Image source, AFP

The International Organisation for Migration says the number of migrants feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean so far this year is more than double the figure for the same period last year. 

IOM spokesman Joel Millman said the migrants came mainly from Libya:

Umaru Fofana
BBC Africa, Banjul

While apprehension grips The Gambia as the Thursday deadline for President Yahya Jammeh to step down looms, it's all calm at State House, which he has occupied for the last 22 years. 

Soldiers and police officers are neatly dressed in their well-ironed uniforms; their berets are well positioned. They even joked, slapping my hand fondly as they greeted me. There was no sign of any tension or panic. 

 The gates are well manned, with armed soldiers on duty. Even security personnel must go through metal detectors to enter the building. So it seems that despite the calmness nothing is being taken for granted. 

Image source, AFP

Gunshots have been heard at the army headquarters in Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan, reports the BBC's Valery Bony from the city. 

She adds that soldiers are firing in the air.

See previous post for details of trouble in other cities.

Image source, Getty Images

Paramilitary troops have fired their guns into the air at camps in Ivory Coast's capital, Yamoussoukro, and the cities of Daloa and Man for reasons that are still unclear, witnesses have told Reuters news agency. 

The shooting came as the government began paying soldiers who mutinied last month, paralysing many cities. 

 Negotiators for the soldiers say they should each receive an initial payment of around $8,000 (£6,500), out of a total of around $20,000. 

Image source, Breath of Christ Ministeries Facebook page

A self-styled prophet in South Africa - who makes his followers drink engine cleaning fluid - says it tastes like honey and has healing powers, the local eNCA news site reports, external.

Theo Bongani Maseko of the Breath of Christ Ministries said the chemical attacks viruses in a person’s body and detects demons, it reports.

The self-styled prophet is the latest in a string of men who have caused uproar by spraying people with pesticides and making them eat rodents. 

Mr Maseko was quoted as saying that the fluid posed no health risks:

 He added that five people had been "cured" by drinking the fluid:

Read: Clamp-down on bogus preachers

Byobe Malenga
Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Image source, Getty Images

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has warned residents around Lake Tanganika to stop killing crocodiles, reminding them it is against the law. 

But residents told me the government has failed to protect them from crocodile attacks and argue the government seem to value the lives of the crocodiles more than that of human beings. 

But another resident told me that people are unnecessarily putting their lives at risk:

The BBC's Steve Vickers is currently in Gabon for the Africa Cup of Nations but in between matches he has been checking out Franceville's market. 

And he found an unusual snack - a cup full of caterpillars:

Image source, AFP

A detained Zimbabwean pastor has laughed off charges of "insulting people of a certain race or religion" by prophesying that President Robert Mugabe 92, will die on 17 October, his lawyer has told BBC Africa Live.

Gift Mtisi said that Pastor Patrick Mugadza of the Remnant Church was in good spirits when he met him in jail following his arrest in the capital, Harare, yesterday. 

He added that the pastor was likely to appear in court tomorrow, and will plead not guilty if the charges are put to him: 

Mr Mtisi said the pastor had no regrets "at all" for making the prophesy:  

Mr Mtisi said police had changed the charges "like chameleons". 

Pastor Mugadza was initially charged with undermining the authority of the president, then "criminal nuisance" and finally "insulting people of a certain race or religion".

Mr Mtisi said he discussed the charges with the pastor: 

The pastor made the prophecy public last week, alleging that God told him, while he was praying on 26 December, that Mr Mugabe would die on 17 October, media reports say.

Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, will turn 93 next month.

Read: Spending nights outside banks in crisis-hit Zimbabwe 

Image source, Somali Faces

A campaign to fund a Somali girl whose gang rape was posted on Facebook has almost reached its target this morning. 

The Go Fund Me campaign, external says social media has been “ablaze with fury” after horrifying pictures, and video fragments emerged of the 16-year-old being brutally gang raped in Somalia. 

The page to raise money for the girl was set up by a group called Somali Faces who say they have visited the girl in hospital.

They found her "with substantial injuries and severely traumatised, albeit the episode happened more than a month ago," the group said on the campaign page. 

"This shows the serious extent of her injuries and the trauma that they inflicted on her," they added. 

In less than a day it has raised more than $4,800 (£4,000).

The commissioner of Galdogob in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland, Hassan Mohamed Ayax, told Radio Dalsan, external that suspects have been arrested after the attack which reportedly took place near the Ethiopian border.

BBC World Service

The Supreme Court in London has cleared the way for a Libyan man to take legal action after he claimed Britain was involved in his kidnap and covert transportation to Tripoli in 2004. 

 Abdul Hakim Belhaj alleges that the British Secret Service MI6 provided information that led to him being detained with his wife in Thailand and then flown to Tripoli where they were both tortured. 

Among the people Mr Belhaj wants to sue is the former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who was responsible for MI6 at the time. 

Mr Straw rejects claims that he had been aware of the rendition. 

Abdul Hakim Belhaj was an opponent of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi but was once regarded by Western intelligence services as a terrorism suspect.

Four government ministers have resigned in The Gambia, amid a growing political crisis over long-serving ruler Yahya Jammeh's refusal to step down when his mandate ends on Thursday, Reuters news agency reports. 

The environment minister has quit, along with the ministers of foreign affairs, finance and trade, it quotes ministry sources and state media as saying.

See earlier post or more details

Image source, AP

BBC Sport have analysed the DR Congo's 1-0 victory in yesterday's Africa Cup of Nations match.

And what's interesting is that it seems like Morocco dominated, in all but goals:

BBC Sport point out that another factor makes it seem incredible: The Leopards were down to nine men for several minutes.

In the closing stages they lost defender Gabriel Zakuani to injury having made all of their substitutions.  

Despite this, they were the only team to score yesterday as the only other match, between Ivory Coast and Togo, ended 0-0.

Keep up to date with the Africa Cup of Nations on BBC Sport.

Nigeria's militant Islamist Abubakar Shekau has released an audio message, saying his Boko Haram group was behind yesterday's attack on a university in the main north-eastern city of Maidguri. 

Four people - a professor, a child and two suicide bombers - were killed in the twin blasts, while 17 others sustained injuries.  

Image source, AP

A female MP in Kenya has called on women in opposition strongholds to deny men sex if they fail to register as voters for what are expected to be fiercely contested general elections in August, the private Standard newspaper reports, external. 

Speaking in the coastal region of Mombasa where she handed out cheques to women and youth self-help groups, Mishi Mboko said sex was a powerful weapon that women should use to get their husbands to register.  

She added that voter registration, which started yesterday, needed to be taken seriously if the opposition hoped to defeat President Uhuru Kenyatta and the governing Jubilee coalition in the 8 August elections.

Image source, AFP

Three senior government ministers in The Gambia have resigned, as President Yahya Jammeh defies calls to step down when his term expires on Thursday, the opposition Fatu network news site reports, external. 

The ministers of foreign affairs, finance and trade - Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, Abdou Kolley and Abdou Jobe respectively - had handed in their resignations, it reports. 

The BBC's Umaru Fofana has given his perspective of the latest developments, in a tweet:  

Last week, information minister Sheriff Bojang and sports minister Alieu Jammeh quit, the news site reports. 

Thousands of people have been fleeing to neighbouring Senegal and further away to Guinea-Bissau amid fears that violence could erupt over Mr Jammeh's refusal to accept defeat in the 1 December election. 

Property developer Adama Barrow, who is currently in Senegal, has vowed to take office on Friday. 

He caused a major upset by defeating Mr Jammeh, who first seized power in a coup in 1994.

Read: How Gambians have lost their fear

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