Some supporters of Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma have called for his mandate to be extended beyond February 2018, despite critics warning that this will violate the two-term limit imposed by the constitution. 

Mr Koroma's supporters say that fighting the Ebola virus, which killed about 4,000 people in the West African state, occupied nearly two years of his second term, and he needs to remain in power for a longer period to fulfill his plans for improving the lives of Sierra Leoneans.

But civil society organisations have rejected the move, saying it will lead to the erosion of democracy in the country.

Mr Koroma was first elected in 2007 and won a second and final term in 2012. The next election is due by February 2018.

The issue of third terms has caused heated debate in Africa, and has led to unrest in Burundi. 

So who's campaigning for an extended term for Mr Koroma? The BBC's Umaru Fofana has been speaking to the government spokesman Alpha Kanu:

A 13-year-old boy's passion for making electronic toys in Somalia has won him local fame and a free education.

Guled Adan Abdi, from the northern town of Buhodle, taught himself how to make plastic toys from bits of discarded objects, and then worked out how to motorise them by studying real cars.

"I started making toys when I was younger," he told the BBC Somali Service.

"I used to play with them without any motor. But later I said to myself: 'Why don't you make them into a moving machine?'

"So I looked at the cars in the town and invented my toys with the same design."

Read the full BBC story here

The suicide bomber who struck at a mosque in northern Cameroon was praying alongside worshippers when he blew himself up, a security source said, AFP news agency reports.

"Eleven worshippers were killed at the scene. A twelfth died of his wounds in hospital," the source added.

The bombing came after two people were killed overnight in the same area in another attack blamed on Boko Haram, the security source is quoted by AFP as saying. 

Another source close to the security services confirmed the blast killed 12 people and the bomber, it adds.

Fighters from Nigeria's militant group Boko Haram has been carrying out attacks across the border in northern Cameroon.

The group's six-year campaign to establish an Islamic state in north-east Nigeria has killed at least 17,000 people and made about three million others homeless.

Image source, AFP

China's imports from Africa fell nearly 40% last year, Chinese officials have said, as low commodity prices and slowing growth in the Asian giant hit trade, AFP news agency reports. 

Imports from the continent fell to 440 billion yuan ($67bn; £46bn), some 38% lower than in 2014, China's Customs administration said. 

However, Chinese exports to Africa rose by about 4% to reach 670 billion yuan, officials said, AFP reports.    

Natural resources from Africa such as iron ore and oil have helped fuel China's economic boom, and it became the continent's largest trade partner in 2009. 

But growth in the world's second-largest economy has slowed to its lowest since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, punishing world prices for commodities - the bedrock of African exports.

Read: Is China a brake in Africa's progress?

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

A global programme to investigate diseases that jump from animals to humans has been launched in Kenya. 

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says it has become necessary to invest in research into viruses that originate from animals.

These diseases account for more than three quarters of emerging infections which affect many people across the world, it added.

The US Agency for International Development says it has set aside more than $80m (£55m) to support the initiative. 

Ebola, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – MERS and Avian flu and SARS are just a few of the diseases that have infected and killed many people in recent years. 

They all infect animals first, before moving on to people. 

And yet experts say there has been very little investment in animal health research. 

Image source, Getty Images

The programme to prevent such diseases from spreading from animals will now be implemented in 21 African countries. 

The global coordinator of the FAO's Emerging Pandemic Threats programme, Subhash Morzaria, said globalisation and the commercial production of meat for consumption have made it easier for viruses found in animals to spread across the world. 

Ethiopia's government has abandoned a proposal to expand the boundaries of the the capital, Addis Ababa, which has caused months of deadly protests.

Demonstrations by people from the Oromo ethnic group have been sparked by fears that Oromo farmers could be displaced.

Human rights groups have estimated that at least 140 people were killed by security forces during the protests.

The ruling party in the Oromia region said it was dropping the plan following discussions with the local people.

The Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organisation (OPDO) made the decision after three days of talks, the state broadcaster EBC reports.

The OPDO, along with the Addis Ababa city authority, would have been responsible for implementing the plan.

Image source, AFP

Oromia is Ethiopia's largest region, completely surrounding the capital.

The recent wave of protests began in November last year, but anger over the proposed expansion of Addis Ababa goes back to 2014.

Observers say that the Oromo protests were also about complaints over a lack of political and economic inclusion.

At the last census in 2007, the Oromo made up Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group, at about 25 million people out of a population at the time of nearly 74 million.

Read the full BBC story here 

Image source, AFP

A leading Christian evangelical pastor in Nigeria has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to spend too much time hunting down "looters" in the former government because it could detract him from improving the lives of people in Africa's most populous state, the private Vanguard newspaper reports, external. 

"President Buhari is a man of great integrity, who wants the best for the country. But if he spends all his time pursuing looters, the majority of us who did not steal will suffer," said Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo of the Kingsway International Christian Centre KICC. 

"Therefore, he must use the Parento's Principle to approach governance. If you have your eyes permanently on the rear view mirror, you cannot drive fast. The past deserves just 20% attention," the pastor added. 

Several senior officials in ex-President Goodluck Jonathan's government have been arrested since Mr Buhari took office in May, with a pledge to recover "billions of dollars" that had been stolen. 

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, but most of its citizens are poor. 

Read: Muhammadu Buhari's Nigeria to-do list

• Profile: Muhammadu Buhari

A suicide bomber has killed at least 10 people and wounded one other at a mosque in northern Cameroon, officials in the Far North region have said, Reuters news agency reports. 

No group has said it carried out the attack.

However, Nigeria's Islamist militant group Boko Haram has stepped up attacks in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger since last year. 

Our African proverb of the day‬, external: "Let the thief get used to eating your food and then you can catch him even by using soft banana fibres." A Luhya ‬, externalproverb sent by Nixon Madegwa in Kenya. 

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

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