A $500m (£300m) 500 MW wave power plant is to be built along Guinea-Bissau's coastline, energy firm Blackbird International has announced.

The renewable energy project will be a joint venture with Guinea-Bissau's government, it said.

"Guinea-Bissau is a perfect location to introduce sea wave energy as a viable and profitable solution for rising energy needs by implementing our patented technology," Blackbird director Shmuel Ovadia said in a statement, external.

John Kerry has been talking on his visit to Mogadishu - the first ever by a US secretary of state to the Somali capital.

"Great progress has been made, and you have all contributed to that progress," the Associated Press quotes him as saying.

"The next time I come, we have to be able to just walk downtown," he said after talks with the president and other leaders held at the fortified airport.

Image source, AP

Alex Duval Smith
Bamako, Mali

Rebels attacked the town of Tenenkou, near Mopti in central Mali, at dawn this morning.

An army spokesman says soldiers are holding their positions although "fighting is continuing".

The rebels are from The Co-ordination of Movements for Azawad (CMA) and include ethnic Tuareg secessionists as well as elements close to Islamist militant groups.

The fighting marks the latest evidence of a deterioration in Mali's security situation and a shift in rebel activity to the previously safe centre of the country.

Image source, AFP

Armed groups in the Central African Republic have agreed to release all children associated with their forces and to immediately end child recruitment, the UN children's agency says.

Unicef believes between 6,000 and 10,000 children have been recruited by armed groups in CAR: They work as soldiers, messengers, or cooks, and sexual abuse is common.

Image source, AFP

The agreement came after week-long meetings in the capital, Bangui.

The country descended into ethnic and religious violence in 2013 after a rebel takeover. Following international mediation, UN peacekeepers are now trying to maintain peace in the deeply divided nation.

Live rounds have been fired near the US embassy in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, at people demonstrating against the president's bid for a third term in office.

Tweeter @FeliciaBuja, external, who describes herself as a reproductive health specialist, first tweeted the news, external.

"The riot police deployed several canisters of tear gas and fired several warning rounds into the air," Reuters news agency quotes Becca Archer Kepper, the embassy's public affairs officer, as saying.

Mohamed Moalimu
BBC Africa, Mogadishu

The police, army and the African Union troops have been deployed across the city to improve security for John Kerry's surprise visit.

All main roads from the capital to the main airport are in lockdown and will remain closed until the US secretary of state leaves.

Image source, AFP

Mr Kerry's talks with Somali leaders are taking place in a guest house at the airport.

Somalia presidential spokesman Daud Aweis says they will focus on the fight against terrorism, US aid and democracy.

At least 46 people have been killed and many others injured when cattle raiders attacked a remote village in north-western Kenya, officials say.

Gunmen from the Turkana ethnic group are suspected of raiding the Pokot community area and driving away some livestock in what may have been a revenge attack, Kenya's Daily Nation paper reports, external.

According to Kenya's Standard newspaper, Monday's gun battle lasted for hours, external.

"Pokot who are also armed hunted down the attackers and waylaid them at Kasarani area where gun fight ensued for over six hours," the Red Cross chairman of Baringo county is quoted as saying.

Image source, AFP

Dozens of migrants have drowned in Mediterranean after their boat sank south of Sicily, Save the Children says.

Following the Burundian Constitutional Court's backing for President Pierre Nkruniziza to seek a third term in office (see earlier posts), more than 500 people are on the streets of Musaga, an southern suburb of the capital, Bujumbura, where three people died in protests on Monday, reports the BBC's Maud Jullien.

Here a policeman clears up debris this morning from protests in the city centre on Monday:

Image source, AFP

Meanwhile, the interior ministry is holding a meeting with diplomats and non-governmental organisations to brief them about the coming elections.

Mary Harper, BBC World Service Africa editor
BBC News

The US plays a crucial if controversial role in Somalia. It supports the weak central government in its fight against al-Shabab, a jihadist group affiliated to al-Qaeda.

A number of al-Shabab leaders have been killed in US drone strikes.

But the US is careful to take a less visible role than it did in the 1990s, when what was initially a largely humanitarian mission to help starving people ended up in a bloodbath, with the bodies of US servicemen dragged through the streets of the capital, Mogadishu.

Image source, AFP

BBC Monitoring

Namibia plans to publish pictures of absentee fathers in the media, the country's justice minister is quoted by the private daily paper The Namibian as saying, external.

Albert Kawana said it was a "desperate and last resort" aimed at warning the public about individuals who were failing to honour the maintenance responsibilities for their children.

Do you think absentee fathers should be named and shamed? Let us know using the hashtag #BBCAfrica, external.

Mohamed Moalimu
BBC Africa, Mogadishu

US Secretary of State John Kerry is now holding a closed-door meeting with the Somali president and prime minister in the capital, Mogadishu.

He is the first US secretary of state to visit the country, which is recovering from decades of civil war and where the UN-backed government is still battling al-Qaeda-affiliated militants.

The Government of Rwanda has issued a warning to Burundi, external over the deteriorating security situation there, saying that 25,000 refugees have crossed over into its territory in recent weeks.

The statement from the foreign affairs ministry says that "increasing reports of unrest and violence targeting unarmed civilians are particularly worrying".

Image source, AFP

Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo adds: "While we respect Burundi's sovereignty in addressing internal matters, Rwanda considers the safety of innocent population as a regional and international responsibility."

Maud Jullien
BBC Africa, Bujumbura

A spokesman for Burundi's president has told the BBC six out of seven judges at the Constitutional Court voted in favour of President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term.

The seventh fled the country on Monday, telling the AFP news agency he felt threatened.

Sylvere Nimpagaritse said initially four out of seven judges ruled that the president's bid was illegal, but were then pressured into reconsidering.

Image source, Reuters

At least 10 people have died in seven days of clashes between policemen and anti-third-term protesters.

Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, has said he still wants to buy English Premier League football club Arsenal, despite being rebuffed in 2010.

"I still hope, one day at the right price, that I'll buy the team," the Nigerian industrialist told the Bloomberg news agency, external.

"I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won't want to resist. I know my strategy."

Image source, Reuters

The chair judge for the Caine Prize for African writing, Zoe Wicomb, said the shortlist (see entry below) was "an exciting crop of well-crafted stories" and it would be "no easy task to settle on a winner".

"Unforgettable characters, drawn with insight and humour, inhabit works ranging from classical story structures to a haunting, enigmatic narrative that challenges the conventions of the genre."

What new African fiction would you have liked to see on the shortlist? Send us your suggestions on #BBCAfrica, external

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has arrived in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on an unannounced visit.

He is the first American secretary of state ever to visit the city. Mr Kerry will meet Somalia's president, regional leaders, and civil society groups.

The shortlist for the 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced:

• Nigeria's Segun Afolabi for The Folded Leaf

• Nigeria's Elnathan John for Flying

• South Africa's F T Kola for A Party for the Colonel

• South Africa's Masande Ntshanga for Space

• Zambia's Namwali Serpell for The Sack

The winner of the £10,000 ($15,000) prize will be announced on Monday 6 July.

Burundi's Constitutional Court has approved the candidacy of President Pierre Nkurunziza, one of the judges has told the BBC.

Critics of the 51-year-old, who came to power after a civil war, had said he should not run again as he had already served two terms.

But the court has back his supporters who said that as he was appointed by parliament in 2005 - and not directly elected - he had only served one term.

Click to read a profile of Mr Nkurunziza.

Image source, AFP

The decision by Burundi's President Pierre Nkrunziza to run for a third term has sparked deadly protests.

Correspondents say the ruling by the Constitutional Court backing his bid could result in more trouble.

This man posed with a wooden rifle this morning in the Musaga - the neighbourhood of the capital, Bujumbura, which has been at the centre of the protests.

Image source, AFP