BBC Monitoring

Image source, AFP

Jihadist group Ansar Dine says it was behind a roadside bombing which killed four Malian soldiers on 28 March in the north of the West African state.

There has been no independent confirmation of its statement. 

Ansar al-Dine was among al-Qaeda-linked groups which seized most of northern Mali in 2012, before being driven out by French-backed forces.

Image source, AFP

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has promised to slash the salaries of senior civil servants, cutting the top wage threshold by almost two-thirds.

He told supporters that it was shameful that some top officials were earning $18,000 (£13,000) a month, while others were paid as little as $140.

Officials not ready to accept the new $7,000 monthly wage limit should "start looking for alternative jobs", he said.

Read the full BBC story here

Martin Patience
BBC News, Nigeria correspondent

Image source, AP

A senior Nigerian official has told the BBC that a would-be suicide bomber arrested in Cameroon is not one of the missing Chibok schoolgirls.  

The girl told investigators she was one of 276 students kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram two years ago. 

The senior official categorically ruled out the possibility, but gave no further details on her identity. 

She was one of two would-be bombers detained in northern Cameroon last week with explosives strapped to their bodies. 

Officials in Cameroon say she was drugged and badly injured. 

Increasingly, Boko Haram is using girls to carry out suicide bombings. 

And with no information on the Chibok schoolgirls in two years, rumours swirl that they were perhaps being used for such attacks.  

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari recently ordered a new investigation into their kidnapping. But he admitted he had no information on the girls’ whereabouts.   

Read: How I almost became a suicide bomber

Image source, AFP

The South African park authorities have gone back on a decision to kill a lion that has escaped from Karoo National Park.

We reported earlier that the hashtag #SaveSylvester is trending in the country after the South Africa National parks said they had decided to kill the lion called Sylvester, once they find it.

The authorities has just released a statement saying that the previous announcement was made prematurely and that they now are considering five options:

• Bringing the lion back to the park and looking at improving on fencing and other preventative measures 

• Translocate the lion to another national park 

• Donate the lion to another state-owned conservation entity 

• Donate the lion to a private conservation entity 

• Euthanise the lion if the damage caused is massive and may include danger to people and/or loss of human life, and massive loss of assets. Specifically, the loss of human life poses an even greater danger as the animal may lose fear for humans and see them as easy prey.

One of the options still includes killing the lion.

See our 10:51post for more details

Image source, AFP

South Africa's government will appeal against a court's decision to free on parole white supremacist Janusz Walus, who killed anti-apartheid hero Chris Hani in 1993, Justice Minister Michael Masutha has said. 

Judge Janse van Nieuwenhuizen caused an ourcry earlier this month when she ordered the release, and Mr Hani's widow Limpho described the decision as racist.

Walus has served more than 22 years of a life sentence for shooting Mr Hani outside his home in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, in April 1993.

Walus' lawyer says he should be released on parole in the interest of reconciliation.

The killing threatened to derail South Africa's transition from minority rule to majority rule.

Image source, Bukeede newspaper

Photos of Ugandan police conducting a body search on football fans entering a stadium have gone viral on social media. 

Some of the police appear to be grabbing fans’ private parts.

Image source, Bukeede newspaper

An article, external published in Kenya's Nairobi News called for the country's police to emulate their Ugandan counterparts. 

It says while Uganda's match with Burkina Faso went without any incident, Kenya's game against Guinea in Nairobi was marred by fans throwing missiles onto the pitch.  

Image source, Phone footage

Mobile phone footage of a woman without medical training cutting open the belly of a dead woman in a desperate attempt to save her unborn twins has provoked an outcry in Cameroon.

The impromptu surgery was done in the open air by a family member with razorblades outside the maternity ward of Douala's Laquintini Hospital, because medical staff refused to help.

One of the babies was dead, but witnesses said the second baby was still alive when it was removed, though it died shortly afterwards.

As the hospital staff refused to help, this has not been corroborated by medical officials.  

Read the full BBC story here

Image source, AFP

France will end its military intervention in Central African Republic this year as it has achieved its objectives of restoring security to the country after three years of conflict, the French defence minister has said, AFP news agency reports. 

"I can confirm to you the end of Operation Sangaris during the course of 2016," Jean-Yves Le Drian said in the capital Bangui.

He added that French troops have succeeded in restoring calm even if "everything is not resolved." 

France launched Operation Sangaris in December 2013, when thousands were dying in conflict after rebels overthrew the government of Francois Bozize.

Former Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadera is due to be inaugurated as president today following his victory in the first election held since the conflict broke out.  

The hashtag #Savesylvester has been trending on Twitter in South Africa in reaction to the news that game rangers intend to put down a lion which escaped from the Karoo National Park near the small town of Beaufort West in Western Cape province.

Yesterday the South Africa National Parks authority tweeted the decision:

Yolande Knell
Larnaca

Image source, AFP

The 58-year-old Egyptian man accused of hijacking a plane yesterday gave a victory sign to journalists as he left a court in Cyprus in a police car. 

Seif a-Din Mustafa's court appearance in Larnaca was brief with local police granted more time to hold him as they investigate the hijacking of an EgyptAir domestic flight. 

He wasn't asked to speak, and looked tired and drawn.   

Police said he faced possible charges of air piracy, kidnapping and reckless and threatening behaviour. 

His motivations for forcing flight MS181 to divert to Larnaca are said to be personal, involving his Cypriot ex-wife. 

A lion which escaped from a game park in Kenya has been shot dead by wildlife officials in Isinya town, 58km (36 miles) south of the capital, Nairobi, the news editor of the Kenya's Capital FM radio station has tweeted: 

A senior Nigerian army officer abducted by gunmen in the northern city of Kaduna has been found dead, the army says. 

The body of Colonel Samaila Inusa, who was kidnapped on Sunday, was found dumped on the outskirts of the city, army spokesman Sani Usman says in a statement.

Col Yunusa was whisked away from his car by unknown gunmen who let his wife go.

Image source, Nigerian army

"Preliminary investigations reveal that, most likely, the late senior officer was killed [on the] same day he was kidnapped by his abductors," Mr Usman added. 

The army had offered a 1m naira ($5,000, £3,500) reward for information leading to the rescue of the officer. 

The man accused of hijacking an EgyptAir plane and forcing it to land in Cyprus has been remanded in police custody for eight days during his first court appearance, AFP news agency reports.

Police told the court in Larnaca that 58-year-old Egyptian Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa faces possible charges of hijacking, kidnapping people with the aim of taking them to an unknown destination, reckless and threatening behaviour and offences that breach the anti-terror law, it reports. 

The accused did not speak in court.

Image source, AFP

Former  Central African Republic Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadera is set to be inaugurated today as president following his victory in the 14 February presidential run-off election aimed at bringing stability in a country hit by conflict since 2013. 

Several dignitaries, including Chadian President Idriss Deby and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, are expected to attend the ceremony in the capital, Bangui.

Mr Touadera has promised to focus on restoring stability in a country divided along religious and ethnic lines.

It is estimated that about a fifth of the population fled their homes after conflict broke out in 2013, when mainly Muslim rebels took power in CAR, which has a majority Christian population. 

The rebels later handed power to a transitional government, which steered the country towards elections.

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria have failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament for the second time in a row after falling to a 1-0 defeat in Egypt in their Group G match last night.

With just one game remaining and only the group winners to qualify, Nigeria cannot make up their five-point deficit to table-toppers Egypt.

Ramadan Sobhy's 65th-minute winner puts Egypt on the verge of qualification.

Egypt face Tanzania in June and will book their place in Gabon with any result better than a 3-0 defeat.

Nigeria won the Nations Cup in 2013 but have now suffered back-to-back eliminations in qualifying.

Read more on the story here

Image source, AFP

Guinea's opposition has called a general strike for today and tomorrow to protest against the high cost of living, including the government's refusal to cut the price of fuel. 

Opposition leaders have urged Guineans to remain at home and not to engage in any acts of vandalism.

The BBC's Alhassan Sillah reports from the capital, Conakry, that there is little traffic in some opposition areas, but it is still too early to gauge the impact of the strike. 

The government says it cannot meet the opposition's demand to reduce the price of fuel because the economy was devastated by the Ebola outbreak. 

More than 11,000 people were killed by Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone after it was first reported in Guinea in 2014. 

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

A man from Egypt is expected to appear in court in Cyprus today, charged with offences that relate to yesterday's hijacking of a plane which landed on the island. 

Seif a-Din Mustafa managed to board the EgyptAir plane in Alexandria with a fake explosives belt.

It was on its way to Cairo when he allegedly forced it to divert to Larnaca in Cyprus.

Everyone on board was eventually released unharmed. It's thought the hijacking was motivated by a row between Mr Mustafa and his ex-wife who lives in Cyprus.

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