Africa highlights: Kenyan forces 'kill 57 militants' in Somalia, Eritrea rejects Ethiopia attack claim

BBCCopyright: BBC

The Democratic Republic of Congo government has reacted to a UN report accusing security forces of deliberately killing demonstrators.

The government said it rejected the report, describing the allegations as fake news intended to harm the Congolese authorities. 

The UN report, released on Tuesday, said at least 40 civilians had died in December's demonstrations against President Joseph Kabila in the capital, Kinshasa.

The report alleged that some of the protesters were beaten to death by Congolese soldiers and police. 

Information Minister Lambert Mende said the thrust of the report was an attempt to discredit the country's judicial, political and security institutions rather than to bring justice to the victims. 

The country has faced a crisis since Mr Kabila failed to step down in December, when his mandate expired.  

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Egypt's top appeals court has acquitted former President Hosni Mubarak of conspiring in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising.

Mr Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 2012, but the case was retried twice.

Thursday's Court of Cassation ruling is final, which could mean the ailing 88 year old is freed from detention.

He has been confined to a military hospital despite having completed a three-year sentence for embezzlement.

Read more here.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Scores of African footballers play professionally in Europe but how many Europeans play professionally in Africa? 

BBC Africa's sport correspondent draws our attention to a rare instance of a European international making the move to Africa. 

Aid worker Mukhtar Mohamed has tweeted these photos showing the effects of drought in Somalia. 

Two of the images show donkeys carrying a severely weakened camel away from a drought-stricken area.

Gambian leader Adama Barrow has retweeted a photo of himself with Senegalese President Macky Sall, as he embarks on his first official trip since assuming office last month. 

Senegal, which borders The Gambia on three sides, was a big supporter of Mr Barrow, hosting his swearing-in ceremony in Dakar when long-time Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh was still refusing to give up power. 

Mr Barrow and Mr Sall are due to hold a news conference at the presidential palace in Dakar later.

Adama Barrow: From estate agent to Gambian president

The Kenyan army says its forces killed 57 al-Shabab Islamist militants in a battle in southern Somalia on Wednesday.

Kenyan troops under the African Union command (Amisom) used artillery and helicopter gunships against the Islamists near Afmadow, a town about 100 km (60 miles) inland from the port of Kismayo, a military statement said. 

Al-Shabab has denied any of its fighters were killed as part of the offensive.

The militants are locked in a propaganda war against Kenya, alongside the fierce fighting which happens on the ground. 

In January 2016, the militant group attacked a Kenyan army base in Somalia and said it had killed more than 100 soldiers.

The Kenyan government, which denied the figures, was heavily criticised for never saying how many of its soldiers died in the attack.

You can read the full statement below: 

Kenya Defence MinistryCopyright: Kenya Defence Ministry

Read more: What happened when al-Shabab attacked a Kenyan base in Somalia?

Senegal and Crystal Palace footballer Pape Souare has posted a short video of himself running on a treadmill, six months after he was badly injured in a car crash outside London. 

In December, Souare had said he did not know if he would fully recover after breaking his thigh bone and jaw in the accident.

Here's what he told the BBC then .

Some South Africans have been drawing attention to this story , published on Westside Eldos last November, which said a 2012 report had warned of structural defects at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital.

The report said staff had been concerned about the condition of the building for some time.

Westside EldosCopyright: Westside Eldos

A hospital official has told reporters that all five patients who were affected by the roof collapse suffered only minor, soft tissue injuries and none required operations.

It is believed that there may be between five and seven workers still trapped by the debris at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg.

Here's another view of the scene.

More on the roof collapse at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg: Gauteng Emergency Medical Service head Arnold Malotana has said sealing work was being carried out on the roof when it collapsed.

"They were doing it in phases, so they’ll seal one area and move rubble in one area," he said. "It is estimated that at the time of the collapse there were about 10/12 people working in the area. 

"So far about four people have already been taken to casualty with minor injuries," he said.

A section of roof caved in earlier at a Johannesburg hospital, trapping several patients under the rubble, South African media has reported. 

Charlotte Maxeke is one of the province’s busiest public hospitals seeing hundreds of patients every day. 

No injuries have been confirmed at this stage but paramedics are on standby while workers secure the site and dig through the debris. 

A spokesperson for the emergency services told News24 that six people had been stuck in the debris when they arrived on the scene. Some are believed to have since been removed.

@KremTaylorCopyright: @KremTaylor

Rachel Dolezal, who made global headlines in 2015 after she was accused of lying about her race, has officially changed her name to  Nkechi Amare Diallo , according to the UK's Daily Mail newspaper, which says it has seen legal documents confirming the change. 

When her story first came to light, race rights activist Dolezal told US media that she has identified as black since childhood, though her parents insisted she was white. 

Her new names are taken from several different West African cultures.

Nkechi, according to our Igbo-speaking BBC reporter based in south-east Nigeria, means "gift from Almighty God" or "I accept whatever child God gives me". 

It's the abbreviated feminine form of the compound name nkechinyere (nke-chi-nyere).

Another colleague, whose last name is Diallo, doesn't know if the name has a specific meaning, but says it's one of the most popular names among people from the Fulani ethnic group.

A drug given to pregnant women in 35 countries worldwide to protect against malaria has been shown also to safeguard against common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to new research. 

The findings mean that one drug may offer protection simultaneously for two areas that pose major health risks to mothers and their babies. 

As well as protecting mothers against malaria, the sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) was also shown to safeguard against the consequences of gonorrhoea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said. 

There are 880,000 stillbirths and 1.2 million newborn deaths each year in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which are linked to maternal infection.

The authors hope that preventative treatment for pregnant mothers in malaria-hit regions will be scaled up as a result of the findings. 

South Africa's central bank has said some of its private shareholders have been amassing shares in breach of legal ownership limits, endangering the regulator's independence, Reuters reports.

The bank said it would sell nearly 150,000 of its shares owned by people who have bought too many.

The ownership limits, set by the courts, are intended to prevent undue influence in the banking regulator.

South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the bank had identified certain people who had been amassing shares - a practice he said posed a danger to the bank's independence.

He did not name them.

"These shareholders who decided to buy shares as families and as associates, you could see that they were trying to exert undue influence, or influence disproportionate to the statutory limit," Reuters quoted Mr Kganyago as saying.

Read more via the link below.

A power blackout at Malawi's parliament building has left at least one person needing medical attention, after he got stuck in a lift, according to a tweet by the Malawi Nation newspaper:

It says the power cut has led to the suspension of parliamentary business:

Malawians experience power outages for an average of between six to 12 hours every day. 

The cuts have been heavily affecting small businesses, who have to rely on expensive generators.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Read more: Can 'pay as you glow' solve Malawi's power crisis?

AFPCopyright: AFP

Nigerian health officials have confirmed a case of Lassa fever in Borno state, in the north-east of the country.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Haruna Mshelia, told the BBC that a 32-year-old woman who lives in a village near the state capital, Maiduguri, had been diagnosed with the fever.

He said she became ill last week and was admitted to a government hospital in Maiduguri, where a sample of her blood was taken and sent to Lagos for testing. The sample came back positive, he said.

Lassa fever was first discovered in Lassa village in southern Borno in 1969. It is an acute and sometimes fatal disease, usually acquired from infected rats.

You can read more about Lassa fever on the World Health Organization website .

Ethiopian long-distance-running legend Haile Gebrselassie believes doping could be stamped out in his country if an athlete who failed a test for meldonium was sent to prison, Reuters news agency reports. 

Ethiopia has dominated international distance running for many years along with neighbouring Kenya, but the country's credibility was questioned in 2016 when six athletes came under investigation for doping.  

Police are investigating marathon runner Girmay Birhanu for breaching an anti-doping law after he failed a test last year and he could face three years in prison, Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) president, told Reuters.

Gebrselassie, a double Olympic 10,000m champion who retired from running in 2015, was elected EAF president in November.  

Read the full story -  Mysteries of elephant sleep revealed

More on our earlier entry about the search for a South African boy who fell into a disused mineshaft in Boksburg at the weekend. These images show South African armed forces personnel now at the scene.