The first transmission of the service which broadcasts in KiSwahili to East and central Africa went on air on 27 June 1957, exactly 60 years ago.

Joseph Odhiambo, one of the editors leading celebrations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, recalls the service's great moments. He was talking to presenter Alan Kasujja.

Meanwhile BBC Swahili staff in the Nairobi bureau have been celebrating the milestone with some tasty-looking cake.

Image source, Getty/AFP

Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, now with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, and ex-Lille forward Moussa Sow have joined fellow francophone footballers Eden Hazard, also of Chelsea, and Crystal Palace's Yohan Cabaye in investing in a new football club in the US.

San Diego is the location for the new expansion side, which will compete in the NASL, the second tier in the US.

"We can't wait to get started and win some games," Hazard said.

Read the full story here

In this week’s episode of BBC’s The Conversation, Samia Nkrumah, the daughter of Kwame Nkrumah who led Ghana to independence, speaks to Noo Saro Wiwa whose father Ken Saro Wiwa was an environmental activist and author who was hanged in 1995.

They talk with Kim Chakanetsa about the pride and burden of their fathers' legacy, the private person they knew vs the public figure and how having a famous father has shaped their own personal journeys.

Image source, Durban Crime n All

One of the dancers whose performance in a South African prison caused uproar on Monday has angrily denied that she and her colleagues were "strippers".

Busi Mahlangu told The Sowetan newspaper, external that her troupe were "professional street dancers" who had been invited to perform.

Cassius Tlhotlhalemaje, a male member of the group, said their performance had lasted nine minutes and the prison inmates seen in the photos had only joined them on stage afterwards.

One inmate that the group knew had wanted to take a picture with the girls he said.

"There was nothing sexual about it," he told The Sowetan.

Thirteen prison officers have been suspended as a result of the controversy.

Read more - South Africa prisoners entertained by 'strippers'

The Mayor of the municipality of Tshwane in South Africa, Solly Msimanga, has reversed a suggestion he made a few days ago that a wall was needed to separate residents in Mamelodi east of Pretoria, report Eye Witness News, external and IOL, external

Mayor Msimanga had proposed the wall after clashes between squatters and their neighbours from the formal settlements. The confrontations were caused by increased electricity and water bills following illegal connections. Some homes were petrol bombed during the clashes.

The Mayor is now reported as saying he was only talking about a hypothetical not a physical wall.

Some commentators had likened the suggestion to the wall between the US and Mexico proposed by US President Trump

Image source, AFP

Image source, World Food Prize

African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina has won the prestigious World Food Prize for his work to boost yields and farm incomes.

Dr Adesina said providing millions of farmers with seeds and fertilisers was vital to boost development.

He added that 98% of the world's 800 million undernourished people live in Africa.

Since 1986, the World Food Prize aims to recognise efforts to increase the quality and quantity of available food.

Dr Adesina told BBC News that he was "very humbled" to win the award.

"For me, the award is not just about recognition for me, it is also about putting the wind behind the sails of what still needs to be done in African agriculture," he said.

He added that the critical issue that needed to be addressed was that the level of productivity of the African agricultural sector was "so, so low".

Read the full story here

BBC World Service

The aid group MSF has told the BBC that almost 70 malnourished children have died this month in one area of Ethiopia, and warns this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

MSF says there are extremely high levels of malnutrition in Doolo zone, in Ethiopia's Somali-speaking region, caused by drought, which has led to the death of livestock - a major source of food.

The organisation says the situation is the worst it has seen in the area in the ten years it has been working there. There are also concerns that the supplies of emergency food will run out by the end of next month.

South African banks have been rated as the strongest around the world by the banking advisory group Lafferty, reports Enca., external

It is the second year in a row that the banks have been given this rating.

Lafferty is reported as saying that despite South Africa's credit rating having been downgraded to junk status by some ratings agencies, it has not affected the standards of the banks

The five South African banks that were part of the study were Capitec, Absa, First Rand, Standard Bank and Nedbank.

Business Day, external newspaper reports that Capitec bank got a five-star rating and was rated best bank in the world.

Matthew Davies, the BBC's Africa Business Editor, says this is not surprising. The survey does not only look at balance sheets but also at management and strategy.

He says South African banks are well-respected throughout Africa and the world.

Most European and banks in the US do not score particularly well under Lafferty’s survey because banks in Europe especially have yet to recover properly from the global financial crisis.

Sammy Awami
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

Image source, Reuters

Tanzania has banned the export of food grain following concerns over an increase in food smuggling to neighbouring countries.

At the weekend, the authorities seized 10 trucks of food products reportedly heading to Kenya at Tarekea in North Tanzania.

Speaking at a national Eid al-Fitr ceremony in northern Tanzania's Kilimanjaro region, Prime Minister Kassim Majira warned that food smuggling threatens food security in the country.

“From today on, whoever will be caught smuggling food to neighbouring countries, the contraband cargo will be confiscated and handed to the National Food Reserve, and the truck used for smuggling will be donated to the Police Force” he said.

The government would now only allow export of processed food items such as maize flour because that will benefit local industries.

He added that businesspeople should take food products from where they are abundant and sell them where there is scarcity.

Kenya has recently been hit by food shortages, in particular maize, the staple food in East Africa. The situation has opened up market opportunities for Tanzanian businesspeople.

The body of Botswana's second president Sir Ketumile Masire is now lying in state in parliament. Three days of national mourning were declared following his death on Thursday. A state funeral will be held later this week.

Image source, Borno state

A university in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri is building a series of trenches in an effort to repel Boko Haram militants, who have repeatedly targeted the campus.

The trenches are designed to make it impossible for the militants to drive into the university as well as making it harder for them to access the campus on foot.

The Borno state governor Kashim Shettima is financing the trench and has asked the Nigerian government for money to fund a permanent barrier.

Mr Shettima is also releasing money to pay allowances to guards drawn from local vigilante groups, who are working with the police to patrol the area.

He said that while the university was a federal institution, it was the Borno government’s responsibility to prevent loss of life and stop the militants from achieving their aim of forcing the university's closure.

The university was among several sites in and around Maiduguri targeted in a series of suicide bombings over the weekend.

Thirteen people were killed in the attacks, including a female staff member at the university, police said. Most of the attackers were women.

Image source, Borno state

Image source, Borno state

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Getty Images

Al-Shabab fighters are reportedly hunting for one of their former leaders, Sheikh Muqtar Robow Ali Abu Mansur, who had a $5m bounty removed by the US state department several days ago.

The armed group believes that Abu Mansur is planning to surrender to the federal government, which they oppose, and are searching for his hideout.

He is believed to be hiding in southwestern Somalia, the privately owned Jowhar news portal reported.

Abu Mansur was a former deputy leader of al-Shabab and also served as the organisation's spokesman.

He had attended jihadist training camps in Afghanistan, former Somali officials said.

However disagreement emerged between him and other al-Shabab leaders some time ago and has since been in indirect talks with the government, Somalia's former Defence Minister Abdihakim Fiqi said.

Earlier we had reported that Ugandan reggae star Bobi Wine had been arrested - now local media say he has been released.

Mr Wine has called for calm, external following his release and said the incident was the result of confusion over who was going to use a campaign event venue.

Mr Wine said he was allocated a venue to hold his campaign event in by the electoral commission. He was however subsequently informed that President Museveni would be campaigning for an NRM party candidate at the same venue.

The musician is campaigning in a hotly constested by-election outside the capital Kampala

See earlier post for more details

The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières is highlighting an acute humanitarian emergency in Ethiopia's Somali region.

The country is trying to cope with the worst drought in decades - it's been especially bad across southern and south eastern Ethiopia.

Tara Newell, Médecins Sans Frontières Emergency Manager, has just returned from the region.

Image source, AFP/Getty

Hakainde Hichilema, the Zambian opposition leader who has been in custody since a traffic incident when his convoy refused to give way to the motorcade of President Edgar Lungu, has posted an update from prison on his Facebook page.

Mr Hichilema said he and those with him are "in good spirits, despite numerous measures aimed at killing our spirit".

He faces treason charges over the motorcade incident and said he was being treated like a convicted criminal despite no trial yet having taken place.

"What we want is the truth to see its day in court. Ours is a fight for democracy and a better Zambia for all," he wrote.

He also condemned acts of violence in the country, which he described as being "on autopilot".

The case has prompted questions over whether Zambia's reputation as a bastion of democracy is under threat.

Read more - Treason trial puts Zambia at crossroads

Image source, Bobi Wine

Ugandan reggae star Robert Kyagulanyi - better known as Bobi Wine - has been arrested, local media are reporting including the government owned New Vision, external and the privately owned Monitor, external

He is campaigning as an independent for a hotly contested vacant seat outside Kampala in a by-election that is due to take place on Thursday.

Both papers say no reason has been given for his arrest. Though the Monitor reports that his supporters clashed with a rival candidate's supporters yesterday.

President Museveni of the NRM and his long time rival Dr Kizza Besigye (FDC) are also due to hold rallies there today to back their party candidates.

Local TV stations have posted videos and pictures of the arrest on social media.

BBC World Service

The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they have found 10 more mass graves in Kasai province where the security forces and militia groups have been accused of massacring civilians.

The army prosecutor, General Joseph Ponde, said he believed the murders had been committed by units of the Kamuina Nsapu militia, which is fighting the military.

The UN last week highlighted the continuing slaughter in the province, saying 2,000 civilians had been killed in the past three months.

Separately the UN has criticised the decision of a Congolese military tribunal not to prosecute seven soldiers for crimes against humanity.

They will still be tried for murder but the tribunal ruled that because no war had been declared in Kasai province they could not face war crimes charges. They were allegedly filmed shooting at unarmed civilians.

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