Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Image source, Uganda govt

The government of Uganda has said that some M23 rebels who had been kept at a military facility in the country have been quietly escaping back into the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

This comes days after the DR Congo government said 200 of the former rebels had taken over a village in the east of the country. 

Uganda still insists only 40 rebels are missing. It says 101 rebels were also arrested on Wednesday night as they tried to escape. 

Following the defeat of M23 in 2014, some of its fighters fled into Uganda. 

They were allowed to stay there under military guard after an agreement between the Congolese and Ugandan governments. 

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, will be having a "medical check-up" while on leave in the UK, his media adviser has tweeted:  

See earlier post for more details

The UN Security Council will vote later today on a draft resolution to support efforts by the West African regional bloc to transfer power in The Gambia to Adama Barrow, AFP news agency reports. 

The Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas) has prepared a force to intervene in The Gambia if Yahya Jammeh des not give up power today following his defeat in elections on 1 December.  

The Gambia, the smallest country in mainland Africa, is part of Ecowas. 

A researcher with the rights group Amnesty International says men selling t-shirts carrying a Gambian election hashtag have been arrested:

The hashtag #GambiaDecides was popular in the run-up to and during the vote. 

#GambaiHasDecided refers to the victory of opposition candidate Adama Barrow, who is due to be sworn into office in the Senegalese capital Dakar later.

Yahya Jammeh's term ended on Wednesday.

South African Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has "strongly condemned" the "racist and humiliating treatment" of a woman seen in a cage on the back of a pickup van, which has been widely criticised on social media.

News 24, external quoted Johan Erasmus, the driver of the van (known locally as a bakkie) as saying he was giving the woman a lift:

But Mr Mthethwa said this was no excuse:

He then engaged with other social media users who asked him if the bakkie driver should instead not have offered the woman a lift:

Botswana has become the first African state to announce that it no longer recognises Yahya Jammeh as The Gambia's president following his refusal to hand power to Adama Barrow who defeated him in elections on 1 December. 

In a statement, Botswana's goverrnment said: 

Mr Barrow was due to be inaugurated at a ceremony in The Gambia today, but Mr Jammeh has imposed a state of emergency and parliament has controversially extended his term by 90 days. 

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has tweeted that he is taking his annual vacation, and has not spoken of taking medical leave, as we reported in an earlier post.

Here's his tweet: 

Thomas Fessy
BBC News, Banjul

Image source, Reuters

It's eerily quiet in Banjul this morning. Most streets are deserted and there's very little traffic on the main roads. Shops, gas stations, banks are all closed. 

People are mostly staying home not knowing what may happen next. 

In the meantime, European tourists continue to evacuate their hotels and are being shuttled to the airport to board charter flights that will take them home earlier than they had planned. 

In some areas, men are standing on the roadside, arms crossed or looking at their phones. 

We talked to a few of them who said that they were waiting for Yayha Jammeh to go. They said they would take to the streets once Adama Barrow is sworn-in this afternoon. 

They wanted West African troops to come in as soon as possible. 

Some also told us they were worried about what Mr Jammeh might try to do to resist any offensive against him. 

However, we've seen little presence of security forces in the city so far.

Image source, Reuters

The first flights carrying British tourists evacuated from The Gambia have arrived back in the UK.

Thomas Cook will run 11 flights, including nine extra departures, to evacuate people over the next two days.

The Foreign Office has advised, external against all travel to the capital Banjul and against all but essential travel to the rest of the West African country.

Sara Wilkins, from Shropshire, said:

Image source, AFP

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, will take 10 days of medical leave from Monday, he has said in a letter sent to the Senate, the upper house of parliament:

Mr Buhari did not give details about what is wrong with him.   

In June last year, he flew to London to be treated for an ear infection. 

A leading Nigerian doctor has accused Mr Buhari of reneging on a promise to end "medical tourism" by seeking treatment in the UK.

Nigerians spent $1bn (£690m) on foreign medical trips in 2013, most of which was unnecessary, said Dr Osahon Enabulele.

The first flights carrying British tourists evacuated from The Gambia have arrived back in the UK.  

Gambian Ebrima Jagne, a textile engineer who works in Burnley, Lancashire, arrived at Manchester airport on one of the flights, but was concerned for his wife Haddytouray and their three-month-old daughter, Ajiamina Jane, whom he is trying to get out of the country.

He said everyone in the country felt "unsafe" and "on edge... because you don't know what's going to come next".

"I cannot get my daughter out," he added. "I'm desperate. It's not easy at all when I leave my wife there and daughter."

Other returning tourists described seeing Gambians fleeing on a ferry to Senegal carrying their possessions.  

Our correspondent in The Gambia has taken a drive to Serekunda, about 13km (eight miles) south-west of the capital, Banjul:  

The NGO Save the Children has warned of a possible humanitarian emergency on both sides of the border between The Gambia and Senegal if the political crisis in The Gambia results in an outbreak of violence.

It quotes the UN as saying that up to 50,000 people, mostly women and children, have already left urban centres in The Gambia, with about half heading to villages in other parts of the country and half crossing the border into Senegal.

Save the Children's Bonzi Mathurin said public services could be overwhelmed:

The NGO said children were at increased risk of gender-based violence, female genital mutilation and child marriage as well as disease during large scale displacements because they lose the protective environment of schools, family and community.

Health facilities in The Gambia were still operating but the majority of foreign doctors had left the country, Save the Children said.

Many schools remain closed and some that are open were advising parents to keep their children at home, it said.

Image source, Reuters

Hopefully not. Gambia's army chief, previously seen as a close ally of Yahya Jammeh, has been quoted as saying he would not risk his men's lives for a political dispute.

But Mr Jammeh is a military man and some of his generals may try to fight, even though they would be vastly outnumbered by the Senegalese and Nigerian forces. The Gambia's armed forces number just 2,500.

One key question is how ordinary Gambians see the Senegalese troops if they do cross the border. The Gambia and Senegal are made up of the same ethnic groups which were divided by colonial borders, so they speak the same languages and share the same culture.

However, a fierce rivalry has developed between the two nations, with many Gambians feeling they are looked down on by their more numerous, French-speaking neighbours.

So while supporters of Adama Barrow will presumably see any intervention favourably, there is also a danger that it could be seen as a foreign invasion force.

Many Senegalese have long accused Mr Jammeh of backing a separatist rebel group in its southern region of Casamance, which Senegal's army has never been able to defeat militarily, so there is also a possibility of Mr Jammeh supporters adopting rebel tactics.

Read: Jammeh profile

A BBC reporter in Senegal's capital, Dakar, has just been to The Gambia's embassy - it is shut with no guards or staff.

The embassy is due to host the controversial inauguration of property developer Adama Barrow as the third president of The Gambia later today. 

Nick Cavell
BBC Africa Sport

All four teams in Group A can still make it to the last eight after Wednesday’s matches that saw Gabon and Burkina Faso share a 1-1 draw while Cameroon came from behind to beat Guinea-Bissau 2-1.

The final matches see Burkina Faso play Guinea-Bissau in Franceville while in Libreville at the same time Gabon know a win over Cameroon will take them into the last eight. 

While debutants Guinea-Bissau are going to strugggle to win the Africa Cup of Nations, one of their players may well win goal of the tournament. 

Piqueti (pictured below) scored a quite exceptional goal that started with him flicking the ball over an opponent's head in his own half before he took the ball into the Cameroon penalty area, cut across two defenders and unleashed an unstoppable shot to score - had Ronaldo or Lionel Messi scored such a goal it would probably be all over the back pages of the world’s newspapers. 

Action today is in Franceville where we have a North African affair as Algeria face Tunisia and then Senegal play Zimbabwe. 

In the opening Group B matches Algeria drew 2-2 with Zimbabwe while Senegal overcame Tunisia 2-0.

Image source, AFP

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said:

China has a growing diplomatic and business presence in Africa and has been deeply involved in efforts to bring peace to South Sudan, Reuters reports. 

China resumed diplomatic ties with The Gambia in March last year. 

The country was previously a diplomatic ally of Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province that does not have the right to hold formal foreign ties. 

The Gambia was previously been one of only a few African countries, along with Burkina Faso, Swaziland and Sao Tome and Príncipe, to recognise Taiwan. 

Sao Tome switched ties to China last month.

Read: More about China in Africa

The lawyer for Yahya Jammeh's the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party says he escaped 24-hour security to reach Senegal with his family.

He says he was coerced into filing Mr Jammeh's legal challenge against the election result after most other lawyers refused.

Mr Gomez also implored Mr Jammeh to step down and avoid a "violent and gruesome end":

The fear of military intervention in the small West Africa state of Gambia seems to have affected health services in the capital, Banjul, as the BBC reporter there tweets:

Patients at Banjul's Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital were removed for security reasons, AFP news agency quotes a source as saying. 

Only those in intensive care remained, the report added.

The Gambia is one of only two countries that can officially have 'the' attached to its name - the other is The Bahamas.

English language expert David Crystal explains why:

Read: Gambia profile