A video purportedly showing mentally ill patients at Mathari Hospital in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, climbing over the institution's walls and escaping has been shared online. 

Members of the public are heard laughing with some advising the patients to remove their uniforms to avoid being identified by the authorities. 

Patients are also advised to walk away calmly to avoid detection. 

The Standard newspaper in Kenya reported that at least 100 patients had escaped and that the authorities were trying to track them down amd bring them them back to the hospital. 

The escape coincides with a nationwide doctor's strike. 

Image source, AFP

South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has called for "punitive and corrective" action to be taken against a woman who purportedly made racist remarks about black people on Facebook.

In a statement, the party's Western Cape region said: 

Ms Hartley has not yet commented on the ANC's statement, but she's under heavy fire on Twitter:  

It was exactly three years ago that Mr Mandela, South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon, died at the age of 95. 

The foundation which he set up has tweeted: 

Childbirth is the leading cause of death for women in the war-torn nation of Somalia.

There has been little improvement in the maternal mortality rate over the past few decades and according to Unicef, 732 mothers die for every 100,000 live births.

In one hospital in the capital, Mogadishu, a group of young female surgeons are fighting to save one mother at a time.

The hospital lacks basic resources and staff have not received salaries since April but they are still determined to do what they can to save Somalia's mothers.  

Watch the report:

On Australia Day, in late January, the nation will celebrate the achievements of the selfless, the brave and the inspired.

The nominees for the coveted Australian of the Year award, external include a scientist treating spinal cord injuries, a retired rugby league player and a billionaire mining tycoon.

Also in the running for Australia's most prestigious civic honour is a former Sudanese child soldier, who arrived in Australia a 14-year-old illiterate refugee.

Named after the god of rain, Deng Adut is now a successful criminal lawyer in Sydney and the 2017 New South Wales (NSW) Australian of the Year for his work with African migrants.

Read full story

Image source, AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR

A local media in Kenya has shared a picture of one of the patients allegedly escaping from a hospital in the capital, Nairobi, amidst an ongoing nationwide strike. 

Thousands of doctors are on strike to protest against the governments delay in implementing an agreed pay package. 

Sammy Darko
BBC Africa, Accra

Image source, State Department

Authorities in Ghana have arrested at least three people in connection with the bizarre case of a bogus US embassy, which was being operated by fraudsters for the last 10 years in the capital, Accra. 

The fraudsters, whose total number has not been disclosed, were busted in a joint operation by Ghanaian police and the US embassy. 

They are reportedly cooperating with officials who are investigating the extent of their scam.

The gang sought clients from Ghana and neighbouring West African countries, and brought them to a building in Accra where the American flag was flown. 

For a fee of $6,000 (£4,700), the unsuspecting applicants were issued visas which were not all fake, suggesting the involvement of insiders at the American consulate. 

The people reportedly arrested by the police are of Ghanaian and Turkish nationalities. 

The scam has gone on for this long because the victims have never been to an embassy - they are mostly from rural areas and they seemed to be reassured by the presence of what appeared to them to be white people at the fake embassy. 

One more reason why the gang operated successfully for this long was the fact that some of the visas were genuine - and those who travelled to the US unwittingly advertised the fake embassy through word of mouth. 

Read the full BBC story here

Kenya's The Nation newspaper  is reporting that police have used tear gas to disperse striking doctors who were marching on the streets of the capital, Nairobi. 

Health workers are taking part in a nationwide strike to protest against the government's delay in implementing a pay package. 

The BBC's David Wafula shared this photo of the marching doctors:

Striking doctors in Kenya are using symbols and slogans from recent corruption scandals in the government to push their case for better pay and working conditions. 

A video shared online shows a group of doctors breaking into a Kiswahili song: 

Sasa nimeamua nilipwe kama tender (I have decided that I should be paid like a contractor) 

The song is inspired by a hashtag #LipaKamaTender ( Pay like a tender) which highlights an alleged corruption scandal where the government settled its bill with a contractor in record time. 

The doctors are therefore urging the government to honour a pay deal it agreed in 2013 with its union with the same urgency.

The BBC's David Wafula in the capital, Nairobi, has snapped pictures of the striking doctors. 

One of the placards being used is Daktari si punda ( A doctor is not a donkey) in a protest against the apparently heavy workload and unmatched pay. 

In another placard, the doctors use sacks, referring to another corruption scandal where a businesswoman who allegedly got a government tender fraudulently withdrew about $100,000 (£78,000) from a bank and put it in a sack. 

The United Nations has launched an appeal for a record $22.2bn (£17.5bn) to give humanitarian aid to 93 million people in 33 countries next year. 

"This is a reflection of a state of humanitarian need in the world not witnessed since the Second World War," UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien has said. 

He added that add that 80%  of the needs arose from man-made conflicts, such as those in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria and South Sudan. 

Image source, AFP

Alex Duval Smith
BBC News, Abidjan

Image source, Getty Images

Algeria has begun the process of deporting thousands of migrants from other African states who have allegedly been living on its territory illegally, a human right organisation says.

About 1,400 sub-Saharan Africans, mainly West Africans, have been taken from their homes in Algiers by riot police since Thursday, according to the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (ALDHR) .

Pregnant women and children are among the migrants. 

The ALDHR says some have been injured and others have been taken to a holding centre just outside Algiers.  

The Algerian authorities warned in late September that they intended to expel tens of thousands of sub-Saharan migrants.

There have recently been clashes between migrants and locals in southern Algeria - the result of what seemed to be pressure for jobs.

Kenyan authorities have launched an operation to return 100 mentally ill patients to the Mathari hospital in the capital, Nairobi, after they escaped during the strike by doctors and nurses, the Standard newspaper reports, external. 

The paper has shared a picture of one of the patients climbing over the wall of the hospital. 

Doctors and nurses are boycotting work in a nationwide protests against unpaid salaries and terms of work. 

Health officials are reportedly in a crisis meeting to resolve the dispute.

Doctors and nurses in Kenya have made good their threat to boycott work, paralysing operations in public hospitals as they demand an improved pay package in line with an agreement signed by the unions and the government in 2013. 

Privately owned The Nation newspaper is reporting that patients are stranded, external at various hospitals in the country. 

The hashtag #Doctors Strike , externalis trending in Kenya with most people supporting the strike. 

Another hashtag  #LipaKamaTender, external ( pay like a tender), in reference to a scandal at the health ministry where the government allegedly paid a contractor in record time, was used over the weekend to urge the government to honour the agreement just like it did in the scandal.

The government denied the tender was issued illegally. 

Nigeria has bought warplanes and helicopters from Russia and Pakistan following the refusal of the US to sell arms to the West African state, the Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, has said. 

The purchase was aimed at boosting the military in its efforts to end the insurgency by militant Islamists in the north and oil militants in the south.

The  warplanes and helicopters had been ordered, and were expected to arriive, Air Marshall Abubakar said.   

Despite appeals from President Muhammadu Buhari's government government, the US has refused to lift its ban on the sale of weapons to Nigeria because of the military's alleged poor human rights record. 

More than 700 Nigerian troops were receiving training in the US, UK, Russia, Pakistan, South Africa and Egypt,  Air Marshall Abubakar said. 

Image source, AFP

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