Africa highlights: Tuesday 7 July 2015

The main opposition party in Angola, Unita, has been granted permission to visit the 15 youths who were arrested last month on suspicion of planning to carry out acts aimed at disrupting public order and removing President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Among the detainees are rapper and activist Beirao and 19-year-old Manuel Nito Alves, who was jailed for two months in 2013 for printing anti-dos Santos T-shirts.

They were arrested on Saturday 20 June after police raided a house where they were reading what the police called "subversive books".

UnitaCopyright: Unita

Since March 2011, a youth movement has been calling for pro-democracy protests.

A funeral was held today in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, for a father and two young boys, who were killed last month in a police attack in the city, the Associated Press reports:

APCopyright: AP

Regional leaders are urging Burundi's government to delay presidential elections, scheduled for July 15, by two weeks.

Trading in water is a good business in Nigeria's capital. Water sellers are known as "mai-ruwa" and buy water from borehole owners in affluent suburbs and then sell it to people within their neighbourhoods.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Dutse Alhaji, a suburb of Abuja, is one of the many communities where residents depend on local water dispensers for their daily water needs:

BBCCopyright: BBC

Reports from northern Nigerian state of Kaduna say security has beefed up across after 25 people, many of them teachers, were killed in a suicide attack in Zaria city.

A spokesman for the governor of the state, who visited the scene of the attack, said he was shocked with what he saw.

"There was serious flow of bloods, it's quite unfortunate, it's condemnable," Samuel Aruwan told BBC Focus on Africa radio.

He said the government is working very hard to end the violence.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The unveiling of an ugly copy of a famously beautiful bust of Queen Nefertiti caused Egyptians to mock the authorities as well as the current state of art in the country, BBC Trending reports.

The photo on the right shows the famous bust of Nefertiti in the Neues museum in Berlin; on the left, the replica that sparked an outcry in Egypt. Facebook user Wael Saad commented: "This is how Egyptian art has evolved over the years."

Facebook Wael SaddCopyright: Facebook Wael Sadd

The first African to ever wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France - South Africa's Daryl Impey, who led the race for a short time in 2013 - has been forced to withdraw from this year's competition because of an injury.

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He courageously finished Monday's stage with a broken collarbone after being involved in one of the two multi-rider crashes.

Kenya-born British rider Chris Froome leads this year's race and has a one-second lead overall.

The highest placed African in the overall standings at the start of today's stage is South African Jacgues Van Rensburg, who rides for the MTN- Qhubeka team. He is 36th - three minutes and 40 seconds behind Froome.

Nigeria are in advanced talks with former national team captain Sunday Oliseh about their vacant coaching post, BBC Sport understands.

Stephen Keshi, who led Nigeria to the Nations Cup title in 2013 and also steered the team to the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup, was sacked on Saturday.

But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has moved to fill the vacant post by approaching Oliseh who holds a Uefa Pro coaching licence.

NFF technical director Shaibu Amodu and assistant coach Salisu Yusuf were both named as interim coaches but Oliseh is expected to be named as a permanent coach in a matter of days.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Kenya's new central bank governor rejected the grand house that comes with his prestigious job.

The BBC's Abdinoor Maalim says it is a rare move which has created a lot of interest in the single 54-year-old, who is a member of the Catholic group Opus Dei.

Central Bank of KenyaCopyright: Central Bank of Kenya

Kenyans are used to senior government officials leading lavish lifestyles.

Burundi's electoral commission has announced that the ruling CNDD-FDD party has won last week's parliamentary election.

The commission spokesman told the BBC turnout, which was 75% nationally, had been low in the districts of Bujumbura, where there had been protests, but that in some provinces outside the capital it was as high as 98%.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The vote took place despite a boycott by the main opposition parties and international calls for a postponement.

At least 70 have died and 150,000 people have fled the country since the president announced in April that he would seek a third term, which opponents say is illegal.

Nigerians have been reacting on social media to a series of militants attacks that have killed more than 200 people in recent days. 

In the latest attack, a suspected suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, many of them school teachers, in the city of Zaria this morning.

Some are asking President Muhammadu Buhari to do more to stop the bloodshed:

The authorities in Senegal have asked Tunisia to take action against those responsible for humiliating one of its diplomat working at its embassy in Tunis.

Senegal's ambassador to Tunisia, Khady Tall Diagne, told the BBC that the diplomat showed his papers to police officers who then beat him in front of his three-year-old son at a Tunisian airport.

A video of the incident has been widely circulated on the internet in Senegal, shocking many people.

Nigeria's army says it has made "considerable success" in the fight against terrorism despite the recent wave of militants attacks.

"This time last year, the military were losing equipments, territories, troops and personnel but it is the reverse now. The terrorists are rather on the run," said Chief of Army Staff General Kenneth Minimah in a statement.

More than 200 people have been killed in recent days in separate attacks largely blamed on Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Burundi's ruling CNDD-FDD party has rejected the recommendation of Monday's summit of East African leaders that the country's presidential election be postponed again from 15 July to 30 July.

A statement from party chairman Pascal Nyabenda said the proposal would be "outside the constitutional time limits" as the poll needed to take place "at least one month and at most two months before the expiration date for the outgoing presidential term".

Dozens of people have been killed in protests in Burundi since Mr Nkurunziza announced his bid for a third term in April.

APCopyright: AP

South Sudanese model Nykhor Paul has hit out at make-up artists for not having the right products for those with darker skin tones.

"Dear white people in the fashion world!" she said in a passionate plea on her Instagram account.

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"Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional show when all the other white girls don't have to do anything but show up?" she asked.

"Don't try to make me feel bad because I am blue black it's 2015."

She said make-up artists should come prepared and do their research and "stop apologising".

"It's insulting and disrespectful to me and my race it doesn't help, seriously," she said.

Her comments attracted nearly 800 comments - one saying "You tell 'em! That is so on point!" and nearly 4,000 likes.

Nykhor on InstagramCopyright: Nykhor on Instagram

Pictures have come in of the deadly suicide attack that killed at least 25 people in the northern Nigerian city of Zaria.

EPACopyright: EPA

Most of the victims were primary school teachers and other civil servants who were queuing up at a government office to be screened for jobs.

EPACopyright: EPA

Ghana will be resuming the collection of TV licence fees from August - with a huge hike in the price.

It was suspended in 2010 after difficulties in organising the collection as officers used to walk up from door to door gathering the one US cent annual fee. Now domestic TV users with one set will have to pay about $9 (£5) annually - and those with more than two TV sets will pay $15 every year.

BBCCopyright: BBC

There is now a plan to register people by linking up with TV sellers as from next year people will have to have digital televisions to get a signal.

Seventy-two percent of money collected will go to the state broadcaster, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and 15% to the private broadcasters.

The announcement has caused a stir on social media with many saying they are not impressed by GBC's current output and see no justification for paying the tax, which people now have to pay at banks or post offices as well as through commissioned agents.

Ethiopia's Federal High Court has found 18 Muslims guilty for terrorism charges, AllAfrica.com quotes an article from Ethiopia's The Reporter as saying.

The accused were detained in 2012 on charges of "attempting to establish a religious government, practising a religion that preaches extremism", and breach of "religious rights enshrined under the constitution".

Their arrest followed weeks of protests against the then Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC) leadership, which many in the Muslim community had said did not represent them.

Sentencing is due on 4 August.

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South Africa's Kevin Anderson has been knocked out of Wimbledon after losing the fifth set 7-5 against defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic, who had to come from two sets down yesterday.

The Serb now progresses to the quarter-finals where he will face Croatia's Marin Cilic, who won the US Open last year.

Anderson served two double faults in the eleventh game the ultimately allowed Djokovic to earn the win.

BBC Focus on Africa radio presenter tweets about his interview with Ghanaian singer Rebecca Acheampong, known as Becca.

The number of people killed in today's attack in Nigeria's city of Zaria has reached 25, with 32 others injured, the office of the Kaduna state governor has said.

It also confirmed that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.

Rain at Wimbledon delayed the start of the final set between South African Kevin Anderson and world number one Novak Djokovic, but play has now resumed. Anderson served and won the first game of the final set, before the Serb pulled it back to 1-1.

APCopyright: AP

A reminder that it was two sets all on Monday evening when bad light stopped play at the UK's top tennis lawn championship.

BBC Africa sport reporter tweets on the latest football club deals for Nigerian players:

The victims of today's bomb blast in Zaria, in northern Nigeria, were primary school teachers and other civil servants who were queuing up at a government office to be screened for jobs.

It seems inevitable that more attacks are being planned by Islamist Boko Haram militants and the governor of Kaduna state has called for people to be vigilant and avoid crowded places like markets, mosques, churches and bus parks in the coming weeks.

The police chief has ordered a greater security presence at such venues, but once the bombs have been made it is extremely difficult to prevent these soft targets from being hit.

In a sign of how jittery the authorities have become, the police have banned people selling goods on the streets of the capital, Abuja.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Ethiopia has been selected as the world's best tourist destination for the year 2015 by the European Council on Tourism and Trade.

It says the country has rich cultural and historical sites recognised and registered as Unesco World Heritage monuments.

The Ethiopian embassy in UK celebrated the award by tweeting these pictures:

Ethiopian UK EmbassyCopyright: Ethiopian UK Embassy

Ethiopia UK embassyCopyright: Ethiopia UK embassy

The Tanzanian capital is abuzz as the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party starts its primaries to decide who will run as its candidate for president later this year.

Traders have set up shop outside party's headquarters, selling goods - many with the CCM logo:

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

With the influx of visitors, photographers at Mwalimu Nyerere Square in Dodoma are also hoping to do a good trade as tourists like to buy snaps of themselves at one of the city's most famous sites, which is named after the country's founding father:

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Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Bolton Wanderers have signed former Real Madrid defender Derik Osede. The 22-year-old centre-back penned a three-year deal.

Although Madrid-born Osede has represented Spain at every youth level, he revealed to BBC Sport his desire to play for the Nigeria's national team, the Super Eagles.

An Islamist militant released last year in Mali in exchange for the freedom of a French hostage has been killed, a Malian security forces spokesman has said.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Mohamed Ali Ag Wadossene died in a French operation early on Sunday morning in the Tigharghar mountains in the northern Kidal region, he said.

The office of the Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has released a video of the president participating in several activities across the country. 

He is shown carrying stones on a building site and taking part in other charity and sporting events.

Mr Nkurunziza's controversial decision to stand for a third term in elections due on July 15, has sparked violence protests and a failed coup attempt.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) lacks the "capacity and culture" to deal with global health emergencies, the chair of a new independent report on Ebola says.

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Dame Barbara Stocking said the WHO failed in its handling of the current outbreak, which began early last year.

But the ex-head of Oxfam says the WHO is not solely to blame and that the whole humanitarian system lacked foresight.

The Kenya Red Cross says it is transferring by plane eight people who were wounded in the overnight al-Shabab militant attack in Mandera country to the capital, Nairobi.

It tweeted some photos from the airport in Mandera, in north-eastern Kenya:

Kenya Red CrossCopyright: Kenya Red Cross

Kenya Red CrossCopyright: Kenya Red Cross

The winner of this year's prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing, Zambian writer Namwali Serpell, has told the BBC she will share her £10,000 ($15,600) prize with the other four runners-up.

Caine PrizeCopyright: Caine Prize

"It is very awkward to be placed into this position of competition with other writers that you respect immensely and you feel yourself put into a sort of American idol or race horse situation when actually you all want to support each other," the US-based author told the BBC's Newsday programme.

The judges described her short story, The Sack, as "innovative, stylistically stunning, haunting and enigmatic".

The Algerian footballer says he is happy to stay at his north London club for another five years:

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a $1.7bn (£1.1bn) intervention package to help bankrupt states pay workers salaries.

At least 12 of the 36 states of the country are believed to owe their workers more than $550m in salaries and allowances.

Some workers have not been paid for seven months.

The government revenue, which depends largely on crude oil export, has fallen sharply in recent months because of a fall in global oil prices.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

In a move that is designed to facilitate trade between China and Africa, the central banks of China and South Africa have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a yuan clearing business in South Africa.

The idea is to make currency flows and thus trade easier between South Africa and China, essentially reducing the need to deal in US dollars.

The yuan clearing will be the first such arrangements for the Chinese currency in Africa. For China, the motivation is also to increase the global reach of the yuan.

Exactly when this clearing facility will be up and running remains unclear, but it does point to the increasing evolution of the trade relationship between China and Africa.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The governor of Kaduna state has been tweeting about an attack in Zaria that targeted civil servants registering to work for the new state government at the local government headquarters:

He says the government is working with security agency to end the wave of militant Islamist attacks in the country:

The governor of Kaduna state in northern Nigeria, Nasir El-Rufa'i, has said at least 20 people were killed in the suspected suicide attack targeting civil servants in Zaria city.

Reports from Zaria city in north-western Nigeria say a suspected suicide bomber has attacked a group of civil servants registering to work for the new state government at the local government headquarters.

Details of casualties are sketchy at the moment, but eyewitnesses say many people lost their lives while several others were injured.

Emergency workers are now at the scene.

The Somali-based al-Shabab Islamist group says it carried out the overnight attack in Kenya's north-eastern Mandera county that killed at least 14 people who are believed to have been workers from a local quarry.

This latest incident is likely to put the spotlight on the Kenyan authorities again over their handling of the security situation.

Just two weeks ago the government lifted a night-time curfew in the area after Muslim clerics said it impeded prayers during the month of Ramadan.

Al-Shabab militants had threatened to attack non-Muslims during this period.

A female suicide bomber blew herself up near a mosque on Monday night in northern Nigeria's city of Kano, witnesses and police say.

The bomber killed herself and injured another person, police spokesman Magaji Majiya told the BBC.

The attack is the latest in a series of deadly attacks in recent days which have seen more than 200 people killed across the country.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

South African tennis player Kevin Anderson and world number one Novak Djokovic will resume their fourth round match today for the deciding set at Wimbledon after bad light stopped play on Monday night.

Djokovic fought back from two sets down to level the match before its was stopped.

The winner will progress to the quarter finals.

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Zimbabwe's Cara Black is also in action again today having won both her doubles matches yesterday.

She is due to play in the mixed doubles with her partner Juan-Sebastian Cabal of Colombia against Canada's Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic of France.

At least 11 people have been killed and several others wounded in a gun attack near a military camp at the Kenyan border with Somalia.

It is believed the victims were workers from a local quarry in Mandera county in the north-east of the country.

Residents told the BBC they had heard two explosions, followed by heavy gunfire in the middle of the night.

It is suspected the militia group al-Shabab, which operates out of Somalia, is behind the attack.

APCopyright: AP

Today's African proverb: It's preferable to fight with a friend than to cheat him. An Oromo proverb sent by Berhanmeskel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Hello and welcome to Tuesday's BBC Africa Live page where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with the news developments on the continent.