Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

Five million Somalis are facing hunger due to failed rains, floods and continued displacement in the country. 

Of those, 1.1 million require urgent assistance, according to a new survey by the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). 

Malnutrition levels have also increased dramatically over the last six months with more than 300,000 children under the age of five affected, it says. 

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

There is currently a stand-off between police and students at Wits University in South Africa's main city of Johannesburg.

Students are protesting against a government plan to allow universities to increase tuition fees (see earlier story).

Scores of students have gathered at the institution's medical campus. The medical students say they have joined the protest because their fees are very high.

Students leaders are discussing what should happen next. 

There are tensions on other campuses including the University of Pretoria, the University of Free State, as well as two institutions in Cape Town. 

Protests are expected to intensify as the week progresses. 

Students around the country will take the lead from those at Wits, which is seen as central to the #FeesMustFall movement.

Students have been sharing pictures of today's demonstrations:

European nations will discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has said, Reuters news agency reports. 

Asked if France wanted sanctions like those Washington has imposed for what it described as the violent suppression of the opposition, Reuters quotes Mr Ayrault as saying:

"It's a question we will discuss but the situation is extremely worrying and very dangerous."

The US has already threatened sanctions against political figures over delays in organising elections, due in November. 

Nigeria's Paralympic team returned from Rio covered in glory.

It was the top placed African nation in the medals table and came 17th overall.

The country's powerlifters alone won nine medals, including six golds.

This is in sharp contrast to the country's Olympic team, which won just one bronze medal in Rio.

So what lessons are there for the able-bodied athletes?

Powerlifting coach Are Feyisetan has some pointers.

He says his athletes are disciplined about their training, the coaching staff are loyal to the team and the politicians are kept at arm's length.

Read more about the Paralympians' lessons for Nigeria from BBC News Online.

Image source, PA

The RFI correspondent in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, says there is unrest again this morning. 

She tweets (translated from French below):

"There are still clashes in several suburbs in the city, Matete, Limete and Ngaba. Eyewitnesses are talking about civilian deaths and police being attacked."

She adds that talks to end the country's political deadlock, known as the "national dialogue", are not going to restart as planned today for security reasons, according to sources involved. 

The opposition says President Joseph Kabila is trying to delay the elections in order to remain in power beyond his two-term limit, which finishes in December.  

Read more: DR Congo president unlikely to give up power

In court in The Hague, Somalia has returned fire after coming in for criticism from Kenya, the AFP news agency is reporting.

The two countries are locked in a legal battle at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the location of part of their common maritime border.

Somalia said that Kenya was unnecessarily prolonging the struggle over the potentially lucrative waters, which are thought to hold oil and gas reserves, AFP reports.

On Monday, Kenya described Somalia's claims that it sought to steal the oil and gas reserves as "absurd and hurtful".

Somalia said it took the case to the ICJ after trying and failing to negotiate with Kenya.

South African police have clashed with students in Johannesburg during a protest about the rise in tuition fees, the Reuters news agency reports.

It adds that 31 students have been detained.

The students are demanding free education.

The protests, which are taking place in several campuses in South Africa, come in the wake of the government announcing that universities could raise tuition fees by up to 8%.

A South African news service is sharing videos of the protest at Johannesburg's Wits University:

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has called on authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo "to ensure that security forces exercise maximum restraint when dealing with the demonstrations". 

Mr Ban condemned Monday's violence in which the government said least 17 people were killed.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says that it has received reports of almost 200 people being arrested following demonstrations in the capital Kinshasa, adding:

The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security has also called for calm:

In the ongoing post-electoral crisis in Gabon, one particular woman has found herself walking a tight rope, the French magazine Jeune Afrique reports, external.

And that woman is Pascaline Bongo, the sister of incumbent President Ali Bongo and ex-lover of his main challenger, Jean Ping, with whom she has had a child. 

As the uncertainty over the electoral outcome continues, the Paris-based Jeune Afrique newspaper dedicated a piece to what it describes as Pascaline Bongo's difficult choice. 

Miss Bongo had struggled with making a decision over whether to support her brother or her ex-lover. Ultimately she chose not to back either one. 

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP

There have been no demonstrations so far today in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, reports BBC Afrique's Poly Muzalia from the city. 

Shots have been fired in the Mombele district, near the burnt out headquarters of the main opposition UDPS party, he reports. 

Groups of youths have set up some barricades as well. 

Botswana's government has confirmed that US pastor Steven Anderson will be deported from the country (see earlier entry):

Last week, he was barred from entering neighbouring South Africa over his anti-gay statements, but the government in Botswana has not made it clear why Mr Anderson is a "prohibited immigrant" there.

Secondary schools in the north-east Nigerian state of Borno, which has been at the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency, are set to reopen next week, the Premium Times is reporting, external.

They have been closed for two years since a school was attacked in neighbouring Yobe state in March 2014.

The state's education minister Inuwa Kubo said that up to now the schools had been used to house some of the people displaced by the Islamist militants.

More than 200 female students were kidnapped while sitting a school exam in the Borno town of Chibok in April 2014.

Their abduction launched the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. 

It is not clear if the Chibok girls' secondary school will reopen.

Image source, AFP

The Bloomberg correspondent in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, has been tweeting in the past hour about a heavy security deployment on the streets:

He's not reporting any major demonstrations so far, although the main opposition party has called for people to return to the streets: 

Two Sudanese journalists were briefly detained for reporting on a meeting in the capital, Khartoum, of the South Sudanese SPLM-IO group, the Netherlands-based Radio Tamazuj says, external.

The SPLM-IO's leader Riek Machar is currently in the city after being ousted from his position as South Sudan's first vice-president in the aftermath of July's violence.

Radio Tamazuj says the journalists, Tariq Abdallah and Murtada Ahmed, were detained for the day.

The Sudan Journalist’s Network condemned the move saying it was an infringement on the freedom of the press.

Image source, AFP

Two bodies have been found in the headquarters of the Democratic Republic of Congo's main opposition UDPS party in Kinshasa, after it was set on fire overnight. 

BBC Afrique's Poly Muzalia has sent through some grisly photos, that we are not going to publish here, showing the charred remains of one of one of those who died. 

But here is the general scene:

The veteran South African journalist Allister Sparks has died at the age of 83.

He was a known as a liberal anti-apartheid voice and came to prominence in the 1960s and was well known in the 1970s for exposing a big government corruption scandal.

Journalists, and others who knew him, have been paying tribute.

The president has also paid his respects and praised Mr Sparks for "exposing the evils of the [apartheid] system".

BBC Afrique's Poly Muzalia in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, has sent through pictures of the fire damage to the headquarters of minor opposition party the New Forces for Union and Solidarity (Fonus).

The offices of the main opposition party the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) were also set alight overnight (see earlier entry).

Botswana's Mmegi newspaper is reporting that the controversial anti-gay US pastor Steven Anderson is being deported from the country.

It's reporting on its Facebook page, external that he is being held at the country's immigration department and "is awaiting deportation".

A week ago South Africa barred Mr Anderson from visiting the country because of his critical remarks about homosexuality.

The home affairs minister said he was refused a visa as the constitution prohibits hate speech.

"I feel sorry for people who live in South Africa, but thank God we still have a wide open door in Botswana," Mr Anderson posted on his Facebook page, external after the decision to refuse him a visa.  

Image source, _

Several students at South Africa's Wits University have been arrested during protests against a planned increase in tuition fees, Eyewitness News is reporting, external.

On Monday, the Education Minister Blade Nzimande said that universities could raise their fees by up to 8%.

Last year, student demonstrations - dubbed #FeesMustFall - forced the government to back down on a rise in tuition costs.

Students have been tweeting from the Wits campus in Johannesburg:

South Africa's Paralympians have been welcomed home from Rio this morning.

With seven golds and 17 medals overall, South Africa came 22nd overall and was the second placed African nation after Nigeria.

South Africa's sports minister has been tweeting from the airport:

Nigeria's Paralympians offer lessons for its football stars