In recent days Ethiopians have calling for the US embassy in Addis Ababa to speak out against what they see as government repression, flooding its official Facebook page with comments. 

This follows a stampede at a religious festival on Sunday, which developed into a political protest. 

At least 55 people were killed, though the opposition says the figure is much higher. 

Many people have been calling for the US to be more vocal in its condemnation of the government.

The embassy released a statement expressing the government's "deepest condolences to the loved ones" of those who died on Sunday morning.

In a Facebook post today, external, which includes a picture of the US flag flying at half mast, it has called for constructive comments on the page:

Image source, US Embassy Addis

The entry says:

But this has not stopped the criticism.

One commenter has written:

Image source, AFP

French citizens can now travel to the Senegalese southern province of Casamance, the French authorities have said, citing improved security in the area.

The French embassy in Dakar has advised citizens to continue taking precautions, such as not going to the area alone and ideally travelling in a convoy of vehicles. 

For more than 25 years, Casamance, known for its beautiful beaches and coastline, was hit by violence linked to the activities of the separatist MFDC movement.

Regular fighting between rebels and forces loyal to the government of Senegal had plunged the province into many years of instability, with widespread landmines affecting much of the province at one time. 

Image source, AFP

The BBC's Abdourahmane Dia in Dakar says the decision of the French authorities will be welcomed by the government of Senegal, which has long called for France to scrap the travel warning. 

Image source, TheHerald

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has opened parliament in the capital, Harare, according to the state-owned Herald newspaper, external. 

The 92-year-old leader arrived outside parliament in a Rolls Royce with an escort of 32 guards on horseback, the paper adds. 

One local journalist has been tweeting photos of the pageantry:

An Al Jazeera reporter at the scene says disruption predicted for the event did not materialise: 

South Sudan's neighbours and several Western countries have condemned an appeal by the main rebel leader in South Sudan for a renewal of armed conflict. 

Last month Riek Machar, the former vice-president, called for popular armed resistance against President Salva Kiir. 

Mr Machar was forced out of the capital Juba in July, and is now in exile. 

The joint statement, external, by the regional body Igad, the EU, the US, Britain and Norway, expressed concern about heavy fighting in South Sudan in recent weeks. 

The statement blamed both the government and armed opposition groups.  

Image source, AFP

Playboy, which stopped publishing fully nude photos last year, has for the first time featured a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.

Libyan-American journalist Noor Tagouri says she wanted to pose for the magazine to challenge perceptions of Muslim women:

Watch more from Ms Tagouri here:

Image source, AFP

Eleven people were killed in violence which broke out in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, after unidentified gunmen opened fire and killed Marcel Mombeka, the head of the country's armed forces, the UN mission in the CAR (Minusca) says. 

Minusca said it sent men to the scene of the incident in the volatile Bangui district of PK5, where eye-witnesses recounted the exchange of fire which followed the killing of Mombeka on Tuesday. 

BBC Afrique quotes a Minusca spokesman, Herve Verhoosel, as saying: 

Calm has now returned to Bangui as the UN and government officials continued to urge residents to avoid answering "violence by violence." 

The Central African Republic is recovering from several years of civil war and despite the presence of UN troops in the country, deadly attacks against civilians are regular. 

The 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, which has just opened in London, aims to bring African and diaspora art to a wider audience.

People on Instagram have been sharing images of what's on show.

As visitors walk into the courtyard of the exhibition venue they're greeted by a huge installation by Zak Ove, The invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness:

Work by Congolese artist Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga is also on display:

And this installation - the cockrel - is by Romauld Hazoume from Benin:

A BBC Africa reporter has also been down to the exhibition, tweeting this photo of a piece of furniture made from decommissioned weapons: 

Patrick Kihara
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

About 1,500 employees of a Lagos-based tomato paste manufacturer, Erisco Foods Limited, could lose their jobs after the firm decided to suspend operations at its $150m (£117m) facility in Lagos, the local Punch newspaper reports, external. 

It quotes chief executive Eric Umeofia as saying that the shutdown is due to difficulties in dealing with imports.

"We cannot continue this business because we are running at a loss while importers continue to flood our markets with banned tomato paste and prevent our products from selling,” he said.

The country's ThisDay Live, external news website adds the firm "has also given the federal government a 30-day ultimatum to support indigenous manufacturers or else it would relocate its business outside Nigeria".

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has placed the Democratic Republic of Congo under monitoring in response to the ongoing tension in the country over delayed presidential elections. 

UNHRC says it is concerned by what it describes as the use of disproportionate force against protesters who are demanding that President Joseph Kabila steps down at the end of his current term in December, BBC Afrique reports.

At least 17 people died in violence in the capital, Kinshasa, in anti-government street protests last month. 

Under the constitution, the president is barred from running for a third term.

The electoral commission has said that elections, due in November, could be pushed back to 2018. 

Sixteen firms from Uganda and Rwanda have separately sued the Kenyan government, seeking $46m (£36m) for losses they suffered during the violence that engulfed the country after the disputed 2007 election, Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reports, external.

The companies say the government did not provide protection for their goods and property as they travelled in areas mostly affected by the violent clashes. 

They say their trucks were attacked and destroyed along on the main highway passing through Nakuru and Eldoret towns in the Rift Valley region and the border towns of Malaba and Busia in the western part of the country, which experienced some of the worst violence. 

The cases got a boost after a court in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa set a precedent by awarding $8m to a Tanzanian firm, Modern Holdings East Africa, that suffered losses during the same period, the report says. 

The company had accused Kenya's Port Authority for mishandling 21 containers of fruit juice and mineral water leading to it suffering losses. 

Image source, AFP

Image source, HakaindeHichilema/Facebook

Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema and his deputy Geoffrey Mwamba are due to be charged with sedition by a court on Thursday, according to police in the capital Lusaka, Reuters News agency reports. 

Mr Hichilema has said that President Edgar Lungu's victory in August's presidential election was fraudulent, but failed in his legal bid to have the result overturned.

The 54-year-old economist, who is a five-time presidential candidate, shared an update on his Facebook page, external this morning:

Read more about Zambia's elections

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has appointed Advocate Busisiwe Joyce Mkhwebane as the next public protector - the country's corruption watchdog.

Her appointment has been backed by opposition parties as well as the governing ANC.

Ms Mkhwebane will be replacing Thuli Mandonsela, who hit the headlines after her office found that President Jacob Zuma had “unduly benefitted” from a lavish upgrade at his private rural home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal. 

He has subsequently repaid some of the money after much legal wrangling. 

In one of her last acts as public protector, Ms Madonsela will be questioning the president on the issue of what people here refer to as "state capture".

She is investigating claims that the Gupta family, with whom Mr Zuma has close ties, has undue influence over government dealings because of this relationship.

It has been alleged that they have been unfairly awarded millions of dollars in business contracts by the government. 

The Guptas and the president have denied any wrongdoing. 

The government in Gabon has warned of consequences over calls by opposition leader Jean Ping for today to be observed as a national day of mourning in honour of the protesters killed in the post-electoral violence in August. 

Jean Ping, who vows to maintain his rejection of President Ali Bongo's victory, has asked civil servants across the country to stay away from the workplace. 

In a statement, the Gabonese Minister of Work Eloi Nzondo said:

According to officials, three people were killed in the post-electoral violence, but opposition and civil society activists say the death toll is much higher. 

President Bongo, who was sworn in last week, won the election by less than 6,000 votes, but Jean Ping, the opposition runner-up, says the polls were rigged.

Image source, AFP

Mohanad Hashim
BBC Africa

Doctors across several public hospitals in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, have called for a nationwide strike to pressure the government to improve their working conditions, invest in basic hospital infrastructure and equipment and boost security in accident and emergency departments.

In Khartoum, junior doctors and GPs started their strike on 27 September following an assault on one of their colleagues in Omdurman General Hospital. 

The doctor was attacked when a patient died while waiting to be attended to by medical staff. 

A video of the aftermath of the rioting in the accident and emergency unit was uploaded online.  There has been an upsurge in attacks and beatings against doctors, where frustrated patients and their families have vented their anger at the doctors.

Supporters of the strike, as depicted in the tweet below, believe that doctors in Sudan are carrying too heavy a burden without enough support: 

UN peacekeepers in South Sudan failed to protect civilians in the capital, Juba, during the July crisis, a report from the US-based NGO Center for Civilians in Conflict, external (Civic) says.

Fighting broke out between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those loyal to then Vice-President Riek Machar.

The four days of clashes led to dozens of civilian deaths - with some estimates putting the figure at more than 300.

A group of aid workers were also targeted in what Civic calls a brutal attack.

The sites where the UN mission, Unmiss, was protecting civilians were also attacked and Civic says: "The mission’s defense of the 37,000 displaced persons sheltered on its bases was inconsistent, with some peacekeepers abandoning their posts during heavy fighting while other peacekeepers assisted civilians trying to enter the base perimeter".

Civic acknowledges that Unmiss is working in a "challenging environment" but says it "under-performed" in protecting civilians.

It calls for a transparent investigation into what went wrong.

Image source, CCTV

Ferdinand Omondi
BBC Africa, Mombasa

Image source, AP

At least six people have been killed in the north-eastern Kenyan town of Mandera, following an attack by armed individuals. 

Reports say the early-morning raid was in a residential area of the town, which borders Somalia. 

Police say the attackers threw a grenade before firing at the residents.   

A pro al-Shabab radio station has said the group were behind the attack. 

The militant group based in Somalia has previously crossed the border and conducted mass killings in Mandera, often targeting non-Muslims. 

In 2014 al-Shabab killed 38 people in a quarry. 

In the same year the group held up a bus heading out of town, separated passengers by their faith and killed 28.

Nigeria's Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has accused the West of blocking the development of power infrastructure in her country because of environmental concerns.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.

She said that boosting Nigeria's power supply was a priority of her government, but its efforts were being hindered.

Nigeria's Premium Times, external quotes her as saying:

Image source, AFP

Today’s African proverb:

Image source, AFP

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