BBC World Service

A new programme of free secondary school education has started in Ghana.

This was a key campaign promise of President Nana Akufo-Addo who was elected last year.

The 400,000 students entering secondary school this year will also receive free textbooks, meals and other benefits.

The aim is to reduce the number of children dropping out of school.

Primary school education is already free in Ghana.

A BBC correspondent in Ghana says there is concern about how the cash-strapped government will fund the programme and whether the increase in students will lead to a deterioration in the quality of education.

Image source, AFP

Hot on the heels of the launch of the BBC's new Pidgin language service, our Amharic, external, Tigrinya , externaland Afaan Oromoo, external services are now up and running on Facebook.

The three languages are spoken mainly in the Horn of Africa and also the diaspora.

An elder from Yaballoo in Oromia, Saar Xachee, recorded this blessing for the Afaan Oromoo service:

Let family be peace.

Family and neighbours be peace.

The night be peace.

The day be peace.

Years and morning be peace.

All places be peace

All people be peace

All ethnicities be peace

Let the rain come and fill the lakes

Let the cows give milk and let it be abundant

Let God fill us with peace

Let Borana be peace Let Oromo be peace

BBC Afaan Oromoo be successful!

Bashkas Jugsodaay
BBC News, Nairobi

Heavily armed al-Shabab fighters attacked a Somali army base in Balad Hawo town on the Somali-Kenyan border this morning, killing eight people and injuring many more.

The militants launched the attack using explosives, then followed with gun shots, killing and injuring soldiers and civilians.

Residents said the injured were taken to Mandera hospital in Kenya for treatment.

They added that the attackers held the town and terrorised them for several hours before fleeing.

The town, which is about 5km (3 miles) from the Kenyan town of Mandera, is now back in control of Somali government soldiers.

Kenyan authorities say they have put the Kenyan army on alert.

Sammy Awami
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

British company Petra Diamonds has suspended operations at one of its mines in Tanzania after a parcel with allegedly under-valued diamonds was seized by authorities, and its staff questioned over the matter.

The company said that it has stopped operations at the Williamson mining site in the northern part of the country, “for health and safety and security reasons” as its personnel are "cooperating with the authorities" over the matter.

Two weeks ago authorities seized diamonds that were being prepared for export to its marketing office in Antwerp, Belgium, and accused the company of under-reporting its value.

Petra says it is not responsible for provisional valuations of diamond parcels made before they are exported.

On Sunday, Finance Minister Philip Mpango said that he had nationalised the consignment.

These developments come days after official investigations revealed corruption in the mining industry.

Tanzania is already in dispute with a major gold miner as President John Magufuli is pushing for the country to get more benefits from mining.

Image source, AFP

Ethiopians are marking the new year today and are ushering in 2010.

The country follows a different calendar to the rest of the Christian world because the Ethiopian orthodox church did not adjust its dates when the Roman Church amended its calculation of the year of the birth of Jesus in 500 AD - adjusting it by seven or eight years.

One Ethiopian photographer, Maile Tadese, has shared a picture on here Instagram account, external showing a man carrying a chicken and some eggs "to cook the famous doro wet, a traditional spicy chicken stew with injera":

The head of Kenya's electoral commission has dismissed claims made by Deputy President William Ruto that he has been holding secret meetings with the opposition, ahead on the re-run of the presidential election set for 17 October.

Wafula Chebukati tweeted after Mr Ruto, who was interviewed by a Kenyan TV station on Sunday night, alleged that the electoral commission (IEBC) chairman was holding "night meetings" with opposition politicians:

He called the claims reckless:

Mr Chebukati has come under intense scrutiny after the Supreme Court annulled President Uhuru Kenyatta's win alleging that were "irregularities and illegalities".

The court's judgement sparked infighting among the seven IEBC commissioners and its secretariat over who was to blame for the electoral malpractice that the court alluded to.

The opposition has been pushing for staff changes at the commission alleging that some of its team worked with the ruling party to tilt the scale for Mr Kenyatta.

The court said it found no evidence of misconduct on the part of the president.

The commission is currently holding a retreat to plan for the October re-run which will pit Mr Kenyatta against opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The Nigerian army has denied reports that on Sunday it stormed the house where Nnamdi Kanu, leader of secessionist group the Indigenous of People of Biafra (Ipob), is staying.

Mr Kanu's lawyer said that the army descended on the house and fired shots killing three people and injuring up to 10.

But in a statement, army spokesman Major Oyegoke Gbadamosi said it was his forces that were attacked, pelted with stones as they tried to pass close to the house.

He said a female passer-by and a soldier were injured in the clash but no-one was killed.

But videos circulating online yesterday evening showed a young man in civilian clothing, with what looks like a bullet wound in his leg being carried into a car outside the house.

Image source, AFP

Large parts of Libya are run by militias rather than an actual government, but ordinary life carries on - people work, set up businesses, go to school, buy their groceries.

So what's it like to live in a city of armed gangs and kidnappings?

Khadeja, a 27-year-old student living in Tripoli has been sharing her experience with the BBC's Newsday programme

Nick Cavell
BBC Africa Sport

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson failed to become the first tennis player from the continent to win a grand slam title since 1981 as he lost in the final of the US Open in straight sets to Spain’s Rafael Nadal.

Johan Kriek was the last winner from the continent when he won the 1981 Australian title as a South African, he went on to defend his title the following year but by then he had become an American citizen.

After the defeat, the 31-year-old Anderson was full of praise for Nadal as one of his idols, saying:

Image source, AFP

At least 10 Somali soldiers have been killed in a dawn attack by Islamist militants al-Shabab on a border town of Balad Hawo, near Kenya, the Reuters news agency is reporting quoting a military source.

Major Mohamed Abdullahi confirmed the causalities:

A spokesman from the militants however told Reuters that they had killed 24 Somali soldiers during the attack.

A resident, Suleiman Nur, who is a shopkeeper in the town, told Reuters:

Other reports say that the attackers have withdrawn from the base.

BBC World Service

International campaign group Global Witness has released a new report , externaloutlining what it says are the significant stakes held by Zimbabwe's security forces in the country's diamond mines.

The report alleged that Zimbabwe's military intelligence, blamed for human rights abuses, profited from partnerships with several companies based outside the country, in what it called an opaque and secretive industry.

Neither the company representatives nor Zimbabwean government officials were available for comment.

Global Witness spokesman Michael Gibb said the people of Zimbabwe deserved to know how much had been made from their diamonds, and where the money had gone.

Image source, AFP

Today's African proverb:

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with news stories on the continent.