Zambia's main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is to go on trial for treason at the High court, a Lusaka magistrate has ruled.

Mr Hichilema and his party have been tweeting the news:

Mr Hichilema, and five others, were charged with treason after the motorcade in which he was travelling allegedly obstructed President Lungu's presidential motorcade in April.

Mr Hichilema's lawyers had previously questioned the authority of the officer who issued the trial papers.

Before his detention the opposition leader was forcefully evicted from his residence in Lusaka.

A conservationist who was helping to reintroduce the black rhino into Rwanda has been killed by one of the animals, the organisation leading the project has said in a statement, external.

African Parks says that Krisztian Gyongyi was killed by a rhino in Akagera National Park in Rwanda "while out tracking animals" in the park.

But it gives no details about exactly how he died.

Africa Parks' CEO Peter Fearnhead says that Mr Gyongyi was "instrumental in supporting the reintroduction efforts of the black rhino... and was on the ground training rangers how to track and protect them".

He adds that this is "a tremendous loss for all of us, especially for rhino conservation efforts in Africa".

The rhinos were brought to Rwanda from South Africa last month.

The black rhino is critically endangered sub-species of the African rhino.

By 2007, all the black rhinos in Rwanda had been killed by poachers.

The first major new railway line in Kenya for more than a century, running between the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa, faces an immediate challenge of justifying its relatively high cost, reports the BBC's Nancy Kacungira

This is Kenya's biggest infrastructure investment since independence in 1963

At $5.6m per kilometre for the track alone, Kenya's line cost close to three times the international standard and four times the original estimate.

Image source, AFP

Cost comparisons have been made between this line and Ethiopia's 756km Addis Ababa-Djibouti line launched last year.

Both are Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) projects financed by Chinese loans, costing $3.4bn (£2.6bn) for Ethiopia and $3.2bn for Kenya.

Ethiopia's line is more than 250km longer and is electrified, which is typically more expensive; trains running on Kenya's line will be diesel-powered.

The Kenyan government has said the reasons for this high cost include the terrain that required many bridges and tunnels, land compensation and a need for specifications that would handle greater cargo volumes than Ethiopia's line.

Therefore, it says, the two projects are not directly comparable.

For more see Will Kenya get value for money from its new railway?

And Kenya's new Madaraka Express railway in pictures

The Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have rejected a deadline issued by the UN for the launch of an international investigation into the violence in the central Kasai province, the AFP news agency reports.

The UN has found more than a dozen mass graves in the area saying that at least 400 people have died.

Two UN experts sent to investigate the deaths have also been killed.

Earlier this week, the UN's human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein gave the DR Congo authorites until today to show that it was serious in probing the violence or accept an international investigation.

But AFP quotes Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa as saying that: "one does not give ultimatums to a sovereign state".

Read more about DR Congo's Kasai conflict.

Image source, AFP

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News

The fires that have caused thousands to flee in South Africa's Western Cape province were fuelled by gale force winds which swept through the area in the last 24 hours, reports the BBC's Pumza Fihlani.

The fires have hit the picturesque Knysna area, which is a major tourist attraction.

She adds that shelters have been built for some of those who have displaced by the storm.

People have been tweeting videos and pictures from the area:

The governor of the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai, has ordered the arrests of youth activists calling for ethnic Igbos, from the south-eastern part of the country to leave, Reuters news agency reports

Members of the Northern Youth Groups coalition on Tuesday issued a statement calling on all Igbos residing in any part of the north to leave within three months.

The statement also advises northerners living in the east to do the same, Reuters says.

A spokesman for Mr El-Rufai said that the governor had ordered the arrest of all signatories to that statement.

Nigeria's Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has reissued a statement he made last month calling for national unity:

It is 50 years since Igbo leaders started a secessionist rebellion declaring an independent state of Biafra.

The move plunged the country into a civil war, where up to a million people were killed.

The BBC's Mohammud Ali has been finding out more about the al-Shabab attack in north-east Somalia in which the militant group says it killed 61 soldiers (see earlier entry).

He reports that the early morning attack happened close to the Galgala Mountains which at one time was a base for al-Shabab fighters in the aemi-autonomous Puntland region.

There is no official confirmation of the death toll so far, and while confirming the incident Puntland’s Security Minister Abdiaziz Hirsi denied the al-Shabab claims.

He said the authorities are still investigating the matter and will issue a comprehensive statement later.

Mohammud adds that Puntland has suffered al-Shabab attacks in the past, but this one has been described as the worst in recent years.

Image source, AFP

Up to 10,000 people in South Africa's Western Cape province had to leave their homes as wildfires approach their homes, Times Live is reporting, external.

The worst hit area is around the picturesque town of Knysna.

It quotes a local government spokesman as saying that "the fire... is the largest and most destructive fire in a built up area in the Western Cape in recent memory".

The Democratic Alliance party has tweeted some pictures:

And journalists are also sharing photographs of the aftermath of the fire:

EWN is also reporting that soldiers have been sent to the area:

The fires come after heavy downpours in other parts of the region. The winds, which accompanied that storm, are now exacerbating the fires in the drier parts of the Western Cape.

The Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab says it has killed in 61 soldiers in an attack on a Somali military base near the north-eastern town of Bosaso, BBC Monitoring reports quoting two pro-al-Shabab sources.

The base is in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

A VOA journalist has also been tweeting about the attack:

The journalist later quotes sources saying that the al-Shabab fighters have been beaten back:

Today’s African proverb:

Image source, AFP

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