Image source, Reuters

Thousands of Moroccans held protests this weekend in several towns and cities after a fish-seller was crushed to death in a refuse lorry while trying to retrieve fish that had been confiscated by the police.

The death of Mouhcine Fikri in the northern town of Al-Hoceima on Friday drew widespread anger on social media.

His death drew parallels to that of a Tunisian fruit seller in 2010 which helped spark the Arab Spring uprisings.

Morocco's King Mohamed VI has ordered officials to visit Mr Fikri's family.

The interior and justice ministries have also pledged to hold an investigation.

An independent journalist tweeted photos of Sunday evening's protest in Tangier: 

Nigerian officials have been accused of sexually exploiting women and girls living in camps for victims of militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the country's north-east, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).   

Forty-three women and girls were sexually abused in seven camps in Maiduguri city, the headquarters of military operations against Boko Haram, by officials guarding the camps, the campaign group said in a new report, external. 

The government hasn't commented on the allegations yet.

Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at HRW, said: 

Global financial markets have welcomed the news that fraud charges have been dropped against South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. 

The value of the South African currency, the rand, against the dollar has spiked in today's trading, as shown in this graph tweeted by a Reuters journalist:

South Africa's Eyewitness news has posted a video from the press conference at which chief prosecutor Shaun Abrahams announced charges had been dropped against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan:

Mr Abrahams appeared to blame the three men involved in the investigation for the delay in the charges being dropped:

South Africa's chief prosecutor Shaun  Abrahams said he was satisfied that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had no intention to act unlawfully when he approved an early pension payment of about $80,000 (£65,000) for former employee Ivan Pillay. 

Mr Abrahams said the decision to charge Mr Gordhan with fraud over the payment was not taken by him, but by prosecutors below him. 

Mr Abrahams had announced earlier this month that Mr Gordhan would stand trial for fraud, in a decision that caused outrage in South Africa. 

Mr Gordhan was due to appear in court on Wednesday.

His allies said the case was politically motivated with the aim of ousting him as as finance minister so that an elite perceived to be corrupt could take control of the ministry.

Charges have also been dropped against Mr Pillay and Oupa Magashula, another official who was accused of  fraudulently approving the payment. 

Image source, AFP

South Africa's chief prosecutor Shaun Abrahams has confirmed that he is dropping fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and two officials who worked for him when he headed the tax agency more than a decade ago. 

Image source, AFP

South Africa's Eyewitness News has tweeted a leaked copy of a letter from the national director of public prosecutions, saying that his office has dropped charges against former tax agency official Ivan Pillay, in a case closely linked to the one facing Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Mr Gordhan was charged with fraudulently approving a pension for Mr Pillay. 

More to follow as the prosecutor holds a press conference. 

Image source, AFP

France's military operation in the Central African Republic will formally end today, almost three years after it deployed troops to stabilise the country after a coup had sparked mass killings.

The end of Operation Sangaris comes a day after fresh violence between two armed groups in the capital Bangui killed at least four people, BBC Afrique reports.

Sangaris was the first international force to be deployed in CAR after the civil war broke out. 

It later took a back-seat role, providing intelligence and logistic support to the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (Minusca).  

French Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian is in Bangui to enact the end of Sangaris. 

He told the AFP news agency that France was not abandoning CAR, a former colony. 

He said 350 French troops will stay behind to provide intelligence support to the UN mission and the CAR security forces. 

Both UN and French troops in the country faced allegations of child sex abuse, which came to light after an internal UN report was leaked in 2015. 

Read more: Living under the shadow of fear in CAR

A reporter with a leading media outlet in South Africa is tweeting that chief prosecutor Shaun  Abrahams had decided to drop fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan: 

This has not been confirmed, and South Africa's News24 website reports that Mr Gordhan's lawyers have received no indication, external that the charges are being dropped.  

Mr Abrahams is currently holding a press conference. We are waiting to hear what he announces and we'll bring you updates shortly.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has telephoned South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, urging him to drop his government's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. 

Mr Ban's office said he appreciated South Africa's "continued and unwavering commitment" to justice and hoped it would reconsider its decision.

South Africa said earlier this month that it would pull out of the ICC because it was an obstacle to its efforts to promote peace in Africa. 

Last year, a South African court criticised the government for refusing to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.

Burundi and The Gambia have also said they planned to withdraw from the ICC. 

On Friday, Mr Ban told the UN Security Council that he regretted countries withdrawing from the ICC as it could send the wrong message about their commitment to justice.

Read: Is this the end of the ICC? 

Image source, Get

Image source, Reuters

Ethiopia's security forces have freed about 2,000 people detained under a state of emergency on suspicion of being involved in the recent violence which swept through parts of the country, the state-linked Fana Broadcasting Corporate has reported, external. 

The group had been released after "receiving education and counselling service," it quoted Defence Minister Siraj Fegessa as saying. 

The minister did not say how many people are still in detention. 

On 20 October, the BBC reported that more than 2,600 people had been arrested under the state of emergency, which was imposed on 9 October after a wave of anti-government protests.

Opposition groups have been demanding greater political freedom in a country ruled by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front since 1991. 

More than 1,500 weapons had also been recovered by the security forces, FBC reported.

Read: Are Ethiopian protests a game changer? 

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