Africa highlights: Tuesday 21 March 2017, as it happened - BBC News

Summary

'Bug' leads to Senegalese network broadcasting porn film
'All passengers survive' South Sudan plane crash
Namibia to 'expropriate' white-owned land
Chad opposition decries visit from 'fascist' Le Pen
'Extreme' climate trends continue in 2017
Former BBC Somali editor appointed foreign minister
At least 26 'die of hunger' in Somalia
Zimbabwe's president calls for Union of African States
Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Tuesday 21 March 2017

Live Reporting

Farouk Chothia and Hugo Williams

Chad opposition decries visit from 'fascist' Le Penpublished at 10:58 Greenwich Mean Time 21 March 2017
Lamine Konkobo
BBC Africa
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Mrs Le Pen hopes to cause an upset in France's election
Opposition parties in Chad have condemned a planned visit by France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen to the former French colony later today, calling her a fascist and a xenophobe.
Ms Le Pen, who is running for the presidency in France's 23 April election, said she would be visiting French soldiers based in Chad to show that security will be a priority for her if she takes office.
However, opposition parties in Chad say she is coming to "beg" for campaign funds from President Idriss Deby.
Ms Le Pen has not commented on the reports.
The National Front leader is vocal about her anti-immigration stance, which makes her unpopular in most of French-speaking Africa, including Chad.
Polls suggest Ms Le Pen will get the most votes in the first round, but centrist Emanuel Macron will defeat her in a run-off vote.
Read more: What makes Marine Le Pen far right?
'All passengers survive' South Sudan plane crashpublished at 10:21 Greenwich Mean Time 21 March 2017
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All passengers and crew survived an accident in South Sudan on Monday in which a passenger jet hit a fire truck on the runway before bursting into flames, AFP news agency reports.
Initial reports said scores of people had been killed in the accident.
"There is no one who died," Information Minister Bona Gaudensio told AFP from the north-western city of Wau, where the accident happened.
He said 37 people had been treated for injuries in hospital but, miraculously, no one was killed, despite a fireball consuming the plane soon after it crash landed.
Wau is a regional capital with a busy airport used by the UN and aid agencies as well as private and commercial planes.
The fuselages of previous air crashes are still visible in the long grass next to the airport's runway.
Explaining what led to the crash, the minister said:
Quote Message
The plane hit a fire brigade truck, that is how it caught fire."
He suggested both "a technical problem" and "some negligence" might be to blame and added that an investigation would be carried out.
Pascal Ladu of the South Sudan Red Cross said that after the plane, operated by local carrier South Supreme Airlines, hit the truck it burst into flames and "passengers quickly started running out".
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
The plane was completely destroyed in the blaze
Record number of women in Somali cabinetpublished at 10:08 Greenwich Mean Time 21 March 2017
BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre has named a cabinet of 26 ministers at a ceremony in the capital Mogadishu ( see earlier entry ).
There are a record six ministerial posts for women.
The new cabinet is a mix of new arrivals and ministers who served in previous administrations.
Mr Kheyre named one deputy premier, 26 ministers and 26 assistant ministers after consultation with the president and the speaker of parliament.
The cabinet appointees will have to be approved by parliament.
However, the proposed cabinet, which meets the various clan interests, is not expected to face major opposition from members of parliament.
A journalist with Voice of America in Mogadishu has been tweeting details about some of the new appointments:
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Gado takes on Boris Johnson's 'colonial baggage'published at 09:16 Greenwich Mean Time 21 March 2017
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East Africa's best known cartoonist has taken aim at UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has just finished a tour of the region, where he visited Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
The "colonial baggage" referred to in the cartoon is presumably a reference to his previous controversial comments about the UK's history on the continent.
Writing on the effects of colonialism in Uganda (in 2002), external , Mr Johnson said:
Quote Message
If left to their own devices, the natives would rely on nothing but the instant carbohydrate gratification of the plantain."
Read more: Boris Johnson and his "colonial views" on Africa
Ex-BBC journalist named Somali foreign ministerpublished at 09:03 Greenwich Mean Time 21 March 2017
Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre has been announcing his new cabinet in the capital Mogadishu.
Former BBC Somali Editor and diplomat Yusuf Garaad has been named as the new foreign minister.
More details to follow.
Mugabe appeals for Union of African Statespublished at 09:00
Image source, EPA
Image caption,
Mr Mugabe is the world's oldest ruler
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has called for greater economic integration among African countries with the aim of creating a union of African States, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports, external .
Speaking at the African Economic Platform summit in Mauritius, Mr Mugabe added that regional groupings should work towards forming "a much more united African Union, call it if you want, Union of African States, with perhaps an authority called Government of African Union States and those other authorities being subordinate to that authority".
Mr Mugabe, 93, added:
Quote Message
When will that day come? We hope it will come in the lives of our children."
Somalis 'starve to death'published at 09:00
BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe
At least 26 people have died of starvation in Somalia's southern region of Jubaland, the government-owned Radio Mogadishu website has reported.
It quoted regional Interior minister and Drought Committee chairman Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein as saying that the deaths occurred in the last 36 hours.
He appealed for emergency aid to curb hunger, Radio Mogadishu reported.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who visited Somalia earlier this month, said that nearly six million people are in need of food aid in the country.
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Aid agencies have warned of a full-blown famine in Somalia
Read: What can I do to help?
Today's wise wordspublished at 09:00
Our African proverb of the day:
Quote Message
The food meant for a toad does not climb trees."
Sent by Igoh Vitalis Azer, Makurdi, Nigeria, and Ukor Mterorga, Adikpo, Benue, Nigeria
Click here to send us your African proverbs
Good morningpublished at 09:00
Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.