Summary

  • Police and students clash in South Africa

  • Niger bans donkey exports

  • French PM suggests Gabon vote recount

  • 'Stateless child' wins court case in South Africa

  • Somali ban on Khat flights from Kenya begins

  • Get Involved: #BBCAfricaLive WhatsApp: +44 7341070844

  • Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Tuesday 6 September 2016

Live Reporting

Hugo Williams and Damian Zane

  1. Gabon: Arrested dual nationals cannot hide behind French citizenship

    crowds wait outside the law courts in librevilleAFP

    Relatives of some of the 800 detained protesters have been gathering outside the law courts in Libreville

    Gabon's foreign ministry has responded to the French government's concern for 15 French-Gabonese dual citizens, who France says have been missing since post-election unrest broke out (see earlier entry): 

    France has said that it... 'had no news about a number of its citizens'. After the post-election protests, the Gabonese authorities are aware that citizens with dual nationality were detained by security forces.

    The Ministry of Justice has made itself available to answer questions from the families [of those detained]. The Gabonese authorities would like it to be noted that citizens with dual nationality, who are based in the country, cannot hide behind another nationality and therefore are subject to Gabonese laws and regulations."

  2. Niger bans donkey exports

    Mohammed Kabir Mohammed
    BBC Africa, Abuja

    The Niger authorities have banned the export of donkeys. 

    The government says the country's donkey population is being rapidly depleted as the number of the animals exported - especially to Asia - is increasing.

    In Niger, donkeys are used for transportation.

    Figures show that in 2015 27,000 donkeys were exported and so far this year, 80,000 have been exported. 

    China is a big importer of donkey skins using them to make traditional medicines.  

    Recently, Burkina Faso banned the export of donkey carcasses.

    Donkey carrying woodAFP

  3. Ethiopia opposition group wants to know fate of imprisoned leaders

    Ethiopian opposition activists are wondering what's happened to their leaders who they believe were being held at the Qilinto prison, Reuters news agency is reporting.

    The Ethiopian authorities have not revealed many details of exactly what happened in Saturday's fire at the prison, where some opposition political figures are being held on remand ahead of court appearances.

    The government has said that 23 inmates died - 21 suffocated in a stampede while two others were killed as they tried to escape.

    The opposition Oromo Federalist Congress has said that it has no information about what has happened to six of its imprisoned leaders, Reuters reports.

    Smoke rising from burning prisonESAT

    A TV station based outside Ethiopia broadcast footage of the fire

  4. Gabon election photographer surprised by 'immediate explosion of rage'

    Dogged by allegations of fraud and marred by violence after the results, Gabon's elections have presented a formidable challenge for journalists trying to cover the story.

    There were very few international media outlets with reporters actually on the ground (the BBC was one of them) and in a position to independently examine the claims and counter-claims of rival political parties. 

    Marco Longari, chief Africa photographer for AFP news agency, found himself in the unusual position of being the only photographer working for a major global news agency sent to cover the elections:

    He's written a piece about the importance of being on the ground to bear witness to events as they unfold and how many of his assumptions about the country were challenged: 

    What surprised me in Gabon was the level of access that I was granted by the security forces. How much you’re allowed to cover is usually a good barometer of where the country is on a democratic scale. Since I was alone, it would have been very easy to restrain me.

    I was taken aback... by the immediate explosion of anger when the results were announced. It wasn’t something that trickled down and slowly brewed until it reached a boiling point. It was an immediate explosion of rage."

    Read the full article here 

  5. South Africa avoids recession

    South Africa's economy has bounced back from a negative growth rate in the first quarter of this year.

    Comparing the figures with the second quarter of 2015 the economy grew by 0.6%. 

    Statistics South Africa has just tweeted the figures:

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    The BBC's Africa business editor Matthew Davies says the figures were slightly better than analysts were expecting.

    If the country had experienced two consecutive quarters of negative growth then it would have officially been in recession.

  6. Nigeria's Scrabble world champion 'will do better next time'

    Plaintive (nine letters, 14 points on a single word score) might be the best word to describe a startlingly honest Facebook post by Nigeria's world Scrabble champion Wellington Jighere.

    We featured the wordsmith on the Africa Live page a fortnight ago when he was initially refused a visa to take part in a Scrabble contest in France. 

    The authorities changed their minds and Jighere got to the competition shortly before it began. But he didn't do very well, coming a "dismal" 23rd - as he explained:

    While it would be convenient to blame external factors for my failure to perform, I'd like to categorically state that my failure was due mainly to inadequate preparations.

    Our performance may have been affected by the numerous hassles that culminated in us arriving [in] Lille just a few minutes before the commencement of the games but I believe that being a World Champion should come with the ability to surmount such obstacles.

    Thanks all for the support and I look forward to doing you proud when next I'm presented with the opportunity."

    Wellington JighereWellington Jighere

  7. Zambia's battle of the biblical quotations

    Zambia is constitutionally described as a Christian nation and politicians are fond of quoting the Bible to support their positions.

    On Monday, when a court threw out an opposition challenge to the re-election of President Edgar Lungu, the president took to Facebook to praise God, sharing a biblical passage about how those who remain faithful will be rewarded.

    This morning, defeated opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema - who called the dismissal of the election challenge "a miscarriage of justice" - gave his Facebook followers a different quote form the Bible:

    Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him."

    Hakainde HichilemaAP

    Hakainde Hichilema narrowly lost August's election to President Edgar Lungu

  8. How Botswana became a sparkling success

    A diamond the size of a tennis ball is diplayed in a glass caseGetty Images

    The world's largest rough diamond to be unearthed in a century was discovered in Botswana

    Botswana is blessed by two great pieces of fortune - huge diamond deposits and vast pristine areas of wilderness where big cats roam free and which are home to more elephants than anywhere else in the world. Both have helped the country's per capita wealth jump more than 100-fold in 50 years."

    Journalist Hamilton Wende reports from Botswana's capital, Gabarone, examining how the southern African country has managed to benefit from its natural resources in a way so rarely replicated elsewhere on the continent.

    Read the full story 

    Fancy safari lodge with round wooden seating area and a footbridgeGetty Images

    Botswana has catered for the upmarket safari tourist to reap rewards

  9. Puntland to defy khat flight ban

    Wanyama wa Chebusiri
    BBC Africa, Nairobi

    The semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland says it will defy a temporary ban by the government of Somalia on flights importing khat from neighbouring Kenya. 

    A spokesman for the Garowe-based regional administration told local media that the ban "does not concern the Puntland state" .

    The ban on the flights carrying the narcotic leaf was announced on Monday, but no reason was given.

    Khat leavesAFP

    Read more: Why do some countries ban Khat?

  10. French PM suggests Gabon vote recount

    gabonese protesters in paris, one with a national flag, demonstrateAFP

    There were protests against President Bongo's victory in the French capital

    French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has told a French radio station that a recount should be held of the votes in Gabon's disputed presidential election.. 

    There have been violent protests since President Ali Bongo, whose family has been in power for nearly 50 years, was declared winner of the poll.

    "There are arguments and some doubts. European observers in the country have already made criticisms on the basis of objectives. It would be wise to do a recount," Mr Valls told French radio station RTL. 

    Former colonial power France has already joined the European Union and the US in calling for full breakdowns of results to be published. 

    The opposition has alleged electoral fraud.   

    France has enjoyed a close economic and political relationship with Gabon since independence.

    President Bongo in the national assembly damaged by fireReuters

    President Bongo visited the National Assembly to survey the damage after protesters set fire to it.

    Read more: Six signs of possible vote-rigging

  11. 'Stateless child' goes to court in South Africa

    Karen Allen
    BBC southern Africa correspondent, Johannesburg

    In South Africa, child welfare lawyers are going to the Supreme Court of Appeal to try to reverse an eight-year-old girl's status as a stateless child which prevents her from being issued with a birth certificate, going to school or receiving state healthcare. 

    They accuse the country's Home Affairs Ministry of violating South Africa's own constitution and say potentially thousands of children are being denied citizenship because their parents are either from another country or the children themselves are being put up for adoption. 

    The girl at the centre of the case was born in South Africa to Cuban parents. 

    As her parents have been out of their home country for some time, she is not considered Cuban but neither is she being granted South African citizenship despite being born here.

    The government is appealing an earlier court order to put in place measures to allow such children to get South African birth certificates, bringing it in line with many other countries around the world. 

    It worries that it will open the floodgates to migrants. 

  12. Somali ban on flights carrying khat from Kenya begins

    A Somali government ban on flights from Kenya carrying the narcotic leaf khat comes into effect today.

    Somalia's Aviation Minister Ali Ahmed Jangali announced a temporary suspension on Monday but was not specific about the reasons behind it.

    It is "due to some situations," he told the BBC.

    Khat is hugely popular in Somalia, where it is chewed for hours and serves as a stimulant.

    It is not grown in Somali, but is imported from neighbours Ethiopia and Kenya.

    Kenyan khat farmers have been hit hard by a European ban on khat imports.

    Khat marketAFP

    Khat is very popular in Somalia

  14. Good morning

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