Africa highlights: Nigeria billionaires' wealth row, Nollywood actress dies

US special operators are carrying out nearly 100 missions at any given time in Africa, Vice News reports, citing military documents it has obtained.

It’s the latest sign of the military’s quiet but ever-expanding presence on the continent, one that represents the most dramatic growth in the deployment of America’s elite troops to any region of the globe, it adds.

Popular Nigerian actress Moji Olaiya has died in Canada of cardiac arrest at the age of 42, according to local media.

A spokesman for the Theatre Arts and Motion Picture Association of Nigeria, Yomi Fash-Lanso, said he learned with a "heavy heart" of her sudden death.

It came a few days after she gave birth, he said.

In his tribute, the president of the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Ibeh, said:

Quote Message: In her little way she contributed to the development of Nollywood [Nigeria's equivalent of Holywood] and she will be greatly missed by her friends."

In her little way she contributed to the development of Nollywood [Nigeria's equivalent of Holywood] and she will be greatly missed by her friends."

BBCCopyright: BBC

Parliament in Uganda has passed a motion to extend the deadline to verify Sim cards as many mobile phone owners battled to meet the deadline of tomorrow.

The extension is for an unspecified period, but cannot exceed a year.

Ugandans were required to re-register their Sim cards with government-issued ID cards, but many people do not have them.

The motion - tabled by Winnie Kiiza, the parliamentary leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Chang - says that other official documents like passports, driving permits and voters' cards can also be used.

Ugandans have gone on social media to express their relief:

See earlier post for more details

The spate of violent attacks on women and children in South Africa represents a "crisis", President Jacob Zuma has said, as he visited the family of a three-year old girl who was raped and killed.

Mr Zuma said that 19 children had been murdered so far this year in Western Cape, one of South Africa's nine provinces.

"We as the citizens of this country must say enough is enough," Mr Zuma said, following a visit to the family of toddler Courtney Pieters.

She went missing from her home in Cape Town, the main city in Western Cape, on 4 May. Her body was found more than a week later buried in a shallow grave.

"This is one of the saddest incidents I've come across. It's a crisis in the country, the manner in which women and children are being killed," Mr Zuma said.

The bodies of four murdered women were discovered at the weekend in and around Soweto, a famous township near the commercial capital Johannesburg, according to local media.

The killings have sparked outrage on Twitter:

Read: South Africa 'crippled' by rape culture

BBCCopyright: BBC

Air Zimbabwe says it is working to rectify problems that have led to it being banned from flying to airports in the European Union (EU) because of safety concerns.

In a statement to the BBC, the state-owned carrier said it was currently not flying to Europe but "we have listened to our customers who have requested direct flights" to the continent.

Air Zimbabwe was modernising its systems "in line with current best practise", it added.

In the past the carrier has said it has an impeccable safety record and has had no fatalities since independence in 1980.

Nigeria's government has retracted its announcement that the latest girl to escape from Boko Haram captivity was among the 276 Chibok girls whose abduction in 2014 caused global outrage.

The 15-year-old went to the same school as the Chibok girls, but was kidnapped in a separate incident, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina told the BBC.

Yesterday, Mr Adesina said the girl was found by government troops after she escaped, and the news was broken to the cabinet by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

The militant Islamists raided a boarding school in the small town of Chibok in north-eastern Nigeria in April 2014, seizing the 276 girls.

A total of 113 of them remain in captivity. The militants released 82 earlier this month in a prisoner swap.

While the Chibok Girls are the most high-profile cases known, aid organisations say that Boko Haram has captured thousands of people in north-eastern Nigeria.

EPACopyright: EPA

Read: The town that lost its girls

With parts of Africa hit by drought, experts are looking at ways of helping farmers and food producers find more efficient methods to store crops, to prevent food and grain being eaten by rats, or other vermin.

It is estimated that 30% of food is lost, or wasted, after it is harvested and fruit or vegetables often perish on their way to markets, because trucks are delayed by bad roads.

The challenge of preserving crops is a big problem for farmers and food producers in Kenya, as the BBC’s Michael Kaloki has been finding out.

Three teenage boys have appeared in court in South Africa after being accused of sexually abusing a little girl at a school in Johannesburg.

The matter was reported to the police on 4 Apri but the boys were not suspended until nearly three weeks later.

This prompted an angry response from parents who fear sexual abuse is not being taken seriously in South Africa's schools.

A study published in the British Medical Journal last year by researchers in Cape Town, found that one in three young South Africans will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives.

Child Welfare campaigners in South Africa say they are receiving reports of youngsters being sexually assaulted by other children- often in the playground -on a monthly basis.

GettyCopyright: Getty

Edson Chidziya, the former head of Zimbabwe's National Parks, has been charged with criminal abuse of office over a missing consignment of rhino horns.

Mr Chidziya is accused of mismanagement that led to a security breach and the theft from a strongroom of rhino horns worth $3m (£2.3m).

They disappeared between 2012 and 2015 and were never recovered.

Mr Chidziya was released on bail of $200 along with three other parks staff.

Zimbabwe has a massive stockpile of high-value rhino horns and elephant ivory which it cannot sell because of a global trade ban.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

On its 70th anniversary, the BBC's Talking Movies assesses the significance of the Cannes Film Festival and takes a look at this year’s line-up which features many films focused on real-life concerns, from climate change to animal exploitation to the plight of refugees.

Talking Movies’ Tom Brook reports.

In what some local media has described as a shock announcement, US car giant General Motors (GM) has announced that it plans to pull out of South Africa.

The firm intends to sell its factory in Port Elizabeth city, where it manufactures its Chevrolet brand, to Japan’s Isuzu Motors Ltd.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The Detroit based company said it is following its strategy of focusing cash and engineering effort on fewer, more profitable markets.

This announcement is not limited to South Africa.

GM said it would restructure its operations in India and Singapore as well.

It would cancel most of a planned $1bn (£770m) investment to build a new line of low-cost vehicles in India.

GM sold just 49,000 vehicles in India and South Africa last year.

The firm's president Stephan Jacoby said in a statement:

Quote Message: "After a thorough assessment of our South African operations, we believe it is best for Isuzu to integrate our light commercial vehicle manufacturing operations into its African business.

"After a thorough assessment of our South African operations, we believe it is best for Isuzu to integrate our light commercial vehicle manufacturing operations into its African business.

Quote Message: "We determined that continued or increased investment in manufacturing in South Africa would not provide GM the expected returns of other global investment opportunities."

"We determined that continued or increased investment in manufacturing in South Africa would not provide GM the expected returns of other global investment opportunities."

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, is Minister for Petroleum Resources in Nigeria. He tells BBC Hardtalk's Stephen Sackur he wants to ensure Nigeria is self-sufficient in oil by 2019 or he will resign.

You can see the interview in full on Monday 22 May on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel and after on BBC iPlayer (UK only).

Security sources in the Democratic Republic of Congo have told the BBC that more than 3,000 prisoners are believed to have escaped when armed men attacked the country's main prison early yesterday.

The authorities have said only around 50 prisoners got away.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The security sources also said dozens of people were killed during the attack on the Makala prison. The leader of the political-religious sect Bundu Dia Kongo is among those who escaped.

The police spokesperson told a local radio that the prisoners were dangerous, and called for anyone who saw them to tell the police.

The US government has approved plans to give Tanzania $526m (£400m) over the coming year to combat HIV/AIDS, its embassy in the East African state has said.

The aid will bring the number of Tanzanians on HIV treatment to up to 1.2 million and the ultimate goal was to "completely eliminate" Aids in Tanzania by 2030, it added.

Press EyeCopyright: Press Eye

Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say a police officer and at least five attackers were killed in yesterday's raid on the main prison in the capital, Kinshasa.

The government says supporters of jailed sect leader Ne Muanda Nsemi attacked the prison and freed him.

However, the Bundu Dia Kongo movement has told local media that the group had no involvement in the attack and that the whereabouts of Mr Nsemi, their spiritual leader, were unknown.

Local media reports say up to 100 people may have died in the raid while thousands of prisoners may have been able to escape from the prison.

There is no independent confirmation of the figures.

Find out more about DR Congo

Three members of the feared youth wing of Burundi's ruling party have been killed in a grenade explosion in the capital Bujumbura, police and witnesses have said, AFP news agency reports.

The perpetrator of the attack on the members of the Imbonerakure is not yet known, municipal police commissioner Bonfort Ndoreraho said, AFP adds.

An unnamed police source told AFP it was unclear whether the explosion was as a result of "an external attack or an accident."

Crirics accuse the Imbonerakure of being a militia which has used violence against opponents of President Pierre Nkurunziza and the ruling CNDD-FDD party.

The explosion happened yesterday evening in a house in the Musaga district, described by residents as a neighbourhood headquarters for the youth wing, AFP reports.

At least 439 people were killed and 240,000 fled to neighbouring states after unrest broke out in 2015 over Mr Nkurunziza's decision to extend his 10-year rule, according to the UN.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Read: Burundi's football-loving president

BBCCopyright: BBC

Long queues have been forming in parts of Uganda's capital Kampala today ahead of tomorrow's deadline to verify mobile Sim cards.

Hundreds are gathered at the Kololo Independence ground and Nakawa Urban Council headquarters, where ID registration has been ongoing.

In April, the Uganda Police and the Communications Commission issued a 7-day ultimatum for Ugandans to verify their Sim cards using their National ID details, as a measure of fighting increased crime in the country.

After a huge outcry this deadline was extended for a month.

Some of the telecommunication companies have already started deactivating cards and people have been venting their frustration via social media.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The process has, however, been plagued by glitches.

Some told me they have been coming to the registration point for three weeks without getting their IDs or ID numbers.

Others say they have submitted their biodata more than three times but their names still cannot be found in the electronic system.

Meanwhile, some have started the process all over again and are just filling in registration forms.

If government goes ahead with the planned de-activation of the sim cards, nearly seven out of the 21 million phone subscribers risk being switched off tomorrow.

Many people use their phones to facilitate financial transactions.

A total of 18 suspected cases of Ebola have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization has said.

There have been two confirmed cases of Ebola and three deaths.

The dead include a 39-year-old man identified as "patient zero" in preliminary investigations, and two others who had close contact with him, the WHO said.

It added that its risk assessment was "high at national level, medium at regional level and low at international level ".

WHO declared an Ebola outbreak in DR Congo last week.

More than 11,000 people died in the outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2015, mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Read: Why Ebola is so dangerous