Africa Highlights: Ghana father of 100 wants more children, Madonna opens Malawi hospital

Lack of vitamin A causes blindness and even death in African children.

Scientists in Australia have genetically-engineered a banana with an extra dose of the nutrient. Professor James Dale explains.

We reported earlier that US pop superstar Madonna was in Malawi to open a newly built children's hospital wing in Malawi that was funded by her charity.

She has now posted a video of her arrival at the hospital which is based in Malawi's second city of Blantyre.

A woman who acted as a legal analyst for the media during the Oscar Pistorius trial has appeared in court charged with fraud.

Brenda Wardle - who denies the charges - is accused of pretending to be a practising attorney and offering to represent a convicted murderer.

She appeared at Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Monday, South African media report.

She featured as an expert on the BBC during the 2014 Pistorius trial.

Ms Wardle also published a book called To Kill A Fragile Rose: The State's Case Against Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius.

For more read:Pistorius legal analyst Brenda Wardle on fraud charges

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Suspects behind the March 2015 attack on the Bardo museum in the capital, Tunis in which 21 foreign tourists and a police officer were killed have appeared in court, AFP reports quoting court officials.

The so called Islamic State claimed the attack.

A defence lawyer Samir Ben Amor told AFP that 21 detained suspects, including two women were present at the unannounced hearing.

Another defence lawyer, Rafik Ghak says that nearly 30 people are also being tried in absentia. None of the suspects were named.

Since the revolution in 2011 over 120 security officers, and 20 civilians as well as 59 foreign tourists have been killed in militant attacks according to an official tally.

Over 5,000 Tunisians have left the country to join militant islamist groups mainly in Iraq, Syria and Libya, AFP reports.

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Championship side Hull City have signed Chelsea defender Ola Aina, 20, on a season-long loan.

The full-back made three substitute appearances in the Premier League and one in the FA Cup, and started two EFL Cup games last season.

He is the first major arrival at Hull since Leonid Slutsky was appointed as manager in June.

Aina who was born in London has declared his allegiance to Nigeria.

"I'm very excited to be here and it is the start of a new chapter in my career. I just want to hit the ground running," Aina told Hull's website.

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Nigeria's first lady has warned that "hyenas and jackals" will be banished in a cryptic Facebook post apparently aimed at her husband's officials.

Aisha Buhari's comments seem to be directed towards powerful ruling party politicians, says the BBC's Naziru Mikailu, in the capital Abuja.

The senior politicians appear to be suspected of manoeuvring for the presidency or deputy presidency while her husband is ill.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been in London since May receiving treatment.

The vice-president has been acting in his place while he is out of the country, but there is no suggestion he is part of any plot against Mr Buhari.

Mrs Buhari, who is also in London, says her 74 year old husband is recuperating well.

For more read: Nigeria first lady Aisha Buhari warns off 'hyenas' on Facebook

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Today is World Population Day - and one man in Ghana has 100 reasons to mark his particular contribution.

Kofi Asilenu, 80, is the father of 100 children by 12 wives.

He lives with his family in a village called Amankrom, a 45-minute drive from the capital Accra.

His family make up a third of the 600 people in the village.

He told me that he wanted a big family because he did not have siblings:

Quote Message: I don’t have any brother or uncle, that’s why I decided to have many children so that they can give me a befitting burial when I die. In my home town if you give birth to one child they will say you are important so I want to have many children."

I don’t have any brother or uncle, that’s why I decided to have many children so that they can give me a befitting burial when I die. In my home town if you give birth to one child they will say you are important so I want to have many children."

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His big family has, however, come at a cost. He says that he was well off financially, but his resources have mostly been drained due to the cost of raising such a large brood - even though he says now he gets financial help from his children.

Kofi Asilenu looks physically strong and even says he is willing to have more children - despite having mistakenly proposed to one of his daughters three years ago.

The embarrassing incident meant he was forced to apologise to her, explaining that he had an eye problem so he could not recognise her.

As for his wives, they are all happy with the set up.

First wife Nayome Asilenu told the BBC:

Quote Message: When I married my husband and he decided to marry more women, I didn’t have any option. He’s able to take care of us, pay the children’s school fees. They are healthy and strong so there’s nothing wrong with that."

When I married my husband and he decided to marry more women, I didn’t have any option. He’s able to take care of us, pay the children’s school fees. They are healthy and strong so there’s nothing wrong with that."

Polygamy was preferred in Ghana, to have many children was seen as a symbol of wealth. However, things have changed with women having more control on deciding how many children they can have and also birth control measures have been promoted nationwide.

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The stage is set for the 10th and final edition of the IAAF World Under-18 Championships, at the Safaricom stadium Kasarani in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

This is after the IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe gave the venue a big thumps up, thanks to a $25m (£20m) renovation.

More than 800 athletes from at least 131 countries have already arrived in the country ahead of tomorrow's official opening.

Organisers have planned a grand opening ceremony to be hosted by the President of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) Lord Sebastian Coe and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

When Lord Coe visited the 30-year-old, newly refurbished stadium, he was treated to a trip down memory lane.

He got an opportunity to meet some of his stiffest rivals during his days as a competing athlete- including Billy Konchella the former 800m World Champion.

He said it was a pleasure to meet some of his former rivals:

Quote Message: So much of my career was defined by competing against Kenyan athletes this is incredible to meet some of my fierce rivals."

So much of my career was defined by competing against Kenyan athletes this is incredible to meet some of my fierce rivals."

Quote Message: It’s a great pleasure to even get an opportunity to remind them of the good times across the world’’

It’s a great pleasure to even get an opportunity to remind them of the good times across the world’’

Coe a former track and field world champion was impressed by the work on the ground and declared Nairobi ready for the biggest athletics event ever to be hosted on African soil:

Quote Message: Kenya is actually hosting the largest ever world Athletics championships to ever be held in Africa . This will be a formidable championship"

Kenya is actually hosting the largest ever world Athletics championships to ever be held in Africa . This will be a formidable championship"

Security is extremely tight at the venue with a police station set up on the grounds.

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Tanzania's national sports council, the body in charge of sport management in the country, has been dissolved following allegations of corruption.

This news has not come as a surprise as it has long been accused of incompetence.

While dissolving the council, the sports minister Harrison Mwakyembe, said their failure to improve sports in the country had nothing to do with a shortage of funds but rather out of negligence.

He also accused the council’s operation of being dominated by corruption.

However the former Secretary General of the council Mohammed Kiganja denies this:

Quote Message: First of all, I must say that there was no corruption in the council. Though corruption has dominated the sports(sector) in the country in general.

First of all, I must say that there was no corruption in the council. Though corruption has dominated the sports(sector) in the country in general.

Quote Message: If you go to elections in the football clubs, from the district to national level you’ll also find these problems”

If you go to elections in the football clubs, from the district to national level you’ll also find these problems”

The shut down of the council comes just a fortnight after the president and other top officials of the country’s football federation were charged with money laundering.

Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor has announced her book has been picked up by arguably the world's most famous fantasy fiction writer, George RR Martin.

The man behind the hugely successful Game of Thrones series looks set to be executive producer on Okorafor's 2012 book "Who Fears Death".

She shared the exciting news on Twitter:

A university campus used as military base for the last decade has been handed back to Somalia's government.

In what appears to be another step to normalcy, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) today gave back the main campus of Somalia's National University, the BBC's Mogadishu reporter, Ibrahim Mohamed Adan, said.

The rundown campus has been used as a base by AMISOM for 10 years.

At the ceremony was the AU representative for Somalia, Francisco Caetano Jose Madeira, Somalia's education minister, Abdirahman Dahir Osman, Italy's ambassador to Somalia, Carlo Campanile, and the UN special representative, Michael Keating.

Ibrahim Mohamed AdanCopyright: Ibrahim Mohamed Adan

Ibrahim Mohamed AdanCopyright: Ibrahim Mohamed Adan

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Ibrahim Mohamed AdanCopyright: Ibrahim Mohamed Adan

Everton manager Ronald Koeman has confirmed that English international Wayne Rooney will play against Kenya’s Gor Mahia in a friendly in Tanzania on Thursday.

It will be Rooney’s first match back in an Everton shirt since he returned to the club from Manchester United.

Koeman told the Everon website: “I’ve been several times to Africa but never to Tanzania, I’m looking forward to it. We leave on Tuesday evening and are back on Friday."

That’s good because it’s not too long and it won’t have a negative effect on our pre-season. This is our first friendly and everybody will be involved for 45 minutes in the game. You play football to win and we will do that in Tanzania.”

A Burkinabe musician is hoping to encourage more women to pick up traditional instruments.

Salimata Diabate overcame many challenges in order to pursue a career in music whilst growing up in Burkina Faso.

Ms Diabate is now a renowned singer and balafon player and she hopes others will follow her lead.

The international humanitarian NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling for the release of three of its members four years from the day they were abducted in North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo)

According to a statement four of them were in North Kivu, on July 11 2013, to assess medical needs in Kamango, in the region when they were abducted during an attack on the village by the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The ADF has been operating in Uganda and DR Congo since the late 1990's.

In August 2014 one of four who had been taken hostage managed to escape during an operation by the Congolese army against the ADF.

There has however not been no news of the whereabouts of Philippe Bundya Musongelwa, Richard Muhindo Matabishi and Romy Ya-Dunia Ntibanyendera.

The statement says that the ADF continues to fuel a climate of terror in the region between the Rwenzori Mountains and the forests of Virunga National Park.

Abductions are still common and hundreds of people- Congolese, Ugandans, Burundians and Tanzanians have disappeared in this regional conflict.

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One of Uganda's top Afrobeats musicians, Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, has been sworn in as a member of parliament, the local New Vision newspaper is reporting

The paper says he was sworn in by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, at the parliamentary buildings in the capital, Kampala, following his victory in a by-election last month.

She gave him a copy of the house rules and the constitution:

Quote Message: “Honorable Kyagulanyi I congratulate and welcome you to the 10th parliament. Here is a copy of the rules of procedure and constitution. Study them and they will guide you."

“Honorable Kyagulanyi I congratulate and welcome you to the 10th parliament. Here is a copy of the rules of procedure and constitution. Study them and they will guide you."

Since he is an independent MP, Mr Kyagulanyi was asked to choose which side of the house he preferred to sit and he picked the opposition side, the New Vision reports.

See earlier post for more details

US pop superstar Madonna is due to open a children's hospital wing in Malawi's second city of Blantyre, that her charity, Raising Malawi, has built.

The Mercy and James Centre is named after two of her four adopted Malawian children.

The paediatric hospital unit has taken two years to build and includes three operating theatres and a 50-bed ward.

It is the first specialist health unit for children in the southern African nation, doubling the capacity for paediatric care at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, the report says.

Madonna tweeted a video of the new hospital wing:

President Peter Mutharika is expected to attend the opening ceremony.

Madonna, 58, set up the Raising Malawi charity in 2006, and has been a regular visitor to Malawi.

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South Africa's Communist Party (SACP), a key ally of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has banned President Jacob Zuma from addressing its congress this week, the party spokeswoman told AFP news agency reports.

Hlengiwe Nkonyane said the decision was based on Mr Zuma's political problems:

"We advised the ANC that due to the tensions we are having... it would be best for the president not to address the national congress."

It will be the first time that President Zuma, who came to power in 2009, has not addressed the congress, held every four years, AFP reports.

SACP has been increasingly critical of Mr Zuma and called on him to step down over his alleged scandals and his connections to the controversial Gupta family, which is said to have undue influence over his government, a situation that has negatively affected ANC's public support.

In May, he was forced to abandon a rally after he was jeered by the crowd, and the SACP said it did not want the same to happen at its event.

The SACP, along with the ANC and the trade union federation Cosatu, was at the forefront of the struggle to end white-minority rule that led to the first non-racial elections in 1994.

Mr Zuma will on 8 August face a motion of no-confidence in parliament called by the opposition.

He is due to step down as ANC leader in December and as national president ahead of the 2019 election.

Zimbabwean cultural expert Pathisa Nyathi explains how important dance and other performance arts are to many African cultures.

He spoke to Zeinab Badawi as part of the History of Africa documentary series:

There is plenty of excitement around Uganda's capital Kampala.

As we reported earlier one of the country's best known Afrobeat musicians, Bobi Wine, is being sworn in today as a member of parliament.

Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, won his seat as an independent candidate in a by-election held at the end of June.

An entourage of bodaboda riders ( motorycycle taxis) have taken to the street to escort him to parliament buildings:

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