South African firefighters who have travelled to Canada to help control wildfire made an entrance this morning by singing at the airport:

News 24 reports, external that Canadian authorities have requested their help to control wildfires that have been going for almost a month.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Some Ugandans on Twitter are protesting against the arrest of a young man, allegedly for wearing a T-shirt with opposition leader Kizza Besigye's face on it - under the hashtag #freesamwyri.

Samson Tumusiime was arrested at the weekend. 

He recently posted pictures of himself on Facebook wearing the T-shirt. 

Ismail Muyinda and Asia Nanyanzi who are said to have printed the T-shirt are also under arrest. 

One of those tweeting said he designed the original drawing:

According to police spokesman Fred Enanga, the three suspects were arrested because they planned to hold illegal demonstrations. 

Mr Enanga says the police have recovered 20 T-shirts with Besigye's face on them which, he added, were meant to be distributed to promote illegal protests. 

Former Chadian leader Hissene Habre's conviction today for crimes against humanity is a long time coming.

It's been 11 years since a court in Belgium issued a warrant for him.

And 26 years since he fled Chad.

Here's the chronology of this trial:

1974: Hissene Habre came to the world's attention when a group of his rebels captured three European hostages

1982: Seizes power in Chad

1990: Ousted by current President Idriss Deby and flees to Senegal

2005: Belgian judge issues warrant for his arrest for human rights offences; Senegal puts him under house arrest

2006: African Union says Senegal should try Habre "on behalf of Africa"

2008: Senegal's constitution amended to allow the prosecution of war crimes

2011: Senegal says it will repatriate Habre to Chad, where he had been sentenced to death, but blocked by the UN

2012: International Court of Justice at The Hague orders Senegal to either put him on trial "without delay" or extradite him to Belgium

2013: AU and Senegal establish special court to try him.

Here's the moment in court when the judge announced former Chadian leader Hissene Habre will be sentenced to life in prison:

The victims in the court in Senegal's capital, Dakar, where Hissene Habre was just sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity have cheered and ululated after the judge finished reading out the verdict.

  The court gave Habre 15 days to appeal.  

Image source, EAC

Chad's former leader Hissene Habre has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of crimes against humanity, rape and sexual slavery.

The former Chadian President Hissene Habre has been found guilty of crimes against humanity, rape and sexual slavery.

Hissene Habre was directly responsible for the executions that took place while he was Chadian president.

A journalist is tweeting from the court:

The judge in the Hissene Habre trial says that Habre himself raped one woman who testified in the trial.

He is also found guilty of torture:

Justice Gbertao Kam is still reading the verdict in the trial of the former Chadian ruler Hissene Habre.

He is being tried by a special court - the Extraordinary African Chambers - set up by Senegal.

Habre fled to Senegal when he was overthrown in 1990.

The court was set up with African Union backing after a long debate about where he should be tried following an attempt to put him on trial in Belgium.

He is being charged with crimes against humanity and torture as a member of a “joint criminal enterprise” and of war crimes on the basis of his “command responsibility”. 

Campaign group Human Rights Watch, external (HRW) has an excellent Q&A with all the background on the case.

HRW's Reed Brody is tweeting from the court:

The ex-Chadian leader is in court in Dakar listening to the judge summarising the case.

A journalist for the UK's Guardian newspaper is tweeting from the court:

Brian Hungwe
BBC Africa, Harare

Zimbabwean human rights activist Itayi Dzamara has been missing since March last year and today a member of his family has said that state security officers were behind his disappearance.

His brother, Patson Dzamara , said he has irrefutable evidence that the state abducted him for his human rights work and political activism.

At a press conference in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, he showed a picture which he alleges showed his brother being tortured.

Journalists and human rights activists are tweeting from the court where the verdict in the Hissene Habre trial is being delivered.

The former Chadian leader has arrived in court:

It's taken years for the process to reach this point.

Human Rights Watch's Reed Brody has been one of the main campaigners in this case.

Maud Jullien
BBC Africa, Kinshasa

The verdict in the trial of former-Chadian leader Hissene Habre is due today in a court in Senegal.

Habre was also the subject of an investigation in Chad itself.

Last week, I met Josue Doumassem Ngardiguiro who was asked to illustrate torture techniques by the head of the Chadian national investigation commission, who knew him to be a talented artist, for the commission's report. 

He hadn't told anyone he'd been detained and tortured himself. He only revealed this at the trial, many years later.

He spent three months in detention, he was suspected of distributing political leaflets. 

Mr Doumassem Ngardiguiro says he loves drawing but that the strain of torture on his muscles and bones has affected his skill. His hands are slightly shaky.

A journalist for the UK's Guardian newspaper has snapped one of Habre's alleged victims outside the court in Dakar:

Our BBC reporter in Senegal's capital, Dakar, is tweeting pictures from the court where the verdict in the trial of the former leader of Chad Hissene Habre is due to be delivered.

The students at the University of Dodoma in Tanzania have been sent home after a spat between the government and lecturers. 

This notice, which was put up in one of the university departments, ordered students to leave the campus by 6pm yesterday. 

It goes on to say that there were "errors in the teaching" of bachelor degrees in education, including science, mathematics and technology, and the government has ordered all students to leave the university premises until further notice.

The details of the argument between the government and lecturers are not yet clear. 

Ivorian footballer Serge Aurier has been arrested in Paris after he assaulted a police officer outside a nightclub, the AFP news agency is reporting.

A source told AFP that he elbowed the officer in the throat.

Aurier, who is a defender for French champions Paris St Germain, was briefly suspended from the team in February after he insulted the team's manager and some of the players.

Image source, AFP

Wanyama wa Chebusiri
BBC Africa

A military court in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has handed down life sentences to two men who were charged with planning the attack on a Daallo Airlines flight in February.

A bomb exploded on the plane shortly after it took off from Mogadishu's airport on its way to Djibouti.

A hole was blown in the plane's fuselage but the plane did not break up.

Image source, Harun Maruf

One passenger, who was sucked out of the plane, died and two other passengers were injured.   

Along with the two life sentences, eight others were given sentences ranging from six months to four years. 

They include former airport employees and security personnel. 

Somalia plane attack: What happened?

Julian Keane
BBC Newsday, Niger

The authorities in Niger say they are preparing to carry out a major offensive targeting the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, which will also involve military forces from neighbouring countries. 

Since February last year, Boko Haram fighters have carried out more than 100 cross-border raids into southern Niger. 

Niger has been working alongside other countries in the region, including Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, to put together a joint strategy to end the threat posed by Boko Haram. 

Speaking to the BBC, Niger's Defence Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou dismissed suggestions that getting several different armies to work together was proving difficult. 

He claimed that the regional forces were now fully integrated and able to take on Boko Haram from several sides. 

Mr Massaoudou said that Niger and its allies were preparing to intervene in Nigeria, adding that the offensive would be massive and that this would be the final battle.

Image source, AFP