Summary

  • Nigeria's navy 'fights off pirate attack'

  • Zimbabwe's leader 'cancels' Ghana visit

  • Bahrain gold medallist still "Kenyan by blood"

  • French customs seizes dead seahorses from Guinea

  • Court action in Zambia to annul president's poll win

  • Mauritania imprisons anti-slavery campaigners

  • Get Involved: #BBCAfricaLive WhatsApp: +44 7341070844

  • Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Friday 19 August 2016

Live Reporting

  1. 'Both sides' in South Sudan conflict recruiting child soldiers

    A Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) soldier holds a gun at a containment site outside Juba on April 14, 2016.AFP

    Both sides in the conflict are heavily armed

    More than 650 children have been recruited into armed groups in South Sudan since the beginning of the year, the UN children's agency Unicef has said. 

    Supporters of President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar had both intensified their recruitment drives since July, when a new round of conflict broke out, Unicef added. 

    Speaking to the BBC after visiting South Sudan, Unicef deputy executive director Justin Forsyth said: 

    You see child soldiers as you drive along the roads, just in uniforms and who have been recently recruited."

    Mr Forsyth said there was widespread malnutrition and some areas faced a threat of famine:

    We have to be honest, we're doing sticking-plaster jobs. I mean we're trying to save children's lives, save mothers' lives. It's a sticking-plaster.

    The only long-term sustainable solution to this problem is if the different parties to the conflict resolve their differences and establish proper governance in South Sudan. And until that happens we'll continue to be on the brink of this very serious situation, which may tip over."

    Families leave Saint Joseph's church compound in Juba, after receiving small food ratios by the Red cross and other NGO's on July 12, 2016 in JubaAFP

    At least 100,000 people fled their homes after the July violence

    See our earlier post for more details

  2. Is it wrong for athletes to switch countries?

    Ruth Jebet wins gold for BahrainGetty Images

    Ruth Jebet was born in Kenya but won gold for Bahrain at Rio

    There are reported to be at least 20 athletes born in Kenya representing other nations at the Rio Olympics. 

    Ruth Jebet is one of them. Running for Bahrain, her victory in the women's 3,000m steeplechase brought the Gulf nation its first ever Olympic gold medal. 

    But should athletes be allowed to freely choose the country they compete for, swayed by better training opportunities or financial support?

    This weekend the IAAF - the body that runs world athletics - will discuss whether the rules should be tightened. 

    Gavin Smith is a running coach who's worked with Kenyan stars like Abel Kirui and Florence Kiplagat. So is it bad form for athletes to switch allegiance? Gavin gave his take to the to the BBC's Newsday programme:

    Pick a flag, any flag

  3. Mugabe 'cancels' Ghana trip

    Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe clinches his fist while shouting 'Amandla' (Power in Xhosa and Zulu) during the signing of various memorandum of understanding with South Africa at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on April 8, 2015.AFP

    Mr Mugabe, 92, is Africa's oldest ruler

    Zimbabwe's long-serving President Robert Mugabe has cancelled a visit to Ghana to receive the Millennium Lifetime Achievement award for leading the southern African state to independence in 1980, Ghanaian media is reporting. 

    Ghana's President John Mahama was due to give the award to Mr Mugabe at a function in the capital, Accra, tomorrow. 

    Mr Mugabe, 92, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence and has vowed to remain in power until he dies, rejecting calls from some of his former comrades to step down. 

    No official reason has been given for the cancellation but Ghana's privately owned citifmonline is quoting Zimbabwean diplomats as saying the decision was taken because of "political issues" in Zimbabwe. 

    Huge billboards had been put up in parts of Accra to welcome Mr Mugabe, and his speech had been eagerly anticipated, another privately owned site in Ghana, Joy Online, says. 

    Mr Mugabe was due to have visited the country from 18 August to 22 August. 

    21st December 1979: The leaders of the Patriotic Front, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, Lord Carrington the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Ian Gilmore and Bishop Abel Muzorewa the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, at Lancaster House. The occasion is the signing of the agreement on the independence of ZimbabweAFP

    The independence agreement was signed in London in 1979

  4. Mauritanian anti-slavery activists jailed

    BBC World Service

    Anti slavery militants hold a banner which translates as 'No to slavery and racism, no to the regime of the general dictator slavery racist Mouhamed Abdel Aziz' demonstrate on August 3, 2016 in Dakar against the imprisonement of fellow activists in MauritaniaAFP

    Anti-slavery campaigners have been repeatedly targeted by the authorities

    Thirteen anti-slavery activists in Mauritania have been sentenced to jail over their involvement in a demonstration in June that turned violent. 

    The campaigners, from the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, received sentences of between three and 15 years following accusations of rebellion, armed assembly and membership of an illegal organisation. 

    They had been demonstrating against the forced displacement of residents from a slum in the capital, Nouakchott, ahead of an Arab League summit last month. 

    The activists say these people, the descendants of black slaves, are still living in conditions akin to bondage. Mauritania officially abolished slavery in 1981. 

  5. South Sudan's government 'recruits child soldiers'

    South Sudan's government has recruited boys as soldiers, while it prepares for renewed conflict, the Associated Press news agency quotes a leaked UN document as saying. 

    A senior politician led the recruitment of the boys, some as young as 12, from a village, using intimidation, it adds. 

    The document indicates that the recruitment of children took place shortly after the UN Security Council approved a resolution about a week ago to send an extra 4,000 troops to South Susan to protect civilians after a new round of fighting broke out in the capital, Juba, last month, AP reports.

    The fighting was between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy, Riek Machar, who has fled the country. 

    UN refugee campAFP

    The conflict has left entire communities homeless

  6. Olympic round-up: Javelin and Taekwondo

    Belgium's Raheleh Asemani (L) competes against Egypt's Hedaya Wahba during their womens taekwondo bronze medal bout in the -57kg category as part of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on August 18, 2016, at the Carioca Arena 3, in Rio de Janeiro.Getty Images

    Two more Olympic medals were added to Africa's collection last night:

    • Egypt’s Hedaya Wahba became only her country’s second ever female medallist when she secured bronze in Taekwondo

    • South Africa's Sunette Viljoen got a silver medal for throwing her javelin 64.92m

  7. Caster Semenya reaches 800m final

    Caster Semenya of South Africa and Lynsey Sharp of Great Britain compete in the Women's 800m Semifinals on Day 13 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 18, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, BrazilGetty Images

    South Africa's Caster Semenya, one of the most talked about athletes at the games was in action overnight. 

    She cruised into Sunday's final of the Olympic women's 800m in Rio.

    She races within a scientific and ethical storm.

    Her testosterone levels are far in excess of the vast majority of women.

    But she is free to compete without taking medication to suppress her testosterone while the IAAF gathers evidence on whether testosterone actually does improve female performance. 

    Read more on Semenya's story on the BBC Sport website

  9. Good morning

    Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from the continent.