Africa highlights: Uganda's pop star MP, Trump pictured with Chibok girls

JOSSE JOSSECopyright: JOSSE JOSSE

When Terry Gobanga - then Terry Apudo - didn't show up to her wedding, nobody could have guessed that she had been abducted, raped and left for dead by the roadside. She told her story to BBC Outlook:

Quote Message: It was going to be a very big wedding. I was a pastor, so all our church members were coming, as well as all our relatives. When I didn't show up to the church, my parents were panicking. People were sent out to search for me. Rumours flew. After a few hours, they had to take down the decorations to make room for the next ceremony."

It was going to be a very big wedding. I was a pastor, so all our church members were coming, as well as all our relatives. When I didn't show up to the church, my parents were panicking. People were sent out to search for me. Rumours flew. After a few hours, they had to take down the decorations to make room for the next ceremony."

It was the first of two tragedies to hit the young Nairobi pastor in quick succession. But she is a survivor.

Read full story on the BBC News website.

Guinea-Bissau is cutting off Portuguese public radio and TV at midnight tonight, reports Diario de Noticias newspaper.

It says Guinean media minister Vítor Pereira announced the suspension of RTP, RDP and Lusa Agency today, saying the cooperation agreement in the media sector signed between Lisbon and Bissau has run out.

The newspaper quoted RTP as saying: "Guineans have reduced their power of choice and their access to information and programming done with rigour, exemption and pluralism".

Radio France International adds that the suspension will take effect at midnight.

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Quartz news site points out US President Donald Trump is considering cutting aid in the same week he met two women who were kidnapped by the Nigerian Islamist militants Boko Haram.

It adds that the White House still doesn't appear to have given any more information about Mr Trump's meeting with Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu.

It says the only thing the White House said about the visit is when they published this photo on the White House Facebook page, saying it was "photo of the day" on 28 June:

People Magazine published a profile of Ms Bishara and Ms Pogu earlier this month saying they were among a few who managed to escape on the night of the kidnapping and were brought to the US in August of 2014 to attend a Christian boarding school.

Angola's economy is dominated by oil but away from the sector farmers are reclaiming mine fields to grow cash crops like bananas.

Farmers in the fledgling sector still use manual labour to tend their crops but they are beginning to reap the benefits of exporting the fruit to Europe.

The BBC's Taurai Maduna reports for the Africa Business Report on the opportunities and challenges that farmers are facing:

At least 60 people are believed to have drowned after a dinghy they were travelling in sank off Libya's coast on Monday, according to survivors' accounts, the AFP news agency reports.

At least 80 people were rescued and brought safely to Italy.

Survivors say that the inflatable boat was carrying 140 -150 people and began letting in water five hours into the journey.

Thousands of migrants, mostly from Africa, have died while attempting to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Namibia’s Julius Indongo will fight the US's Terence Crawford on 19 August in Nebraska – to become the unified and undisputed world super lightweight champion of the world.

Indongo currently holds the WBA and IBF titles while Crawford holds the WBC and WBO versions of the belts.

Indongo added the WBA crown to his IBF one when he beat Scotland’s Ricky Burns on points in April.

In this week's edition of our satire Resident Presidents Olushambles and Kibarkingmad are trying to make sense of diplomacy in the Middle East crisis.

Saudi Arabia is leading several nations including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to blockade Qatar.

The two presidents try to find common ground to resolve the growing crisis:

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Liverpool are willing to pay a club record fee to bring RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita to Anfield.

The club are yet to bid for Keita, who scored eight league goals last season.

However, manager Jurgen Klopp is a huge admirer and the Anfield hierarchy look certain to test Leipzig's determination to keep someone who has been a central figure in their success with a firm offer.

Keita has been touted as having a £70m price tag, although he has a £48m release clause in his contract that can be unlocked next summer.

But Leipzig insist the 22-year-old Guinea international will not be sold this summer after they qualified for this season's Champions League.

Read more on the BBC News website.

At least 22 people have been killed in three days of fighting in the town of Zemio in southeastern Central African Republic (CAR), reports Reuters news agency.

The fighting between armed Fulani herders and militia members, a member of parliament from the area and a local journalist said.

Gunfire began on Wednesday and continued into the following day and into today, Reuters adds.

Two German tourists were stabbed with a knife in an artisan market in the Tunisian coastal city of Nabeul this morning.

The incident does not appear to be terror related. The two victims of the stabbing are a mother and her 27- year-old daughter who are in Tunisia on holiday.

The attacker, believed to be a man in his late thirties, was arrested by the tourism police in the market where the incident took place.

A joint statement from the Ministry of Interior and Tourism in Tunis described the assailant as having mental health problems:

Quote Message: What happened has no connection to terrorism… the mother was lightly injured on the shoulder and has been treated."

What happened has no connection to terrorism… the mother was lightly injured on the shoulder and has been treated."

The daughter sustained deeper wounds in the lower back and is in hospital, but the authorities have described her condition as stable.

The ministry of interior spokesman told local media that the preliminary investigation showed the assailant has been undergoing psychiatric care since 2011. The investigation is still ongoing.

A local media in South Africa is reporting that the Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete has set 3 August to debate a motion of no confidence against President Jacob Zuma.

Opposition parties had gone to the constitutional court weeks ago to seek a ruling that would compel the speaker to allow lawmakers to vote in secret after she refused to accept their push.

The court ruled that the speaker has the power to order a secret ballot, which opposition members are hoping would free lawmakers from the ruling African National Congress to back their push to remove Mr Zuma, who has been facing growing pressure to resign over several alleged corruption scandals.

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After more than 13 years, the UN officially ends its mission in Ivory Coast today as the country is at peace.

It witnessed the country’s second civil war in 2010 and at its height it had more than 12,000 peacekeeping troops, police and UN staff on the ground.

UN peacekeepers arrived in 2004 when the country was already split in two.

Rebel forces controlled the north, the government controlled the south.

A second civil war in 2010 forced more than a million people from their homes and more than 3,000 were killed.

Aïchatou Mindaoudou is the last Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Ivory Coast. Se told me that the main achievement is that the country is united.

“Almost 67,000 ex combatants have been disarmed, demobilised and also reintegrated. For the first time in October 2015 an election has been organised since the crisis and it was organised without any incident.”

Ivory Coast may no longer be at war but some fear the country’s still not ready for the United Nations to leave.

There have been two army mutinies already this year, bringing the entire country to a halt.

An alleged head of a kidnapping ring in Lagos, Nigeria is suing the Inspector-General of Police.

Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, who is better known as Evans, says he was unlawfully detained and a subject of trial by media.

He stated that he should be charged or released.

Police have told the BBC that they obtained an order from the Federal High Court to hold him for three months to enable them carry out investigations.

Read full story

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Judith BabiryeCopyright: Judith Babirye

We reported earlier that Ugandan Afrobeats singer Bobi Wine has been elected as an MP in a by-election. It's a bit of a trend in Uganda for celebrities to turn to politics. Here are few of the others:

• Gospel Musician Judith Babirye is now MP for Buikwe District. The soulful singer had never indicated she would become a politician until the 2015-2016 campaign period. She campaigned on the ruling NRM ticket and won. Her music is popular with all Ugandans, Christian or not, and is played even at weddings.

• Kato Lubwama, stage-actor, comedian, radio presenter and voice-artist is MP for Lubaga South, a division in Kampala. Mr Lubwama was a presenter on Buganda Kingdom-owned Central Broadcasting Corporation radio, a very entertaining current affairs show, and a member of the Diamond Ensemble theater group. He has always been an active member of the opposition Democratic Party, and beat veteran politician John Ken Lukyamuzi.

• General Elly Tumwine, one of the army representatives in parliament, is also a singer, painter, fashion designer, and a former director of the National Theater.

• Radio presenter Peter Ssematimba, also a former musician, had been elected MP for Busiro South, Wakiso District, though he lost his seat in a post-election petition that contested his academic qualifications.

Angolan artists Binelde Hyrcan and Paulo Kussy are challenging the stereotype of what African art should look like.

The two artists whose works have found fans beyond their home country were featured on BBC's Africa Business Report programme:

The ex-wife of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, appears to have forced South African President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to shake hands on stage:

You can watch the video here and decide for yourself:

The two were on stage at the ruling ANC party's policy conference in Johannesburg.

Mr Ramaphosa is vying to replace Mr Zuma and has been lambasting the president for his links with the wealthy Gupta family.

One of the revelations in the emails, known as GuptaLeaks, is that President Zuma was hoping to take up residency in the United Arab Emirates. A claim that was denied.

Others appear to show that the Gupta family exerts undue influence over the government.

Read more on the BBC News website.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Tanzania's parliament should pass three bills next week that would allow the country to force mining and energy companies to renegotiate their contracts, Justice Minister Palamagamba Kabudi told Reuters news agency.

Many major multinational companies could be affected by the new laws, Reuters adds.

President John Magufuli sacked the mining minister in May.

Earlier this month, a presidential commission said Tanzania has lost 188 trillion Tanzanian shillings ($84bn) over 19 years due to mining companies under-reporting the amount of minerals they have been exporting, something the companies dispute.

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Ride-hailing service Uber is rolling out a face recognition feature on its app to help verify its registered drivers and prevent impostors from picking up passengers, business site Quartz reports.

The article explains that the new safety feature asks drivers to “periodically” take selfies in the Uber app before they accept rides.

If the photo of the driver doesn’t match the one registered to the account, then that account is blocked, it says.

The same feature has also been rolled out in India and China.

The Norwegian Refugee Council has warned that less than one third of the needs for emergency assistance across the world has been covered halfway into the year.

The UN and humanitarian organisations have appealed for $23bn (£18bn) this year but $15bn are still missing.

The charity says that the appeals for DR Congo, Sudan, Chad, Cameroon and Mali are all less than 25% covered. The charity describes them as "neglected crises".

In Cameroon, where the security forces are fighting the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, it says, the lack of funding has resulted in cuts in food rations.

In Congo, where more than a million people have been forced out of their homes by the violence in the central Kasai province, it says many displaced children are not able to go to school.

The charity says the funding gap will claim lives that could have been easily spared.

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