BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The government of Mali has been urged to open talks with Islamist rebels in the north of the country. 

The recommendation was made by delegates at a conference organised to help national reconciliation and implement a peace deal agreed in 2015. 

Jihadists who failed to sign the deal have continued their campaigns of violence in northern Mali. 

A group led by the Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar said it killed 60 people in January in a suicide attack on a military base.

A video of Ivorian Kolo Toure dancing in celebration of his club's Celtic historic sixth league win has been widely circulated on social media. 

Celtic players burst into the chant of "Kolo, Kolo" in his honour after their  5-0 win  over Hearts. 

The 36-year-old former Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool defender made a cameo appearance, playing the last three minutes at Tynecastle.   

A report by Kenya's NTV station says that security forces deployed to the central region of Laikipia following attacks on private farms and lodges by traditional herdsmen, have been shooting dead animals belonging to the pastoralist community. 

The authorities have previously denied reports of police killing livestock in retaliation for attacks.

An ongoing drought is said to have forced herders to seek pasture on private farms but some have gone on to loot and set fire to some of the private lodges. 

One of the herders interviewed described how police indiscriminately shot his animals: 

Read more: Are Kenya ranch invasions driven by drought or politics?

Irene Kasuubo is one of the very few women taking the sport of body building seriously in Uganda.

But as well as lifting weights, she also needs to fight off the negative perceptions of muscular women.

People have told her that no man will ever love her, and she has lost friends due to her decision to pursue the sport.

Video journalist: Mark Sedgwick

Image source, AFP

Pirates have hijacked an Indian cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland have confirmed. 

Puntland's deputy Minister for ports, Mohammud Gabbah, confirmed the hijacking to the BBC Somali service. 

There are conflicting reports about where the ship was heading from and to. 

"We understand Somali pirates hijacked a commercial Indian ship and [it is heading] towards Somalia's shores," Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, a former director of Puntland's anti-piracy agency told Reuters news agency. 

There were 11 people on board the vessel, which was taken on 1 April, Indian media report.

Last month, pirates launched the first successful hijacking of a major commercial vessel since 2012. 

• Read more: Somalia warns of return to piracy

BBC World Service

Oil tanker drivers in Nigeria are due to go on strike on Monday. 

Members of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, one of the country's two main oil industry unions, say they are protesting against low pay and badly maintained roads that wear out their trucks. 

A spokesman for the union, Cogent Ojobo, warned of shortages of petrol, diesel and kerosene across the country as deliveries come to a halt. 

He said no date had been set for the end of the strike. 

Image source, AFP

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is in the US capital, Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump. 

He'll be the first African leader to meet Mr Trump as president.

Mr Sisi was also the first African leader to speak to and congratulate Mr Trump after his shock election victory. 

The Palestinian-Israeli peace process is expected to be on the agenda, as is the fight against so-called Islamic State group, Reuters news agency reports. 

The two leaders met last September in New York when Mr Sisi was in the country to attend the annual UN general assembly. 

Kenya's police boss Joseph Boinnet has ordered an investigation following a video that was widely shared over the weekend showing a man reported to be a policeman shooting dead a young man in Eastleigh district in the capital, Nairobi, the Star newspaper reports., external

The minute-long video shows a man with a gun grabbing a young man, reported as a suspected criminal, by the collar and engaging in a heated exchange.

The young man is then ordered to lie on the ground next to a bloodied-dead body, reported to be his accomplice, who had already been killed, and is then shot at least four times. 

Police spokesman Charles Owino said that the the police are investigating the identity of the shooter:

"The important thing is the person must be identified whether they are policemen or not," the Star quotes him as saying.

But Nairobi Police Commander Japheth Koome told the paper on Saturday that the video "was acted".

"It is not true it was acted. It is not true, it did not happen. It was only shot in one place. It is not true," the report says.

Human rights groups have condemned the police and called for an independent investigation of the incident. 

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority, the body that investigates police conduct, said police commanders are to blame for the pervasive cases of extrajudicial killings in the country, the report says.

A report by Amnesty international released in February ranked Kenya top in Africa in cases of extrajudicial killings by police.

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