The BBC World Service is today running a full day of live programming exploring what it is to be human as part of its Identity series.

Focus on Africa radio will explore issues of identity amongst the African diaspora and people of mixed heritage living in the UK.

Nigerian poet Joshua Idehen will read his poem live at 15:15 GMT.

The World Service has been tweeting about the programme:

A former senior director at a UK firm says that it employed mercenaries from Sierra Leone to work in Iraq because they were cheaper than Europeans and did not check if they were former child soldiers, the London-based Guardian newspaper reports, external. 

James Ellery, who was a director of Aegis Defence Services between 2005 and 2015, said that contractors had a “duty” to recruit from countries such as Sierra Leone, “where there’s high unemployment and a decent workforce”, in order to reduce costs for the US presence in Iraq, it reports.

“You probably would have a better force if you recruited entirely from the Midlands of England. But it can’t be afforded. So you go from the Midlands of England to Nepalese etc etc, Asians, and then at some point you say I’m afraid all we can afford now is Africans,” Mr Ellery, a former brigadier in the British army, is quoted as saying.

Image source, AFP

A spokesman for South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar says he is expected to fly into the capital, Juba, in the next two hours, reports the BBC's Charlotte Attwood from there.  

Mabior Garang said final arrangements had now been made for his arrival.

Earlier, another spokesman said Mr Machar's arrival had been postponed to tomorrow. 

See our 09:01 post

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has made an unannounced visit to Libya in a show of support for the country's new UN-backed unity government.

The government released a picture of Mr Hammond meeting with Prime Minister-designate Fayez Sarraj in Tripoli:

Image source, Getty Images

Britain and its allies fully support Mr Serraj and his government as they try to restore peace and stability to the whole of Libya, a statement from Mr Hammond's office quoted him as saying.

The trip comes days after a visit from the French and German foreign ministers who also gave their backing.

Apart from the new government, Libya has two other governments - one based in Tripoli and the other in the eastern port city of Tobruk - backed by rival militias which are refusing to give up power. 

US President Barack Obama has said the worst mistake of his presidency was his failure to plan for the aftermath of the 2011 ousting of Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime by Nato-backed forces. 

A Somali woman has told the BBC Somali service that three of her relatives drowned when their boat capsized in Mediterranean on their way to Europe. 

Fatuma Abdi Dirie, who lives in Egypt, recalled the last time she spoke to them:

Anti-foreigner violence has hit Du Noon township in South Africa's coastal city of Cape Town. 

Here are some tweets about it:

Many people are feared dead after overcrowded boats carrying more than 400 African migrants capsized in the Mediterranean sea on their way to Europe, survivors say.

The migrants, who were travelling on four rickety boats, were mainly from Somalia, Ethiopia and Syria, Somalia's ambassador to Egypt has told the BBC Arabic. 

They left from Alexandria in Egypt hoping to reach Greece. 

Greek coastguards have so far managed to rescue 29 passengers, Somali media reports say.

Image source, AFP

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is dismayed to learn about the deaths in detention of three opposition members in The Gambia, a UN statement has said. 

United Democratic Party (UDP) member Solo Sandeng and two fellow party members died following their arrest last week over a demonstration in the capital, Banjul, calling for electoral reforms, the statement said. 

Mr Ban called for an independent investigation into the deaths, and the immediate and unconditional release of others arrested. 

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned about the apparent use of excessive force and the arrest and detention of peaceful demonstrators,'' the statement added. 

Main opposition leader Ousainou Darboe was arrested on Saturday with other party supporters who gathered in Serrekunda, near Banjul, to demand the release of people in detention, and the bodies of those who died in detention, his UDP party said in a statement, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

The Gambia's leader Yahya Jammeh has ruled the tiny Western African state, which is a popular tourist destination, since 1994. 

He is expected to seek to extend his term in elections due in December.  

Fighters from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram have attacked Nigerian army positions in the volatile north-eastern state of Borno, the army says in a statement.

"The troops have been battling the insurgents since [the] early hours of today," it added, without given further details.

The fighting is taking place in Kareto village north of Maiduguri, the main city in Borno.

Read: Outcast Boko Haram 'bride' 

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya's rugby team is expected back home tomorrow after winning their first Rugby Sevens title in Singapore.

Kenya shocked Fiji 30-7 in the final on Sunday.

It took Kenya 140 tournaments to break their duck and they are only the second African nation after South Africa to win a World Series leg.

Rugby Sevens will feature for the first time in this summer's Olympics in Rio.  

Kenya's president tweeted his congratulations to the team:

* This post has been amended after we incorrectly reported that the team will return to Kenya today. 

BBC Monitoring

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has condemned  "primitive and destructive forces"  for killing 208 civilians and abducting 102 children in the western Gambella province.

Security forces were pursuing the attackers in an attempt to free the children, and had asked South Sudan's military to assist in the operation, he said in an address on state television.

The attackers were believed to be members of South Sudan's Murle tribe who had crossed into Ethiopia on Saturday to carry out the raid. 

The Murle have previously been accused of carrying out cattle raids and abducting children to raise as their own. 

South Africa's former athletics star Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted last year of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, has appeared in the High Court in the capital, Pretoria. 

A BBC correspondent has tweeted from there: 

Image source, Reuters

The arrival of South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar to the capital, Juba, has been postponed because of logistical problems, a rebel spokesman has said.

William Ezekiel says Mr Machar, who was due to be sworn in as First Vice President as part of last August's peace agreement, will now arrive on Tuesday.

Mr Machar fled Juba more than two years ago at the start of the civil war. 

His return will enable the formation of a transitional unity government. 

Well over two million people have been displaced and tens of thousands killed, since the fighting began in December 2013, so Machar's return is extremely important.

Mr Ezekiel addressed a news conference at Juba airport:

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