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The Kenyan high court has given parliament 60 days to implement a rule on gender balance or risk being dissolved. 

According to the Kenyan constitution, no more than two-thirds of the members of elected public bodies should be of the same gender. 

There are only 69 female MPs out of a total of 349 - this includes 47 seats reserved for women representatives. There should be 117 women if the two-thirds rule is applied.

Image source, AFP

So far parliament has failed to find alternative ways of bridging the gap, and in May last year it voted to reject the gender rule altogether.  

A group of civil society organisations brought the case in an attempt to compel the government to enact the law before the general election in August. 

Judge John Mavito said anybody would be able to petition the chief justice to dissolve parliament if the law was not passed. 

Kenya currently ranks 100th out of a list of 193 countries in terms of the proportion of female MPs, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, external .

Rwanda is at the top of the list with 61.3% of its MPs being women.

The value of South Africa's currency, the rand, has continued to fall against the dollar as rumours persist that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is about to be sacked.

A chart from xe.com, external shows the latest dip began at 04:50 GMT this morning.

Image source, xe.com

The rand first came under pressure on Monday when Mr Gordhan, seen as a safe pair of hands by many investors, was recalled from a foreign trip.

It was thought this was a prelude to his sacking.

South Africa's top business daily leads today's edition with a story that the finance minister and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas are "on their way out".

Somali MPs have gathered for a vote of confidence in the cabinet nominated by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Kheyre. 

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo, who is out of the country for an Arab League meeting in Jordan, has urged MPs to support the cabinet so it can begin work tackling what he says are the most pressing problems facing Somalia - corruption, mismanagement and insecurity.

Some Somali political figures have objected to the cabinet, saying power should be spread more evenly among the country's various clans.

A reporter at the scene says the atmosphere is tense.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has vowed to press for justice in the killing of two UN experts who were found dead on Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Guterres said he was devastated over the death of US citizen Michael Sharp and Swiss national Zaida Catalan who had been missing since 13 March.

He said in a statement:

Forensic pathologists are due to formally identify the bodies of the two experts, using dental and DNA samples taken from their remains. 

Mr Guterres also urged the Congolese authorities to continue the search for the four others still missing. 

Read more: UN Experts found dead in DR Congo

Sophia de Bruyn was the next speaker at Ahmed Kathrada's funeral. She is the last surviving leader of the historic women's march that took place in Pretoria in 1956.

The march was in protest at a law which forced black people to carry passbooks with them at all times. It happened despite a ban on unauthorised gatherings and was one of the most influential demonstrations against the apartheid regime.

Many participants were arrested and prosecuted, but activists say it was the moment which brought women into the anti-apartheid struggle.

The coach of Nigeria's national football team has said the country could stop playing friendlies in the UK after visa problems prevented one of their matches this week, AFP news agency reports.

Gernot Rohr's comments come after the Super Eagles' match against Burkina Faso, due to take place in London two days ago,  had to be called off after several Burkina Faso players failed to gain visas to enter the UK. 

Rohr said some of his players had also been affected and been unable to get to London.

AFP quotes him as saying that "it's better to stay in Schengen, in Europe, than go to London where the people have problems".

The UK is not part of the Schengen travel area, a multinational European zone in which there are no internal border checks and travellers need only a single visa to enter.

Image source, Getty Images

Ahmed Kathrada's long-standing friend and fellow Robben Island inmate Laloo Chiba has been paying his tribute:

Image source, Reuters

A protest at a British airport targeting a plane said to be carrying Nigerian and Ghanaian deportees to Nigeria temporarily halted flights yesterday evening.

Demonstrators at Stansted Airport, north-east of London, got onto the runway and "locked themselves onto an aircraft destined for Nigeria", a police statement said.

Videos published on the Facebook page of campaign group Stop Charter Flights - End Deportations show protesters lying on the runway chanting: "We want freedom from your racist charter flights."

The group behind the demonstration also tweeted pictures from the runway:

The protest temporarily shut down operations at the airport. It is not clear if the flight was able to take off later.

Police broke up the demonstration and arrested 17 people for aggravated trespass.

This is the programme for Ahmed Kathrada's funeral:

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has been speaking, before the main tributes:  

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani and others are tweeting images of people at the funeral of Ahmed Kathrada. 

Mr Kathrada will be buried later on this plot in the West Park cemetery in Johannesburg, under a tree next to Afrikaner anti-apartheid activist Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naude.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is not attending today's funeral of anti-apartheid hero Ahmed Kathrada "in compliance with the wishes of the family", a statement from the presidency says, external . 

Mr Kathrada died on Tuesday morning aged 87.

He was one of the country's most prominent figures in the struggle against apartheid and was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela in 1964.

Mr Kathrada remained active in politics throughout his life and in recent years was critical of President Zuma and called on him to resign  following a scandal over improper spending at his private home.

It is not clear though why his family did not want the president to attend the funeral.

A statement from the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, external said "members of the public... are welcome to attend the funeral ceremony". 

The funeral was due to start at 08:00 GMT (10:00 local time), according to the foundation.

The service is being shown live on South African television.

Read more:  Ahmed Kathrada: South Africa's anti-apartheid veteran dies

Journalists are tweeting pictures from the service as people arrive:

Image source, AFP

President Joseph Kabila is due to address the Democratic Republic of Congo parliament today after the collapse of the latest round of negotiations between the government and opposition.

It comes a day after police fired tear gas and bullets to disperse opposition protesters in the capital, Kinshasa.

The protests had erupted after negotiations aimed at securing the departure of Mr Kabila after 17 years in power fell apart.

Religious leaders mediating the talks said politicians were acting selfishly.

The outline for a power-sharing deal in the country was agreed last year but the details have proved difficult to agree.

Bishops who had mediated between the government and the opposition called off the talks because, they said, politicians had failed to agree on issues such as the choice of a transitional prime minister.

Mr Kabila was supposed to step down by December last year, when his constitutionally limited time in office came to an end.

But the electoral commission failed to organise an election to choose a replacement, citing logistical and financial difficulties.

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