Wanyama wa Chebusiri
BBC Africa, Nairobi

The uncertainty surrounding the number of Kenyan soldiers killed last Friday when al-Shabab fighters overran an African Union military base in south-western Somalia last Friday remains (see earlier post at 12:59).

Military chief Gen Samson Mwathethe told a tense press conference in the capital, Nairobi, that given the magnitude of the attack the army would only release figures after the investigation was complete.

He did give details of the three car bombs used by al-Shabab.

The base is on the outskirts of el-Ade and was made up of two military camps - one housing the Somalia national army and the other for a contingent of Kenyan troops.

The general said one vehicle exploded at by the gates of the Somali section, another at the entrance to the Kenyan side and a third in between the two camps.

The force of each of these three explosions was equivalent to the car bomb that ripped through the US embassy in 1998 - and he asked those present to imagine the scale of the destruction.

Image source, AFP

There is growing concern in Kenya, especially among relatives and friends over the whereabouts of their loved ones following the government’s failure to disclose the number of those who may have died, with al-Shabab claiming to have killed more than a hundred.    

German football club Werder Bremen has tweeted that Chelsea's Senegal international defender Papy Djilobodji, who signed from Nantes last September, is on the move again:

The club is currently struggling - and at the moment is third from bottom of the Bundesliga.

Image source, EPA

Five policemen have been killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the north of Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula, the interior ministry says.

Three conscripts were also also wounded when gunmen opened fire at the checkpoint in the town of el-Arish.

Security forces were searching for the attackers, who managed to flee.

Jihadist militants, largely based in Sinai, have killed hundreds of security personnel since the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

For more read the BBC News story

Image source, Reuters

An open letter by a South African woman, in which she launches a passionate appeal for President Jacob Zuma "to go for a run" and see the state of the country for himself, has been shared more than 17,000 times on Facebook. 

Here's an extract from Cape Town resident Kim Stephen's letter:

"High five the babies playing in dirt. Steer clear of the children that should be in school. The school with the long drop‚ no text books‚ and an under-paid teacher...

"Greet the doctors and nurses stumbling bleary-eyed on to public transport to return home after a 48-hour shift for pittance. Breathe deeply as you pass the sewerage pumping in to the sea. Smell that?

"Nearly half way now‚ Zuma. Sweating? Run some more...

"Report the water gushing out of an unkempt pipe‚ as you run by. Spare a thought for the farmers suffering through the drought‚ while you do so. 

"Observe the community spirit when a fire breaks out and ravages the shacks of an under-resourced community. Or when a fire ravages part of our precious natural heritage....

"Now run home‚ Zuma. Back to your 20th child. Back to a life of luxury and total lack of empathy. Mind you don’t trip on your shoelace as you go."

South Africa's Sowetan newspaper reports that Ms Stephens has been "overwhelmed" by the response to her post: 

Read the full open letter to President Zuma here, external

Wanyama wa Chebusiri
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Kenyan military chief of staff Gen Samson Mwathethe is speaking to the press in Nairobi about the deadly attack on an African Union force base in Somalia last Friday.

Details of the attack are still unclear – with al-Shabab militants saying they killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers.

Gen Mwathethe says bombs used by insurgents at the base was three times more powerful than that used in the 1998 US embassy attack in Nairobi, which killed 224 people.

Al-Shabab is linked to al-Qaeda which carried about the embassy bombing - one of its first international attacks.

Find out more about what we know so far about the attack.

ICC prosecutors are still laying out their case to make the point that Dominic Ongwen was responsible for his actions.

Witnesses have said that the LRA commander distributed women and girls among men in his brigade, the prosecutor told the court.

Another witness said Mr Ongwen had the autonomy to do this without the permission of LRA leader Joseph Kony, whom he would inform afterwards.

Earlier, evidence was presented to show how the Ugandan army intercepted communications between the LRA commanders.

A journalist in court has tweeted a photo of one notebook which said: "Kony praised Dominic so much for his hard work he is doing."

She also tweeted a timeline shown in court, illustrating his growing influence within the group:

The hearing has now adjourned for a lunch break.

Tulanana Bohela
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has appointed his predecessor Jakaya Kikwete as chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam.

Mr Kikwete stood down as president last year after two terms in office.

He himself graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam, which was established in 1961, with a degree in economics in 1975.

Image source, AFP

The appointment may a way to smooth relations between the two leaders as President Magufuli’s brazen actions in his early days of power have brought to light unnecessary spending and allegations of corrupt officials under the former administration.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) hearing about whether LRA commander Dominic Ongwen should face trial has resumed after a break. The prosecution has been looking at the how the rebel leader Joseph Kony and his deputies communicated.

The hierarchy of the group is now the subject of their presentation, showing how senior Mr Ongwen was and his role in commanding attacks.

A journalist at the hearing tweets:

Perpetua Nkwocha, former African Footballer of the year and multiple African champion, played her club football in Skelleftea for seven years.

The Nigerian is now coaching the team and is spending her first winter in town.

She tells us how to cope with the weather and how she has adapted to her new life:

Read more about her life and how she is helping Afghan teenagers settle into life in Sweden by becoming their football coach.

Djibouti's leader has signed agreements with China to set up a trade zone and establish legal backing for Chinese banks to operate, Reuters news agency reports.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh revealed last year that his government was in talks with China over establishing its first official overseas naval base.  

Djibouti, a small country on the Red Sea, is already home to military bases from the US and France, the former colonial power, but China's interest is now becoming increasingly apparent. 

Image source, Getty Images

Read more: Why are there so many military bases in Djibouti?

Latest figures from the South African government says 1,175 rhinos were killed by poachers last year, the AFP news agency reports.

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa made the announcement.

It is a slight decrease on 2014, but another bad year for rhinos, whose horns are in high demand in Asia.

Rhino hunting in South Africa:

• Much of the poaching occurs in the Kruger National Park, which covers an area of about 20,000 sq km (7,500 sq miles)
• Nationwide figures have increased from 13 poached rhinos in 2007 to 1,215 in 2014
• Criminal syndicates are involved, selling horns on the black market in Asia
• Rhino horns sells for $65,000 (£43,000) per kg - more than gold - a South African court heard last year
• Rhino deaths could start overtaking births between 2016 and 2018

Sources: South African Department of Environmental Affairs, Save the Rhino

Image source, AFP

Sierra Leone has confirmed its second case of Ebola less than a week since the epidemic was declared over in West Africa.

The new case is the aunt of the 22-year-old student who died of the virus last week.

She "was a primary caregiver during the young woman's illness", WHO Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told the AFP news agency.

She had developed symptoms on Wednesday while being monitored at a quarantine facility and is now being treated, he said.

Image source, AP

Image source, Reuters

A former senior security adviser to the Nigerian government, who is accused of looting funds earmarked for fighting Boko Haram, has appeared in court in the capital, Abuja, to face a separate criminal case - a charge of possessing illegal weapons.

Sambo Dasuki was charged with that offence in August - and then in December he was charged over an alleged $68m (£48m) fraud.

He was accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy helicopters, fighter jets and ammunition.

He has previously denied the allegations and said they are politically motivated.

The reporter for AFP news agency is tweeting from the court: 

Image source, Reuters

Archaeologists say they have unearthed the earliest evidence of human warfare to be scientifically dated, at a site in northern Kenya.

The 10,000-year-old remains of 27 people found at a remote site west of Lake Turkana show that they met violent deaths.

They were left to die there rather than being buried.

Many experts have argued that conflict only emerged more recently, as humans became more settled.

These people, by contrast, were apparently nomadic hunter-gatherers.

Read the full BBC News story 

Patience Atuhaire
BBC Africa, Kampala

The live stream of the ICC hearing for Dominic Ongwen is being broadcast with a half hour delay. 

The prosecutor has finished speaking and there is now a break.

The BBC's Patience Atuhaire in northern Uganda says representatives of the ICC in Lukodi are using the time to summarise what was said at the hearing to the community in Acholi, the local language. 

Image source, AFP

The delegation from the UN Security Council, which is due to arrive this evening in the capital, Bujumbura, is expected to number 30 people, including security council delegates, experts and journalists. 

The Burundian authorities have been very unhappy with statements made by the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, who has been highly critical of President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term. 

She will be among the delegation arriving tonight, and from her tweets last night, it doesn't look as though she intends to back down over her criticism of the authorities here: 

The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura says although it hasn't been officially confirmed, it may be that support for President Nkurunziza from China, Russia and others on the Security Council has lessened the impact of pressure from other members. 

That could explain why the UN's actions, combined with pressure from Europe and the African Union, appear to have had little impact on the president, he says.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC Africa, Uganda

Sixty-year-old Geraldino Alirri was shot in the mouth and injured during the LRA attack on Lukodi in northern Uganda in 2004.

She lost her eight-year-old child in the raid in which about 60 people were killed.

Ms Alirri says she wants to see justice for what happened to many others in her community – and is watching the broadcast of ICC hearing of Dominic Ongwen live at one of the viewing centres that has been set up in the area.

Prosecutor Benjamin Gumpert has been talking at the ICC hearing for nearly an hour about Dominic Ongwen.

"For well over a decade until his arrest in January 2015, Dominic Ongwen was one of the most senior commanders in the LRA," the AFP news agency quotes him as saying.

"This was not just a civil war between people in uniform... the LRA attacked ordinary Ugandan citizens who wanted no more than to live their lives."

A lawyer following the hearing tweets:

And a journalist at the ICC tweets: