At least two people have died after tropical Cyclone Enawo made landfall in Madagascar, causing considerable damage in the north and north-east of the Indian Ocean island. 

The cyclone, with sustained winds of around of 205 km/h (127 mph), was expected to strike the capital, Antananarivo, and its surroundings around noon.

A tweeter has shared a video showing heavy rain and trees swaying in high winds:   

Yesterday around noon, the cyclone hit Ampahana, a small town in north-east Madagascar.

It left destroyed houses, uprooted trees and floods almost everywhere. 

Electricity there has been cut off and the town's telephone network has also been cut, isolating the area and making it difficult to collect information for official records.  

In Antananarivo, events marking International Women’s Day have been cancelled.

The city has been put on red alert. Schools and offices are closed. 

Tomi Oladipo
BBC Monitoring's Africa security correspondent

Image source, AFP

A UN report says South Sudan is experiencing ethnic cleansing and edging closer to genocide. 

Findings also included details of armed forces targeting civilians in deliberate attacks and starvation. 

The report, which is the result of a seven-month inquiry into human rights in South Sudan, found that since fighting broke out in July 2016, human rights violations and abuses have been on the rise. 

It says government forces and other armed groups have been using the conflict as a smokescreen to carry out ethnically-motivated attacks on civilians, deliberate starvation, forced displacement and hate speech. 

While both the army and rebel forces were accused of abuses, the report places most of the blame on the governing SPLA, National Security Service, police and other affiliated militia groups.

The UN recently said that parts of South Sudan are experiencing a man-made famine. Now it details the restrictions placed on aid agencies – saying the resulting starvation of civilians is being used as a method of warfare, in violation of international law.

The report also accuses government forces, many of whom are ethnic Dinka, of targeting civilians from the Nuer, including raping women.

The government of South Sudan has denied that genocide and ethnic cleansing are going on and President Salva Kiir has called for national dialogue.

The Los Angeles mansion of Pascaline Bongo, daughter of Gabon's long-time ruler Omar Bongo, has been put on the market for $17.495m (£14m),  Mansion Global reports, external .

The gated villa is more than 9,000 square feet and sits in a compound covering nearly an acre, with a tennis court, gardens, pool and separate guest house.    

Images  published by the estate agents, external managing the sale also showed a glass grand piano and large abstract works of art on the walls. 

Mansion Global says Ms Bongo bought the Beverly Hills property for $4.55m in 1997, when she was director of her father's cabinet.

The sale was registered under the name of a company, Aminisha Corp, according to property records. Ms Bongo is listed as the firm's chief executive, and two of her children, Christopher Ping and Nesta Ping, are named as officers, according to filings.  

Image source, The MLS/Nourmand & Associates

Omar Bongo ruled Gabon for more than 40 years until his death in 2009. The current president is Ms Bongo's half-brother, Ali Bongo.

The Bongo family have faced persistent allegations of embezzlement, which they have always denied.

Gabon is a major oil producer, but a third of its population live in poverty, according to the World Bank.  

Zimbabwe's state-owned newspaper, The Herald, has been called out on Twitter for being disingenuous in its message on International Women's Day. 

Several tweeters responded to the Herald post, criticising it for its reporting on women saying that it is misogynistic and insensitive. 

One tweeter got into a spat with the paper's editor, Caesar Zvayi, telling him that he should take reporters for gender sensitivity training:

Mr Zvayi responded: 

Tweeters in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have used a picture of Hollywood star Will Smith circulating on social media to claim that he was visiting their countries. 

The Ugandan government's official account boasted that the film star had made a call on the "Pearl of Africa". 

An account that claims to promote tourism in Tanzania posted: "Will Smith is in Tanzania, Welcome to the soul of Africa." 

And in Kenya people also claimed the US actor was in their country.

One Twitter user has put together the tweets:

South Africa has revoked its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. 

It came after the High Court ruled last month that the government's move to pull out was unconstitutional and invalid. 

South Africa had notified the UN of its intention to leave last October, saying the ICC pursued "regime change".

The decision followed a dispute over Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's visit to South Africa in 2015.

The authorities there refused to arrest Mr Bashir despite him facing an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes.

Mr Bashir was attending an African Union summit in Johannesburg, when the government ignored an ICC request to arrest him.

Deciding on the government move to withdraw from the court, the High Court ruled in favour of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), which argued that the government had to first seek parliamentary approval.

The Gambia, under new President Adama Barrow, has also recently revoked its withdrawal from the court.

Image source, AFP

The mayor of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, has been placed in custody over alleged fraud, BBC Afrique reports. 

Khalifa Sall was charged with embezzling 1.38bn CFA francs ($2.85m; £2.34m) in city funds. 

The mayor denies any wrongdoing. His lawyers described the arrest as politically motivated, saying in a statement: 

Mr Sall is a maverick member of the Socialist Party and has been considered a possible contender for the 2019 presidential election. 

He has been mayor of Dakar since 2009.  

Supporters of a Kenyan MP, Matthew Lempurkel, who was arrested yesterday after the government warned that it would apprehend any leaders inciting violence in Laikipia county, have stormed a court where he was to be charged, the Daily Nation reports:

They chanted ""Release Lempurkel! Release him!", the Star newspaper reports., external

Mr Lempurkel is the member of parliament for Laikipia North, the constituency where British rancher Tristan Voorspuy was killed by armed herders on Sunday.

The Star newspaper quotes the area Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Isaac Musyoki as saying that the legislator was detained to help police with investigations over the killing of Mr Voorspuy. 

Armed thieves masquerading as police have carried out a robbery at Johannesburg's international airport in South Africa, reports say.

The thieves are said to have driven into a restricted zone and taken containers of cash.

Estimates vary but reports suggest that millions of dollars in different currencies may have been stolen.

The company that operates OR Tambo Airport, the continent's busiest, confirmed a robbery had taken place.

Read full story

Image source, Getty Images

Authorities in Nigeria's north-western state of Zamfara have dispatched a team of medics to a village to investigate the causes of a mysterious disease that has killed several people in close succession there. 

Residents of the mining community of Bindim reported the outbreak, which has killed 13 people in just one week.

They said the disease was characterised by vomiting, joint pain, bleeding from the eyes and convulsions.   

More than 400 people died from lead poisoning in the area in 2010. 

Image source, AFP

Martin Patience
BBC News, Nigeria correspondent

Image source, AFP

By the end of today the capital of Africa’s most populous nation will be without a functioning airport. 

The Nigerian government ordered the closure of Abuja's airport to carry out an upgrade on the runway, which is 15 years overdue.  

Last year, a South African Airways jet was damaged when landing on the potholed tarmac.

In the next few hours, the last plane will be landing in the Nigerian capital for at least six weeks.    

Instead passengers will be rerouted to a tiny airport in the city of Kaduna. 

They then face travelling along a road notorious for kidnappings. 

Despite government assurances of beefed-up security many Nigerian travellers are worried.

Most international airlines – including British Airways – are not flying into Kaduna apparently out of security concerns.   

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