Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Jos, Nigeria

I am visiting my hometown of Jos, in central Nigeria, which in recent times has been the scene of frequent deadly ethnic, religious and political violence.

But the city seems to be enjoying peace at the moment with commercial activities picking up again. 

The streets are also busy with traffic - and Muslims and Christians seem to be interacting more closely than they did before. 

So-called "no-go" areas seem to have disappeared. 

The current peace in the Plateau state capital and its surrounding areas is attributed to the efforts of community and religious leaders as well as the government and non-governmental organisations. 

The Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Bishop Benjamin Kwashi, and the secretary-general of the Muslim umbrella organisation in Nigeria, Sheikh Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, told me that people must work hard to maintain the peace and pass it on to the next generation.

The top UN official in Sudan has condemned the shooting and killing of six civilians, including two children, near a camp in North Darfur, housing people who have fled renewed fighting in the Jebel Mara area.

In a statement, Marta Ruedas says there has been a reported rise in tension between the displaced people and "armed tribesmen over cattle raiding".

She adds that the UN has been providing emergency relief to the tens of thousands who have been displaced from Jebel Mara.

Image source, AFP

Kenyan security forces say they have arrested 36 suspected members of the Somali-based militant group al-Shabab since September last year, the Star newspaper reports, external.

They were all picked up in the Boni forest in the east of the country.

Nine months ago, the army launched Operation Linda Boni to flush out militants who were believed to be hiding in the forest.

Kenya has experienced several large-scale al-Shabab attacks, including an assault in April 2015 on Garissa University College that killed 148 people.

The activist who published messages from a private online exchange, in which a judge appeared to say that rape was part of black culture, has been speaking to the BBC about why she went public. 

In a conversation about rape cases within the black community in South Africa, Judge Mabel Jansen said the gang-rape of babies, girls and women was seen as a "pleasurable" pastime.  

The judge insists her comments, which sparked a row about racism in the post-apartheid state, have been taken out of context.  

The journalist and activist Gillian Schutte told the BBC's Shaun Ley why the judge's position is now "untenable".  

Read more about the story

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

There have been at least least six deaths, 400 people displaced and more than 150 homes damaged in flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, authorities say. 

eThekwini Metro Municipality says it is providing relief for the hundreds who have lost their homes since the heavy rainfall at the weekend in the coastal city of Durban. 

Meanwhile, authorities are also searching for four people who have been reported missing. 

Weather forecaster Wisani Maluleke said he believed that the 206ml of rain that had fallen in May in Durban so far was a record, reports the IOLnews website, external.

Image source, Radio Jacaranda

It's four days since the authorities in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, started demolishing buildings considered to be too unsafe for people to live in.

The demolitions started in the city's Huruma district, where a building collapsed 10 days ago, killing more than 40 people.

People have been complaining that they did not have enough time to gather their belongings and get out.

The Al-Jazeera reporter in Nairobi has tweeted this picture of people trying to reclaim some of their possessions:

At least 19 Ethiopian children held captive by an armed South Sudanese group for nearly a month have been freed, Ethiopia's state news agency reports, external.

The 19 were freed following mediation by South Sudan's government, it adds.

This is the first group to be released since about 125 children were abducted in the cross-border raid.

Members of the Murle community carried out the attack. They have previously been accused of stealing livestock and children to raise as their own.

Image source, ENA

Isa Sanusi
BBC Africa, Abuja

Fuel queues are building up again in what seems to be panic buying based on a widespread belief that the petrol price may rise, based on unconfirmed media reports. 

A source at the petroleum ministry did not confirm whether prices are about to go up - and the government has not issued a statement.

Some months ago, the government said the fuel price would not go up, but the rising and fuel subsidy bill has been described as unsustainable by economists. 

Image source, AP

British photographer Nick Brandt has been making intimate portraits of East African animals for close to two decades.

Now, in a new book and a series of international exhibitions called Inherit the Dust, Brandt is attempting to show what habitat destruction looks like by placing giant portraits of animals in landscapes where they used to roam.

Image source, RBG Kew

Scientists say that there are now 390,900 plants known to science.

The new tally is part of a report carried out by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, external. It is its first global assessment of the world's flora.

The study also found that 2,034 new plant species were discovered in 2015.

Last year's discoveries include a tree called Gilbertiodendron maximum, which grows up to 45m-high, and is found in the forests of Gabon in West Africa.

Read the full BBC News story

Image source, J.van Veldhuizen

Read more about African plant species discovered in 2015, external

In hard-hitting criticism of Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch, external (HRW) says that "the government is inexorably closing off ways for Ethiopians to peacefully express their grievances, not just with bullets but also through the courts". 

HRW Horn of Africa researcher Felix Horne describes what he calls "politically motivated charges" against some top opposition politicians.

They are accused of violating Ethiopia's anti-terror laws. 

Last week, a leading member of the Semayawi Party Yonatan Tesfaye was charged with the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt” of a terrorist act, in connection with some comments he made on Facebook.  

Image source, AFP

The trial of two former Rwandan mayors in connection with the 1994 genocide is due to start in the French capital, Paris.

Tite Barahirwa and Octavien Ngenzi are accused of inciting and having a major role in the killing of ethnic Tutsis.

The charges specifically refer to the killing of 2,000 people who were in a church in the eastern town of Kabarondo.

The AP news agency says that more than 100 witnesses are expected to testify in the eight-week trial.

The two men have denied the charges.

This is the second trial to take place in a special court that France set up to try Rwandan genocide cases. 

Image source, Getty Images

Learn more about the Rwandan genocide

Image source, EPA

US scientists are warning that a shortage of the yellow fever vaccine could spark a health security crisis, and are urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to take emergency steps to prevent it. 

Two professors from Georgetown University say an outbreak of yellow fever in Angola, which has killed more than 250 people and infected more than 2,000, could spread to other countries. 

Earlier this year, the WHO reported a global yellow fever vaccine shortage, saying the emergency stockpile was completely depleted. 

The yellow fever virus is spread by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito which carries the zika and dengue viruses.

Read more about Yellow fever on the WHO website, external

The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, has called on the Kenyan government to reconsider its decision to close two large refugee camps in the country at Dadaab and Kakuma.

The government said last Friday that the camps would close citing security concerns and financial pressures.

It has made the announcement before, but this time the government said it was closing its refugee department in what looked like a first step to ending the hosting of up to 600,000 refugees.

Most of them are from Somalia and South Sudan.

"It is with profound concern that UNHCR takes note of this announcement," the agency said in a statement, external.

It adds: "Tragically, the situations in Somalia and South Sudan that cause people to flee are still unresolved today."

Image source, AFP

Former Nigerian Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode has been questioned by the anti-corruption body the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Premium Times newspaper reports, external.

An anonymous source is quoted as saying that he appeared at the EFCC offices on Monday morning and was scheduled to stay there overnight to be questioned by investigators. 

The Premium Times says he is being investigated over an allegedly fraudulent arms deal, which involves several other former government officials.

Image source, AFP

Today’s African proverb:

Image source, AFP

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