The Foreign Correspondents' Association of East Africa says it is concerned about the growing threat to press freedom in Ethiopia after the 24-hour detention of two journalists and their translator.

Bloomberg news agency correspondent William Davison, freelance journalist Jacey Fortin and their translator were traveling in eastern Ethiopia on 3 March when they were detained by police, the association said, in a Facebook post, external. 

The three were released the following day, without being given any reason for their detention, it added. 

"Journalists in Ethiopia have for years faced obstacles to press freedom. Now, two ongoing news events - a drought in the Ethiopia’s eastern regions, and protests across the central Oromia region - have called for increased travel outside of the capital Addis Ababa, which has become difficult due to a high security presence.

"Arbitrary detentions, which typically last a few hours, were already a common impediment for accredited journalists in Ethiopia. But the recent 24-hour detention marks a worrying escalation," the association said. 

Image source, AFP

Image source, Project X

Organisers of a suspected sex party due to have been held in an upmarket suburb of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, on Saturday have bowed to pressure from the authorities by calling it off. 

Police had earlier said that the party, dubbed Project X, had been banned, while the film board said people were planning to make pornographic films at the party.

Project X takes its name from a 2012 Hollywood film that showed a group of teenagers organising a party which gets out of control.    

In a statement addressed "to all our loyal party rockers", the unnamed organisers said it had been cancelled because of the "command from the lawful order". 

It was unfortunate that "narrow-minded" journalists had portrayed the event as a sex party because of one sentence in an advertisement - “No one goes back home a virgin” -  when it was just to have been an event for young adults to "meet up, socialise and have a good time", the statement is quoted by local media as saying, external. 

"We fail to understand how we would widely market an event for guys to come and have sex. It’s completely against the values we believe in," the statement added.

The controversy has been trending on Twitter in Kenya, with people giving their reactions:

Meluse Kapatamoyo
BBC Africa, Lusaka, Zambia

A leading member of Zambia's main opposition party, Geoffrey Mwamba, has denied threatening President Edgar Lungu with violence when he appeared in court in the capital, Lusaka.

Mr Mwamba, vice-president of the United Party for National Development, was arrested last week, and is out on bail. 

Apart from being accused of inciting violence against the president, he also been charged with  training party supporters to form an illegal militia. He has denied this charge as well. 

Political tensions have been mounting in Zambia ahead of general elections on 11 August. 

From president of a football team to president of a country- that's the journey dollar millionaire Moise Katumbi hopes to take in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The BBC's Maud Jullien went to meet him:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi highlighted in a phone conversation on Monday that the fight against terrorists should continue not only in Syria but also in Libya and Yemen, the Kremlin said in a statement, Reuters news agency reports.

Tunisian authorities have enforced a night curfew in the eastern town of Ben Guerdane after at least 25 people were killed in clashes between government forces and militant Islamists. 

See our 11:05 post for more details

Image source, AFP

Ahead of the African science conference in Senegal which starts on Wednesday, BBC Africa will be hosting a social media chat today at 15:00 GMT asking how can African scientists be attracted back home?

The conversation will take place on Twitter using #AfricasEinsteins hashtag and BBC Africa Facebook page, external. 

You can send your questions to the participants listed below using #AfricasEinsteins hashtag:

· Next Einstein Forum: @NextEinsteinFor Platform highlighting and connecting African Science, Society and Policy.

· Makhtar Diop: (@Diop_WB): World Bank Vice President Africa Region

· Rachel Sibande: ( @rachelsibande):  CEO and founder of Malawi's first technology hub and incubator and NEF Ambassador

· Axel Ngonga: (@NgongaAxel):  Semantic Web Researcher and @NextEinsteinfor Fellow

· Hephzi Angela Tagoe: (@hanat_akordor) Founder of GhScientific, and advocate for STEM professions in Ghana

· My Africa Is: (@MyAfricaIs) Documentary series highlighting Africa's young innovators

· Jemila Abdulai: (@jabdulai) Development consultant and founder and blogger at  @Circumspecte_

Image source, Nigeria state TV

Nigeria's former chief of defence staff has appeared in court in the capital, Abuja, charged with corruption and criminal breach of trust.

Air Marshal Alex Badeh is being accused by the elite anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of diverting some 4bn naira ($20m, £14m) meant to buy weapons to fight militant Islamist group Boko Haram. 

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. 

Judge Okon Abang has ordered Mr Badeh to be remanded in prison before his bail application hearing on 10 March.

In January, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered 20 former military chiefs and officers to be investigated over alleged arms procurement fraud.

During the fight against Boko Haram, many soldiers reported that they did not have enough equipment to take on the insurgents. 

Mr Badeh served under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Image source, AFP

The number of people killed in clashes between Tunisia's security forces and militant Islamists near the border with Libya has risen to at least 25, Tunisian officials say. 

The dead included 21 militants and four civilians,  following fighting in the eastern town of Ben Guerdane, AFP news agency quotes a government statement as saying.

See our 09:19 post for more details

Image source, Getty Images

Police in India have charged a Nigerian man with murdering his friend after a heated argument over whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's best footballer, AFP news agency reports.

Michael Chukwuma, 21, stabbed Obina Durumchukwu, 34, on Sunday in the northern Mumbai suburb of Nallasopara following an argument over the two footballers, police Inspector Kiran Kabadi is quoted as saying.

They had apparently got together on Saturday night to celebrate Mr Durumchukwu's birthday on Sunday, but the following morning an argument over football turned to tragedy.  

"The two Nigerian youngsters were discussing football players. One is a fan of [Barcelona's] Messi and the other was for [Real Madrid's] Ronaldo. During the conversation a quarrel has taken place," the inspector is quoted as saying.

"The deceased threw a glass into the face of the accused person. The glass broke and caused small injuries. After that the accused took the broken glass and assaulted the deceased person who died due to heavy bleeding," he added, AFP reports. 

Six people were wounded when a laptop bomb exploded at an airport in Somalia, police said, AFP news agency reports. 

The bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the small central town of Beledweyne, some 325km (200 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu. 

Last month, militant Islamist group al-Shabab said it was responsible for a bomb attack which ripped a hole in a passenger plane shortly after takeoff in Mogadishu. 

"A laptop computer went off at the screening area, and the security forces have also managed to defuse two other explosive devices, one of them planted in a printer," Lt Col Ali Dhuh Abdi is quoted by AFP as telling reporters. 

"Six people were wounded, two of them policemen," he added.  

Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

A Tunisian defence minsitry spokesman says the security force operation against militant Islamists trying to cross in from Libya is still ongoing. 

All entrances to the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia have been shut. The border with Libya has also been closed.  

See our 09:02 post for more details

Uganda's Supreme Court is hearing a case brought by opposition presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi to demand a recount of votes in some areas following allegations that the 18 February election was rigged to give President Yoweri Museveni victory.

Our reporter is tweeting from the court in the capital, Kampala:

Tunisian security forces have killed 10 militants in fighting after they crossed the border from Libya, an army spokesman says.

The militants attacked an army base and a police station in the eastern town of Ben Guerdane.

Five civilians were also killed in the clashes, Reuters news agency reports.

Image source, Reuters

There is concern in Tunisia about the threat of Islamist fighters based in Libya being able to cross the border.

Last week, Tunisian forces killed five militants in the same area after they had entered Tunisia with the aim of carrying out "terrorist attacks", Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid said on his Facebook page.

Last year, two major attacks on tourist hot spots killed dozens of foreigners in the country.

Read the full BBC story here

South Africa's main opposition party has accused President Jacob Zuma of making "outrageously sexist" comments when he told female journalists on Saturday that was difficult to compliment women in a "white man's world", the News24 site reports, external. 

Mr Zuma, who has four wives, said modern women were too quick to say they were being harassed when men were innocently complimenting them, it reports. 

"It's a pity we live in a white man's world; you can't even say 'Gqezu, Gqezu ntomazane! Nongenazo izinkomo uyayidla inyama'," it quotes him as saying. 

This was a Zulu saying loosely meaning that even if you don't have enough money to pay lobola [dowry], you can still get married, News24 says.

Mr Zuma added that if men could compliment women the way they did in the past, his bodyguards would compliment the journalists, News 24 reports.

"But when men compliment you innocently, you say it's harassment. You will miss out on good men and marriage," Mr Zuma said, laughing, it adds.

Image source, AFP

He reportedly made the comments while being accompanied by one of his wives, Tobeka Madiba Zuma, and their eight-year-old daughter, during a voter registration campaign in his rural heartland of KwaZulu-Natal.

In her reaction, Democratic Alliance (DA) party spokeswoman Phumzile Van Damme said the comments were "outrageously sexist and an insult to every single woman in our country". 

“It is precisely this patriarchal attitude that allows for women to remain the subjects of high levels of violence and sexual abuse throughout our country,” Ms Van Damme said, News24 reports.

“It is also this sort of thinking that keeps women locked out of the economy, and out of jobs that could bring a much needed income to their family,” she added.   

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