South Africa's Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffreys is now speaking in the debate on whether to impeach President Jacob Zuma.

He says that in order for a president to be impeached in South Africa it has to be shown that there was a "serous violation" of the constitution.

He argues that the Constitutional Court said that Mr Zuma may have breached the constitution but did not rule that it was a serious violation.

Image source, South Africa parliament

You can follow the debate here:

South Africa's opposition leader Mmusi Maimane says that "nobody in the [governing] ANC is immune form the cancer of corruption".

He is criticising the ANC MPs who will vote against the motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma.

The motion has little chance of passing as the ANC has a large majority in the National Assembly.

After some procedural delays, South Africa's National Assembly has started debating whether to impeach President Jacob Zuma.

The motion is being brought by the opposition Democratic Alliance.

Its leader Mmusi Maimane says that he has violated his oath of office after the Constitutional Court ruled last week that he breached the constitution by not sticking to the ruling of the Public Protector to repay some of the money spent on his private residence.

Image source, SA Parliament

Kenya's Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) has been holding trials for the Eastern Africa Junior athletics championship at Nyayo national stadium.

The BBC's Peter Njoroge has been snapping some of the hopefuls.

Upcoming athletes, many of them still in school, from across Kenya showed up with the hope of making it to the national junior team.

And they had to show their birth certificates to prove their age:

The trials come as a cloud hangs over Kenyan athletics over doping allegations, and the country's failure to put in place effective anti-doping measures.

The leader of South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Julius Malema says that he will take the speaker to court over her decision to remain in her seat during the debate over the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma.

The opposition had argued she would be biased during the debate.

Image source, SA Parliament

Cheers go up in South Africa's parliament as the speaker Baleka Mbete returns.

There had been a suspension as she considered requests for her to withdraw from chairing the debate on whether to impeach the president.

She has reminded MPs that they need to uphold the decorum of the house and set an example to the country.

Image source, SA Parliament

It was more than an hour ago that speaker of South Africa's National Assembly Baleka Mbete said she would suspend the session for 10 minutes.

She said she wanted to consult on whether she should withdraw from chairing the debate over the impeachment of President Jacob Zuma.

Some South Africans are getting a bit impatient but taking it with some humour on Twitter:

Sammy Maina
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

Kenya's University of Nairobi has been closed a day after violent confrontations over disputed student election results, the Daily Nation reports, external.

It says that the "university's senate held a meeting... and resolved to close the university. Students were ordered to vacate the campus by 5 pm [14:00 GMT] Tuesday". 

The university students held elections last Friday, and the losers organised a protest yesterday that saw a heavy police presence around the university's main campus in Kenya's capital. 

The newspaper also reports that "a video was circulated on social media showing police brutally assaulting University of Nairobi students... The video shows police officers beating up the students as they lie down, in a line, on a pavement".

The protest continued today resulting in the closure.

Image source, Daily Nation

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa Uganda correspondent

Uganda police have charged opposition leader Kizza Besigye with conducting an illegal procession.

The spokesperson for the police in the capital, Kampala, says Mr Besigye had disobeyed orders not to drive through the centre of the city after thousands mobbed his car.

Mr Besigye had been given permission to go to a prayer meeting at his party's headquarters as long as he did not disrupt business in Kampala.

He has only just been released from house arrest, and this was to be his first trip into the city.

As he was travelling to the party HQ, supporters surrounded his car and tried to follow him to the city centre.

The police then blocked his vehicle, towed it away and detained him at a police station near Kampala.

A 10-minute suspension of South Africa's parliament has turned into 30 minutes.

The speaker Baleka Mbete said over half-an-hour ago that proceedings would be halted while she consulted on demands that she remove herself from chairing the debate on whether to impeach President Jacob Zuma.

Read more: What next for South Africa's Zuma after Nkandla ruling?

Image source, Reuters

The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Nigeria's northern Bauchi state has sent some more pictures of people queuing for fuel (see 11:42 entry):

These motorbike riders may look like they're waiting for passengers, but this perspective shows them in front of the filling station hoping to get petrol:

People have also come to get fuel for their diesel generators, which they rely on because of the poor electricity supply:

Quarrels about who should speak first and an almost constant shouting is accompanying heated discussions in South Africa's National Assembly.

Many are trying to persuade the speaker Baleka Mbete not to go ahead with a vote on whether to impeach the president.

Others want her to step down from chairing today's session.

Image source, Parliament of RSA

We reported earlier that we are expecting South Africa's National Assembly to debate an opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) motion to remove Jacob Zuma as president today.

Ahead of this, the opposition is trying to get the speaker of the house removed right now.

You can watch it live on YouTube:

The African Union mission in Somalia (Amisom) has released a statement , externalsaying their troops, along with the Somali National army, have killed six al-Shabab commanders.

This is in addition to another commander they say was killed this week.

The six include a Yemeni bomb expert and a Kenyan who they say was the chief trainer.

Al-Shabab has not yet commented

BBC Monitoring

In Ethiopia, flooding caused by heavy rains in the city of Jijiga has killed 15 people, including seven children, Fana broadcasting , externalis reporting.

It says that 50 others have also gone missing after Sunday's floods. 

In one tragic incident, Fana reports that a father lost six of his children and died himself the next day. 

Jijiga is in a region which has been affected by the recent drought, which has left millions needing food aid.

The AP news agency is quoting the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation as saying that five people were killed in flooding in Afar, another drought-stricken part of the country.

The maths is not looking too helpful if South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in their attempt to get President Jacob Zuma impeached when the National Assembly meets later today.

Here's the breakdown:

• ANC: 249
• DA: 89
• EFF: 25
• Others: 37
• Opposition total: 151
• Needed for impeachment: 267

So assuming all the opposition votes with the DA they are still more than 100 votes short.

Image source, AP

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Bauchi

People here in Nigeria's northern state of Bauchi are saying that the current fuel scarcity is making their lives miserable.

It's resulted in people spending hours, and sometimes the night, queuing for fuel for their cars and diesel-powered generators.

They are blaming the fuel marketers - those who are responsible for selling petrol to the filling stations - and the government for not doing enough to solve the problem.

Last week, the country's junior oil minister apologised and said the problems would be over soon.

The state-owned oil company the Nigerian National Petroleum Company says the current scarcity can be partly put down to vandals who are damaging the oil infrastructure and those it calls "saboteurs in the system".

Others are saying that the current shortage of foreign exchange in the country is making it more difficult to import refined fuel.

We reported in our 9:18 post  that Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto is due to find out whether a crimes against humanity case against him will be thrown out by judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).  

The Kenyan news site the Standard has a rare interview, external with his mother, Sarah Cheruiyot Samoei, who insists he is innocent:

Image source, Standard

In the interview she says that every time her son travels to the ICC she ties her stomach with the traditional Kalenjin leather belt known as leketiet.

The Standard explains that the leketiet is worn by women "so that they can derive strength during trying moments".

The United Nations says it has received allegations of sexual abuse by Tanzanian peacekeepers in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

It said 11 of them are facing paternity claims, and there is initial evidence that some had sex with minors.

The UN has sent a team to the area to investigate the allegations, the AP news agency reports.

The BBC's Patience Atuhaire who's been following the attempts by Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye to get into the centre of the country's capital, Kampala, says it's believed that he's being held at a police station in the city's Mukono district.

She says that the police are blocking the entrance to the station and will not let the press in.

Mr Besigye - who had been under house arrest up until the end of last week - was given permission to travel to his party's headquarters to attend a prayer meeting on condition that he did not disrupt business in Kampala (see 09:08 entry).