Image source, Getty Images

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the worst place to be a professional football, a major survey into global football reveals. 

According to the survey by the International Federation of Professional Footballers (Fifpro), some 89% of players in DR Congo have no written employment contract. 

That figure is double that of any other nation in the 54-country the survey was run. 

The number of players who have experienced violent attacks by other players is three times the global average in DR Congo. 

In addition, one in four DR Congo-based players say they have been attacked on a match day by fans - the survey's highest rate. 

Even violence on a non-match day in the country is three times the global average. 

One in five players say they have been bullied or harassed by colleagues, and the same tally say they have faced pressure to renew a contract, another figure that is unsurpassed.

Another sign of poor working conditions is that over half the Congolese players say they do not have a day off each week. 

Read more: Abuse and poor pay

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Uganda has denied allegations that its security forces committed human rights abuses during operations against separatists loyal to a local monarch in the western town of Kasese.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are urging an independent investigation after images appeared on social media showing dead bodies with hands tied behind their backs, dumped after having apparently been summarily executed.

The government says 62 have been killed in the clashes over the weekend.

Gen Jeje Odong, Uganda's minister for internal affairs, denied allegations that there had been extrajudicial killings:

The king of Rwenzururu, Charles Wesley Mumbere, is accused of supporting a new armed separatist group in his kingdom which aims to create a new state called the Yiira Republic on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He was arrested and denies inciting the violence.

A South Africa news site has some photos of a car that was bitten by a hippo:

Jacaranda FM says the incident happened on a bridge into the Kruger National Park.

It quotes the 26-year-old driver as saying he thought the hippo was used to humans as it had passed other people, but it suddenly turned, charged his truck and bit into it.

A picture of two Kenyan politicians brawling in public yesterday at an opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) rally has people on social media positing it as a way to stem election violence. 

One of the politicians is a serving member of parliament, the other an aspirant planning to challenge him in the elections expected to be held in August next year. 

Tweeters say that Kenyan politicians should copy their example to fight each other instead of inciting their supporters to attack one another:

After elections in December 2007 in Kenya, more than 1,200 people were killed in weeks of unrest and some 600,000 people were forced to flee their homes. 

An English-language magazine has just tweeted its photo of the day from the Ethiopian capital:

Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), has been briefing the media about discussions within the governing party to remove President Jacob Zuma from office.

 A BBC reporter at the briefing in Johannesburg says Mr Mantashe confirmed the reports in today’s papers that Mr Zuma had survived a bid to oust him at the ANC's 80-member National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting over the weekend:   

Image source, Getty Images

Guinea has opened its first medical centre for the free treatment of HIV patients who are in an advanced state of their illness, BBC Afrique reports.

The centre in Conakry, the capital, will also serve as an Aids training and research facility.

According to UNAids estimates from last year, Guinea which has a 1.6% prevalence rate of the disease, recording about 120,000 people infected with the HIV virus.

In 2015, the disease killed 4,600 people in the country. 

The director of the new centre, Mouhamed Cisse, told BBC:

The BBC's Makeme Bamba in Conakry says HIV patients in Guinea do get free care, but existing services are sub-standard with a lack of organisation as the main problem. 

The new centre will have specialists to provide a quality service, our correspondent says.

Image source, AFP

Authorities in Sudan have confiscated copies of four independent newspapers after they reported on a three-day strike called by the opposition over fuel subsidy cuts, the AFP news agency reports. 

The opposition called a nationwide strike on Sunday to protest the rise of costs in other goods as a result of the subsidy cuts. 

Members of the intelligence services raided the offices of Al-Tayar, Al-Jadida, Al-Ayyam and Al-Youm Al-Tali newspapers overnight without giving a reason, staff said.

"At 2:00 am (23:00 GMT) an NISS officer came and ordered our printer to stop printing," said Al-Tayyar editor-in-chief Osman Mirgani told AFP. 

"He confiscated the entire print run without giving any reason." 

Al-Tayyar, which has faced similar action in the past, had given the strike extensive coverage.  

The editor of Al-Jadida newspaper, Ashraf Abdelaziz, said the paper's managers was considering whether to try to publish on Wednesday, AFP says. 

The strike call came despite the arrest of at least a dozen opposition leaders as the authorities sought to prevent any repetition of the 2013 deadly unrest following a fuel subsidy cut, the agency reports. 

BBC Focus on Africa presenter Akwasi Sarpong is back home to cover Ghana's elections next week.

He has tweeted three short videos with young Ghanaian voters on the issues that matter to them:

Some streets in Sudan's capital Khartoum have been empty as people protest about rising prices by staying at home. 

A school teacher sent the BBC's World Have Your Say this message:

Image source, Getty Images

The Burundian presidential adviser, Willy Nyamitwe, who survived an assassination attempt on Monday (see earlier posts), has had an eventful life, reports Jeune Afrique., external

Its article covers seven phases of his life:

1. The 43-year-old was born in Bujumbura, the capital, and lost his father during a "purge" that targeted the Hutu elite in the 1970s. 
2. In 1992, when he was 20, he joined the ranks of the CNDD-FDD, the former Hutu rebel movement which is today the ruling party in Burundi. 
3.  As a member of the rebellion, he went underground after the assassination in 1993 of then-President Melchior Ndadaye, who was from the Hutu group. 
4. Mr Nyamitwe's life as a rebel left him no time for any formal advanced studies, so the media savvy presidential adviser has been largely self-taught. 
5. He formally became President Nkurunziza's spin-doctor in 2006 while running an FM station which was the mouth piece of the CNDD-FDD party. 
6.  When President Nkurunziza decided to bypass a constitutional ban to run for a third term in April 2015, many of his aides deserted him, but Mr Nyamitwe remained loyal. 
7. During the onset of political violence caused by Mr Nkurunziza's camapaign and reelection, Mr Nyamitwe emerged as the vehement advocate of the regime in the face of a barrage of condemnations from the international community. 

Image source, Getty Images

Ibrahim Aden
BBC Africa, Mogadishu

Somalia’s electoral commission has postponed the presidential election for the third time because of "incomplete number of the new parliament members" who are supposed to elect new president. 

The election was due to be held on 30 November. 

Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Mogadishu, the chairman of the electoral body, Omar Mohamed Abdulle, refused to give a new date for the presidential election:

However, he said that he expected the parliamentarians to be in place by "6 or 7 December" and the president to be elected before the end of the year: 

Apart from the postponement, voting malpractices have been uncovered in the ongoing parliamentary election. 

The auditor general told the BBC last week that huge cases of corruption and voter intimidation had been recorded.

Read more: Somalia's rocky road to democracy

And watch how to hold elections, Somali-style:

Prime Ndikumagenge
BBC Africa, Bujumbura

Image source, AFP

Burundi has accused Rwanda of being of plotting to kill Burundian presidential adviser Willy Nyamitwe.

Mr Nyamitwe survived the assassination attempt last night and has been wounded (see earlier post).

The instructions and plan were passed from the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to someone within the military in Burundi, Burundi's police spokesman Pierre Nkurukiye said.

The police had known about the plot for some time and had already arrested a colonel and corporal. 

Another corporal was arrested this morning during an investigation into the shooting.

Relations between Burundi and Rwanda have deteriorated over the last year, with Bujumbura accusing Kigali of hosting the May 2015 coup plotters and offering material and military training to Burundians living in refugee camps in Rwanda.  

After the assassination of Burundian politician Hafsa Mossi in July, home affairs minister indicated that the commando behind the killing was linked to Rwanda. 

Image source, AFP

Qatar will give Tunisia a package worth $1.25bn (£1bn) to boost its economy, the Gulf state's emir has told a two-day investment conference in Tunis. 

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said the money was intended to strengthen Tunisia's “process of development”. 

The BBC’s Rana Jawad at the Tunisia 2020 conference says the North African country is hoping to attract some $40bn worth of investments to revive the country’s economy and create jobs.

Some 2000 participants are expected to attend from numerous countries over the next two days.

Our reporter has tweeted about other pledges made this morning: 

Kenya's police have recovered a cache of weapons buried in a residential house in the main town of the north-eastern county of Garissa, the Star newspaper reports, external. 

The weapons include an AK-47 riffle, 210 rounds of ammunition, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a hand grenade, and a fully loaded suicide bomber jacket, it says. 

The government's regional co-ordinator Mohamud Saleh is quoted as saying the weapons were discovered by a resident. 

Mr Saleh called the discovery a "major breakthrough" and said security officers moved swiftly to secure the area after the resident reported the discovery.    

He added that it was the third time that the security officers have recovered a large arsenal in Garissa as a result of co-operation between the police and locals, the report says. 

“We are not out of the woods yet. With the current rains pounding many parts of the region, the terror groups are able to cross the border and travel long distances to perpetrate their heinous crimes,” he is quoted as saying.  

Garissa, which borders Somalia, has experienced several terror attacks in recent years.

In April 2015 gunmen from the Somali al-Shabab militant group attacked Garissa University killing 148 people, most of them students, and injuring many more.

Read more: Why is al-Shabab targeting Kenya

Image source, Kevin Stankiewicz/TheLantern.com via AP

A man who injured 11 people, one critically, in a rampage at Ohio State University was of Somali descent and a student on campus, say US officials.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, rammed his car into a group of pedestrians at the college then got out and began stabbing people before police shot him dead.

Police Chief Kim Jacobs said they were investigating whether Monday morning's incident was a terrorist attack.

The FBI joined the inquiry at the 60,000-student campus in Columbus.

Artan studied logistics management in the college of Business at Ohio State, reports the Columbus Dispatch.  

He revealed he was scared of praying in public because of "everything going on in the media" just three months before his death.

Artan gave an interview, external to university newspaper The Lantern on his first day at Ohio State on 23 August, telling reporter Kevin Stankiewicz he was concerned about fellow students reaction.

Read the BBC News story for more

Piers Edwards
BBC Africa Sport

Image source, Getty Images

A major survey into global football shows that life for the vast majority of African footballers is a far cry from the glitz and glamour of those lucky enough to play in the world's top leagues.

The International Federation of Professional Footballers (Fifpro), a trade union of sorts, has conducted a global survey of nearly 14,000 professional footballers in 54 countries - the largest ever undertaken.

More than 3,000 of the players who took part in the survey are from 13 African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

While many young Africans dream of becoming the next Didier Drogba or Samuel Eto'o, the data collected by Fifpro paints a dark picture of the reality of life as a footballer on the continent.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the most shocking findings of the survey is that physical abuse of footballers in Africa is the worst in the world.

Players in Ghana are 10 times more likely than the global average to be physically attacked by club seniors.

They face multiple forms of abuse:

• Racial abuse often by fans or other players
• Violent attacks on the pitch or outside
• Intimidation into signing contracts
• Isolation as a form of punishment.

Read my full story here

Image source, EPA

A Zimbabwean bank has been fined $500,000 (£403,000) after its employees shared photos of the country’s new bond notes on social media before they were issued, the state-run Herald newspaper reports, external. 

They leaked pictures showed the money in the vaults of the People’s Own Savings Bank vaults. 

Those who took the photos have also been dismissed with immediate effect, the central bank governor John Mangudya said.

It is not clear how many bank employees have been sacked.

The governor said:  

The bond notes were released yesterday, and it is the first the country has had its own money since its own currency was abandoned seven years ago amid rampant inflation.

The bond note, which is worth one US dollar - the country's main currency since 2009 - is raising fears of a return to the ill-fated Zimbabwean dollar. 

The government has issued the bond note to tackle a worsening cash shortage, hoping the cash substitute, which is legal tender in Zimbabwe but is not valid outside the country, will halt the flow of US dollars going overseas.   

Image source, Willy Nyamitwe/Twitter

A top adviser to Burundi's president Pierre Nkurunziza has survived an assassination attempt in the capital, Bujumbura.

Willy Nyamitwe was attacked near his home on Monday night.

The AFP news agency reports that he was ambushed by gunmen who were hiding in a nearby house under construction. 

His bodyguard was killed in the attack. 

The attackers used grenade and guns, the report adds. 

His bother, Alain Aime Nyamitwe, who is also the country's foreign minister said on Twitter that his brother had survived the attack. 

Burundi has experienced political violence since April 2015 after Mr Nkurunziza announced he would seek a controversial third term.

The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Bujumbura says Willy Nyamitwe is one of the key figures of Mr NKurunziza's government. 

He has a high profile in the media and on social media where he defends the regime against criticism from the international community regarding accusations of human rights violations. 

Image source, Reuters

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has survived an attempt to remove him from office from within his governing African National Congress (ANC), local media is reporting.

Some 80 members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) considered the motion at its meeting that began over the weekend. 

NEC sources said the bid to oust him was rejected and a “settlement” was reached, South Africa’s Business Day newspaper reports, external. 

The ANC is to brief the media at 12:00 GMT today about the meeting.

According to South Africa’s News24 website, external, it may have been Mr Zuma’s toughest political battle since his election as ANC leader.

He faced a revolt by members of his cabinet including the ministers of tourism, public works and health, it reports.

Mr Zuma has increasingly come under criticism over corruption allegations, with a recent report highlighting his links with the wealthy Gupta family.

He has survived several parliamentary votes but this was the first time the ANC formally discussed his position.  

Both Mr Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.