A Catholic bishop in north-eastern Nigeria says his church has become a safe haven for some of the thousands of people who fled the advance of militant Islamist group Boko Haram last year.

Steven Dami Mamza told the BBC Newsday programme that his St Theresa camp in Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, is housing more 400 people because the state government could not cope with the  influx of  people fleeing the conflict.

Bishop Mamza says the people are now comfortable and happy:

Rage Hassan
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Some of the people killed in US drone strikes in southern Somalia's port city of Kismayo were civilians, local residents have told the BBC.

Earlier, a Pentagon spokesman said 12 militants from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group were killed in the strikes carried out on Monday and Tuesday (see 09:01 post).

Image source, AFP

Image source, Nigerian presidency

Nigeria will increase China's yuan currency in its foreign reserves, the two government's have agreed. 

About 10% of Nigeria's reserves are currently in yuan, while most are in US dollars, according to the UK-based Africa Confidential publication.

The deal was struck during a visit by Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to China, where he held talks with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday. 

Oil-rich Nigeria was the first African state to use the yuan in its reserves, China's foreign ministry official Lin Songtian said, AFP news agency reports. 

BBC Monitoring

Image source, Hady Messaddy

Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has defended his controversial decision to hand over the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. 

In remarks carried live on state TV, Mr al-Sisi countered critics' suggestions that a referendum be held on the ceding of the islands, which have been under Egyptian administration since 1950.

He said he had consulted "everyone, and I mean everyone" before signing the agreement with Saudi Arabia's King Salman. 

"We have not given up any of our rights and we gave the other party their rights. Egypt has not given up even a grain of sand from its land to Saudi Arabia," Mr al-Sisi said. 

Apparently addressing his critics, he added: "Your way of handling the issue harms us all."

An opposition politician has been shot dead outside his home in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. 

Stephene Mukabana, a youth leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, was killed last night when he rushed to the aid of a man being robbed by a six-member gang, police are quoted by the local Standard newspaper as saying. 

However, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero said a "group of assassins trailed and executed" the 42-year-old Mr Mukabana, the Standard reports, external. 

A delegation from the African Union (AU) is in South Sudan to push for a government of national unity aimed at ending the country's brutal civil war.

Rebel leader Riek Machar is due to return to the capital, Juba, on Monday to take up the post of vice-president.

More than 1,300 rebel troops were flown to the city on Monday as part of the peace deal signed in August 2015. 

The AU has tweeted some photos of its delegation meeting with President Salva Kiir:

BBC Monitoring

Mozambique's government has declared a "red alert" to cope with a drought which has hit southern and central areas of the country, the local O Pais newspaper reports.

The red alert was aimed at boosting government intervention, and identifying the assistance people needed, government spokesman Mouzinho Saide is quoted as saying. 

Some 1.4 million people in Mozambique are suffering from hunger because of a drought which has hit the entire region, O Pais reports.

See 10:25 post: Malawi declares national disaster

A lion which twice escaped from a South African game park will be rehoused to bond with two lionesses and learn how to become a dominant male, park officials have said.

The three-year-old lion, called Sylvester, was a good candidate for an alpha role, a status that should also keep him contained, the country's parks service said in a statement., external

He left Karoo National Park in South Africa's Western Cape province for the second time last month and a decision to put him down was reversed following a public outcry. 

Sylvester, branded a problem animal by park officials, will now be relocated to Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape province, where he will initially be bonded with two females in a 200-hectare (494-acre) enclosure.

Last June, Sylvester went on a sheep-killing spree, wandering 300km (180 miles) before he was found taking a nap by rangers and airlifted from the Nuweveld Mountains in Western Cape.

Image source, AFP

Malawian President Peter Mutharika has declared a state of national disaster due to food shortages caused by a severe drought in the southern part of the country, AFP news agency reports. 

The World Food Programme said it was currently assisting nearly three million people in Malawi, with about 23 of 28 districts badly affected. 

Image source, AFP

"The projected drop in maize harvest is estimated at 12% from last year's output," Mr Mutharika said in a statement. 

"More people will be food insecure and will require humanitarian relief assistance for the whole of the 2016/17 consumption year," he added, AFP reports.  

Image source, AFP

A landmine has killed three French soldiers during a military operation in northern Mali, the French presidency says.

It said one soldier had died immediately from the explosion on Tuesday and two others died later from their wounds.

The defence ministry said a convoy of vehicles was heading north from Gao to the town of Tessalit when a mine exploded under the lead vehicle.

Some 3,500 French soldiers are deployed to five countries in the Sahel as part of Barkhane, a French-led operation against militant groups that began in 2014.  

Image source, Getty Images

A group of Taiwanese deported from Kenya to China after being acquitted in a cyber crime case are wanted for suspected fraud in China, the Chinese government has said. 

Their deportation has enraged Taiwan, which has accused Beijing of abducting its citizens. 

China's Ministry of Public Security, in a statement released via the official Xinhua news agency, said Kenya had decided to deport 32 Chinese and 45 Taiwanese to China, of whom 10 had already arrived and another 67 would land on Wednesday. 

Taiwanese had been heavily involved in telecoms fraud in China and had caused huge losses, with some victims killing themselves, the ministry added, Reuters news agency reports. 

The group detained in Kenya had operated out of the capital, Nairobi, and were suspected of cheating people out of millions of yuan (the Chinese currency) across nine provinces and cities in China and, as most of the victims were in China, they would be prosecuted there, the ministry is quoted as saying. 

The Kenyan government said the people were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from. 

Kenya does not have official relations with Taiwan and considers the island part of mainland China, in line with the position of Beijing. 

Image source, Reuters

Leading rights group Amnesty International has called for suspected mass graves in northern Nigeria to be sealed off for a criminal investigation following the admission by a state government official that 347 people were killed in clashes between the military and a minority Shia Muslim sect in Zaria city in December. 

Balarabe Lawal, secretary to the Kaduna State government, told an official inquiry on Monday that the corpses were taken from an army depot and buried in mass graves, media reports say.

In a statement, Amnesty's Nigeria branch said: "The horrific revelation by the Kaduna State government that hundreds of Shi’ites were gunned down and dumped in mass graves is an important first step to bringing all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this atrocity to trial. 

"It is now imperative that the mass grave sites are protected in order that a full independent forensic investigation can begin." 

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's military has previously denied killing anyone. 

It said it acted after members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), the main pro-Iranian Shia sect in the West African state, attempted to kill army chief Gen Tukur Buratai.

The group denies that it tried to kill him.

It is demanding the release of its leader, Sheikh Zakzaky, who was detained following the clashes.   

Read: Investigating the clashes

Image source, Getty Images

US drone strikes have killed about 12 al-Shabab militants in southern Somalia, a US official has said. 

The "self-defence strikes" were carried out on Monday and Tuesday in an area north of the port city of Kismayo, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said. 

"This was in southern Somalia against al-Shabab targets that were posing an imminent threat to US [and Somali] personnel," he added. 

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Image source, Getty Images

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