A journalist with Radio France International is tweeting in French that a child in Burundi's capital Bujumbura has been killed after playing with an unexploded grenade.

The tweet says:

An unexploded grenade was picked up by a child #Musaga a child killed, another seriously injured, said a witness

This tweet confirms the incident, saying: 

#Burundi: confirmed to the health centre, a schoolboy killed and 2 others wounded. They played with a grenade without knowing what it was  

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

South Africa's government expects the king of Nelson Mandela's Thembu ethnic group to report to prison today to begin a 12-year sentence following his conviction of kidnap, assault and arson, a spokesman for the ministry of justice has said. 

This is despite the fact that lawyers for King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo have petitioned the ministry, asking for a re-trial.

Justice Minister Michael Masutha was considering the petition, but the current court order - which required the king to report to prison by the end of today - remained in force, said his spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga in a statement. 

"The minister has not been informed of any variation of the court order," Mr Mhaga added. 

Under South African law, the trial could be reopened only if new evidence emerged since King Dalindyebo's conviction. 

The case was related to a dispute he had with some of his subjects more than two decades ago. 

"His [the monarch's] behaviour was all the more deplorable because the victims of his reign of terror were the vulnerable rural poor, who were dependent upon him. Our constitution does not countenance such behaviour," the Supreme Court of Appeal said in a judgement in October. 

"We are a constitutional democracy in which everyone is accountable and where the most vulnerable are entitled to protection," it added. 

Matthew Kenyon
BB Africa Sport

Somalia's football federation says its matches will be played Monday-Friday in the new season which kicks off on 28 December.

"We did this so that our lovely people can have the time to watch football games around the world which are mostly played in the weekends," a spokesman said.

Competitions like the English Premier League and German Bundesliga are often blamed for poor attendances at domestic matches around the world.   

It is an idea which has been considered before in a number of countries, but has often been criticised for showing a lack of confidence. 

We want to know what you think.

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This is the scene on a beach in the South African city of Cape Town this morning:

Image source, ER24

The carcass of the dead humpback whale came ashore overnight and lodged on a reef. 

“The dead animal offshore is nothing unusual. We get quite a lot of that during the year,” Cape Town environmentalist Gregg Oelofe said, external.

Image source, ER24

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani reports from South Africa that authorities have announced the beach will be closed today, as officials attempt to remove the carcass.

The defence ministry in Paris says French forces in Mali have killed or captured 10 members of al-Murabitoun, one of the militant Islamist groups which said it carried out last month's assault on on a luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, killing 22 people. 

The operation took place on Saturday night near the town of Menaka in eastern Mali, the ministry said in a statement. 

Led by veteran Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, al-Murabitoun has carried out many attacks in Mali and Niger. 

On Monday the government of Mali declared a ten-day state of alert because of renewed security concerns. 

Image source, AFP

Somalia's Muslim government has banned Christmas celebrations in the capital, Mogadishu. 

The director-general of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow, said at a press conference that such events are un-Islamic and could provoke an attack by militant Islamist group al-Shabab. 

‘’All security forces are advised to halt or dissolve any gatherings. There should be no activity at all,’’ he added. 

Last year, al-Shabab attacked the main base of the African Union force in Mogadishu while a Christmas party was going on, killing five troops. 

Almost all Somalis are Muslims.

Nigeria's military "quickly buried" at least 300 Shia Muslims in mass graves after killing them in what appeared to be a "wholly unjustified" attack in northern Zaria city, a leading human rights group has said. 

The army said its confronted  members of the Iranian-backed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) after they had erected a makeshift roadblock near a mosque, and attempted to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai. 

"The Nigerian military's version of events does not stack up," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). 

"It is almost impossible to see how a roadblock by angry young men could justify the killings of hundreds of people. At best it was a brutal overreaction and at worst it was a planned attack on the minority Shia group," he added in a statement. 

Image source, Ahmed Musa

At least 300 Shias were killed and hundreds more injured during the operation from 12 December to 14 December in Zaria, the headquarters of the sect, HRW quoted witnesses and a hospital source as saying. 

 "Soldiers quickly buried the bodies in mass graves without family members' permission, making it difficult to determine an accurate death toll," it added. 

HRW said it hoped that the commission of inquiry appointed by the government to investigate the killings would be impartial, and hold those responsible accountable. 

The killings sparked outrage among Shias around the world, and Iran lodged a diplomatic protest with Nigeria's government. 

Image source, EPA

Our African proverb of the day: "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito." Sent by Macduff Odoms, Lagos, Nigeria, and Boniface Bazil, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Click here to send your African proverbs.

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