint stance to fight global warming on the continent.

France's President Francois Hollande and UN chief Ban Ki-moon also attended the African summit.

The king said:

Quote Message: Africa is paying a heavy price over the climate issue and is without doubt the continent worst affected.

Africa is paying a heavy price over the climate issue and is without doubt the continent worst affected.

Quote Message: These disruptions... greatly hamper Africa's development and gravely threaten the basic rights of tens of millions of Africans."

These disruptions... greatly hamper Africa's development and gravely threaten the basic rights of tens of millions of Africans."

SPLCopyright: SPL

Former residents of the Chagos Islands who were removed to make way for a US airbase in the 1960s and 70s will not be allowed back, the UK government has said.

Instead, it has decided the Chagossians will be offered compensation worth $50m (£40m) over the next 10 years.

The government also confirmed that the UK would allow the US to keep its military base in the islands in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Campaigners say they are disappointed with the decision and will continue the fight for Chagossians to be allowed to return to the islands.

Read the full BBC story here

Felicia Onimbo was a commercial sex worker from a slum in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. 

She charged her clients between $2 and $5 for a round of sex - money she needed to support herself and her child because of poverty in Majengo slum. 

“Sometimes, clients would just use us and not pay at all or pay less than what we agreed,” she told me.

Luckily, she got a chance to join Dream, a programme funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to help women like her develop skills and find other jobs. 

Idris SatumaCopyright: Idris Satuma

She hopes one day to fulfill her childhood ambition of becoming an accountant. 

Idris SatumaCopyright: Idris Satuma

BBCCopyright: BBC

A UN expert on albinism has told the BBC that buried bodies are increasingly being dug up so body parts can be taken.

People living with albinism already suffer brutal attacks resulting from beliefs that say they have special powers and their body parts can be used in "magic" potions.

More than 600 albinos have been killed in different African countries since 2007, mainly for ritualistic reasons.    

Now Ikponwosa Ero says buried bodies are also being targeted.

She was speaking at a UN conference on albinism held on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, which brought together representatives from 15 African countries.

Cases have been reported in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, where people living with albinism suffer the most attacks.

Participants called for the graves to be protected with concrete material to prevent excavation. 

Kenya has also been holding a Mr and Miss Albino pageant in an attempt to challenge negative stereotypes about people living with albinism.

  Read more: The albino who confronted a witchdoctor

AFPCopyright: AFP

More than 1,000 Chadian nationals who were away fighting for the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram have returned home, a local official told the BBC's Newsday programme. 

Dimouya Souapepe, prefect of the Lac-Tchad region, says the figthers, among them women and children, surrendered to authorities over a period of two months. 

He says they are not being detained against their will, but will be screened before being released to their families. 

Meanwhile Nigeria's Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai has said 60% of Boko Haram fighters are not from Nigeria.

Lieut Gen Buratai was speaking in Maiduguri as he met with UN special representative Mohammed Ibn Chambas, AllAfrica reported.

Boko Haram, which has killed and kidnapped thousands of people, had seized a large area in northeastern Nigeria and spread its deadly operations to neighbouring countries. 

However, the group has been losing ground over the last year amid growing regional military pressure.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is holding its annual meeting in The Hague and faces serious discord over its future.

There were disagreements over a wide range of issues - not least lunch, as our reporter tweets...

A heartfelt appeal has been issued to African nations, urging them not to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) as it opened its annual meeting under a cloud of uncertainty following a wave of unprecedented defections. 

Today, The Gambia formally notified the UN that it was withdrawing from the court, following South Africa and Burundi. 

Before their announcements, no country had ever left the court, which was set up in 2002 as the first criminal tribunal with a global reach. 

However only Africans have ever been put on trial.

"Don't go," pleaded Sidiki Kaba, Senegal's Minister of Justice and the president of the ICC's Assembly of State Parties meeting in The Hague. 

In a world beset with violent extremism, Mr Kaba said, it was "urgent and necessary to defend the ideal of justice for all". 

AFPCopyright: AFP

He tried to reassure members that their concerns regarding the ICC's perceived bias against African nations had been heard. 

But it may be too little, too late. 

Kenya, Namibia and Uganda have indicated they too are considering withdrawing their membership.

And Russia has also turned its back on the court, although it has never been a full member.

Explaining its position, the Russian foreign ministry said the African Union had "decided to develop measures on a coordinated withdrawal of African States".

Earlier this week the ICC prosecutor revealed there was a "reasonable basis" to believe US troops may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan. 

If she opens a formal investigation, the tribunal would be taking on the most complex and politically controversial investigation in its history.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A judge in Abidjan has decided that the trial of former First Lady of Ivory Coast Simone Ggabgbo for crimes against humanity will continue in her absence, AFP reports.

Lawyers for Mrs Gbagbo have been boycotting the trial since last month, accusing the court of bias. 

They are mainly angry at the court for refusing to grant a request they submitted for high profile figures close to President Alassane Oattara to take to the stand as defence witnesses. 

But presiding judge Boiqui Kouadio has said Mrs Gbagbo's presence is not necessary for the trial to continue. He then assigned the defendant several lawyers and adjourned proceedings until 28 November. 

Mrs Gbagbo - who has already been jailed on separate charges - is standing trial for her alleged role in post-electoral violence that rocked Ivory Coast in 2010 in which an estimated 3,000 people died.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Pidgin is one of the new languages the BBC World service is to start broadcasting in - but what is it and where did it come from?

Simply, Pidgin English is a mixture of English and local languages which enables people who do not share a common language to communicate.

Most African countries are made up of numerous different ethnic groups who do not necessarily have a lingua franca, so Pidgin has developed.

It is widely spoken in Nigeria, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon.

Examples of pidgin include:

• I wan chop (I want to eat)
• Wetin dey 'appen? (What is happening?)
• I no no (I do not know)
• Where you dey? (Where are you)

Read more: Pidgin - West African lingua franca

AFPCopyright: AFP

A bid to kidnap Nigeria's billionaire oil tycoon Femi Otedola for a ransom of about $3m (£2.4m) has been foiled, police say. 

A gang of three was arrested for the attempt to abduct Mr Otedola, whose fortune has been listed by Forbes magazine at $1.8bn.

The "mastermind" of the gang was a former university student who was an "IT guru", while the second suspect was an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence corps who took "undue advantage of his office to obtain the GSM number and location of their would be victim", police added in a statement. 

The third arrested man was the gang's "marksman and armourer" and claimed he had been dismissed from the army in 2015, police said, adding:

Quote Message: “All the suspects made confessional statements revealing that they had successfully carried out several high profile kidnappings and two AK47 rifles loaded with live ammunition were recovered from them."

“All the suspects made confessional statements revealing that they had successfully carried out several high profile kidnappings and two AK47 rifles loaded with live ammunition were recovered from them."

The statement added that investigations were continuing to arrest more members of the gang, and to also probe their other alleged criminal activities.

The arrests were made in June, police added. 

It is unclear why details of the attempted abduction have only been revealed now. 

BBCCopyright: BBC

Ivory Coast has seen its first ever sentencing of two men for gay sex. 

The men, identified in local media reports as P.L., 31, and L.A.,19, from a rural area in southwestern Ivory Coast, were seen in the act by the younger man's uncle, who reported them to police.

The pair admitted being lovers and said they did not think this was a crime, according to a report on Abidjan.net.

They have been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Homosexuality is not banned in the country but ''indecent acts in public'' are. 

As world leaders gather in Marrakesh to discuss strategies to stop climate change, we find out which African countries have been most affected by extreme weather events in the last year.

Sonke Kreft, who has compiled an index for advocacy group Germanwatch, talks to the BBC's Newsday programme about his findings.

In galleries across Lagos the annual photo festival is showcasing the creativity and complexity of some of Nigeria’s most standout photographers.

But it is on the streets where a new generation of photographers is capturing the bustling megacity with their own perspectives. One of the most distinctive is 29-year-old Adeola Olagunju, who told the BBC how she captures Lagos.

See more - In pictures: Lagos photo festival on African identity

AFPCopyright: AFP

The continued attacks on pipelines are slashing Nigeria’s oil production – and hammering an economy reeling from its worst recession in years.

This month, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari met leaders from the Niger Delta in a bid to end the violence.

The government also announced a vague plan to invest billion dollars in the region - although it didn’t spell out where the cash would come from.

Since the high-profile meeting, there have been a slew of attacks.

One of the militants told the BBC that the government was “playing with us” and that it wasn’t putting its words into action.

Militant groups say they’re fighting for a greater share of the resources for local communities. They also want the government to honour a previous amnesty program  - which offers cash payments and retraining – after its budget was slashed by two-thirds at the start of the year.

The government, however, accuses the militants of holding the country to ransom. 

The continued violence is designed pressure the government into making an agreement.

Despite the enormous economic pain, President Buhari is standing his ground.

See earlier post for more details

AFPCopyright: AFP

Lawyers for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy say they will take legal action against a businessman, Ziad Takieddine, over allegations that deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi bankrolled his 2007 election campaign. 

Mr Sarkozy is now seeking a return to power and is seen as a serious contender to win his party's nomination. 

In a filmed interview released on Tuesday by the news website Mediapart, Mr Takieddine said he had transferred about $5.4m (£4.3m) "in three suitcases" from Gaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi to Mr Sarkozy and his then campaign director Claude Gueant.  

Mr Sarkozy has previously denied the allegations and this time one of his lawyers Thierry Herzog said legal proceedings would be launched to rebut the claims.   

AFPCopyright: AFP

In a statement to the Reuters news agency, Mr Herzog accused Mediapart of manipulation:

Quote Message: Once more, and always before an election, Mediapart is trying to taint Nicolas Sarkozy with allegations (that are) as untrue today as they were yesterday."

Once more, and always before an election, Mediapart is trying to taint Nicolas Sarkozy with allegations (that are) as untrue today as they were yesterday."

France's public prosecutor opened a judicial investigation into earlier allegations by Mr Takieddine in 2013.

However the businessman had not previously described how the money was transferred or directly named Mr Sarkozy, Reuters reported. 

The BBC World Service is to launch 11 new language services, with the first expected to launch in 2017.

One of the new languages will be Pidgin. But do you know your Ghanaian Pidgin from your Nigerian Pidgin?

Here's Akwasi Sarpong from Ghana and Didi Akinyelure from Nigeria.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Singapore has rejected an appeal for clemency by a Nigerian due to be executed on Friday for being in possession of cannabis, Amnesty International has said.

Chijoke Stephen Obioha’s family was informed on Wednesday of his failed clemency appeal, it added. 

He  was found in possession of more than 2.6kg of cannabis in April 2007, surpassing the amount of 500 grams that triggers the automatic presumption of trafficking under Singapore law.

Amnesty's Rafendi Djamin said: 

Quote Message: We are dismayed that clemency has not been granted in his case but remain hopeful that they won’t carry out this cruel and irreversible punishment against a person sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for a crime that should not even be punished by death.

We are dismayed that clemency has not been granted in his case but remain hopeful that they won’t carry out this cruel and irreversible punishment against a person sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for a crime that should not even be punished by death.

Quote Message: The death penalty is never the solution. It will not rid Singapore of drugs. By executing people for drug-related offences, which do not meet the threshold of most serious crimes, Singapore is violating international law. Most of the world has turned its back on this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment."

The death penalty is never the solution. It will not rid Singapore of drugs. By executing people for drug-related offences, which do not meet the threshold of most serious crimes, Singapore is violating international law. Most of the world has turned its back on this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment."

A court in Egypt has sentenced a policeman to life in prison for shooting dead a street vendor in a dispute over the price of a cup of tea. 

The court in the capital, Cairo, convicted the officer of his murder and the attempted murder of two bystanders who were wounded in the shooting. 

The incident, which took place in April, sparked violent protests against police brutality.  

AFPCopyright: AFP