Africa highlights: Mujuru 'offers $1.4m' to ex-white farmer, South Sudan leader proves he is alive

AFPCopyright: AFP

What would you do if your term as president is up?

Well, for Michel Kafando, the former president of Burkina Faso's transitional government, the answer is simple -  go to the countryside and do some gardening there. 

In an interview with French publication Jeune Afrique, Mr Kafando said: 

Quote Message: I retired here [in the countryside] as soon as the transition ended. Ever since, I literally tend to my garden in peace."

I retired here [in the countryside] as soon as the transition ended. Ever since, I literally tend to my garden in peace."

Touching on the coup which briefly interrupted the transition to democracy last year, Mr Kafando said he did not fear for his life when the dissident soldiers captured him:

Quote Message: I had the conviction that the coup would fail. However, I feared for the youths of this country when I grasped the magnitude of the popular resistance to the ex-presidential guards who staged the coup."

I had the conviction that the coup would fail. However, I feared for the youths of this country when I grasped the magnitude of the popular resistance to the ex-presidential guards who staged the coup."

Chicken meat is big business in Africa, yet the vast majority is imported, travelling thousands of miles from countries including Brazil, the United States and China.

So what is stopping African countries from developing their own poultry industries? And has anywhere succeeded?

Focus on Africa's Kim Chakanetsa investigates.

AFPCopyright: AFP

In Ivory Coast, the National Assembly has adopted a controversial draft constitution by a landslide, changing the eligibility rules for candidates running for president. 

The next step is to present the constitution to the electorate in a referendum. The opposition is likely to boycott the vote, making it easier for President Alassane Ouattara to gain the necessary majority for it to become the supreme law of the land. 

Mr Ouattara says the new constitution will lead to Ivory Coast turning a new page, ending many years of strife over who is eligible to serve as president.  

The issue might seem personal - it scraps the requirement that both parents of presidential candidates must be native-born Ivorians. This was used in the past to prevent Mr Ouattara from running for office. 

But many Ivorians will support the new draft, particularly those who have family ties to neighbouring states..They, like the president, faced discrimination, and were often accused of not being real Ivorians.

They tend to live in northern Ivory Coast where a rebellion was launched some 15 years ago against the then-government to end perceived discrimination.  

So if Mr Ouattara, a northerner, had left office without tackling the issue they would have felt betrayed. 

Read: Ivorian MPs back new constitution draft

South Korean tech giant Samsung announced yesterday that it's permanently ceasing production of its high-end Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after reports of devices it had deemed safe catching fire.

Our reporter Efrem Gebreab has just spotted an advisory at the international airport in Senegal's capital, Dakar, warning travellers not to take the devices on board:

BBCCopyright: BBC

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has made a public appearance, hours after rumours spread that he was ill and had flown to Germany for treatment. 

The government dismissed the rumours and in a video posted by online publication The National Courier on its Facebook page, Mr Kiir declares: "I was not dead". 

He added:

Quote Message: "I'm not the one responsible for my life, somebody who created me knows when he will call me."

"I'm not the one responsible for my life, somebody who created me knows when he will call me."

The video shows the president driving around the capital, Juba, in a motorcade waving at residents who had lined the streets. He was accompanied by government officials.

 The National Courier says the video was sourced from the Presidential Press Service.

  Watch the video below:  

AFPCopyright: AFP

The home of a Shia Muslim leader in northern Nigeria's Kaduna state has been torched, police say, as violence reportedly flared up in five states over Shia commemorations to mourn the killing of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein in 680 AD in modern-day Iraq.

Mutari Sahabi's home was set alight by unidentified youth, police said. 

He is a leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), the main Shia group banned in Kaduna.

Police said many Shia were wounded in the main northern city of Kano when they came under attack from young men. 

Officers rescued about 100 Shia from the attackers, police added. 

In Jos city in central Plateau state, a Shia centre was set alight, eyewitnesses said. 

Most Muslims in Nigeria belong to the rival Sunni sect. The two groups sharply disagree over Hussein's death, sometimes leading to clashes during the annual Shia-organised commemorations held on what is known in Islam as the day of Ashura.

See earlier post for more details 

Read: Islam's ancient schism

A warlord from the Democratic of Congo, who has been on the run since he escaped from prison in 2011, has surrendered, the Reuters news agency reports. 

Gedeon Kyungu is the leader of a regional separatist group, Bakata Katanga, which is Swahili for "Cut off Katanga."

The group has been operating in the south-eastern region of DR Congo where militia groups have attacked civilians and plundered vast mineral resources. 

Kyungu was in prison in DR Congo's second city, Lubumbashi, following his conviction for crimes against humanity, when he escaped, the provincial governor told Reuters.  

He turned himself in with about 100 fighters at a ceremony in the village of Malambwe on Tuesday, governor Jean Claude Kazembe said.

Mr Kazembe said he thought the surrender was part of a deal struck by the government and Kyungu wanted to take part in the government's demobilisation programme for rebels, a scheme that rights activists have criticised for integrating violent insurgent groups into the national army, Reuters reports.

.Copyright: .

IHRCCopyright: IHRC

A police spokesman in northern Nigeria's Katsina state has been unable to confirm reports that security forces have killed Shia Muslims holding a religious procession in Funtua town, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

Salisu Abubakar Agaisa said that casualty figures were unconfirmed, but noted that security forces were authorized to break up the annual processions held to mourn the killing of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein in 680 AD. 

He is quoted as saying:  

Quote Message: Any person or group of persons caught violating the order will be dealt with and prosecuted accordingly.''

Any person or group of persons caught violating the order will be dealt with and prosecuted accordingly.''

The state government in Katsina had banned the processions. 

Most Muslims in the state are members of the rival Sunni sect. 

The UK-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said at least 9 people had been killed in Katsina, three in Kaduna, and four in other states, bringing the total number of dead to 16. 

Nineteen-year-old Memory Banda is a gender rights activist who fights against the age-old custom in Malawi of sending girls to so-called "initiation camps" after they start their first period.

The camps aim is to teach girls their "duties as wives" and how to please a man sexually.

This is part a regular series on African Women You Need to Know.

Video journalist: Maryam Ghanbarzadeh

We reported earlier that a governor from the western region of Kenya has been criticised on social media for having his portrait printed on mock examination papers preparing students in his county for the national exams in November.

Kenya's Education Minister Fred Matiang'i has now cancelled the examinations and suspended education officials in Siaya county, the Star newspaper reports. 

Mr Matiang'i said in a statement on Wednesday that the officials "bore the greatest responsibility for the gross violation of set guidelines", the report says.   

The Star says the minister has ordered schools in Siaya county to make their own arrangements for the 8,000 students preparing for exams. 

The county had reportedly spent $16,788 (£13,659) on the examination papers. 

The county's education minister, Pamela Okello, had defended the decision to put Cornel Rasanga's photo on the papers, saying the aim was to ensure that the “pupils know their governor and have a closer relation with him".

IHRCCopyright: IHRC

At least 13 people are reported to have been killed and a mosque torched in violence which has swept through parts of northern Nigeria as Shia Muslims mark the martyrdom of a revered Islamic figure, a UK-based campaign group has said.  

Security forces opened fire on followers of the pro-Iranian Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in the northern town of Funtua in Katsina state, reportedly killing nine people, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said in a statement.

Three people are so far reported to have been killed in Kaduna city, a stronghold of the IMN, where the main mosque used by its followers was also set on fire, it added in a statement.

Another fatality was reported in the north-western state of Sokoto, IHRC said.  

Shia are holding annual processions across the world to mark the day of Ashura, when the Prophet Muhammad's grandson was killed in 680 AD. 

The processions have been banned in some northern Nigerian states, where most people belong to the rival Sunni Muslim sect.

The security forces have not yet commented on IHRC's allegations. 

Read earlier post for more details

AFPCopyright: AFP

A government inquiry in the Democratic Republic of Congo has found that the opposition was responsible for the deaths of 32 people during protests last minth to demand that President Joseph Kabila step down in December, Deputy Prime Minister Evariste Boshaba has said. 

Opposition parties accuse the security forces of killing their supporters during the demonstrations in the capital, KInshasa, and other cities. 

The government had previously put the number of people killed at 17. 

Mr Boshaba, who is in charge of security, was quoted by France's RFI radio station as saying that the opposition had been involved in a "premeditated critical act", and police were further investigations to ensure there was no "impunity". 

Opposition have vowed to keep the pressure on the government to hold elections in November, arguing that any delay will violate the constitution. 

Mr Kabila, in power since 2001, is barred from running for office again. 

The electoral commission says that many voters are yet to be registered so it will not be able to hold elections in November. 

It has not announced a new date for the polls in a country that has never had a smooth transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. 

See earlier post for more details 

Burundi lawmakers have voted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, endorsing a decision taken by the cabinet last week to cut ties with the Hague-based court.

The vote comes six months after the court's prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would investigate violence in the country.

Political turmoil began in April 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunzinza began his bid for a third term.

Since then more than 400 people have been killed in unrest and more than 200,000 have fled their homes.  

What does the International Criminal Court do?

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Zimbabwe’s sacked Vice-President Joice Mujuru has agreed to pay compensation of $1.4m (£1.14m) to a white farmer whose land her family took, UK-based Zimbabwean journalist Violent Gonda has told the BBC's Newsday programme.

Ms Gonda organised a meeting between Ms Mujuru, who has launched her own party following her expulsion from the ruling Zanu-PF party last year, and Guy Watson-Smith during her recent visit to London. 

Back in 2000, Ms Gonda explained that Mrs Mujuru’s late husband, army general Solomon Mujuru, had taken advantage of a controversial land reform programme to takeover Mr Watson-Smith’s farm.

Mr Watson-Smith, who travelled from Nice in France to meet Ms Mujuru, was one of the biggest tobacco producers in Zimbabwe at the time.

After he was evicted, Mr Mujuru sold the crops the farmer had grown.

Mrs Mujuru agreed to pay back $1.4m that Mr Watson-Smith lost from the crops, animals and equipment, but said she could not return the land because it was now owned by the state, according to Ms Gonda.

Ms Mujuru also promised to pay his legal fees and interest on the compensation, Ms Gonda added.

The journalist has tweeted pictures of the meeting Ms Mujuru, Mr Watson-Smith and his son:

Mr Watson-Smith, who lives in France, told Ms Gonda that he was anxious about meeting Mrs Mujuru for the first time:

Quote Message: It’s been a long 15 years since we left the farm and it’s been hard. My family started again in a new country from nothing. And we have pursued very slowly and very quietly through the courts."

It’s been a long 15 years since we left the farm and it’s been hard. My family started again in a new country from nothing. And we have pursued very slowly and very quietly through the courts."

Ms Gonda says the question now is if Ms Mujuru will be able to pay.

Her husband died in a mysterious fire on the appropriated farm in 2011. 

He was seen as a power-broker in Zanu-PF, which expelled Ms Mujuru after accusing her of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe - an allegation she denied.     

Read: Zimbabwe tackles 'flag abuse'

We reported earlier that Ivory Coast's defender Serge Aurier had been praised for "saving the life" of another player during a World Cup qualifier match.

However, Aurier later caused controversy by making a throat-slit gesture towards the crowd after his side's third goal against Mali, as our football reporter tweets:

The celebration was the latest in a string of incidents involving the full-back this year.

In September, he was sentenced to two months in jail for elbowing a police officer, but remains free pending an appeal.

And in February, he was suspended by Paris St-Germain after appearing to use homophobic language to insult then-coach Laurent Blanc.

He had also called team-mate Angel di Maria a "clown" as he answered questions from fans on social media app Periscope.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Calm has returned to the areas which had been hit by violence in Ethiopia's Oromia region, officials say. 

Their comments, in the local media, come despite reports that protests are ongoing. 

Ethiopia's government declared a state of emergency on Tuesday to quell the unrest.   

Some opposition activists allege that hundreds of youth have been detained.  

Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Investment Commission has been meeting some of the owners of businesses whose properties in Oromia were burnt down last week. 

Discussions are taking place about the possibility of the businesses getting back into operation.  

The government has already said it will do all it can to ensure the safety of investors and has not ruled out compensation for factories and flower farms that were targeted during the unrest. .

BBCCopyright: BBC

Paris Saint-Germain and Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier has been praised for "saving the life" of Mali forward Moussa Doumbia on Saturday.

After Doumbia was knocked unconscious in a challenge with Sunderland's Lamine Kone, Aurier intervened to stop the Rostov player swallowing his tongue.

Mali's manager Alain Giresse added that he spoke to Aurier after the game to thank him for his "superb reactions".

Ivory Coast went on to win the home 2018 World Cup qualifier 3-1 in Bouake city.

"All the players realised that Doumbia was choking and was about to swallow his tongue," Giresse told French radio station RMC

Read full story

.Copyright: .

AFPCopyright: AFP

Mozambique's government has imposed a ban on the movement of animals in two provinces, Maputo and neighbouring Gaza, following an outbreak of the highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease.

Human beings, especially children, can also contract the virus and "therefore, animals must be held in the affected areas," said cabinet spokesman Mouzinho Saide. 

Egypt’s Zamalek will continue their preparations for the first leg of the African Champions League in South Africa today following a huge send-off by their fans at Cairo airport yesterday evening. 

Zamalek are aiming for a sixth Champions League title and will play South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns looking for a first continental title on Saturday with the second leg in Alexandria on 23 October.

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC