Africa highlights: Nigeria's Senate chief hits back over wealth row, Cameroon protests

Hosts Cameroon beat South Africa 1-0 in their second Group A match on Tuesday to book a place in the semi-finals of the women's Africa Cup of Nations.

The Indomitable Lionesses are assured of at least second place in the group with one match remaining, having amassed six points following two wins.

Ngo Mbeleck scored the only goal of the game in the 83rd minute of a scrappy encounter in Yaounde.

Later on Tuesday, Zimbabwe take on Egypt in the other Group A match.

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Efforts by Nigeria’s Senate to mediate between striking university teachers and the government have failed after a second meeting ended without a deal.

Universities have been paralysed for the past week by industrial action from lecturers demanding an increase to overtime payments, a fair pension and guaranteed funding for public academic institutions.

Many in the public sector are fed up after many revelations about how government officials steal with impunity. 

If no government response is forthcoming in the new few weeks, an indefinite strike could be on the cards.

Millions of women and couples around the world who want to have children are unable to do so. 

Infertility in either the man or woman, or even medical conditions or illness, can prevent women from getting pregnant. 

And then there are also those women and couples who decide not to have children. 

For many women across Africa not having a child, for whatever reason, is often frowned upon, and can carry something of a social stigma.

With that in mind, this month's Africa debate will be asking: What's life like for women without children in Africa?   

Market-goers in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, have been sharing their thoughts with the BBC's Bola Mosuro, ahead of the programme, which airs on Friday. 

Nina Steel is an Ivorian woman who runs an agony aunt website for childless couples. 

She's been telling Focus on Africa about how she dealt with her disappointment and heartache at not having children:   

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Nigeria’s Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has told the BBC Hausa service that he acquired 95% of his wealth before he entered politics.

He is currently under investigation by the Nigerian authorities on allegations of falsely declaring assets when he was governor of Kwara state.

Mr Saraki acknowledged that there was corruption in the country, but said his wealth was a result of coming from a blessed family and hard work.

He said he was confident that he would be cleared of the charges against him and he would continue to serve in public office.  

The senator also said he had not evaded tax - an accusation highlighted in the Panama Papers.

His wife also appeared in those documents accused of registering a company offshore to buy a London property. 

Quote Message: Based on legal advice the company was set up because they were acquiring an asset and it was advised at that time and that’s how it was set up to the best of our knowledge. It was not a company that was set up by ourselves; it was set up by a legal firm and under a legal firm as far as to the best of our knowledge no law was being broken." from Bukola Saraki

Based on legal advice the company was set up because they were acquiring an asset and it was advised at that time and that’s how it was set up to the best of our knowledge. It was not a company that was set up by ourselves; it was set up by a legal firm and under a legal firm as far as to the best of our knowledge no law was being broken."

Security forces in Cameroon have fired tear gas and live bullets at anti-government protesters in the English-speaking north-west of the country, reports the BBC's Randy Joe Sa'ah in Bamenda.

At least one person is said to have been killed in Bamenda, the regional capital, and several others wounded. 

Anger has been building over the last few months and came to a head yesterday when people took to the streets in support of a teachers' strike against the imposition of French in schools in Anglophone parts of the country, our reporter says.

Lawyers have been on strike for two months after being ordered to use French in legal proceedings.

Most of Cameroon is Francophone.

People in English-speaking areas say they are marginalised.

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Paris St-Germain full-back Serge Aurier will not be lining up against Arsenal for of tomorrow's Champions League match, after being denied entry to the UK because of his criminal record (see previous entry). 

PSG say UK authorities granted the Ivorian a visa in October but revoked it on 16 November, citing his conviction.

The French champions said the timing of the ruling showed "a lack of respect".

The 23-year-old Ivory Coast international was given a two-month suspended prison sentence in September for assaulting a police officer.  

But the Home Office said in a statement: "The immigration rules clearly state that non-EU nationals who have received a custodial sentence of less than 12 months within the last five years will be refused on criminality grounds."

Aurier is appealing against his conviction, leading PSG to believe he is entitled to be presumed innocent.

"Paris St-Germain strongly regrets the presumption of innocence has not influenced Britain's decision," said the club in a statement.

Read the full BBC Sport story

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Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court will probe the trafficking of migrants out of Libya to see if there is evidence of war crimes, the chief ICC prosecutor has told the AFP news agency.

Quote Message: My office is planning to make Libya a priority in investigations... One of the areas I intend to look into is the issue of the migrants, and the fact that we see hundreds of thousands of migrants being trafficked across from Libya, coming into Europe." from ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda

My office is planning to make Libya a priority in investigations... One of the areas I intend to look into is the issue of the migrants, and the fact that we see hundreds of thousands of migrants being trafficked across from Libya, coming into Europe."

The rescue of some 1,400 people over the last two days takes the number of migrants to have arrived in Italy by sea this year to almost 170,000, just short of the previous record set in 2014, AFP reports.

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Tanzanians are being encouraged to get their eyes checked out as part of a new drive from the country's health authorities.

Health officials say that nearly 20,000 people are at risk of blindness in Morogoro region, which lies west of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. 

There is only one facility offering specialist eye care for the region of around two million people. 

But a campaign is now under way to increase services for eye health at hospitals in all of Morogoro's nine districts, reports the BBC's Aboubakar Famau. 

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Hygiene issues linked to a lack of running water in remote areas, nutritional deficiencies and tropical diseases all contribute to the problem of eye health. 

But lifestyle choices and the lack of easily available check-ups are also big factors, doctors at the hospital told the BBC. 

Women using fake eyelashes, as well as make-up and soap with harmful chemicals were also making matters worse, they added.

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A BBC reporter is tweeting from the women's Africa Cup of Nations match today in Yaounde where the Indomitable Lionesses are playing South Africa.

After a frustrating game, the home side is at last celebrating:

The school in north-eastern Kenya attacked by gunmen earlier is currently under heavy security.  

Four men stormed the Abakore high school in Wajir county at 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT) and started firing, several students at the school told the BBC. 

Hundreds of students were sitting for their exams at the time. 

The attackers hit the administration blocks before the Kenyan police, who were guarding the main school building, responded. 

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Congo-Brazzaville has rejected the applications of 1,500 would-be refugees, BBC Afrique reports. 

The majority of the frustrated applicants fled violence in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, others are from the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Rwanda.

Congolese officials now say that the applicants must leave the country as staying on would be illegal. 

Asani Kimankutu, from DR Congo, told the BBC: 

Quote Message: My situation is very critical. I am left to my sad fate."

My situation is very critical. I am left to my sad fate."

The BBC's Christian Tsoumou in the capital, Brazzaville, says more than 20,000 foreign nationals who have fled violence elsewhere are in country.

We look at the path BBC African Footballer of the Year 2016 nominee Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang took to building his successful career starting at Dijon before ending up at Borussia Dortmund.

Aubameyang joins Andre Ayew, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane and Yaya Toure in the five-man shortlist for the BBC award.

The winner will be decided by fans from across the world, who have until 18:00 GMT on 28 November to vote for their choice.

Make your vote here.

There were no injuries after two gunmen stormed a school in north-eastern Kenya and opened fire on students this morning, reports the Daily Nation, which first broke the story, quoting local police. 

The local police chief in Wajir county told the newspaper that the attack on Abaqkorey High School started at 11:00 local time, while students were sitting a history exam. 

A manhunt was under way for the two gunmen, who fled into the bush after the attack, police said. 

The failed attack was apparently not enough to get the students out of sitting their exam. They were relocated to a primary school nearby to finish writing their papers, the Daily Nation adds. 

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An HIV-positive Malawian man has been sentenced to 24 months in jail with hard labour, after being found guilty for having unprotected sex with newly bereaved widows, local journalist Alfred Guta has told the BBC. 

Malawi's President Peter Mutharika had ordered the arrest of Eric Aniva, a sex worker known locally as a "hyena", after he admitted in a BBC interview to having sex with more than 100 women and underage girls and not disclosing his HIV status.

His lawyer, Michael Goba Chipeta, said Aniva would appeal against the conviction and the sentence. 

The practice of "widow cleansing", when a widow must have sex after her husband dies, was outlawed a few years ago. 

Aniva was the subject of a BBC feature into various sexual cleansing practices in Malawi.

The president had wanted him tried for defiling young girls, but none came forward to testify against him.

Instead Aniva was tried for "harmful cultural practice" under section five of Malawi's Gender Equality Act for having sex with new widows.

In some remote southern regions of the country it is traditional for girls to be made to have sex with a man after their first menstruation. 

Last year Malawi banned child marriage, raising the legal age of marriage from 15 to 18 - something activists hoped would put an end to early sexual initiations. 

Read more: The man with HIV who says he had sex with 104 women and girls

Two gunmen have stormed a high school in Wajir County in north-eastern Kenya and opened fire on a school, the local Daily Nation reports. 

Students of Abaqure High School were sitting their final year history paper when gunmen began shooting, it reports. 

It adds that police says that there are no injuries reported. 

A rowdy response for the BBC team in Ghana's capital, Accra, when asking which party these women supported ahead of elections on 7 December:

Read more: Deciphering Ghana's election parables

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Two referees and one assistant referee have been suspended for three months by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) after poor performances in 2018 World Cup qualifiers in November.

Ghanaian Joseph Lamptey incorrectly awarded South Africa a penalty in their 2-1 win over Senegal.

Kenyan referee Davies Omweno denied Libya what was a valid goal in their 1-0 defeat by Tunisia.

His assistant, Berhe O'Michael of Eritrea, had wrongly flagged offside.

Public shaming of the match officials is highly unusual in international football.  

Read the full BBC Sport story

Twenty-seven people arrested for demonstrating against the spike in the price of medicine in Sudan are appearing in court today in the capital, Khartoum, charged with disturbing the peace.

Some protesters took to the streets over the weekend about the rocketing prices of drugs.

Earlier in November, the government removed fuel, food and medicines subsidies and devalued the exchange rate of the Sudanese pound against the US dollar.  

Pharmaceutical companies used to get preferential rates of exchange (7.5 Sudanese pounds to the $1) - but now they must import drugs at 17 Sudanese pounds to the $1, so they have had to increase their prices.

On social media, the Arabic hashtag #BringBackOurMedicineSubsidies has been trending on Twitter and Facebook.  This sign reads: "It is our right to live":

And this one reads: "No to raising medicine prices for renal patients".

Many pharmacies have shut down in protest and in the diaspora some are co-ordinating efforts to send medicine home.  

In a humanitarian initiative a pharmacy in Khartoum has put a up a sign saying: "Do not be shy to ask for your medicine if you don’t have money”: