About 100 books have been damaged in a fire at a library at the prestigious Wits University in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg. 

The university - hit by student protests - has tweeted about it:

Image source, EPA

Police in Ivory Coast’s main city of Abidjan have arrested several opposition leaders protesting about a new constitution, BBC Afrique reports.

Tear gas was fired as officers said the demonstration was not authorised.

The new constitution, passed by MPs last week, removes age limits and erases nationality rules for the presidency.

Backed by President Alassane Ouattara, the text scraps the requirement that both parents of a presidential candidate must be native-born Ivorians. 

The clause barred Mr Ouattara for running for the post in the past. 

Opponents say the changes will help him to stay in power. 

"No to a Ouattara monarchy,” one placard read, the AFP News agency reports.

The constitution will now go to a popular vote on 30 October. 

Image source, AFP

"Condoms are free - why not education?" That's what a placard at a march by several hundred students in South Africa says as they head towards the main government buildings in the capital, Pretoria, to demand free tertiary education. 

Protesting students have prevented classes from being held at many universities for about a month now in a bid to force the government to yield to their demands.

The protests were triggered by the government's proposal to increase tuition fees by up to 8%, while promising to give financial aid to students who could not afford to pay.  

However, the students are demanding free education for all, leading to running battles with police and the closure of campuses. 

University buildings have been vandalised and torched, while police have been accused of using excessive force to end the protests. 

The cabinet discussed the crisis at a meeting today, with a government Twitter account giving details of the outcome:  

See earlier post for more details 

On the week that a 62-year-old Spanish woman gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Nigerian Omolara Irurhe tells the BBC what it is like to be a first-time mother at that age.

Ms Irurhe is 62 and after 30 years of marriage she gave birth to her first child two years ago through IVF.

She told BBC Focus on Africa's Veronique Edwards:

Listen to her full interview below about how life has changed for her and husband Desmond:

Image source, Chris Simpson

Former BBC correspondent Chris Simpson has died unexpectedly in Senegal at the age of 53.

A much-respected journalist, he worked for the BBC in Angola during the civil war in the 1990s, in Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide and was also posted to Senegal and the Central African Republic (CAR) in the 2000s.

Chris had also worked for the United Nations news service, Irin, in Ivory Coast – and travelled widely in Africa as a freelancer and trainer.

“His wit, intelligence and creativity has been lost,” his sister Bridget Taylor told the BBC.

“He still had so much to offer and he was planning to write a book about his experiences.

“He was truly an international guy who could get on with anyone – and he had friends across Africa.”

He was found dead in his apartment in Dakar – the cause of death is unclear.

Chris recently told West Africa Democracy Radio that the three words that best summed him up were "disorganised, comical and naive".  

Image source, Chris Simpson

His last report for From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast at the weekend from The Gambia.

He narrated his encounter with the tourism police in a country where the security services do not take kindly to jokes of long-time leader President Yahya Jammeh, who faces re-election in December:

His guides, he said, stayed off politics but were no starry-eyed propagandists:  

Image source, Chris Simpson

You can listen to Chris' whole interview with West Africa Democracy Radio below:

The new monarch of the ancient kingdom of Benin will be crowned at a ceremony steeped in tradition in Nigeria's southern Benin city. 

Eheneden Erediauwa will ascend to the 186-year throne following the death of his father, Erediauwa I, in April.

He will be coronated as the 39th monarch of a kingdom that was powerful in pre-colonial times. 

His father will be buried in the next few months, as tradition prohibits his funeral before a new king ascends to the throne. 

As you'd expect, the story is being extensively covered in the Nigerian press, including in the This Day newspaper, external: 

Image source, This Day

Image source, Ademilola Odujinrin

Nigerian pilot Ademilola Odujinrin, who works for Air Djibouti, has started on the second leg of his journey to fly solo around the world.

He is now on his way to Malta from the UK and will then head to Djibouti in a light single-propeller aircraft, the airline said in a statement today, external.

It added:

Mr Odujinrin, who has already completed a transatlantic crossing from Washington DC, said:

In May, before he set out on his mission, he told BBC Africa's Bola Mosuro, external that his aircraft could fly for 17 hours nonstop. Listen to the full interview below.

Gunmen have abducted a prominent Muslim cleric in Nigeria's north-western Sokoto city, the BBC Hausa service is reporting. 

Sheikh Muhammad Lawal Madoki, who heads the state government’s charity and endowment commission, was seized late last night by the unknown gunmen, it adds. 

The motive for the abduction is unclear but kidnappings for ransom are on the rise in many parts of Nigeria.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters

Ethiopia's security forces have detained more than 1,600 people under a state of emergency imposed on 9 October to end a wave of anti-government protests, a tally of figures published by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, external shows.

About 760 weapons, which had been looted during the unrest, had also been recovered, it reports. 

Ethiopia's decision to impose the state of emergency on 9 October has been strongly criticised by opposition activists, who accuse the government of becoming increasingly repressive. 

The government blames the violence on "terrorists" and "foreign enemies". 

Read: Seven things banned under the emergency 

The head of the National Union of Somali Journalists says that Al Jazeera reporter Hamza Mohamed and his colleagues, a photographer and driver, have been freed.

Image source, Hamza Mohamed

They were arrested by Somalia's intelligence agency yesterday. 

Some reports said they were arrested for trying to cover the attack by militant Islamist group al-Shabab on Afgoye on Tuesday while other reports said the had been detained for working in an area controlled by the militants.

South Africa’s University of Western Cape has suspended all face-to-face classes in the wake of protests over tuition fees.

A building was set alight on campus on Wednesday in clashes with the police

On Wednesday, a Johannesburg court denied bail to Mcebo Dlamini, a student leader at the University of the Witwatersrand, who was arrested for alleged violence and intimidation during protests.

Today, thousands of students are expected to march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to call for free tertiary education.

Image source, AFP

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