Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has officially declared that he will seek a third term in elections due in June, reports the BBC's Eloge Willy Kaneza from the capital, Bujumbura.

He handed documents to this effect to the electoral commission during a visit to its offices, despite widespread opposition to his decision to run for office again.

At least 18 people have been killed in protests, which continued today. A grenade was thrown in the Kanyosha district of the capital, but there were no casualties.

Primary and secondary school students in Niger are striking, demanding they get a meningitis vaccine.

They have been on strike since Tuesday in the capital, Niamey.

The BBC's Herve Yonkeu says some pupils have been vaccinated but the government needs about 700,000 doses.

The authorities began a mass vaccination at the end of April.

At least 265 people have died in the meningitis outbreak since January, while 3,400 cases have been declared.

Image source, AFP

Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar
BBC Africa, Nigeria

The outburst of gunfire at a business school in north-eastern Nigeria's Potiskum town sparked panic, with students jumping from windows to escape the Boko Haram militants.

The Yobe state police chief said the gunman is in their custody. He was accompanied by a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the car park.

At least five students were seriously injured in the attack, but dozens more were hurt as they tried to escape.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Bujumbura

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has arrived at the offices of the electoral commission offices in the capital, Bujumbura, to present papers confirming he will stand for a third term in polls due in June.

Opposition supporters have been protesting in parts of Bujumbura to demand that he steps down after 10 years in office.

Al-Shabab says it has killed a suspected CIA agent in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, a website linked to the militant Islamist group is reporting.

The alleged agent, named Abdihakin, was shot dead by al-Shabab's special forces, Memo website reports.

The BBC's Mohamed Moalimu in Mogadishu says there is no independent corroboration that he was a CIA spy, but confirms he was shot dead on Thursday night.

Image source, AFP

Memo alleges that Abdihakin played a key role in masterminding US drone strikes which killed officials of the al-Qaeda-affiliated group.

He headed an Islamic court in south-western Somalia before defecting to the CIA, it says.

The BBC's Will Ross met Margaret at a camp for people rescued from Boko Haram captivity in north-eastern Nigeria.

She was there to get her son.

Boko Haram gunmen abducted Margaret with two of her children late last year.

When she fled captivity she knew it would be impossible to carry both her children.

She begged another abductee, 20-year-old Hauwa, to look after her son.

This heroic act also helped Hauwa avoid being handed out as a wife of a Boko Haram fighter.

Kenya's former Prime Minster Raila Odinga, who lost presidential polls in 2013, has been considering what the UK's election result means for Kenya.

"Whatever happens in Britain, influences what happens in Kenya," he told the BBC's Karen Allen in Nairobi.

"Of course it will be most unfortunate if Britain would vote to leave the EU. We want to see Britain playing a much more important and crucial role in Europe rather than an isolated Britain."

And he had some advice for the losers: "Democracy is a process. It is not an instant coffee that you brew and drink at the same time. So there is always another time."

The BBC's Maud Jullien tweets, external from Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, that demonstrations against President Pierre Nkuruniza's third-term bid are continuing. Protesters in the city's Musaga district are now forcing goods trucks from Tanzania to pay to get through barricades, she says.

Habiba Adamu
BBC News, Abuja

A suicide bomber has attacked students walking into a business college in Potiskum town in north-eastern Nigeria.

At least five students were injured.

A man whose child goes to the primary school next to where the attack took place told the BBC that almost all schools in the town have shut following the attack.

A gunman who was with the bomber was overpowered by residents and arrested.

Ethiopia's foreign ministry has released photos of 35 people who Egypt says it freed from captivity in Libya:

Image source, Ethiopia Foreign Ministry

Some of the group met Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after they arrived in the capital, Addis Ababa, earlier this morning:

Image source, Ethiopia Foreign Ministry

The Economist newspaper's latest edition says, external closing Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya would not reduce terrorism.

"As Kenya's government struggles to deal with Islamist terrorism, it is blaming Somali refugees and wants Dadaab gone.

"The evidence suggests instead that terrorism in Kenya is increasingly home-grown. All four Garissa gunmen were probably Kenyan.

"Others arrested and tried for Shabab attacks in Kenya in the past have been Kenyan, too. Some were converts to Islam. Not one was a refugee."

Image source, AFP

A leading rights group says it is increasingly concerned about the fate of a Zimbabwean activist who was abducted on 9 March by armed men.

Zimbabwe's authorities appear to be doing nothing to find Itai Dzamara, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

"Family members told Human Rights Watch that state security agents had repeatedly threatened Dzamara prior to his abduction, warning him that something would happen if he did not halt his activism," the statement added, external.

Zimbabwe's government has denied involvement in his abduction.

Sammy Darko
BBC Africa, Accra

Daniel Nartey really dresses up to sell watermelons in Madina in Ghana's capital, Accra.

Image source, Abdul-Rahman Diallo

"My pastor always says dress well no matter the job you do, so I decided to wear a suit," he told me.

"Some laugh at me, others encourage me and are willing to help me," he says.

It seems like it pays off.

"I make 100% profit. I think it is because of how I dress, people notice me easily and want to buy from me," Mr Nartey said.

The 25-year-old is a primary school teacher and sells watermelons during weekends and when the school is on vacation. He is saving up to buy an oven and wants to one day own his own snack bar.

A trial of a malaria vaccine that targets the most dangerous variety of parasite that causes the disease has shown some positive early results.

The vaccine, developed at Oxford University in the UK, was 67% effective in a study of 121 men in Kenya, it found.

Kenyan journalist Dennis Okari tweets, external that police have arrested 16 Muslim preachers for suspected links with militant Islamist group al-Shabab in Marsabit County, which borders Ethiopia.

Caroline Karobia
BBC News, Nairobi

Kenya Wildlife Service is inaugurating its new forensic and DNA testing laboratory to enhance the fight against poaching later today.

Although many suspects of wildlife crimes in Kenya are usually arrested, their prosecution and convictions are rare because of lack of evidence.

It is envisaged that the establishment of the laboratory will help to accurately identify wildlife and wildlife products in order to strengthen the chances of a prosecution.

Image source, EPA

Thirty-five Ethiopians rescued from captivity in Libya by Egyptian forces have returned home, officials say.

Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed them at the international airport in Addis Ababa this morning after they flew in from Cairo, his office said in a tweet, external.

"The evacuation was made possible through coordinated effort of ‪#‎Ethiopia‬ and ‪#‎Egypt," it added.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met the group on Thursday, saying had been "liberated by Egyptian and Libyan security services".

It is not clear who had abducted the group.

Islamic State militants killed more than 20 Ethiopians in Libya last month.

The United Nations says its troops in Democratic Republic of Congo are preparing an offensive against Hutu rebels, without the full co-operation of government forces.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the Security Council had given troops the go ahead to drive out the FDLR militia based in eastern DR Congo.

Image source, AFP

The FDLR is seen as a major threat to neighbouring Rwanda's stability.

Today's African proverb: The locust flies away but leaves hardship behind. A Somali proverb sent by Ali Aman, Berbera, Somaliland.

Click here to send us your African proverb.

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