Amanda Lindhout was an aspiring Canadian journalist when she arrived in Somalia for a work trip. Soon after she arrived she was kidnapped by a group of armed men and held for 460 days. On this week’s episode of BBC’s The Conversation she talks to another former hostage, Ingrid Betancourt who was held in the Colombian jungle for six years about escape attempts, survival and what it means to lose your freedom.

In 2002, the French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt became perhaps one of the best-known hostages in the world when she was kidnapped and held for over six years, deep in the Colombian jungle, by the Farc or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Watching Ingrid's emotional release on TV in 2008, was a young Canadian journalist called Amanda Lindhout. A month later she herself was taken hostage at gunpoint, on a work trip to Somalia. For the 460 days of Amanda's captivity, she thought about Ingrid nearly every day, inspired by the thought that she too could one day end her ordeal.

The two spoke to each other on the BBC's The Conversation programme, presented by Kim Chakanetsa. 

Photo: Amanda Lindhout (L), by Steve Carty and Ingrid Betancourt by Barker Evans  

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

Image source, AFP

The case against five Zimbabwean war veterans, charged with insulting President Robert Mugabe, has collapsed.

A magistrate's court in the capital, Harare, set aside the charges after the prosecution was not ready to proceed with the trial for two consecutive days. 

The five were charged after issuing a statement earlier this year, accusing Mr Mugabe, 92, of "dictatorial" behaviour and saying they would not support him for re-election in the 2018 poll. 

Among those put on trial were Victor Matemadanda, former Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association's secretary-general, and Douglas Mahiya, its former spokesman.

All five have been expelled from the ruling Zanu-PF party.

For the trial to resume, the prosecution will have to file the case afresh and summon back to court the war veterans, their lawyer Harrison Nkomo is quoted by AFP news agency as saying.         

Mr Mugabe, who looks increasingly frail, has been in power since independence in 1980.  

Read more: Queuing for money in Zimbabwe  

Image source, ross velton

Tanzania's motorcycle taxi drivers, often associated with deadly road accidents, are being trained to become life-savers.

Known as boda bodas, the bikes are time-savers for people who need to get somewhere in Tanzania's north-western city of Mwanza.

They seem to be the only way to beat traffic jams. But when you get on the bike and wrap your arms around the driver, you are actually putting your life in his hands.

In the first half of this year, there were more than 5,000 road accidents in Tanzania. More than a quarter of them were motorcycle accidents.

But that is also where trainee doctor Marko Hingi saw an opportunity to turn boda boda drivers into true life-savers. 

Read the full piece: The life-saving mission of Tanzania's killer taxi bikes 

James Copnall
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Morocco and several Arab countries have walked out of a summit of African and Arab leaders, in protest at the presence of a delegation from the Polisario Front, which wants independence for Western Sahara. 

Morocco considers Western Sahara to be its southern provinces and is in de facto control of the territory. The Polisario Front says the Moroccans are colonisers. 

The issue is a vitally important one for Morocco. It recently announced its intention to rejoin the African Union, having withdrawn from the continental body's predecessor over 30 years ago over a decision to recognise Western Sahara's independence. 

The summit of African and Arab leaders is taking place in Malabo in Equatorial Guinea.

Profile: Western Sahara

Image source, AFP

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

Image source, ap

Lawyers and teachers are opposing the influence exerted by Francophone speakers in their lives in a country that is officially bilingual.

The opposition Social Democratic Front, whose leader John Fru Ndi hails from the north-west, says four people have been killed in the teachers protests.

The clashes erupted after the Cameroon Teacher's Trade Union called a strike to protest "against the dominance of their Francophone colleagues" in the education sector.

The union's secretary-general, Tassang Wilfred, told Radio France Internationale why they were protesting:  

The tension between the Anglophone and Francophone parts of the country has also seen lawyers calling for the translation of legal texts into English.

On 22 November, the police dispersed lawyers who were demonstrating in front of the court of appeal in Bamenda, the main English-speaking city.

During the protests they announced the formation of a new bar for Anglophones, Cameroon-Info.net reported on 23 November.

The lawyers, who comprise about one third of Cameroon's bar, have been on an indefinite strike since 11 October to protest against what they say is the government's preference for the use of French in the courts. 

Cameroon has two legal systems founded on French civil law and English common law.

Image source, AFP

Anglophone speakers make up a minority in Cameroon - about 20% of the country’s 22 million people, and most live in the country’s two English-speaking regions, the Southwest and Northwest provinces.

The strike action has been supported by the outlawed Southern Cameroons National Council, which advocates for the secession of the two provinces.

In a statement published in the English language Cameroon Daily Journal on 22 November, it said:

US rapper Mos Def has left South Africa after making a deal with authorities who accused him of violating the country's immigration laws, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

South Africa's home affairs department confirmed that the singer, who is also known as Yasiin Bey, left after apologising to the government, the report adds. 

He was arrested for breaking immigration laws, with authorities saying that he had overstayed his tourist visa, obtained in 2013.

Image source, AFP

Alastair Leithead
BBC Africa correspondent

Image source, Facebook

A 72-year-old British pilot attempting to fly a 1943 plane the length of Africa has gone missing somewhere between Sudan and Ethiopia. 

Maurice Kirk was part of the Vintage Air Rally flying from Cyprus to Cape Town, but had been asked by organisers to withdraw from the event after two engine failures and a lack of navigational equipment on his Piper Cub plane. 

He decided to carry on anyway. He previously reported suffering two engine failures. 

In a statement, the Vintage Air Rally said that without tracking data Maurice Kirk's location is unknown, but as an experienced pilot it is believed he made a precautionary landing before sunset. 

A search and rescue operation was due to begin, the statement added. 

Mr Kirk is an eccentric figure - a friend of the late actor Oliver Reed who has had various run-ins with the law in the UK and numerous colourful experiences in vintage aircraft. 

Image source, AP

This is what one of the Bamenda protesters told AP news agency on Tuesday about why he and thousands of others were protesting:

Lawyers in north-western Cameroon have been striking over orders to use French in legal proceedings and teachers have joined them over requirements to use French in schools.

See earlier post for more details.

Image source, AFP

Dengue fever has killed at least 20 people in Burkina Faso where about 2,000 cases of the disease have been recorded, BBC Afrique reports.

Dengue is a mosquito borne disease which is prevalent in sub-tropical and tropical regions, including Africa.

It is a major cause of illness worldwide, causing about 100 million episodes of feverish illness a year.

The outbreak of the disease in Burkina Faso has caused alarm among the population, and officials are trying to avoid any widespread panic.

One man who lost his brother to the disease told BBC Afrique:

Cases of dengue in Burkina Faso have been reported from all 12 districts of Ouagadougou, the capital, the World Health Organisation says.

Two other regions - the Sahel Region in the north and the Hauts-Bassins region in the west - have also reported cases. 

Image source, AFP

Civil society activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo have launched a new pro-democracy campaign to press President Joseph Kabila to step down, BBC Afrique reports. 

Mr Kabila's second and last term comes to an end on 19 December, and voters were due to the polls on 27 November to elect his successor, but a political deal brokered last month by the government with one faction of the opposition postponed the election to April 2018. 

In defiance to the controversial deal, a coalition of pro-democracy movements launched a "Bye-Bye Kabila" campaign to pile up pressure on the president in the run-up to the December deadline. 

The three movements behind the campaign - Filimbi, Lucha and Jeunesse du Rassemblement - say they will organise massive anti-government protests. 

That could lead to fresh deadly clashes with security forces. Last September, a crack-down on an anti-government protest left at least 50 dead. Marie-Joel Essengo, a leader of Lucha, told BBC Afrique:

The government has not commented on the new campaign.  

 At least 50 people were killed in September in clashes between government and protesters pushing for Mr Kabila to step down. 

Read: Could Kabila face a mass uprising? 

Randy Joe Sa'ah
BBC Africa, Bamenda

Image source, AP

It is a tense morning in Bamenda, the main city in English-speaking north-western Cameroon. 

Most shops are still closed, but women are buying food this morning and hurrying back home should violence erupt again.

One person was reported to have been killed yesterday as anger over the imposition of French in schools in Anglophone parts of the country came to a head.

Security forces fired tear gas and live bullets at anti-government protesters, who accuse the authorities of marginalising English-speaking areas. Most of Cameroon is Francophone.

Eyewitnesses described people being beaten, kicked and dragged away by the military. 

On Monday, demonstrators carried white coffins and green branches through the streets, demanding more rights for English-speakers. 

Yesterday's incidents also included an opposition party leader demonstrating at a police station after his home was teargassed and protesters attacking the city council leader and vandalising council premises, blaming him for what they saw as bad policies.

Strike leaders yesterday boycotted a meeting by the minister of justice, saying he must meet them in Bamenda for any meaningful negotiation to take place. 

Striking teachers have set out exactly the same demands. The regional governor is holding meetings with the teachers' representatives to seek a solution.

Lawyers have been on strike for two months after being ordered to use French in legal proceedings.

Cameroon was a German colony, partitioned by France and Britain after the first world war. It united as a federal republic after independence, but deep divisions remain. 

Image source, Simon Mania

Each year thousands of African elephants are being slaughtered by poachers for the illegal ivory trade. Many young elephants have become orphans,

Baby African elephants are incredibly vulnerable in the first few years of life. Without their mothers, they struggle to survive.

But in the late 1980s, Dame Daphne Sheldrick, then head of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, managed to raise infant baby African elephants for the first time.

Her organisation has now raised over 200 orphaned elephants, Once old enough, they are released into the wild.

Despite their success, it is still a fraction of the number killed each year by poachers across the continent.

Every year in Africa between 30,000 and 40,000 elephants are poached for their ivory, and it's thought there are only 400,000 left.

The rate of killing threatens the very existence of the African elephant.

You can watch the BBC Witness video here

Image source, AFP/Getty

Gunmen in military camouflage have killed four guards at a facility operated by the Nigerian subsidiary of Italian group Eni, local and security officials have told AFP news agency. 

Four members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), a paramilitary agency of the government, were killed on Monday at the installation at Omoku near Port Harcourt, they said.

"The [security] operatives had engaged the gunmen in a fierce gun battle on realising that the intruders were not military men," state NSCDC spokesman Michael Oguntuase told AFP. 

A community leader in Omoku who did not want to be named confirmed the incident.

"Dressed in camouflage, they came in a speed boat at about 18:40 on Monday, exchanged gunfire with the operatives, leading to the death of four," he said. 

An unspecified number of NSCDC personnel were wounded, he said. 

Officials at Agip, the local subsidiary of Eni, were not immediately available for comment. 

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. 

Since the start of the year several militant groups, Including the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), have bombed pipelines and facilities operated by oil companies. 

The attacks have slashed Nigeria's oil output, hammering government revenue at a time of global low prices.

Read more:Why Nigeria's 'Avengers' are crippling the oil sector

Image source, AP

Rebel and government forces in South Sudan have committed horrific abuses - including burning a lorry-load of people to death and raping and hacking women and children, a leading rights group says.

Atrocities recorded by Human Rights Watch (HRW), external include suspected rebels ambushing a convoy of cars carrying civilians fleeing Yei town in October. 

“They started to shoot and I lay down,” an 11-year-old boy told HRW. “Others fell on top of me. One had been shot to the head.” 

The rebels then burned the lorry and their occupants, killing dozens inside, HRW added.

Other killings reported by HRW since July include: 

• Unidentified attackers entered a house and killed a mother and her 4-year-old daughter with machetes, then dumped their bodies in a river
• Soldiers shot dead a displaced man who was returning home to pick up cassava roots for food in the Sopiri neighborhood of Yei   
• Armed men believed to be soldiers forced two girls aged 14 and 15 years to walk with them to a nearby forest, and then raped them

Government and rebel forces have not yet commented on the allegations. 

A new round of fighting between forces allied with President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar broke out in July after a peace deal collapsed. 

Read more:South Sudan crisis: The wounds of war

Image source, AFP

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