Soldiers are sharing tactics from Iraq and Afghanistan to help gamekeepers in Gabon tackle poaching.

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale accompanied the soldiers and gamekeepers into the forest.

Image source, SA government

South Africa's Deputy Education Minister Mduduzi Manana has apologised to the woman he allegedly assaulted at a nightclub on Saturday night, saying he should have exercised restraint despite the "extreme provocation".

He added that "the shameful incident should not have happened", and he would subject himself "fully to the process of the law".

Police have opened a case of assault against Mr Manana.

The incident caused outrage in South Africa, with opposition politicians demanding his resignation.

The government has tweeted his comments on its official account:

Image source, EPA

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's age has long been up for debate.

The Ugandan government has consistently said he was born in 1944, but before last year's general election the opposition accused Mr Museveni of lying, insisting he wasn't 71 but actually five years older and, therefore, too old to run for election as the country's age limit is 75.

Now the president's office has published what it says is a baptism document saying he was baptised on 3 August 1947 - three years after he was born.

That would make him 77 years old at the time of Uganda's next general election in 2021, and too old to run for a sixth term in office.

Uganda's constitution was amended back in 2006, enabling him to run for a third presidential term.

According to Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper, the president has said previously that he does not know the exact date of his birth.

"My parents were illiterate and so did not know the date," it quotes him as saying in his autobiography Sowing the Mustard Seed, published in 1997.

Nevertheless, he has insisted to the press that he is in excellent health, saying last week that he had never had a sick day in over three decades:

* Correction: This entry has been amended to remove a suggestion that Mr Museveni's date of birth had been changed.

Image source, Reuters

"A Murder and an Exodus - Another Election in Kenya" - that's the headline in a New York Times article on Kenya's tightly contested general election.

"Since the country’s near-death experience a decade ago, Kenyans live in fear of their society’s capacity for violence," author Michela Wrong writes.

"It’s a potential at odds with the nation’s often Disney-fied image as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most popular tourist destinations and most vibrant economies," adds Wrong, the author “It’s Our Turn to Eat. The story of a Kenyan Whistleblower, external.”

The UK-based Guardian newspaper also strikes a pessimistic note about Tuesday's election - a close contest between Presdent Uhuru Kenyatta and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Image source, The Guardian

Jason Burke, irs corresponent in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, writes, external:

"The country is braced for widespread unrest whoever wins, after a campaign marred by hundreds of violent incidents - including the murder of a high-profile election official, external – issues with new voting technology and widespread concerns about fraud."

As for Quartz Africa, it focuses on the technological challenges facing election officials., external

Image source, Quartz Africa

"There is some irony that Kenya’s elections may be delayed due to the limitations of its mobile communications technology," Lily Kuo writes.

"Over the last decade East Africa’s largest economy has positioned itself as a global leader in mobile technology thanks to the leadership of Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money platform and Nairobi has become one of Africa’s leading tech hubs," she adds.

And under the headline "Calm before the Kenyan election", the BBC's Alastair Leithead writes from Nairobi:

"The success of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) computerised voting system is key to the process being considered free and fair.

"If it fails - as it did in 2013 - the votes will be counted manually, and in a country where vote-rigging has been alleged in the past, the loser will no doubt challenge the result," Leithead writes.

"In 2013, Raila Odinga turned to the courts claiming electoral fraud, and lost. This time - his fourth and probably last attempt to become president - he may turn to the streets if he considers the election to have been stolen," he adds.

You can read his full article here.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Rebels in South Sudan say government troops have captured their main stronghold of Pagak, near the Ethiopian border.

Thousands of civilians have fled the area and aid workers have evacuated.

The loss of Pagak represents a major blow to the rebels, whose leader Riek Machar says he is under house arrest in South Africa.

A quarter of South Sudan's population has been displaced by the conflict which began in 2013, just two years after the country became independent.

Nasidi Adamu Yahya
BBC Hausa Service, Abuja

At least 70 lecturers from the University of Maiduguri have resigned since 2009 when militant Islamist group Boko Haram began terrorising residents in the north-eastern Nigeria city.

The number of students enrolling has dropped significantly since the insurgency started in Maiduguri, the former headquarters of Boko Haram, says Dani Mamman, union chairman for the university’s academic staff.

He also told the BBC that the university has employed lecturers to replace those who left.

The university has recently been targeted by suicide bombers, most of whom are young women.

In July, authorities in Borno state began digging a 27km (17 miles) trench around the university to prevent attacks by militants.

They took action a day after three suicide bombers attacked the university, killing themselves and a security guard.

Image source, Borno State

South Africa's public broadcaster, SABC, is reporting that one of its journalists saw Deputy Education Minister Mduduzi Manana assault a woman at a nightclub on Saturday.

“This lady looked like she was walking towards the entrance of the place when the deputy minister, who I saw with my own eyes, struck her and she fell and he continued to trample her with his foot,” journalst Lumko Jimlongo is quoted as saying.

Mr Manana has not yet commented on the allegation.

In a tweet posted on its account, the South African government said it welcomed the fact Ms Jimlongo had given a witness statement to police.

South Africa's Minister of Women, Susan Shabangu, urged the police to investigate the case against the deputy minister as a matter of urgency, the government tweeted:

See earlier post for more details

As Kenyans prepare to go to the polls in tomorrow's general election, the country's voting processes are under scrutiny.

Can developments in tech, specialised training as well as testing prevent a repeat of the events of 2013, when there were a large number of rejected ballot papers?

That's the hope of Ezra Chiloba, the chief election officer for Kenya's electoral commission, who spoke to BBC Newsday's Alan Kasujja.

More highlights from BBC Newsday.

BBC World Service

Large numbers of sub-Saharan migrants have stormed the border crossing between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, running past guards.

It's not clear how many people managed to cross, although some estimates put it as high as 300.

The Red Cross says it has attended to more than 180 people who have been taken to a reception centre.

It follows a similar event on Tuesday when 200 migrants crossed a high fence from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

Migrants regularly try to climb the high fences that surround the territory, but the authorities say mass attempts to pass the border crossing are rare.

Ceuta and another Spanish enclave, Melilla, are the only parts of the European Union in Africa.

Mauritanians have voted to adopt a new national flag and abolish the upper house of their parliament, the Senate, in a controversial referendum that was boycotted by the opposition.

The result is seen as a victory for President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who is accused by his rivals of trying to extend his mandate, which he denies.

The country's green flag with a yellow Islamic crescent and a star will now feature red band, to honour the blood spilt by those who fought for freedom from France.

Mr Abdel Aziz called the referendum after the Senate rejected his proposals to change the constitution.

Turnout was 53.73%, with 85% of voters supporting the change, officials said.

But members of the opposition denounced an "electoral farce which has given way to open-air fraud".

Mr Abdel Aziz, who described the Senate as "useless and too costly", said the move to abolish it would improve governance by introducing more local forms of lawmaking.

He is barred by the constitution from running a third term - he came to power in a coup in 2008, was elected president the following year and won a second term in 2014.

Image source, AFP

A South African mercenary who was involved in a failed coup plot in Seychelles in 1981 has died of a suspected heart attack while sitting on a bench outside a shopping centre in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa's News24 site reports.

Peter Duffy - who later worked as a photographer for a prominent South African newspaper - had become a recluse before his death last week, it added.

Duffy was sentenced to five years in prison in the Seychelles for his role in the failed attempt to overthrow France-Albert René's government.

South Africa's then-apartheid regime was behind the coup plot, and later brokered a deal to secure the release of Duffy and other plotters.

Image source, AFP

In a taped phone conversation, a person, who is reportedly South Africa's Deputy Education Minister Mduduzi Manana, admits to slapping a woman at a club after she called him gay, local media say.

Reports add that the two were involved in a row over who should should succeed President Jacob Zuma as leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) at the party's elective conference in December.

The confession was part of a recording of a subsequent conversation between a person believed to be Mr Manana and Phesheya Duma, the brother of Mandisa Duma, the alleged victim, TimesLive reports.

Mr Manana has not yet commented.

But on the tape, the voice can be heard denying that he followed the victims out to the car park to continue the violence. He said that other people did that.

A post on Twitter shows the injuries that Ms Duma allegedly sustained during Saturday night's altercation at the club in Fourways, near the main city Johannesburg:

A police ministry spokesman said a case of assault has been opened at a local police station, the local IOL news site reports, external.

The site also quoted the ANC Women's League (ANCWL) as saying it had noted the reports of the alleged incident.

"The ANCWL condemns violence against women and perpetrators must face the might of the law," a statement said, IOL reports.

Mr Manana is a supporter of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in the battle to succeed Mr Zuma, local media report.

Other contenders include former African Union commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is the ex-wife of Presdent Jacob Zuma, and housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu, both of whom hope to become South Africa's first female president.

Read: Will I be the next victim of abuse?

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Image source, AFP

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