South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party says it plans to suspend the membership of an estate agent who put up a Facebook post in which she called black people "monkeys", the local News24 site reports, external. 

DA spokesperson Refiloe Nt’sekhe said the party in KwaZulu-Natal had served Penny Sparrow with its notice of intention to suspend her membership, it reports. 

"Racists are not welcome in the DA, and have no place in our democratic South African society," the party is quoted as saying.

Ms Sparrow, an ordinary DA member, would be given the opportunity to appeal against the suspension, News 24 reports.

Ms Sparrow has deleted the post, and has apologised.

BBC Monitoring

Sudan has expelled the Iranian ambassador accusing after Tehran of meddling in Arab affairs, Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya TV reports.

The move came after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had severed relations with Iran after a row broke out following the execution of top Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia. 

There has been no independent confirmation of the report. 

The cleric's killing generated widespread anger among Shia Muslims in Asia and the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are the key Sunni and Shia powers respectively in the Muslims world. 

Most Sudanese Muslims are Sunnis.

Image source, AFP

A row has broken out in South Africa after an estate agent put up a Facebook post calling black people on a former whites-only beach in the eastern city of Durban "monkeys", local media reports. 

Penny Sparrow later deleted her post and apologised, saying she did “not mean it to be a personal insult to anyone".

Image source, AFP

Many black people go to Durban's beaches during the festive season since apartheid ended in 1994.   

Ms Sparrow's comments have caused a furore on Twitter, with South Africans commenting under the hashtags #Racistsmustfall and #racismmuststop:

BBC Monitoring

Iran says it is using all diplomatic channels to pursue the release of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was arrested by the Nigerian army last month. 

"We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government... would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.

Sheikh al-Zakzaky after members of his Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) clashed with the army in the northern city of Zaria.

Campaign group Human Rights Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass graves during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.

The military accuses the pro-Iranian sect of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai, which it denies.  

Iran is currently embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Shia in Nigeria

• Shia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing
• The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky
• They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states
• They have a history of clashes with the security forces
• The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study
• Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killed

Militants from the Islamic State (IS) group have clashed with an armed group guarding Libya's Es Sider oil port, witnesses and troops have said, Reuters news agency reports. 

No official was available to confirm the attack or give details of how close the fighting was to the major oil export terminal, Reuters adds. 

Es Sider and nearby Ras Lanuf oil ports have been closed for more than a year after fighting between rival factions for control of the country, where IS has gained ground in the turmoil since the 2011 fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Es Sider is protected by Ibrahim al-Jathran's Petrol Facilities Guard armed group. 

IS fighters have attacked several oilfields in the south of Libya, but it has so far not managed to control any oil installations as it has done in Syria. 

BBC Monitoring

A Burundian musician has been found dead in the capital, Bujumbura, after being arrested by police, the SOS Medias Burundi group reports.

The body of Pascal Tresor Nshimirimana was found near the Bujumbura central prison on Saturday, it adds.

Police said he tried to disarm an officer, and died when a shot was accidentally fired.

Mr Nshimirimana took part in protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term, SOS Medias Burundi reports.

Image source, Getty Images

In another killing at the weekend, youth leader William Nimubona's body was found dumped in Bujumbura's Kavumu neighbourhood, it adds.

There has been no independent confirmation of the report.

Mr Nimubona was the head of the youth wing of the National Liberation Forces (NLF) party led by Agathon Rwasa, a leading opposition politician who agreed to take the post of deputy parliamentary speaker after Mr Nkurunziza won a third term in disputed elections.

SOS Medias Burundi was set by a secret group of journalists on Facebook in response to a government crackdown on the media.    

Image source, AFP

Results from the Central African Republic presidential election show former Prime Minister Faustin Touadera has a surprise lead with a quarter of votes counted.

Thirty candidates contested the poll, which is likely to go to a run-off on 31 January.

He was prime minister in the government of ex-President Francois Bozize, ousted in 2013 by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

The country has since been wracked by conflict along religious lines.

More than a quarter of the population has been forced from their homes.

Voting took place on 30 December, with UN troops guarding polling stations.

Read the full BBC story here

At least one person has died and two others quarantined following the outbreak of Lassa fever in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Taraba, health officials say. 

Blood samples of those affected have been taken for further testing, state commissioner of health Innocent Vakkai said.

Last week, authorities in the northern city of Kano confirmed the virus there but no casualties have been reported so far.  

About 10 people, including a doctor and two nurses, were killed in Taraba in February 2012 in a similar outbreak.

Lassa fever is endemic in West Africa, where hundreds of thousands of people are infected each year. 

The most common complication of the virus is deafness and it is transmitted to humans from rodents that harbour the virus.

Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa security correspondent

Image source, AFP

The US has shut a drone base it ran in Ethiopia to target militant Islamist group al-Shabab in neighbouring Somalia. 

Washington said the base was never intended to be permanent, and was no longer needed.   

Officially, the US has only one military base in Africa - the sprawling Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti - but it also runs numerous temporary bases around the continent.

In October 2015, the whistleblowing publication, The Intercept, published secret military documents which it said showed that the US was flying unmanned aircraft from at least 14 bases in Africa.

US air strikes have killed several al-Shabab commanders, including its leader Ahmed Godane in 2014. 

Critics say the strikes are not always accurate and claim the lives of innocent people. 

Ethiopian media say the drone missions began in 2011 from the south of the country.  

Ethiopia has been a close US ally in the fight against al-Shabab, and has had troops in Somalia since 2006.

Bashkas Jugsooday
BBC Africa, Garissa

Image source, AFP

Kenya's Garissa University College has reopened - some nine months after the killing of nearly 150 people by militant Islamist group al-Shabab forced its closure. 

A police post has been established on the campus, in north-eastern Kenya, to guarantee the safety of students and staff. 

Staff reported to work today while students are due to return to classes next Monday.  

Our African proverb of the day: "Alone a youth runs fast, with an elder he travels slowly but together they go far." A Luo‬, external proverb from Kenya sent by Edward, Kano, Nigeria.

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Happy new year and welcome back to the BBC Africa Live page, where we will bring you up-to-date news from around the continent.