The magistrate's court in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, will meet a week from today to decide if the treason case against opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema should go ahead, a magistrate has ruled. 

But magistrate Greenwell Malumani found Mr Hichilema not guilty on a separate charge of insulting police officers.

The judge found that police officers, who were the only witnesses in the case, were inconsistent in their testimonies and proved unreliable.

He singled out the arresting officer for lying under oath and later apologising for misleading the court.

The opposition UPDF has shared a picture of its leader being led away after his court appearance in Lusaka:

Access to Ivory Coast's second-largest city, Bouaké, has been impeded after mutinous soldiers sealed off the southern entrance, Reuters news agency reports, quoting witnesses.

It says more than 200 commercial trucks are stranded on the roadside, 

The army said on Sunday that it had launched an operation "to re-establish order" amid the four-day revolt over bonus payments.  

(see earlier reports)

We reported earlier that schoolchildren in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, had been blocking a road with their desks to protest against the demolition of their school following a land dispute. 

Capital FM, external has been reporting more details on the morning protest. 

It says the children and their teachers were chanting "we want our school, we need to study" blocking traffic during the morning rush hour. The pupils later moved off the road.

One of the teachers told Capital FM that they had not received a notice to vacate the property.

The teachers were also concerned that the demolition has cut short their employment and they now have to look for other jobs.  

Two years ago Kenyan activists formed Shule Yangu Alliance, external, an initiative to ensure public schools have title deeds for their lands.   

The BBC's Abdinoor Aden however says that the government has been slow in issuing title deeds to public schools. 

We reported earlier on a meeting of Ivory Coast's banking society saying that banks should remain shut because of the ongoing trouble.

Now, in a tweet, one of the country's largest banks Societe Generale, has confirmed that its branches are shut:

The statement says in French: "Because of the current security situation the bank (SGBCI) branches will remain closed today. SGBCI apologises for the inconvenience caused and asks the clients to use the ATMs to withdraw money."

Two people have now died from the current Ebola outbreak in a remote part of the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The government in the capital, Kinshasa and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak on Friday.

There are 17 other suspected cases and the authorities are trying to trace people who have made contact with those who have the virus.

Following the 2014/15 outbreak in West Africa which killed more than 11,000 there's been a lot of concern about containing the virus.

But the Democratic Republic of Congo is very experienced in dealing with Ebola as Laurie Garrett from the Council on Foreign Relations told the BBC's Newsday programme:

Tunisia's economy grew by 2.1% in the first quarter of 2017 compared to zero growth in the same quarter a year ago, the statistics institute said on Monday, the Reuters news agency reports. 

The institute said growth was bolstered by a recovery in state phosphate production and tourism, which had been hit hard by Islamist militant attacks in 2015.

Thirty-eight people died in an hour-long gun beach attack in the city of Sousse in June 2015. 

Read:Tunisia country profile

All banks in Ivory Coast have been told to remain closed by the country's banking association, the Reuters news agency is reporting.

The move is connected to the ongoing trouble with mutinous soldiers who are demanding the reinstatement of a deal which would see them paid bonuses worth a total of $11,600.

Reuters quotes one bank official as saying: "There was an emergency meeting this morning and the [banking association] took the decision that, for security reasons, all the banks would stay closed."

The Nigerian father of Damilola Taylor who died after being stabbed in London in 2000 has used a UK awards ceremony for an appeal to end knife crimes in the UK capital.

The city has seen a recent upsurge of deaths from stabbing.

Richard Taylor made the speech at the British TV awards, the Baftas, after a drama about what happened to his son won the best single drama category.

"Parents are crying, mothers are crying. The surge of killing has gone up recently... I beg you all to stop this unnecessary killing of innocent people," he said at the ceremony which was broadcast on TV.

Ivory Coast and Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri has been named best African player in France's Ligue 1.

The 25-year-old picked up the Marc-Vivien Foe trophy after finishing ahead of Algeria's Ryad Boudebouz (Montpellier) and Cameroon's Nations Cup winning captain Benjamin Moukandjo (Lorient).

The annual award is named in honour of Cameroon international Foe who died after collapsing on the pitch in 2003.

Image source, Getty Images

Seri is the second Ivorian to win the accolade after Gervinho who won it back-to-back in 2010 and 2011.

Capped 13 times by the Elephants thus far, Seri has been influential for Nice this season, scoring six goals and providing nine assists to help them to third in the league.

Banks, businesses and government offices are closed today in Daloa, the main city in Ivory Coast's cocoa producing area, the Reuters news agency is reporting quoting local residents.

Gunfire has been heard in the city and the shutdown is connected to the ongoing protests by mutinous soldiers which began on Friday.

"All businesses are closed here in Daloa. The banks are closed and so are the cocoa buying businesses. 

"The soldiers are in the streets on foot and on motorbikes. They're shooting in the air," a local businessman told Reuters.

BBC World Service

Customs officers in Malaysia have foiled an attempt to smuggle hundreds of endangered tortoises into the country from Madagascar. 

Following a tip-off, 330 ploughshare and radiated tortoises were found in the cargo area of Kuala Lumpur airport. 

They were in crates labelled as containing stones, marked with a fake address. 

These tortoises are sought after as exotic pets and can sell for around $4,000 (£3,000) each. 

Image source, EPA

Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva

UN aid agencies are today appealing for $1.4bn (£1bn) to help refugees who have fled South Sudan to neighbouring countries. 

South Sudan has been in the grip of a civil war since 2013 and the UN estimates that at least 1.8 million South Sudanese are now refugees, while a further two million are displaced inside the country. 

In February, the UN declared famine in two South Sudanese states. 

"The suffering of the South Sudanese people is just unimaginable... They are close to the abyss," World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement.

South Sudan has become the world's fastest growing refugee crisis, and the countries on its borders are now struggling to cope.   

In Uganda, for example, the WFP has had to cut food rations to refugee families.

Image source, Getty

Tamasin Ford
BBC Africa, Abidjan

The trouble in Ivory Coast is all about the former rebels, now embedded in the army, who had fought for years to get President Alassane Ouattara to power. 

They say they had been promised  $20,000 each, $8,000 paid out at the end of January then $1,600 a month from the end of May. Now they are pushing for the balance of $11,600. 

They brought Ivory Coast to a standstill in January when they launched uprisings across the country claiming they were due back pay and bonuses.  

The government gave in to their demands and they received their first installment at the end of the month. 

Then in a surprise move on national television on Thursday night, a spokesperson for the former rebels apologised, dropping their demands for the rest of the money.   

Image source, AFP

This was clearly news to the soldiers involved who have been protesting since Friday morning. It's not clear why their spokesperson said what he did but we do know the government is absolutely strapped for cash because of falling revenues from cocoa.

With the mutineers saying they won't negotiate and the defence minister saying they are also not prepared to negotiate, there are fears of a military standoff. 

Ivory Coast's army is 22,000 strong with the integrated rebels estimated to be about 8,400. 

Zambia's opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been acquitted by a magistrate's court in the capital, Lusaka, of the charge of using insulting language, journalist Mutuna Chanda has told the BBC.

Mr Hichilema, who has been held for more than a month, still faces a treason charge, but the magistrate's decision could have a bearing on that case, Mutuna adds.

The opposition leader's party has been tweeting from the court:

A 14-year-old girl who surrendered while on a suicide bombing attack at a military base in Nigeria's northern-state of Maiduguri has said that she was chosen for the mission because she had refused to marry a militant from Boko Haram, Nigeria's News Agency (NAM) reports. , external

She said she was abducted with her father in Gwoza, Borno state, in 2013:

She told NAM she was later transported to the military base alongside other attackers. 

One of them detonated her bomb-laden vest but only killed hersel, the other, she said, was shot dead by the military, NAM reports. 

She said she then removed her suicide vest and surrendered. 

Read: 'How I almost became a Boko Haram suicide bomber'

A week after just missing out on the world record Nigerian musician Femi Kuti can now claim the title of the person who has played a single note on a saxophone for the longest time.

According to his Twitter feed he played the note for more than 51 minutes.

He thought he had broken the record last week after blowing the note for 46 minutes 38 seconds but someone pointed out that American Vann Burchfield has gone over 47 minutes.

This time Femi made sure there was no ambiguity: 

The saxophonist uses a circular breathing method to sustain the note.

Unfortunately, Guinness World Records discontinued this particular category where circular breathing is used and will not certify Femi's achievement.

Last week, we made this short film of how he manages to play for so long:

The BBC's Tamasin Ford in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan has been telling us more about the gunfire in the city today - the fourth day of trouble with mutinous soldiers in the city.

She says that it is coming from the army barracks in Akouedo an affluent area in the city and it started at 0500 GMT (5am local time).

The soldiers are complaining that they will not receive bonuses that they thought they were going to get after a deal was struck in January.

Tamasin says one of the problems is that the government has less money to spend at the moment because of the declining price of cocoa - the country's main export.

Karen Allen
BBC southern Africa correspondent, Johannesburg

South Africa's Constitutional Court is expected to rule on whether MPs being balloted on a no confidence vote in President Jacob Zuma, can do so secretly. 

It comes amid growing discontent at Mr Zuma's leadership amid claims of increased cronyism and corruption on his watch. 

Mr Zuma has recently been heckled at a number of public engagements and senior members of his party have begun openly campaigning to succeed him as party leader. 

Image source, AFP

Opposition argue that MPs should be allowed to be guided by their conscience and not the dictates of political bosses, because Mr Zuma's continued role as the country's leader is an issue of national importance. 

The latest call for a vote of no confidence was triggered by his controversial firing of his finance minister and deputy two months ago. 

The move led to South Africa's credit rating taking a nose dive. 

However, some analysts believe that even if the constitutional court grants MPs the right to a secret vote, many ANC members will back their leader. 

As one MP said, he does not want to dance to the tune of the opposition and would rather deal with Mr Zuma's tenure as an internal party matter.

Schoolchildren have blocked a major road with their desks in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, to protest against demolition of their school, privately-owned Capital FM reports: 

Image source, Capital FM

The pupils are from Kenyatta Golf Course Academy, the report says. 

The circumstances leading up to the protest have not been reported. 

The demolition of public school property is not uncommon in Kenya because corrupt officials have been known to give out several title deeds for the same property. 

Two years ago police fired teargas to disperse protesting schoolchildren in the capital after their school's playground was reportedly claimed by a nearby hotel.

Activists who took part in that protest later formed Shule Yangu Alliance, external, an initiative to ensure public schools have title deeds for their lands. 

There has been heavy gunfire in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan where troops have been staging a mutiny. 

Residents said they heard shots being exchanged from early in the morning, describing the gunfire as intense. 

Clashes have also been reported in the country's second city, Bouake, where the mutiny began. 

The Ivorian military chief of staff said on Sunday he had despatched an armoured column to Bouake to restore order. 

The troops mutinied over unpaid bonuses which led to Bouake being sealed off. They said they would not lay down their weapons. 

On Sunday, Ivory Coast's military said it had launched an operation to "restore order" after three consecutive days of protests by the mutinous soldiers. 

Image source, AFP