Isa Sanusi
BBC Africa, Abuja

Men are usually the people you see on the sides of roads in Nigeria involved in the smelly business of selling fuel from yellow jerry cans when the pumps at petrol stations run dry.

But such is the money to be made recently that female vendors, who usually trade in peanuts and plantain, have joined the petrol game:

Those importing the fuel are suspected in colluding in the shortages, as officially a litre of petrol sales for N86 ($0.43, £.030) but during the current scarcity, a litre can fetch 250 naira.

The current crisis began in January, but worsened last week when the petrol minister announced that the problem would linger until May.

So the black market is a brisk business that brings instant profit.

Mary (below) has been selling peanuts and plantain for over five years in Abuja.

Her profit at the end of hectic day by the roadside amounts to about $7.

But since last week she has switched to selling petrol and says she is enjoying the windfall:

The women say they bribe filling stations to get the fuel they sell.

And there is always a high demand for fuel as people depend on it to power their generators.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Health authorities at a hospital in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, have confirmed that a 30-year-old woman has died of Ebola within the last 24 hours.

The head of Liberia's Ebola response team Tolbert Nyenswah said the woman died on arrival at the Redemption Hospital in the densely-populated New Kru Town suburb.

A swab confirmed she died from Ebola. He said they are investigating the source because this is the first case since Liberia was declared Ebola free for the third time in January.

Zimbabwe's Indigenisation Minister Patrick Zhuwao has told the BBC that he still does not have statistics of the number of foreign-owned firms which have complied with today's deadline to cede at least 50% of control to locals. 

Mr Zhuwao said his ministry was currently "going through submissions made by companies" on who has complied.

Standard Chartered and Barclays are among the banks operating in Zimbabwe. 

The country also hosts the mining firms Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum.

Read the full BBC story here

James Copnall
Africa editor, BBC World Service

There has been a sharp increase in fighting in the civil war in South Kordofan in Sudan. 

A local media outlet, Nuba Reports, says it is the heaviest fighting in more than a year. 

The government has launched an offensive against (the SPLM-North) rebels, who control several mountainous areas. 

The Sudanese army says it has won victories in several districts, but this is denied by the rebels. 

The offensive comes after the latest attempt at peace talks failed last month. 

The war in South Kordofan began five years ago. The Sudanese government also faces rebellions in Darfur and Blue Nile.  

Image source, AFP

The Sudanese army says it has won victories in several districts, but this is denied by the rebels. 

The offensive comes after the latest attempt at peace talks failed last month. 

The war in South Kordofan began five years ago. The Sudanese government also faces rebellions in Darfur and Blue Nile.  

A boy has been stuck in limbo at Charles de Gaulle airport in France's capital Paris since 21 March unable to enter French territory or return home.

The eight-year-old was arrested when he flew on his own from Comoros to France with a passport that was not his. 

A lawyer for campaign group La Voix de 'l'Enfant (The voice of the child) told BBC Newsday that they are challenging his deportation, which is due on Sunday.

She added that they are expecting today on whether it is legal to detain the boy.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa's chess-loving President Jacob Zuma is a master strategist with his ear to the ground - you can rest assured that he saw yesterday's Constitutional Court ruling against him coming and he prepared for it. 

He still has his king and queen but also owns his opponent’s pawns - he has dirt on them so they will find it difficult to move against him.

So don't be surprised that the governing African National Congress' (ANC) Youth League and Women's League have come out in support of him, despite the ruling that he breached the constitution by failing to repay government money used to upgrade his rural mansion.    

Image source, AFP

Many in the ANC are hugely loyal to him, and Mr Zuma rewards loyalty. But he also punishes the disloyal, so his opponents will have to be very careful before they try to oust him.

At the moment, they are just not strong enough to call check-mate. 

See 10:38 post for more details

A popular Burundi comedian has been arrested for poking fun at President Pierre Nkurunziza, his family has said, AFP news agency reports.  

 Alfred Aubin Mugenzi, known as Kigingi, was picked up by Burundi's National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Tuesday evening at a hotel in Muramvya, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the capital, Bujumbura, while on a promotional tour for a beer company, the family is quoted as saying. 

Mr Mugenzi, who is also a Buja FM radio host, was being held in the intelligence service's "dungeons" in  Bujumbura, and "no-one has been allowed to see him", a relative said, AFP reports. 

Intelligence officers told the relative that Mr Mugenzi was arrested "for contempt of the head of state" after a skit he performed in neighbouring Rwanda last year, in which he lampooned football-mad Mr Nkurunziza, showing him refusing to leave the pitch despite receiving two yellow cards, the agency reports.

Mr Nkurunziza won a third term in elections last year, rejecting the demand of protesters to step down. 

Image source, AFP

The president, a born-again Christian and former sports teacher, is the player-owner of Hallelujah FC. 

An unnamed intelligence officer confirmed to AFP that the comedian has been arrested for "insulting" Mr Nkurunziza, but said he would be released soon. 

The EU has imposed sanctions on three Libyan officials accuse of hindering the new UN -brokered unity government from beginning its work , reports AP news agency.

They are:

• Agilah Saleh, parliament head in the eastern city of Tobruk
• Khalifa Ghweil, head of the so-called National Salvation Government 
• Nuri Abu Sahmain, who leads the outdated General National Congress

They face travel bans and asset freezes. 

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa Uganda correspondent

Uganda's police boss says he has ordered the immediate removal of the police deployment around opposition leader Kizza Besigye's home in a suburb of the capital, Kampala. 

A Ugandan TV network reports that General Edward Kayihura felt the need to point out that this was not a prank:

Mr Besigye has been under house arrest since 20 February, the day President Yoweri Museveni was declared winner of disputed elections. 

On Thursday, Uganda's Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging Mr Museveni's re-election.

He has been in power for 30 years.  

Image source, AFP

US Secretary of State John Kerry has promised to help Nigeria recover "billions of dollars" of stolen government money hidden in US bank accounts, a statement by President Muhammadu Buhari's office has said. 

Mr Kerry gave the assurance to the Nigerian leader in talks the two held in Washington yesterday. 

"It's not easy to hide that amount of money and we are pretty good in tracing them," Mr Kerry is quoted as saying.

US officials would meet Nigeria's elite anti-corruption unit, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to discuss the issue further, the statement added. 

Mr Buhari has taken a tough line against corruption in oil-rich Nigeria since he took office last year. 

A wildlife ranger has been killed by suspected rebels in  Democratic Republic of Congo while returning from a mission to track endangered gorillas, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said the ranger was fatally shot yesterday in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern DR Congo, where many rebel groups operate. 

WCS representative Andrew Plumptre says the park guard was killed while investigating a truck that had been looted and left on the side of a park road.

WCS supports efforts to protect Grauer's gorillas, the biggest of the different gorilla types, in Kahuzi-Biega park. 

The gorilla population is under pressure from illegal hunting and mining activity that is shrinking its habitat. 

Rangers in other DR Congo parks, including Garamba and Virunga, also face threats from armed groups.  

We posted at 10:03 that the Kenyan press have been having a laugh on April Fools' Day that Donald Trump wants to make Mohawk the dead lion his mascot. 

Now the Nigerian media are making a bit of fun with readers with this story:

Image source, Naij

The Nigerian news site Naij says Egypt have been disqualified from the Africa cup of Nations after a drug scandal.

It adds that this would allow Nigeria back in to the contest.

But, just in case readers get too excited, it adds:

Unfortunately for Nigerian football fans, the hard reality is that they lost their qualifier match with Egypt and not going to play in the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

Image source, AFP

Two powerful factions in South Africa's governing African National Congress have expressed their full confidence in President Jacob Zuma, despite yesterday's damning judgement against him by the country's highest court. 

The ANC Women’s League said it wanted to make it "unequivocally, unambiguously and categorically clear that it stands firmly" behind Mr Zuma.

It added that it respects the Constitutional Court's judgement, and "lessons have been learnt" from it. 

The ANC Youth League expressed a similar view, the local Eyewitness News reports. 

Its secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza said there was no need for Mr Zuma to step down, as he had already agreed to repay government money used to upgrade his home in the rural area of Nkandla in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, it reports.

The court's 11 judges unanimously ruled that Mr Zuma violated the constitution when he failed to repay government money used for the upgrades. 

The law was the "sharp and mighty sword that stands ready to chop the ugly head of impunity from its stiffened neck", the judges said, adding the public officials ignored the constitution at their peril.

The judgement has been dominating media coverage in South Africa, as this tweet shows:  

Don't believe everything you read today, as it is 1 April.

Kenya's The Star, external is getting in on the fun of April Fools' Day with this story:

Image source, The Star

It says that the US presidential hopeful Donald Trump wants to speak to the Kenya Wildlife Service about making "celebrity" lion Mohawk the new symbol for his presidential campaign.

Mohawk was shot dead by rangers on Wednesday after it strayed from the Nairobi National Park.

It goes on to say that Mr Trump is expected to contact the head of the Kenya National Parks this week through their mutual friend Angelina Jolie.

It quotes a man it says is Donald Trump's brand manager as saying:

And just in case you are in any doubt this could be true, the article ends with:

Foreign-owned financial institutions in Zimbabwe have submitted plans to "indigenise" after a government warning that they risk being shut if they fail to meet today's deadline to do so, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports, external. 

The policy requires foreign-owned firms to cede at least 50% control to locals, and mainly affects the financial, manufacturing and mining sectors.

"For the first time we now have all financial institutions in Zimbabwe actively submitting their plans on how they will comply," Indigenisation Minister Patrick Zhuwao is quoted as saying by the Herald.   

There is huge anxiety among Zimbabweans that already high levels of unemployment will rise if the government presses ahead with the closure of  any foreign-owned firm which has failed to comply with the policy, reports the BBC's Brian Hungwe from the capital, Harare.

Foreign-owned firms in Zimbabwe include those from the UK, South Africa and China. 

A huge fire broke out at a popular entertainment complex in the Ghana's capital, Accra, last night.

The Vienna City building in the city centre had bars, restaurants, pool tables, nightclubs and a casino.

Photos on Twitter showed flames and smoke rising from the venue, which is located at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, a very busy area:

The BBC’s Thomas Naadi went to the scene last night and says the fire raged for two hours – but everyone managed to escape and there were no casualties.

However, the Ghana Fire Service did not respond immediately to the incident, and the building has been completely gutted, he says.

The situation was not helped by the fact that the fire fighters ran short of water as they fought the flames, he adds.

Image source, Thomas Naadi

South Africa's left-wing opposition leader Julius Malema has warned that his party will "physically" stop President Jacob Zuma from addressing parliament, following the judgement by the country's highest court that he breached the constitution by failing to repay government money used to upgrade his private home. 

He said his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, would push for Mr Zuma's impeachment, and for parliament to be dissolved and for early elections to be held. 

"In-between now and the impeachment the president will not speak in parliament. We will stop him physically. We will push him," Mr Malema said. 

"Zuma is no longer the president of South Africa. That judgment has serious implications that he can no longer hold that office," he added.

Image source, AFP

The Constitutional Court ordered Mr Zuma to repay money spent on building an amphitheatre, swimming pool, visitor centre, cattle kraal and chicken run at his home in rural Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province. 

The opposition brought the case after Mr Zuma ignored a 2014 ruling by anti-corruption czar Thuli Madonsela that he "unduly benefited" from the upgrades, and should pay back the money. 

The court said the treasury should work out how much the upgrades cost, and Mr Zuma should "personally" repay the money.  

A government statement said Mr Zuma was reflecting on the judgement, and would take "appropriate action". 

It is unclear when parliament will meet to discuss the judgement. 

Read: The controversial and colourful Zuma

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