Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Allsport

Ethiopian long-distance legend Haile Gebreselassie has hit out at the country’s athletics federation for excluding three-time Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele from the team that will represent Ethiopia in the Rio De Janeiro Olympics in  August. 

Haile told the BBC that his compatriot should have been an automatic choice in the marathon team because of  his prolific record and the morale he would have given to the team. 

The Ethiopian Athletics Federation said it left out Kenenisa from the Rio team because he had not met the requirements. 

Kenenisa has also criticised the decision, saying it was unjust and personal.

Bekele came third in the London Marathon in April, despite not having been in full training and he won the Great Manchester Run last month. 

Image source, AFP

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has given rebels in a district south of the capital two weeks to give themselves up. 

If they did not, Mr Nkurunziza said he would deal with them by force. 

The president made the comments during a visit to Mugamba town, 80km (50 miles) south of Bujumbura, which is considered a bastion of groups.

He warned that security forces would apply the "same methods" they used to put down a previous uprising in 2010, which human rights groups said was characterised by large-scale abuses. 

Burundi has suffered a violent political crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term last year.  

More than 400 people have died since the start of the crisis in April 2015 and at least 260,000 have fled the country.

Read more about Burundi

Renowned Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina has tweeted from Tanzania - a day after he said he had felt "black, dirty" after being assaulted by a taxi driver in Germany's Berlin city: 

The Gambia should be suspended from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) unless it frees dozens of political prisoners and ends its brutal crackdown on freedom of expression, Amnesty international has said.

In its new report, external launched two days before Ecowas and the Gambian government are due to meet in the Senegalese captial Dakar, the rights group documents how Gambia's opposition politicians, journalists, and human rights activists have been arbitrarily arrested and harassed.

Image source, AFP

Meluse Kapatamoyo
BBC Africa, Lusaka, Zambia

Image source, Edgar Ngoma

Zambia's President Edgar Lungu has filed in nomination papers for the 11 August elections, along with his deputy Inonge Wina . 

It will be the second time Mr Lungu has run for the presidency, which he won less than two years ago following the death of President Michael Sata.  

His main challenger, Hakainde Hichilema, is due to file his nomination papers tomorrow for what is likely to be a fiercely contested election.

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has arrived for the launch of a cleanup operation in the oil-producing Ogoniland region, following President Muhammadu Buhari's last-minute withdrawal from the event (see earlier entries). 

No reason has been given for the cancellation of Mr Buhari's visit to the Niger Delta, which would have been his first as president. 

The region has been hit by a wave of militant attacks, which have impacted the country's ability to produce oil. 

Image source, Reuters

Three gunmen who stormed a hotel in the centre of the Somali capital Mogadishu have been killed after an overnight gunfight, officials say.

The car bomb and gun attack at the Ambassador Hotel on Maka al-Mukarama street killed 15 people, according to health officials and eyewitnesses.

Two British Somali MPs were among those killed in the 12-hour attack, which was declared over on Thursday morning.

Read the full BBC story here

Image source, Getty Images

About eight million Nigerian children are engaged in exploitative labour, according to Nigeria's anti-trafficking agency, the local Punch newspaper reports, external.

The figure is equivalent to the entire population of neigbouring Togo. 

Exploited girls are used as domestic workers and prostitutes, while the boys are forced to beg, scavenge, wash cars, conduct buses, deal in drugs and work as farm labourers, said Alhaji Abdulrazak Dangiri, acting head of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (Naptip).

Read: Tough love or child labour? 

There's strong reaction on Twitter to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's decision to abandon his visit to Ogoniland to launch a programme to clean up the area of some of the biggest oil spills in the world. 

Here's a sample of views:  

Image source, ONLINELIBRARY.WILEY.COM

A dagger entombed alongside the mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun was made with iron that came from a meteorite, researchers say.

The weapon was one of a pair of daggers discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1925 within the burial wrappings of the teenaged king.

The origin of its unrusted iron blade has baffled scientists because such metalwork was rare in ancient Egypt.

Tutankhamun was mummified more than 3,300 years ago.

The researchers say the presence of iron - along with levels of nickel and cobalt - "strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin". 

Image source, AFP

Read the full BBC News story

Ghana will carry through on a plan to ban all skin-whitening products from August, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) says.

Products containing up to 2% of the skin-bleaching ingredient hydroquinone, which are currently allowed, will be banned under the new regulations.

Skin-whitening creams are widely used in West Africa and have been linked to cancer, FDA spokesman James Lartey told the BBC.

He said enforcement would be strict. 

Bans in other countries have not curbed the use of skin whiteners.

Future regulations could target other ingredients, Mr Lartey said.

“We are currently concentrating on hydroquinone because that’s where we have established a danger at the moment."

Ivory Coast banned all whitening creams last year.

The BBC's Newsday programme has been speaking to Nigerian journalist Ameto Akpe about the culture of skin-whitening.

Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will visit the oil-rich south after President Muhammadu Buhari pulled out, a presidency official has told AFP news agency. 

"The presidency has not cancelled the trip to Ogoni but President Buhari will be represented by the vice-president," the unnamed official is quoted as saying. 

The reason for the decision is unclear. 

Image source, AFP

Mr Buhari was supposed to visit Ogoniland in Rivers state to launch a clean-up programme for a region devastated by oil spills which have affected farming and fishing.  

Ibrahim Aden
BBC Africa, Mogadishu

The number of people killed in yesterday's al-Shabab attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu has now risen to 15, local health officials have told me.

Gunmen stormed the Ambassador Hotel on Maka al-Mukarama street after setting off a car bomb at the gates outside. 

Two Somali MPs were also killed in the attack, according to officials. 

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

Gabon and Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been voted as the German Bundesliga's Player of the Year.

The Gabon captain finished just 0.2% ahead of Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski, who was the top scorer in the league last season.

The award is voted for by the German players' union, the VDV.

"It's a great honour to be recognised and appreciated by your fellow colleagues," Aubameyang said. 

Read the full BBC Sport story

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled his visit to the oil-producing Niger Delta, which has been hit by a wave of militant attacks. 

No official reason was given. The trip was due to happen amid growing tensions in Nigeria's main oil-producing region, with residents complaining they are not receiving a fair share of the wealth pumped from beneath their feet. 

Mr Buhari has promised to address the communities' grievances. 

Last month, he cancelled a visit to Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, after what his spokesman described as "scheduling" difficulties.

BBC World Service

Egypt is due to take possession of the first of two advanced warships from France, in a deal worth nearly $1bn (£700m). 

The Mistral helicopter carriers were originally built for Russia, but the contract was cancelled after Moscow's annexation of Crimea. 

The French and Egyptian defence ministers are expected to attend the handover ceremony in the port of Saint-Nazaire. 

The ship has been named Gamal Abdel Nasser, after the former Egyptian president. 

Image source, AFP

Suspected militants have attacked a military houseboat in Nigeria's oil-rich south, the private Vanguard newspaper reports, external, quoting an unnamed security source. 

Two soldiers guarding the houseboat are feared dead, the newspaper reports. 

There is no still no independent confirmation.   

Image source, AFP

Ethiopian athletics star Kenenisa Bekele has said he is "very disappointed" that he has been left out of the marathon team for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

“The selection process was biased and the result unjust,” he told the Associated Press news agency. 

The Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) told local media on Tuesday that Kenenisa, the world record-holder and three-time Olympic champion, had been left out, AP reports. 

“In Kenenisa’s case, he hasn’t met the requirements, so he couldn’t make it to Rio,” EAF secretary-general Bililign Mekoyahe is quoted as saying. 

Sudan's military has accused foreign aid agencies of violating its airspace, and has said it will "firmly deal" with them, the AFP news agency reports. 

A cargo plane flying for "internatonal and regional NGOs" breached Sudan's airspace on 17 and 20 May, a military statement quoted by AFP says. 

"Sudan's army warns that any aircraft that violates Sudan's airspace and enters it without permission or proper procedures will be dealt with firmly," a spokesman, Brigadier Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami, added. 

The military did not name the NGOs. 

The UN force in Darfur region and the World Food Programme operate daily flights across Sudan. 

Last week, the government expelled the head of the UN's humanitarian aid agency (UNOCHA), a move criticised by the US' chief envoy to the UN (see tweet below). 

There are more than four million people in need of aid in the Sudanese region of Darfur. 

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's military has warned militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta that it will hunt them down after a surge of attacks which have led to a sharp fall in oil production, threatening the country's economy. 

The warning came ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari's planned visit to the Niger Delta today - his first trip to the region since he took office more than a year ago. 

Yesterday, the newly formed Niger Delta Avengers group said it had blown up oil wells operated by US energy firm Chevron, as it fights for the Niger Delta to get a bigger share of oil wealth.

In a statement, the military said:  

Read more: Who are the Niger Delta Avengers?