Africa highlights: Friday 23 December 2016 as it happened

Summary

Libyan passenger plane hijackers surrender
Taken into custody in Malta
All 118 passengers and crew freed
Hijackers 'allied' with Libya's late leader Gaddafi
Muslim clerics defied as Somali women play basketball
Senegal's army 'ready' to topple Jammeh
Nigeria tests show 'fake rice' is genuine
Tunisian Berlin attack suspect 'killed in Milan'
Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Friday 23 December 2016

Live Reporting

Clare Spencer, Farouk Chothia and Hugo Williams

Footage shows passengers leaving hijacked planepublished at 13:17 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
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Pictures of passengers leaving hijacked planepublished at 13:04 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
We are getting pictures in of the first passengers being released from the hijacked Libyan plane:
Image source, Reuters
Image source, Reuters
Image source, Reuters
First 25 passengers releasedpublished at 13:03 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Malta's prime minister tweets about hijacked Libyan plane:
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Hijacked airline: Situation 'under control'published at 13:01 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
The airline company whose plane has been hijacked has given an update on its Facebook page.
In one section of the post (translated from Arabic), it says:
"We would like to reassure everyone that we still have communication with the crew and the situation at the moment is under control."
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Flights 'landing again at Malta airport'published at 12:57 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Flights are still landing again at Malta's international airport, according to a flight monitoring website:
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We are yet to confirm this and will bring you more information as soon as we have it.
First passengers released from hijacked plane - Malta PMpublished at 12:56 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
The Maltese prime minister tweets:
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Why is Libya so lawless?published at 12:55 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
We do not know what the motives of the hijackers of the Libyan plane which has landed in Malta but here is a bit of context about Libya.
The country has been beset by chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.
Western powers have been increasingly concerned about so-called Islamic State (IS) building a presence in the North African state and the US responded by launching air strikes on the militant group.
Read more: Why is Libya so lawless
Image source, AFP
More details on passengers of hijacked planepublished at 12:44 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe
Unconfirmed reports from Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV cite "sources" saying that members of the Libyan House of Representatives - the elected parliament, based in the east of Libya - are aboard the hijacked Libyan airliner which had been forced to land in Malta.
We have not verified this report.
'First hostages to be released' - unconfirmed reportspublished at 12:43 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
A journalist for Inewsmalta has been tweeting about the possible release of some of the hostages on board:
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We have not verified this report but will report more information when we have it.
Mayor of Libyan town confirms hijackingpublished at 12:39 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis
The mayor of Sabha, the Libyan town where the plane was hijacked, has confirmed details about the flight to the BBC.
Libyan Col. Hamed Al-Khayali said there were 111 passengers on board the flight, plus seven crew.
The Airbus flight 2019 left Sebha’s Tmenhant Airort at 11:05 local time (09:05 GMT) heading to the capital, Tripoli.
“It was hijacked, and investigations are continuing to establish how any explosives or weapons made it on board," he said.
"The security at this airport is not good. It’s a military airport," he added.
There is a distance of 5km (three miles) between the airport building and any plane that lands or takes off from there. It is an open space and therefore possible that along that route something was smuggled on board.
The route of hijacked planepublished at 12:38 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Here’s a map showing the route of the plane hijacked plane:
Pilot: 'Hijackers have explosives'published at 12:37 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe
The pilot of the hijacked Libyan airliner, Captain Ali Milad, has told the air traffic control tower and Afriqiyah Airways operations that the hijackers had an improvised explosive device, Cairo-based Libyan news website Al-Wasat reports.
We have not verified this report.
'Negotiations begin with plane hijackers'published at 12:29 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Maltese TV presenter Mark Micallef has been monitoring local media for updates on the hijack of a Libyan plane which landed in Malta:
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He previously tweeted:
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'Threat to blow up plane'published at 12:18 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
A Maltese witness has told BBC News: "Two [hijackers] seem to have threatened to blow up plane if their demands are not met."
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Libyan and Maltese PM speak about hijacked planepublished at 12:17 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
The spokesman for the Maltese government tweets:
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Malta forms negotiating teampublished at 12:16 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's office has confirmed that a negotiating team is on standby at Malta International Airport, AP news agency reports.
The team is awaiting instructions from the prime minister, who is in a meeting with the National Security Committee after the hijacked plane landed at the airport.
Libya confirms hijackingpublished at 12:03 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Image source, Reuters
The Libyan authorities have confirmed that an internal flight has been hijacked, after the plane landed in Malta.
More than 100 passengers are said to be on board, and the plane has been surrounded by soldiers, but there appears to have been no contact with those on board.
Malta cancels flightspublished at 11:59 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
All flights in and out of Malta have been cancelled, Reuters news agency reports.
A Libyan-owned Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 flight has landed at the airport after being hijacked, officials say.
More pictures of Libyan hijacked plane in Maltapublished at 11:50 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Some more pictures are coming through from Reuters journalist Darrin Zamit-Lupi at Malta International Airport of the plane which appears to have been hijacked:
Image source, Reuters
Image source, Reuters
Image source, Reuters
'Infant on hijacked plane'published at 11:50 Greenwich Mean Time 23 December 2016
Malta's prime minister has given a breakdown of the number of passengers on the plane suspected to have been hijacked:
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