Image source, AFP

The International Criminal Court has apologised for a blunder which led to the unmasking of several secret witnesses during the trial of Ivory Coast's former President Laurent Gbagbo, AFP news agency reports. 

The blunder was of "utmost and inexcusable gravity"  for which the "whole ICC apologises", presiding judge Cuno Tarfusser is quoted as saying in court. 

"It is of such gravity that the chamber has ordered an... internal investigation in order to find out how this could have happened," the visibly upset judge said, added, AFP reports.

On Friday the prosecutor mentioned the names of several witnesses, whose identities have been ordered to be kept secret, thinking the microphones were off. 

But the incident was relayed live to the public gallery, and recordings have since spread widely on social media. 

Mr Gbagbo is the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity. He denies the charges. 

Read: Who is Mr Gbagbo?

Are some churches in Africa just get-rich-quick schemes for their "prophets"? And should governments do more to regulate churches? 

That's what we've been asking on the BBC Africa Facebook page, external, following our story on the concern over the rise of "bogus preachers" across the continent. 

Andrew Wogbeh has a powerful personal story to share :

"There should be total restrictions, especially on the Pentecostal churches. Every prophecy they give is about witches and wizards. They have sown divided families which were previously united here in Liberia.

"I am a victim. I have been banned from going to my sister's house because one church told her mother that I was a wizard. This is not helping our growing society here in Liberia."   

Othuke Igra says: 

"Yes. The government should check their activities, especially financial activities to restrict pastors from wasting the finances of the church. Down here in Nigeria most of the churches make so much money off its members but do not give back to them in any way. Too bad."

Duma Chavula says:

"Zambia has a church born every other minute. Everyone claims to be a prophet. It's so clear they just want to profit from their claims of being prophets. Africa wake up please."

Image source, AFP

Read the full story: Should Africa's charismatic churches be regulated? 

A man suspected of detonating a bomb on a passenger plane in Somalia had initially intended to board a Turkish Airlines flight, the company's chief executive has said, AFP news agency reports. 

The blast ripped a hole in the fuselage of the Daallo Airlines plane shortly after it took off from Somalia's main airport on Tuesday, killing the suspected bomber and forcing an emergency landing. 

"The passengers were intended for another airline, Turkish Airlines," Daallo Airlines chief executive officer Mohamed Ibrahim Yasin Olad told AFP. 

But the Turkish plane did not turn up and Daallo Airlines agreed to fly the passengers to Djibouti in the Airbus A321, he is quoted as saying.

A passenger believed to be the bomber, identified as Abdulahi Abdisalam, was killed, probably after being propelled out of the aircraft in the explosion, investigators said, AFP reports. 

Image source, AP

More than 58,000 children risk starving to death in Somalia because of a severe drought, the UN has warned.

"The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, with nearly 305,000 children under the age of five years acutely malnourished," said UN aid chief for Somalia Peter de Clercq. 

"We estimate that 58,300 children face death if they are not treated," he added. 

Some 950,000 people "struggle every day to meet their food needs," the UN said, adding that 4.7 million people in total, or nearly 40% of the population were in need of aid. 

Image source, AFP

Nelson Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, 42, has married for a fourth time - this time to a Muslim woman, Rabia Clarke. 

He is seen in a video, external reciting "In the name of Allah, God Almighty" as he took the marriage vows before an Imam at a mosque in South Africa's Cape Town city on Saturday. 

“I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Rabia's parents, her extended family and the Muslim community, for welcoming me into their hearts,” Mandla Mandela said in a statement.

He is an MP and the chief of the Traditional Council in Mvezo, the birthplace of anti-the apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, who died in  2013.  

Mandla Mandela has not commented on whether he has changed his faith, but some South African journalists and Twitter users are saying he has become a Muslim:  

Image source, AFP

South Africa's Anglo American Platinum will cut 1,000 jobs at its struggling Twickenham mine in northern Limpopo province, the firm's chief executive has said, but he ruled out a sale of the mine, Reuters News agency reports. 

Platinum prices have been battered by growth concerns in key consumer China and oversupply worries forcing firms to abandon projects and sell mines to cope.

Image source, AFP

 "We are worried about the jobs bloodbath in the South African mining industry. Are mining companies here to create jobs or are they here to cut jobs? It looks like the companies are here to cut jobs and focus on profits," National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said, Reuters reports.  

CCTV video footage shows two men handing what appears to be a laptop to a suspected bomber before he boarded a passenger airline on which a bomb exploded in Somalia last week.

At least one of the men delivering the laptop was an employee at the main airport in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

It is believed the laptop-like device contained the bomb which caused the explosion on board the Daallo Airlines flight.

Read the full BBC News story

There were wild celebrations after the Democratic Republic Of Congo won the African Nations Championship (CHAN) on Sunday, with a 3-0 victory over Mali in the final in the Rwandan capital Kigali. 

A reporter for French newspaper Le Monde has been tweeting some wonderful shots of Congolese fans in and around the Stade de Kigali in full costume: 

And for those fans who weren't lucky enough to be there to see DR Congo's victory, the second time they have won the tournament, the team are due back on home soil any minute. 

A reporter for Le Monde in DR Congo's capital Kinshasa tweets (translated from French, below): 

"The Leopards are returning to Kinshasa at midday, where there will be a presentation of the cup at the Stade des Martyrs, and then on Tuesday they will be honoured by President Kabila."

CHAN is only open to footballers who play in their own local leagues, meaning that many of the big names playing in the English Premier League and elsewhere, do not take part. 

Image source, Reuters

Nigeria's respected former central bank chief has said that exchange  rate policies backed by President Muhammadu Buahri are doomed to fail, the UK-based Financial Times newspaper reports, external. 

Lamido Sanusi,  who is now the emir of Kano, an influential religious post among Muslims in Nigeria, told the Financial Times that he was disappointed to see Mr Buhari’s strong security and anti-corruption efforts overshadowed by a monetary policy regime with “very obvious drawbacks that far outweigh its dubious benefits”.  

Nigeria's central bank last year imposed tight capital controls and pegged the currency, the naira, at an official rate currently 35% stronger than the black market rate. 

The policies sparked capital flight and damaged the West African state's reputation as a frontier market investment destination, the Financial Times newspaper reports.  

Mr Sanusi was the central bank governor from 2009 to 2014, when he was suspended by then-President Goodluck Jonathan following a row over corruption in the oil sector. 

Read: Will Sanusi ruffle feathers as emir?

BBC West Africa correspondent tweets from the capital of Guinea-Bissau, where the annual carnival is under way.

The former Portuguese colony follows the Latin-American tradition of holding a carnival in the days leading up to Lent, which falls on 10 February this year. 

Image source, AFP

Some governments and organisations in Africa are starting to think churches should be held accountable to a being other than God.

Of concern to many with interests in the Christian faith are the "prophet of God" or "man of God" churches.

These are led by self-proclaimed prophets or messengers who are believed by their millions of devoted followers to have the power to perform a range of miracles from healing the sick, curing Aids and even raising the dead.

But who dares take on these seemingly untouchable men?

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani has been finding out. Read her story here. 

Image source, Reuters

The United Nations has acknowledged that its peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic needs to improve, after an Amnesty International report said the troops were not up to the job. 

The rights group says weaknesses in personnel and equipment are putting civilians at risk of further deadly violence.

Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the head of the UN mission, said it had been taken by surprise by an outbreak of violence in the capital, Bangui, last September, which left more than 75 people dead. 

But he said the mission had responded quickly, putting a new protection strategy in place. He said he was confident the mission would now be able to put down any future violence.

Mr Onanga-Anyanga pointed out that the mission had successfully supervised both the Pope's visit to the CAR in November and the first round of elections in December. 

Image source, Reuters

An elderly Australian woman kidnapped by militant Islamists in Burkina Faso has arrived in Ouagadougou after being freed following mediation by neighbouring Niger. 

Jocelyn Elliott, 84, flew into Burkina Faso's capital aboard a Niger presidential plane, and was accompanied by Niger's foreign minister, Aichatou Kane Boualama, AFP news agency reports. 

She made no comment on arriving. 

Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said no ransom was paid for her release, and efforts were under way to secure the freedom of her husband Ken Elliott, an 82-year-old doctor. 

The two were abducted last month near Burkina Faso's border with Niger by gunmen suspected to be linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.  

Image source, Reuters

Rescue workers in South Africa say three mine workers, two men and one woman, who have been trapped underground since Friday, may still be alive after knocking sounds could be heard from below the debris.

Rescue teams are working with renewed hope to reach the trapped workers at the gold mine near the north-eastern town of Barberton, the local Barberton Times reports, external.  

A total of 76 miners have so far been freed after being trapped underground, officials said.   

A South African journalist has been tweeting about the search operation: 

Image source, Harun Maruf

Video footage shows two men handing what appears to be a laptop to a suspected bomber before he boarded a passenger airline on which a bomb exploded last week in Somalia, a government spokesman says. 

At least one of the men delivering the laptop was an employee at the main airport in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, from where the Daallo Airlines jetliner took off, Abdisalam Aato said. 

It is believed the laptop-like device contained the bomb which caused the explosion, the Associated Press news agency reports.

"At least 20 people, including the two men in the CCTV footage who handed over the laptop to the suspected bomber, were arrested in connection with the explosion in the aircraft,'' Mr Aato told AP.   

The explosion punched a hole in the fuselage, and forced the Djibouti-bound Airbus 321 to make an emergency landing in Mogadishu.  

No-one was killed in the blast and no group has said it carried out the attack. 

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