Africa highlights: Femi Kuti admits sax record failure, Mugabe takes medical leave

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa should recover slightly to 2.6% this year after a more than two-decade low in 2016 as commodity exporters faced lower prices, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reports. 

The slight rebound will be driven by a recovery in oil production in Nigeria, higher public spending ahead of elections in Angola, and South Africa's recovery from drought, the IMF said in its regional economic outlook.

The UN says that the number of peacekeepers killed in a deadly attack on their convoy in the Central African Republic by the anti-Balaka militia group has risen to "three or four". 

In a statement it said:

Quote Message: The four peacekeepers went missing in action after a deadly attack on their convoy on Monday night near the village of Yogofongo, 20km (12 miles) from Bangassou. During the exchange of fire, one Cambodian peacekeeper and eight anti-Balaka elements were killed. There are a number of injured on both sides."

The four peacekeepers went missing in action after a deadly attack on their convoy on Monday night near the village of Yogofongo, 20km (12 miles) from Bangassou. During the exchange of fire, one Cambodian peacekeeper and eight anti-Balaka elements were killed. There are a number of injured on both sides."

Read more: Central African Republic country profile

For the second time this year, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, 93, has travelled to Singapore for a medical check-up, with no details released of the tests he would undergo. 

Some Twitter users have been drawing parallels with Nigeria's 74-year-old President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently in the UK for treatment for an unspecified illness. 

Both have come under heavy criticism for seeking treatment abroad:

See earlier post for more details

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The main opposition bloc in the Democratic Republic of Congo has rejected the new transitional government appointed by President Joseph Kabila. 

It described the government as illegitimate and in contravention of a power-sharing agreement.

 Most of the nearly 60 ministers whose names were read out on state television had been in the previous administration.

 The power-sharing accord was aimed at ending political violence which broke out over Mr Kabila's refusal to stand down at the end of his mandate in December. 

The opposition agreed to allow Mr Kabila to remain in power until a new presidential election, which the transitional government is supposed to organise this year. 

The Ugandan government has said it hopes to raise £2bn (£1.5bn) at an international refugee summit next month to help it cope with refugees arriving from neighbouring South Sudan. 

Almost 800,000 South Sudanese have fled to Uganda since civil war broke out in their country four years ago, just two years after independence. 

Uganda said it expected many more to follow, and that it was struggling to feed the influx. 

It said the hoped-for funding would finance relief operations for the next year. 

Read more: The wooden bridge between death and safety

AFPCopyright: AFP

Nearly 250 people are feared drowned after two shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean over the weekend.

Some 163 people are missing after a boat reportedly sank off the Libyan coast on Sunday, the UN said.

Another sank on Friday night and, though some 50 people were rescued and taken to Sicily, about 82 are missing.

The central Mediterranean route for illegal migration to Europe is currently the busiest. It is also one of the most deadly, the UN says.

Read the full BBC story here

Four of the five lions that escaped from South Africa's famous Kruger National Park have been captured, a local journalist has tweeted:

Game rangers fired tranquiliser darts at the lions from a helicopter, reports the BBC's Milton Nkosi from the main city, Johannesburg. 

A massive operation is still under way in an area near the park to capture the remaining lion, he adds. 

The lions had killed cattle since they escaped from the park, which covers an area the size of Israel, our reporter says.  

It is still unclear how the lions got out of the fenced park.

A gas explosion near Takoradi, the oil hub of Ghana, has injured more than 100 people, local media report. 

The injured, who include firefighters, are being treated in local hospitals, local CitiFM news reports.

At least even fire engines have been deployed to the scene of the explosion to bring the fire under control. 

The exact cause of the explosion, which happened early this morning, is not yet known. 

Star TVCopyright: Star TV

Star TVCopyright: Star TV

The UN says one of its peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR) has been killed and several others are wounded or missing after a UN convoy was ambushed. 

The patrol, made up of Cambodian and Moroccan troops, was returning to base from an engineering project in the south-east of the country. 

Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, confirmed on social media that the dead peacekeeper was an army captain.

No group has said it carried out the attack, which is the latest against international agencies in the country. 

The CAR has been caught up in a sectarian conflict ever since the overthrow of President Francois Bozize by rebels four years ago.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

South Africa hopes to stage the 2023 Rugby World Cup after the government lifted a ban on hosting sports events.

The ban was imposed on rugby, cricket, athletics and netball last year after they failed to meet diversity targets.

Athletics is the only federation not to have its sanction lifted.

SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said South Africa can "now put the finishing touches to an outstanding bid" - France and Ireland are also in the running and a decision will be made in November.

Alexander added: "This is great news and a tribute to the work that the sport has been doing in recent years to stay in tune and relevant to modern South Africa."

The Springboks won the Rugby World Cup when they hosted it in 1995. 

Read the full BBC Sport story 

It turns out that Femi Kuti, son of late Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, didn't set a new world record on Sunday when he held a single note on a saxophone for 46mins 38secs (see video above for a clip). 

Kuti, an internationally renowned musician in his own right, admitted that the celebrations from his family and fans had been premature, after he mistakenly thought that he had surpassed the previous longest note played by US saxophonist Kenny G.

The official Guinness World Record for "the longest continuous note on a saxophone using the circular breathing method" is in fact held by Vann Burchfield (USA), who managed 47mins, 5secs back in 2000, as one tweeter pointed out:

But Femi has taken to Twitter to say that he will make another attempt to break the record:

In the meantime, he might need to ask his sister, Yenia Kuti, to take down her Instagram post from Sunday, in which she shared a photo of him making the attempt at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, hailing him as "a world champ".

The convoy of South Sudan's Vice-President Taban Deng Gai has been attacked, according to Reuters news agency and local sources. 

The vice-president has not been hurt, Information Minister Jacob Akech Deng told Reuters.

Local media are reporting that it was the advance security convoy of the vice-president that was hit while travelling to Bor ahead of a planned visit by the vice-president.

Eye Radio Juba says that Mr Gai was due to fly separately to the town.

And it would appear that he has now arrived in Bor, according to this tweet from the UN-backed Radio Miraya: 

One of the soldiers caught up in the attack was quoted as telling local Radio Tamzauj:

"We were informed about the ambush, so we jump off the vehicles and tried to take positions but [the attackers] kept shooting at us and wounded three soldiers among us."

Read more:

• Country profile
• South Sudan crisis: One million child refugees

Kenya's health minister Cleopa Mailu has said that the ministry is committed to "prudent financial management and accountability", in his first reaction to the US government's decision to suspend aid worth $21m (£16m) because of concerns about corruption.

The ministry had been in contact with the US government to address its concerns with a view to lifting the suspension, he added.

The freeze in aid affected programmes related to administrative support, not "direct health service delivery", the minister said. 

Funding to promote family planning and to tackle HIV/Aids has not been suspended, Dr Mailu said, in a statement. 

See earlier post for more details 

The five lions which escaped from the Kruger National Park in South Africa are sub-adults, and were believed to have been chased out by a dominant pride, game rangers have said.  

Two of the lions were captured on a farm near the world famous park in South Africa's eastern Mpumalanga province. 

A journalist with a local broadcaster has been tweeting video footage from the operation:  

See earlier post for more details

The US has suspended about $21m (£16m) in aid to Kenya's ministry of health following allegations of corruption, according to an official statement.  

 "We took this step because of ongoing concern about reports of corruption and weak accounting procedures at the ministry," the statement by the US embassy in Kenya said. 

"The action is intended to ensure that health care spending reaches those in need, and to protect US taxpayer money," it added. 

The embassy said it was working with the ministry to improve accounting and internal controls and it hoped to restore the funding when "appropriate progress" was made.  

The $21m was only a small portion of the overall US health investment in Kenya, which exceeded $650m, it added. 

"Our support for life-saving and essential health services, such as providing anti-retroviral therapy for a million Kenyans, is not affected by the suspension. We will continue to provide funding for health services and medications going directly to Kenyans," the statement said.

See earlier post for more details

Dramatic video footage has emerged from South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province of bulldozers being used to overturn a police van during a protest by workers at the entrance of the port in Richards Bay town.

A road safety campaign group has tweeted the video:  

The protesters are understood to be unhappy about working conditions, South Africa's The Citizen newspaper reports. 

Police fired shots and the public has been urged to stay away from the port area, according to the Zululand Observer. 

Meanwhile, roads were blocked with burning tyres and rocks in Edendale, a residential neghbourhood in southern Johannesburg, reports the BBC's Pumza Fihani from the city. 

Protesting residents accuse the government of being slow to tackle the housing crisis, saying they have been waiting for over 20 years for proper homes. 

Zimbabwean Blessing Fire grew up using a wheelchair after being unable to walk from childhood. 

He watched his gymnast brother perform and from there began to learn dance moves.

The BBC's Steve Vickers went to meet him in the capital Harare:

Zimbabwe's 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe has flown to Singapore for a "routine medical check-up", the state-owned Herald newspaper reports. 

The world's oldest ruler, who has appeared increasingly frail in public, addressed delegates at a World Economic Forum meeting in South Africa last week in what AFP news agency described as a "slurred tone while slumped in his seat".

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Mr Mugabe is expected back home in time for Saturday's funeral of former chief justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, the Herald reports.

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa is performing his duties in his absence. 

Despite Mr Mugabe's advancing age, the ruling Zanu-PF party has endorsed him as its candidate in next year's presidential election.

At a rally in February, his wife, Grace Mugabe, said: "One day when God decides that Mugabe dies, we will have his corpse appear as a candidate on the ballot paper." 

Mr Mugabe has been in power since independence in 1980. 

Read: Why Zimbabweans are spending nights outside banks

More than 1,000 migrants have been moved out of their encampment in the French capital, Paris, following a police operation to shut it down. 

The migrants, mainly Afghans and Sudanese, had been living in the makeshift settlement under an overpass in the Porte de la Chapelle area. 

They've been taken in buses to be housed in temporary accommodation. 

Thousands of migrants were removed from a separate camp in Paris in a similar operation in November. 

The numbers seeking accommodation increased after the closure last October of the camp known as the Jungle near the northern port of Calais.