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Live Reporting

Dickens Olewe and Farouk Chothia

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Monday's stories

    We'll be back tomorrow

    A reminder of our African proverb of the day:

    Quote Message: An early start is always better than a visit to the witchdoctor." from A Luo proverb from Kenya sent by Achola Muir, Edinburgh, UK
    A Luo proverb from Kenya sent by Achola Muir, Edinburgh, UK

    Click here to send us your African proverbs

    We leave you with this image from the @checkoutafrica Instagram account:

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  2. South African dynasty?

    Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is congratulated by her former husband, South African President Jacob Zuma, on July 16, 2012 in Addis Ababa
    Image caption: Ms Dlamini-Zuma hopes to succeed Mr Zuma as president

    As Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma steps down as the head of the African Union Commission, will she take over from her ex-husband as president of South Africa?

    For two decades Ms Dlamini-Zuma has been the quiet juggernaut of South African politics. Tough, highly educated, competent, aloof, and most importantly, rarely out of a job.

    The 67-year-old medical doctor has served in the cabinets of all four of South Africa's post-apartheid presidents - demonstrating an instinct for political survival and a capacity for endurance shared by few of her colleagues. Since 1994 she has been minister of health, foreign affairs and home affairs.

    But now comes what may be Ms Dlamini-Zuma's defining challenge.

    After four years away from South Africa's fractious political battles, as chairperson of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, she is poised to return home to run for the leadership of the governing ANC this December - a job that could, in turn, catapult her to the country's presidency in the 2019 national elections.

    Read the fill BBC story here

  3. Huge support for Morocco in AU

     Morocco regained membership of the African Union (AU) after the backing of the overwhelming majority of states, AFP new agency reports.  

     There was a very long debate but 39 of our 54 states approved the return of Morocco, even if the Western Sahara question remains," Senegalese President Macky Sall told journalists. 

    People have been reacting on Twitter to the decision: 

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    View more on twitter
  4. BreakingMorocco rejoins AU

    Morocco has been readmitted as a member of the African Union (AU), reports the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza from the AU heads of state summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. 

    It lobbied intensely to rejoin the AU, some 30 years after it left the now-defunct Organisation of African Union after it recognised Western Sahara as an independent state. 

    Morocco regards it as part of its territory. 

    King Mohammed VI of Morocco waves to crowds of men dressed in traditional white robes during Throne Day Celebrations at the Royal Palace on July 31, 2006 in Rabat, Morocco
    Image caption: Morocco's King Mohammed VI pushed for the country to return to the pan-African bdy
  5. Benin sect members who waited for world to end die

    Five members of a controversial religious sect in Benin have died from asphyxiation after they locked themselves into prayer rooms and burned incense and charcoal as they waited for the world to end, residents and a survivor have said, Reuters news agency reports. 

    The sect, whose name in French translates as the "Very Holy Church of Jesus Christ of Baname", has thousands of followers across the West African state and is strongly opposed to the local voodoo culture.

    Voodoo devotees walk through a palm tree plantation on their way to the annual Voodoo Festival on January 10, 2017 in Ouidah.
    Image caption: About 40% of people in Benin are said to follow voodoo

    The group's young leader, Vicentia Chanvoukini, known by her followers as "Lady Perfect", has proclaimed herself a god.

    Several people were hospitalised with respiratory problems following the weekend incident in Adjarra town, some five kilometres (3 miles) north-east of the capital, Porto Novo. 

    One of them, Yves Aboua, said church members were told to stay in their prayer rooms so that they would not be "not to be held accountable" when the world ended, Reuters reported. 

    It also quoted him as saying: 

    Quote Message: With the help of old cloths, we sealed off all of the exits to the prayer room before using incandescent charcoal and incense to prepare for the descent of the Holy Spirit."
  6. Kenya's divided over AU Chair loss

    Kenyans are reacting to the failure of Foreign Minister Amina Mohammed to clinch the post of African Union commission chief. 

    Ms Mohammed was seen as a front-runner but she lost to her Chadian counterpart Mouassa Faki Mahamat after seven rounds of voting. 

    People are using #WhyAminaLost to celebrate her defeat and to mock her candidacy while others are congratulating her. 

    Her candidacy divided Kenyans along political lines and the messages being shared on Twitter reflect these divisions:  

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter

    Others want the public to ask the government to account for the money that was spent campaigning for Ms Mohammed's candidacy: 

    View more on twitter
  7. Who is the new AU commission chief

    Moussa Faki Mahamat

    Here are some key facts about new African Union commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat: 

    *Age: 56 (born on 21 June 1960 in Biltine in eastern Chad)

    * Political career:  Minister of foreign affairs until this afternoon and prime minister from 2003 to 2005

    * His dream: An Africa where the "sound of guns will be drowned out by cultural songs and rumbling factories"

    * His pledge: To streamline the bureaucracy in the AU during his four-year term in office and to promote development and security.

  8. Kenya congratulates Chad for AU post

    Kenya's government has congratulated Chad's foreign minister Moussa Faki Mahamat after he beat his Kenyan counterpart Amina Mohammed in the race for the chairmanship of the African Union (AU) commission. 

    "We pledge to work with him to defend the pan-African agenda of integration for Africa, as well as democracy, sovereignty and prosperity for all of its people, the statement said. 

    Amina Mohammed
    Image caption: Ms Mohammed had hoped to succeed South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

    It also paid tribute to Ms Mohammed, saying, her candidacy marked the "re-emergence of Kenya at the very heart of the pan-African project."

    Ghana's former deputy foreign mInister Thomas Kwesi Quartey was chosen as Mr Faki's deputy. 

  9. Afcon 2017: Gabon's jungle stadium

    Gabon's Stade d'Oyem hosted its last match of the African Cup of Nations yesterday between Ghana and Ghana. 

    The newly built stadium is located deep in the jungle in northern Gabon making it difficult for fans to access it. 

    The BBC's Piers Edwards looks at the fate of the 20,000 seater stadium: 

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  10. Afcon 2017: The story so far

    The African Cup of Nations enters its final week in the central African nation of Gabon. Only four teams remain to challenge for the continent's biggest football crown. 

    We look back at the story so far and the mouthwatering matches to look forward to: 

    Video content

    Video caption: Afcon 2017: The story so far
  11. 'All 86 wives' at Nigerian man's deathbed

    Muhammadu Bello Masaba

    All 86 wives of Nigerian Muhammadu Bello Masaba were around him when he died on Saturday at the age of 93, his spokesman has told AFP news agency. 

    Salahu Bello said Mr Masaba, affectionately known as Baba or father, had left "a legacy of trust, compassion and submission to the will of Allah". 

     He added:

    Quote Message: He died at the age of 93 and anyone who lives to that age should be expected to have health challenges.
    Quote Message: Baba wouldn't take medicine and wouldn't advise people to take medicine. That is how he lived. His family is intact. All his 86 wives were around him when he died."

    In 2008, an Islamic court in Nigeria ruled he was unlawfully married to 86 women,  and told him he could keep only four. 

    Mr Masaba refused, saying he did not breach Islamic law.   

    At the time, all 86 wives and 20 of their 170 children protested outside the ministry of justice in the central city of Niger to show support of him. 

    See earlier post for more details

  12. Chad's FM 'wins battle for top AU post'

    Chadian Minister of foreign affairs, Moussa Faki Mahamat speaks during a meeting of foreign ministers from Sahel countries that back dialogue in Mali on June 16, 2014 in the Algerian capital Algiers.
    Image caption: Mr Faki had the strong backing of French-speaking nations

    Chad's foreign minister Moussa Faki has been elected as chairman of the African Union (AU) commission, succeeding South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a Chadian official has told Reuters news agency. 

    Mr Faki's main challenger in the last round of voting at the AU summit in Ethiopia was Kenya's foreign minister Amina Mohamed, Reuters added.

    The AFP news agency is also quoting diplomats as saying that Fakire will be next AU commission chief.  

  13. UN chief praises African states for welcoming refugees

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has praised African countries for being among the world's largest and most generous hosts of refugees. 

     Mr Guterres, who was speaking at an African Union summit in Ethiopia, said the continent was keeping its borders open at a time when some of the most developed countries were closing theirs. 

    His comments are being interpreted by correspondents as a veiled criticism of the executive order issued by President Donald Trump suspending immigration from seven mainly-Muslim countries.

  14. US travel ban: ' The US has rejected me'

    Fatuma Hassan

    Fatuma Hassan,a Somali refugee in Kenya, says she never married to avoid complicating efforts to move to the US:

    Quote Message: I was born in Dadaab refugee camp in Harargdere. I’m 18 years old and my family have been refugees since 1991.
    Quote Message: Today I’m worried about this issue of Donald Trump banning refugees because our future depended on this. We were not even allowed to marry by our families because if we married and had children our family said our resettlement case would be disrupted.
    Quote Message: Today our family was waiting to be sent to the orientation centre and to be flown to America but unfortunately this is what we are being told - that the US is no longer accepting Somali refugees.
    Quote Message: We were hoping to be taken to the orientation centre by April. All that is gone now. I’m thinking of collecting dirt [which is a Somali phrase for close to going mad]. Our only hope is to persevere, because we are Muslims. We are heartbroken by this. I’ve never seen Somalia. It’s not somewhere I can go back to. I was not born there. I don’t know anything about it. I was born when the country was in trouble.
    Quote Message: The US has rejected me. And I was hoping to get a good education and a better future. Here in Kenya I’m not getting any of that and I can’t go back to Somalia. I’m very worried.
    Quote Message: We don’t know what to do. The rest of our family is in Dadaab. I’m the only one here and there is nothing I’m doing. I’m a refugee. If I go out I’ll be asked for documents. I cannot work. I’m stuck here in the house. And now I’ve lost hope.
    Quote Message: Today I was told that some friends from Dadaab who are at the orientation centre have been sent back to the camp is buses. Others will be sent tomorrow. We have been here for 25 years as refugees. Today our hopes have been crushed and we don’t know what to do. We can’t go back to our country.
  15. US travel ban: 'We are so worried that we are not even eating'

    Fauzia Mohamud
    Image caption: Fauzia Mohamud says refugees who returned to Somalia have been killed

    Protests have intensified against President Trump's temporary ban on travellers coming into the US from a group of mainly-Muslim countries. 

    Mr Trump has accused the media of misrepresenting the new rules as a ban on Muslims.

    So how has this affected those on the continent hoping to settle in the United States? Particularly those of Somali origin?

    Fauzia Mohamud, a Somali refugee living in Kenya, says the US travel ban has crushed all her hopes:

    Quote Message: We are a large family, mainly made up of women. Some are here in Nairobi while others are in Dadaab refugee camp.
    Quote Message: I’m an urban refugee here in Nairobi while my sister is registered as a refugee in Dadaab.
    Quote Message: The ban has affected us so much. We are so worried that we are not even eating. We don’t know what to do. It has crushed all our hopes.
    Quote Message: It has changed our lives. We have been here for 27 years. Our country is not safe so we thought we would get safety and security in the US. Its unfortunate that the US is doing this to us while our country is not safe.
    Quote Message: I was hoping that I would be resettled in the US this year. I was informed that the US has accepted our resettlement request. I’ve gone through almost the whole process so I was expecting that I would be resettled in the next few months.
    Quote Message: I’ve been a refugee for 27 years but I began the refugee resettlement process three years ago.
    Quote Message: If it’s just a matter of vetting, its okay. But what we don’t want is discrimination. But we are disappointed that the president said he rejected all Somalis and that he discriminates against Somalis.
    Quote Message: We began by registering with UNHCR. There are two departments of the UNHCR: Protection and resettlement. Our case was first handled by the protection department. Then we were sent to the resettlement then back to protection again. The UNHCR then accepted our case, we were sent for the vetting process. All of this took us 3 years. But as refugees we have lived here for more than 20 years.
    Quote Message: Of the seven countries banned I think Somalis are the worst-hit because our country is in trouble and we are discriminated against in many places. So we thought the US was the only country that would give us refuge, give us an opportunity to work and build our lives. But unfortunately this is what the president has done.
    Quote Message: I’m so disappointed. I don’t think I’ll go to the US since the president says he doesn’t want refugees.
    Quote Message: I don’t think I’ll return to Somalia because there is no security there. Just last week there was this blast that killed many people. I don’t think it’s safe, I fear for my life and if I go back from Kenya I’ll be targeted by the terrorists. There’s no place we are safe. There is nowhere we are safe. Even America knows the challenges faced by the refugees who were repatriated to [Somalia's port city of Kismayo]. Some were killed! Others went back to the Dadaab refugee camp."
  16. Warning to Kenyan men: No voter card, no date

    Kenyan politicians are busy pushing their supporters to register to vote ahead of the 8 August general elections. 

    The registration has so far not met anticipated targets and several politicians and government bureaucrats have suggested controversial ideas to get people to register. 

    An opposition member of parliament called on women to deny their partners sex unless they register. 

    Deputy President William Ruto is now asking women to refuse to go on a date with men who do not have a voters' card. 

    Cartoonist Gaddo has been mocking politicians who have seemingly prioritised shoring up their political support instead of focusing on the suffering of people exposed to the ongoing drought: 

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  17. Trump ban 'a test' for African unity

    A woman cheers with a Somali flag during a protest held in response to President Donald Trump"s travel ban, in Seattle, Washington, U.S. January 29, 2017.
    Image caption: Somalis have been targeted by the ban

    The African Union (AU) was facing one of its "greatest tests" after US President Donald Trump banned citizens from seven countries - including three in Africa - from entering the country, AU commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has said. 

    Speaking at the pan-African body's annual smmit in Ethiopia, she said the world was entering "very turbulent times":

    Quote Message: It is clear that globally we are entering very turbulent times.
    Quote Message: For example, the very country to whom our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade, has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries.
    Quote Message: What do we do about this? Indeed, this is one of the greatest challenges and tests to our unity and solidarity."

     Mr Trump's executive order, signed on Friday, halted the entire US refugee programme for 120 days, indefinitely banned Syrian refugees and suspended all nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries - including Somalia, Sudan, Libya.  

    Those who were already mid-flight were detained on arrival - even if they held valid US visas or other immigration permits. It is not known how many others were turned away at airports overseas as they tried to board flights to the US.  

    In a statement, Mr Trump said visas would once again be issued once "the most secure policies" were in place.  

    Map

    Read: Victims vent fury

  18. Afcon: All set for semifinals

    Egypt knocked out Morocco to reach the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals as substitute Mahmoud Abdel-Moneim prodded home a dramatic 87th-minute winner.

    Mohammed Salah had twice been denied by Munir Mohamedi, but prior to the goal Morocco missed a host of good chances.

    Aziz Bouhaddouz failed to connect with a cross from two yards out, before seeing a header deflected just wide.

    And Morocco defender Romain Saiss and midfielder Mbark Boussoufa were both denied by the crossbar.

    Egypt go on to play Burkina Faso, who beat Tunisia 2-0 in their quarter-final on Saturday.

    In Sunday's other quarter-final, Ghana beat DR Congo 2-1 to set up a meeting with Cameroon, who knocked out Senegal.

    The semifinal matches will be played on the 1 and 2 February. 

    Egypt vs Morocco
  19. Tanzania suspends mining after trapped workers rescued

    Rescuing trapped miners

    Tanzania's government has suspended mining at a site in Geita town in the north-western region, where 15 artisan miners were rescued yesterday after being trapped underground for three days, to assess the safety of mines. 

    Fourteen Tanzanians and one Chinese were rescued from the Chinese-owned gold mine, called RZ Gold mine. 

    BBC Swahili reporter Halima Nyanza, who witnessed the rescue mission yesterday, said the mood at the scene was both emotional and jubilant as relatives watched the miners being brought up. 

    Rescuing trapped miners
    Rescuing trapped miners

    The trapped miners looked weak and in need of emergencey treatment. They were quickly taken to a nearby health centre

    An investigation to determine what what caused the accident is under way but this is not an isolated incident. 

    In November , Tanzania hailed the "miraculous" rescue of five miners who were trapped underground for more than 40 days. 

    The majority of the miners are from surrounding villages and sometimes include children.

    If they find gold, they sell it to a dealer - and live off the money for a few weeks before going back underground.

    There are many small gold mines in western Tanzania. Most of them are largely unregulated, with little or no health and safety considerations.

    Rescuing trapped miners
  20. Slavery monument demolished in Nigeria

    Alhaji Lai Mohammed (C)
    Image caption: The minister has promised to punish those who punished the monument

    Nigeria's government will not tolerate the destruction of national monuments, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said. 

    He gave the assurance when he visited the site of a monument, a 190-year-old Brazilian-styled building built by returning slaves, destroyed by private developers in the commercial capital, Lagos. 

    In a statement, he said the government would fight in court to regain the site with the aim of rebuilding the monument : 

    Quote Message: Because they wanted to develop this place, they have broken so many laws. Fortunately, this is a country of laws and we are ready to meet them in court...
    Quote Message: It is like a living monument of our past. It was a monument that exhibited the Brazilian architecture of that time, which is rare to come by anywhere in the world.
    Quote Message: It is a remembrance of what our ancestors went through in slavery and how they triumphed, came back and showed that they were well-to-do.
    Quote Message: The important thing is that a people without history will perish very fast. This building was worth billions of dollars because it symbolised our past.
    Quote Message: No amount of skyscrapers can replace this history and all important monument that has been demolished, and I want to assure you that nobody can profit from his crime.
    Quote Message: I want to assure Nigerians that we are going to pursue whoever has destroyed this place. It may take time, but the hand of the law is long and the wheel of justice grinds slowly but surely."